William Barr Orders Federal Prosecutors to Look Out for Civil Rights Violations During Coronavirus Lockdowns
Barr: "The Constitution is not suspended in times of crisis."
Civil Liberties
China Is Rolling Out a Government Digital Currency. We Shouldn't Try to Copy Them.
Western countries aren’t immune to the siren call of surveillance via commerce-tracking.
Virginia Court: Governor Lacks Power to Close Gun Ranges
The court was applying a specific Virginia statute that limited the Governor's emergency powers as to guns.
Court Strikes Down California's Ammunition Background Check Requirement
The state has already appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Deeming a Lawsuit Moot, SCOTUS Passes Up a Chance to Correct Judicial Disrespect for the Second Amendment
The Court decided that New York City's revision of its restrictions on transporting guns gave the plaintiffs what they sought.
Fifth Circuit Anti-BDS Lawsuit Dismissed as Moot
The Eighth Circuit lawsuit remains pending.
Condemned to Death by a Split Jury in Florida
Requiring unanimous juries underscores the gravity of a death penalty sentence.
Michigan Gov. Rolls Back Some of State's More Insane Coronavirus Restrictions
The strict stay-at-home order received a great deal of backlash for its more arbitrary prohibitions.
People Stuck at Home Are Making and Watching Porn. Everybody Panic!
Anti-porn crusaders get their panties in a twist about a uptick in porn consumption during COVID-19.
Community Anger Shuts Down Connecticut City's Plan To Use Drones for Coronavirus Monitoring
Westport won’t be using tech to monitor people’s body temperatures or whether they’re properly social distancing.
Expelled for Sexual Misconduct and Falsely Accused of Having HIV, an Indiana Wesleyan Student Had To Take an STD Test During the Coronavirus Pandemic
"It's far worse than we could have imagined," the student's attorney tells Reason.
Is It Time to End the Coronavirus Lockdowns? A Soho Forum Debate
Economists David Henderson and Justin Wolfers debate whether the coronavirus lockdowns are doing more harm than good.
Cellphone-Tracking Can Help Fight the Pandemic Only If Governments Resist Their Snoopy Instincts
Contact tracing might offer hope for slowing the spread of the pandemic—or fulfill every Big Brother-ish fear privacy advocates have ever raised.
Should the Coronavirus Lockdowns End Immediately? A Soho Forum Debate
Hoover Institution's David Henderson vs. University of Michigan's Justin Wolfers
Prisoner in Ohio Halfway House Complains About Lack of COVID-19 Preparations. He's Sent Back to Prison. Now Ohio Prisons are Exploding with COVID-19.
While his own prison is not yet facing a huge problem, Brandon Baxter had a prescient complaint for which he seems to be being punished.
"Car Parades, Cruises, and Joyriding" "Are NOT Prohibited," at Least in Osage County, Kansas
And they would, I think, be peaceable assembly protected by the First Amendment, even in a time of epidemic.
Fordham Urban Law Journal Symposium on Knick v. Township of Scott
I have a contribution (coauthored with Shelley Ross Saxer) in this symposium on last year's important Supreme Court takings decision.
Eighth Circuit Reinstates Arkansas Rule Delaying "Non-Medically-Necessary" Procedures, Including Most Abortions
But the ban might still be blocked as to women who are far enough along in their pregnancies that delaying an abortion would make it illegal.
The Attorney General Defends Civil Liberties Against Overreaching COVID-19 Control Measures
While denying Donald Trump's dictatorial impulses, William Barr notes that public health emergencies do not give governments unlimited powers.
Teenager Threatened with Arrest for Posting About Being Sick with Covid-19
She thinks she was -- but the police thought she wasn't (based on a negative test).
Idaho Woman Threatened With Jail Time for Holding 'Nonessential' Yard Sale
The local police department says "a garage sale/yard sale is not an essential business and should not be open for business."
Attempt to Vanish (Cubed) Post Critical of the Sandy Hook Hoax Libel Judgment
"Anything you can do, I can do meta."
Facebook Removes Coronavirus Misinformation but Will Only Ban Lockdown Protests If They Violate Social Distancing
"Unless government prohibits the event during this time, we allow it to be organized on Facebook," a company spokesperson tells Reason.
Pushy Politicians Make Stay-at-Home Protests Necessary
Government officials’ disdain for personal liberty and economic pain drive Americans to the streets.
Don't Get Fooled by Fake Photos of Coronavirus Lockdown Protests
Plus: Drudge challenges Trump on traffic claims, France taxes links, COVID-19 in Ohio prisons, and more...
Celebrities and the Media Shouldn't Sneer at Coronavirus Lockdown Protesters
The gatherings are ill-advised but understandable given the harms of government-enforced shutdowns.
Our Amicus Brief Urging the Supreme Court to Consider Takings Case in Which Authorities Refused to Compensate Innocent Owners of House Destroyed by Police
The brief was filed by the Cato Institute on behalf of both Cato and myself.
Students Don't "Shed Their … Freedom of Speech … at the Schoolhouse Gate" …
... they apparently shed it well before the schoolhouse gate.
Will COVID-19 Help Americans Break the Habit of Deferring to Centralized Authority?
We may find that we like making our own decisions.
D.C. High Court Strikes Down Order Temporarily Blocking Facebook from Disclosing Existence of Subpoena
The subpoena had been issued on behalf of a criminal defendant, who wants to buttress his self-defense argument by getting a copy of an expired Instagram Story that had been sent to him by the alleged victim.
Five Years in Prison for Posting Facebook Videos Accusing Pastor of Sexual Misconduct
The Mississippi Court of Appeals just overturned the conviction, and struck down the underlying statute, which banned posting messages "whether truthful or untruthful" "for the purpose of causing injury to any person."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Provides a Lesson in What States Shouldn't Do To Stop a Pandemic
Some protestors were nasty and went overboard, but her harsh tactics will sap her legitimacy at a critical juncture.
It Figures That Michigan Is Among the First States To See Protests Against Social Distancing
Plus: Puerto Rico criminalizes fake news about COVID-19, wide geographic disparity in U.S. income growth, and more...
Woman Mocked for Being Sexually Attracted to a Chandelier Loses Claim
before UK independent press standards tribunal.
California Appellate Court Rejects Sealing of Alleged Libel
The common law, the First Amendment, and California court rules provide a broad right of access to court documents.
Raleigh Police Department: 'Protesting Is a Non-Essential Activity'
The government has broad emergency powers, but that doesn't mean the Constitution is suspended.
Michigan's Emergency Stay-at-Home Order Is a Hot Mess. Now 4 Sheriffs Say They Won't Be Enforcing Parts of It.
"We question some restrictions that she has imposed as overstepping her executive authority."
12-Year-Old "Politically Vocal Boy" Loses Libel Claim Against Newsweek
The Newsweek article, among other things, quoted a professor who said two young public supporters of Trump "'camouflage' positions of the hard right 'as feel-good sweetness and light, when, in fact, they are defending raw racism and sexual abuse.'"
The Case for "Regular" Judicial Review of Coronavirus Emergency Policies
Legal scholars Lindsay Wiley and Steve Vladeck explain why courts should not give special deference to the government in cases challenging the constitutionality of anti-coronavirus policies.
From the Cholera Riots to the Coronavirus Revolts
The more punitive the approach to public health, the fiercer the backlash.
Even in a Pandemic, 'Constitutional Rights Still Exist'
A federal judge defended religious freedom by blocking a misguided ban on drive-in Easter services.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rejects Takings Challenge to Coronavirus Shutdown Order
The Court's decision follows almost exactly the same line of reasoning as I had expected.
