Biden Administration to Require Federal Contractors to Report and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A new proposed regulation may test the limits of the Executive Branch's authority to impose regulatory requirements on federal contractors.
Executive Branch
Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Is Unconstitutional, Says Federal Judge
Plus: Users surge on decentralized social media platform Mastodon, the fall of city drugstores, and more...
Yale Journal on Regulation Symposium on Peter Shane's "Democracy's Chief Executive"
Participants include Daniel Farber, Keith Whittington, Cristina Rodriguez, Lisa Heinzerling, and myself, among others.
Some Supreme Court Justices Want the Court To Tackle More Government Abuse Cases
Unfortunately, in five separate cases today, they're outnumbered.
Kansas Voters Could Give Legislature Power To Veto Executive Branch Regulations
The proposed constitutional amendment would shift the state's balance of political power.
Air Force One Cost Overruns Are a Reminder of How Expensive an Imperial Presidency Can Be
Boeing reports that the two new presidential shuttles its building will now be $2 billion over budget.
Biden Mistakenly Imagines That Congress Approved His Student Debt Cancellation Scheme
The lack of statutory authority is the main issue raised by legal challenges to the plan.
Outside the White House, Protesters Urge Biden To Release Nonviolent Marijuana Offenders
While Biden's mass pardons for those with low-level marijuana possession convictions were greeted with cautious optimism, protesters expressed frustration over Biden's lack of action to actually release those imprisoned for nonviolent drug crimes.
Biden's Marijuana Pardons Did Not Free a Single Federal Prisoner or Deliver the Expungement He Promised
A protest at the White House calls attention to the thousands of federal cannabis offenders who remain incarcerated.
Biden's Marijuana Pardons Could Benefit Some 10,000 People With Misdemeanor Records
That seemingly large number represents a tiny share of simple possession cases, which are rarely prosecuted under federal law.
Divided Government Is Good. In 2023, Bipartisanship Would Be Better.
From immigration to drug reform, there is plenty of potential for productive compromise.
Biden's Support for Pot Prohibition Belies His Recognition of the Harm It Causes
Even as he pardons thousands of marijuana users, the president stubbornly resists legalization.
Drugs, Debt, and Masculinity
Plus: The editors wade into the conversation surrounding the modern dilemmas men face.
Biden Says He's Pardoning 'All' Federal Weed Possession Offenders. He Isn't.
If you aren't a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, you're out of luck.
Better Late Than Never on Weed, Kamala
Plus: A judge may recognize a poly romance, the Nobel Prize goes to economists "for research on banks and financial crises," and more...
National Constitution Center Project Offers Constitutional Amendment Proposals with Broad Cross-Ideological Support
The proposals were agreed on by members of the conservative, libertarian, and progressive teams participating in the NCC's earlier constitution drafting project.
Tom Cotton Says Biden's Marijuana Pardon Recipients Pleaded Down From More Serious Charges
In fact, most were caught on federal property with small amounts of pot.
What Biden's Weed Plan Really Means
Plus: lawsuit targets Roblox and Discord, 24 million immigration cases in backlog, and more...
Biden's Marijuana Reforms Are Long Overdue but Will Have Just a Modest Impact
The president's mass pardon does not extend to pot suppliers, and his rescheduling plans won't make marijuana a legal medicine.
What the FBI's Mar-a-Lago Warrant Does—and Doesn't—Mean
Even if a warrant wasn’t the DOJ’s only option, its choice to go this route doesn’t signal—let alone prove—anything about the future of the probe.
The U.S. Imprisoned a Civil Rights Leader on Bogus Charges in 1917. Will Biden Pardon Her Now?
A new petition seeks a posthumous pardon for Callie House.
Six States File Lawsuit Challenging Biden Student Debt Cancellation Program
The lawsuit has a more conventional - and stronger - basis for standing than that filed yesterday by the Pacific Legal Foundation.
The First Significant Lawsuit Challenging Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan [Updated]
It was filed by Pacific Legal Foundation public interest lawyer Frank Garrison, and includes a novel strategy for getting around the problem of standing.
How the U.S. Paid for the Civil War
Lincoln's wartime governance had dire, and longstanding, economic consequences.
The Queen Is Dead. Anarchy in the U.K.?
Plus: The editors respond to a question about the Forward Party.
Maybe a Ceremonial Monarchy Can Show the Way to a Less Powerful State
The real danger to citizens is the use of coercive government power, no matter how it’s named.
After 975 Days, Washington's Governor Will Finally Relinquish His Emergency Pandemic Powers
Gov. Jay Inslee says Washington state's COVID-19 emergency will finally come to an end on October 31.
Assessing an Alternative Legal Justification for Biden's Student Loan Debt Cancellation Policy
Relying on Section 432(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as some propose, has many of the same flaws as the Administration's emergency powers theory.
Will Biden's Student Loan Debt Cancellation Plan Hold Up in Court?
The president claims broad authority to act under a post-9/11 law.
The Student Loan Forgiveness Fiasco
Plus: Spider study sheds light on how misinformation spreads, Airbnb regulation ruled unconstitutional, and more...
D.C. Circuit Upholds the Bump Stock Ban, Saying It Is Consistent With the 'Best Interpretation' of the Law
It is hard to see how, given the contortions required to deliver the unilateral prohibition that Donald Trump demanded.
Cato Supreme Court Review Article on the Supreme Court's January 2022 Vaccine Mandate Decisions
I am one of the relatively few people who think the Court got both cases right.
R.I.P. David McCullough, Who Saw the Bright Side of History
McCullough didn't just build on academic historians' work—he filled a gap they left.
The 5th Circuit Considers Whether the Trump Administration Was Legally Authorized To Ban Bump Stocks
Regulators imposed the ban based on a highly implausible and counterintuitive reading of federal law.
If You Care About Democracy, Don't Ask Biden To Invoke Emergency Powers
Implementing policy is supposed to be difficult given that it could affect millions of people’s lives.
Trump and Steve Bannon Waive Executive Privilege they do not Have
The "waiver" opens the door for Bannon to testify before the congressional January 6 Committee. But former presidents are not entitled to executive privilege, and especially not when it comes to testimony by private citizens.
Biden Issues Executive Order Designed To Protect Abortion Access
The abortion wars have entered a new phase.
Supreme Court Ruling in "Remain in Mexico" Case is a Win for Biden, Migrants - and Fans of Presidential Power
The ruling likely allows end of a cruel policy - but also reinforces broad presidential control over immigration.
As Pride Month Nears End, LGBT Political Culture Warring Escalates
You’d think drag brunches are why we’re paying $6 a gallon for gas.
The Defense Production Act Has Become a License for Central Planning
If home insulation is a "critical technology item essential to the national defense," then what isn't?
The 10th Anniversary of DACA
A compendium of my writings defending the morality and legality of this program - but also warning that it remains imperiled unless and until Congress passes a law institutionalizing it.
Today Marks 80 Years Since Congress Last Bothered To Declare a War
Presidents once treated congressional authorization as a requirement for the U.S. to enter conflicts. What went wrong?
New Resolution Would Allow the President To Send U.S. Troops to Ukraine
Like AUMFs before it, Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s proposed authorization would lead to less transparency in conflicts and more unilateral decision making.
Biden Begins Using Clemency To Ameliorate the Damage Done by the Draconian Drug Policies He Long Supported
The 75 commutations announced today, while impressive compared to the pitiful records of previous presidents, pale beside a huge backlog of petitions.
COVID Revealed America To Be a Nation of Rulers, Not of Laws
Life is returning to "normal" after two years, but that normal includes even fewer limits on executive powers.
My New Article on "Nondelegation Limits on COVID Emergency Powers: Lessons from the Eviction Moratorium and Title 42 Cases"
The eviction moratorium and Title 42 "public health" expulsion cases have many parallels that may have been ignored because of their differing ideological valence. Both strengthen the case for nondeferential judicial review of the exercise of emergency powers.
Progressive Lawmakers Ask Joe Biden To Do Their Jobs for Them With Executive Orders
Someone might want to remind them that Democrats have a majority in both congressional chambers.
