Senators Aim To Curtail Presidential Power Over War, Arms Sales, Emergency Declarations
Plus: The FBI had at least a dozen informants helping put together the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor, price controls fail again, and more.
Executive Branch
Space Liberation!
Don't let naysayers fool you. Richard Branson's space flight is a boon for society.
If the CDC Can Impose a Nationwide Eviction Moratorium, Why Can't It Impose a Nationwide Vaccine Mandate?
It could, if it actually had the vast public health powers that the Biden administration claims it does.
Andrew Cuomo Declares a Gun Violence 'Disaster Emergency' and Signs a Bill That Invites Lawsuits Against Firearm Suppliers
New York's new law seems to conflict with a federal statute that protects manufacturers and dealers from liability for gun crimes.
Repealing the 2002 AUMF Won't Be Enough To End Forever Wars
Repealing the law that allowed America to depose Saddam Hussein won't stop us from waging war elsewhere.
Legislators Demand a Voice in Public Health Restrictions
The COVID-19 pandemic showed the dangers of letting governors unilaterally, dramatically, and indefinitely magnify their own powers.
Empowered by Voters, Pennsylvania Legislators Are Poised To End the Governor's 15-Month COVID-19 Emergency
The resolution is part of a broader movement to rein in executive power during emergencies.
Gov. Gavin Newsom Clings to COVID-19 Emergency Powers
The state is scheduled to ease its lockdowns on June 15. But Newsom still wants the power to control the terms.
Departmentalism: What Is the Executive Role in Interpreting the Laws? A Panel Discussion
A panel from the 2021 Federalist Society Ohio Lawyers Chapters Conference
Pennsylvanians Voted To Limit Their Governor's Emergency Powers
Voters in Pittsburgh banned no-knock police raids and solitary confinement too.
Upcoming Federalist Society Executive Branch Review Conference
The online event features panels on a wide range of issues related to executive power, including one on federalism where I will be one of the participants.
The Red Flags in Biden's State of the Union Address
Plus: Is the coronavirus vaccine the most libertarian vaccine yet?
Biden Is Using the Pandemic as an Excuse for Permanent Expansions of Government Power
For Biden, the pandemic has become a catchall justification for a slew of big-government programs that he and the Democratic Party already wanted to pursue.
If Biden Truly Wanted To Create Jobs, He Wouldn't Support the PRO Act
Destroying the ability of freelancers to make a living is union protectionism, not economic opportunity.
Biden Brings Back Plan for Free Community College
This is a subsidy for the schools, not the students.
Beware of Big Presidential Speeches During Times of Crisis
Biden tonight, like LBJ in 1964, Ford in 1975, Reagan in 1981, and Obama in 2009, is ready to make some terraforming asks to a pliant Congress.
Arizona Governor Bans Municipal 'Vaccination Passport' Mandates
Executive order leaves it to individual businesses, not the government.
Adam Cox and Cristina Rodriguez Respond to Critics and Commentators on their Book "The President and Immigration Law"
This is the conclusion of the Yale Journal on Regulation symposium about the book.
COVID-19 Is Leading State Lawmakers To Finally Restrain Governors' Emergency Powers
Even during a pandemic, major changes to laws and policies should be funneled through state assemblies.
Contrary to What Biden Says, Gun Show Sales Aren't Exempt From Background Checks
Plus: GOP gender policing in North Carolina, marijuana legalization mistakes, and more...
Joe Biden Learns To Love Gun Control by Presidential Fiat
The president's unilateral restrictions are legally dubious and unlikely to "save lives."
Yale Journal on Regulation Symposium on Adam Cox and Cristina Rodriguez's book "The President and Immigration Law"
Contributors include a variety of legal scholars, including, Jessica Bulman-Pozen, Dan Farber, and myself, among others.
Biden Administration Extends CDC Eviction Moratorium Until June 30 - the Legal Battle Over it Will Continue
The new order is similar to the old, but includes an extensive section defending the measure on public health grounds.
The CDC Keeps Extending Its Illegal Eviction Ban
The agency will be extending its controversial eviction moratorium through the end of June.
Is More Presidential Power Necessary in the Modern World? A Soho Forum Debate
Stanford University's Terry Moe and the Cato Institute's Gene Healy debate giving fast-track authority to U.S. presidents.
Should U.S. Presidents Have Fast-Track Authority to Get Things Done?
A Soho Forum debate on expanding or restricting presidential powers.
743 Years and 3 Months. 117 Years. 51 Years. Why Are These Men's Sentences So Long?
For possessing a gun while committing a crime—even when no one is killed—too many defendants are slammed with sentences decades or even centuries longer than justice demands.
My New Washington Post op ed on Biden, Syria, and War Powers
I argue that the recent air strike was legal, but overall US military intervention in Syria still lacks required congressional authorization. Biden may be trying to change that; but history gives reason for skepticism.
Biden Indicates Openness to Replacing War Authorizations with "Narrow and Specific" Framework
This initiative might help restore congressional control over war authorization. But there is reason for skepticism that it will pan out.
The Constitution and Biden's Syria Air Strike
The strike was probably legal (as were similar small-scale strikes by Trump). But there are serious constitutional problems with the overall US military presence in Syria.
The State of the Legal Struggle Over the CDC Eviction Moratorium
Two district court decisions have upheld the moratorium against various challenges, while one has ruled against it. The legal battle may be just beginning.
Rand Paul, Ron Wyden Want To End Endless National Emergencies
Under a bill the two senators reintroduced on Friday, all presidential emergency declarations would expire after 72 hours unless Congress votes to allow them to continue.
Biden Revokes Trump's Coronavirus Immigration Bans [Updated with a correction]
This action brings to an end a period when the US was more closed off to legal immigration than at any other time in the nation's history.
Can a Former President Be Prosecuted for Conduct for which He Was Impeached but not Convicted?
A 2000 OLC memo suggests the answer is "yes."
On This Presidents Day, Stop Worshiping the Imperial Presidency
Presidents aren't saints. They aren't monarchs. They aren't celebrities. And they aren't your friends.
Can the Secretary of Education Really Wave a Magic Wand and Erase All Our Student Loans?
This is probably not what Lyndon B. Johnson had in mind.
Biden's Orders Continue the Presidency's Slide Toward Elective Monarchy
If the refusal of lawmakers to enact a president's policies is justification for unilateral executive action, then a slide toward elective monarchy is inevitable.
Presidential Mercy Is a Woefully Inadequate Remedy for Injustice
The controversy over Trump’s pardons and commutations highlights longstanding problems with clemency.
How COVID-19 Made School Choice a Priority
Out with the CDC and teachers unions, in with school choice for everyone.
Changing Litigating Positions at the Solicitor General's Office
An interesting question of institutional norms
Will Democrats Embrace the Imperial Presidency Now That Their Guy Is in Charge?
Partisans who abandon constitutional principles because they prove inconvenient are in for a rude surprise when the other team wins.
Biden Issues At Least 15 Executive Orders and Actions on Day One
Plus: Columbia University neuroscientist defends heroin use, Cuomo plan would still criminalize growing or delivering marijuana, and more...
One of Biden's First Actions In Office Will be To Exercise Powers He Admits He Doesn't Have
Biden's willingness to extend a nationwide eviction moratorium, while declining to mandate masks nationwide, demonstrates a worrying inconsistency in his views on presidential powers.
Biden's Revival of Trump's Eviction Moratorium is at Odds with His Position on the Legality of a National Mask Mandate
Biden correctly recognizes he doesn't have the authority to impose a general national mask mandate. The same reasoning shows the nationwide eviction ban is also illegal.
Biden's Inauguration Was Small and Quiet. Good.
The cult of the imperial U.S. presidency has come to feel like a national religion.
Lil Wayne, Steve Bannon, and Some Drug War Victims Pardoned, but No Assange, Snowden, or Ulbricht
Plus: Pelosi wants 9/11-style commission to investigate Capitol attack, MyPillow drama, and more...
Freeing People Who Don't Belong in Prison Is Praiseworthy, No Matter Trump's Motives
The president's final batch of clemency actions includes commutations for dozens of nonviolent drug offenders.
