Law & Government
The Enduring Fight Over 'Fighting Words'
More than eight decades ago, the Supreme Court invented a vague First Amendment exception that would-be censors continue to invoke.
Facing a Budget Squeeze, New Jersey Decides To Go After Big Tech
Gov. Mikie Sherrill called Big Tech worse than Big Tobacco before proposing measures to regulate social media platforms.
Litigant Who Cited "Fictional Authority" Ordered to Include All Cited Authorities in Future Filings in Any Court
The Texas Court of Appeals just upheld the order.
How Chile's Free Market Miracle Survived a Resurgent Left
Outgoing President Gabriel Boric predicted that Chile would go from being neoliberalism’s “cradle” to its “grave.” His movement got buried instead.
Bye-Bye Build-To-Rent
Plus: bad arguments in favor of a build-to-rent ban, a tanker plane crash kills four in Iraq, signs the Iran war isn't going so well, and more...
In Space, Regulators Seek To Boldly Go Where No Bureaucrat Has Gone Before
We don’t really need intrusive laws and regulations to govern lunar mining and space exploration.
Trump Goes to War
Plus: Donald Trump vs. Thomas Massie, Republicans preparing to kill the filibuster for a very dumb reason, explosions in the Strait of Hormuz, and more...
The Supreme Court's Approval Ratings Have Dropped. Does It Matter?
What happens if both political parties come to distrust the Court’s judgment?
Here Are 12 Bills Democrats Just Passed To Trample Gun Rights in Virginia
Some gun-rights activists are blaming immigrants, but the real culprits are Virginia Democrats.
He Was Arrested Over Bogus Drug Tests. Now He's Suing.
Bryan Getchius was arrested, jailed, and spent seven months on house arrest before eventually being cleared by official lab results.
A First Amendment Right Not To Use AI for Evil?
Anthropic sues the federal government—and kicks off a debate about free speech for artificial intelligence systems.
Louisiana Requires 500 Hours of Training To Braid Hair Professionally. This Bill Would Increase It.
Many states have deregulated hair braiding, but Louisiana lawmakers want to tighten regulations by demanding more coursework, including on the ancient origins of braiding.
Can the Government Ban You from Telling the Truth?
Mark Chenoweth discusses the SEC’s gag rule, the power of the administrative state, and the legal battle over whether regulators can silence their critics.
War Rations
Plus: Pete Hegseth spends millions on lobster tail and rib-eye steak, oil prices go for another roller-coaster ride, no inflation increase, and more...
The Federal Government's Crusade Against Anthropic Raises First Amendment Concerns
Trump administration officials openly seek to punish the AI company for its corporate philosophy.
Trump's New Tariff Plan Still Asserts a Crisis That Does Not Exist
The president’s invocation of Section 122 conflates a trade deficit with a balance-of-payments deficit.
Will SCOTUS Review the Iran War's Constitutionality? Don't Count on It.
The judiciary is largely absent from the long-running constitutional debate over undeclared foreign wars.
Minnesota's Fraud Scandal Isn't an Immigration Problem. It's a Spending Problem.
Health care fraud is an all-too-common feature of the U.S. health care system, not only in Minnesota.
Liberty Justice Center Files Lawsuit Challenging Trump's Section 122 Tariffs
LJC is the group with which I worked on the IEEPA tariff case decided by the Supreme Court.
The 'Fairness' Law That Could Raise Grocery Prices for New Yorkers
Legislators are trying to pass their own state version of an outdated antitrust law—one that is dead at the federal level for a reason.
California Appeals Court Upholds Trial Court Order That Cited Hallucinated Cases
The nonexistent cases were first introduced by opposing counsel, but the appellant's lawyer didn't spot the error at the trial court, and submitted a proposed order to the trial court that cited those cases. That, the appeals court held, meant that appellant forfeited the right to challenge the decision.
Previewing Suncor Energy v. Boulder County
A Federalist Society forum on the first big case of OT 2026.
California Billionaire Wealth Tax Would Cost the State $25 Billion, New Research Finds
"If Californians approve this measure in November, they may discover too late that the wealth they hoped to tax has already left the state—with jobs and economic opportunities not far behind."
The Federal Government Was Told To Make a List of Everything It Funds. 15 Years Later, There Still Isn't One.
A sad commentary on the sprawling size and eye-watering cost of the government.
America's Performance Review
Andrew Heaton takes stock of the United States on its 250th birthday.
Lawsuit: Trump's Newest Tariffs Are an 'Exercise of Completely Unrestrained Executive Power'
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys general and governors from 24 states, claims that Trump is once again trying "to usurp the taxing power that the Constitution vests in Congress."
We Lost the Lyme Vaccine. Under Rand Paul's New Vaccine Liability Bill, We'll Lose More.
The End the Vaccine Carveout Act would expose vaccine makers to lawsuits that once drove companies out of the industry.
Twenty-Four States Led by Oregon File Lawsuit Challenging Trump's Section 122 Tariffs
The massive new tariffs are illegal, just like the IEEPA tariffs previously invalidated by the Supreme Court.
My New Dispatch Article on "Why Donald Trump's Iran War is Unconstitutional"
The article explains why the war requires congressional authorization,and why this requirement is important.
After Paying Illegal Tariffs, Will Small Businesses Get a Refund? 'I'm Not Holding My Breath.'
Even if the refunds are made, business owners say they won't cover all the additional costs created by Trump's chaotic trade policies.
How the Supreme Court's Conception of Its Role Contributes to the Deformation of the Constitution
The Court's law-declaration approach not only departs from its dispute-resolution premise but risks yielding a faulty product.
Yes, States May Prosecute ICE Agents for Misconduct
Plus: An unsettling comparison between the Iran War and “Lyndon Johnson going into Vietnam.”
US Court of International Trade Orders Refund of All Illegally Collected IEEPA Tariffs
Importantly, the Court ordered payment of refunds even to those businesses who have not filed a lawsuit to claim them.
Department of Homeland Security
In Senate Testimony on DHS Shootings, Kristi Noem Lies About Her Lies
The homeland security secretary blatantly misrepresented what she said about Alex Pretti on the day he was killed.
Woman Sues After Prison Staff Decided To Use Her as Rape 'Bait'
Their plan: have someone hide in the ceiling to catch the assailant in the act.
DHS Spent $220 Million on Ads Featuring Kristi Noem. Both Parties Grilled Her About It in the Senate.
Noem faced tough questions about an ad campaign that secretly awarded millions to a company with close ties to the homeland security secretary.
The Role of Delegation Theories in Deforming the Constitution
The Supreme Court's approaches of assuming agency authority to issue legislative rules and of prohibiting Congress from delegating to itself have resulted in an enormous transfer of power to the Executive.
Sunnyside Yards and the Errors of Pro-Growth Progressivism
Plus: New Jersey property owners survive an eminent domain attempt based on bogus blight allegations, a corporate homebuyer ban is slipped into Congress' housing bill, and the true cost of permitting in L.A.
DOJ Briefly Abandons Trump's Unconstitutional Orders Targeting Law Firms
The administration's capricious behavior underlies the inherent problem with giving a single person so much power.
The "Unitary Executive" Theory's Contribution to the Deformation of the Constitution
The "three buckets" picture of the federal government, in combination with the unitary executive thesis, gives extravagant power to the President.
Slavery and Birthright Citizenship
All the Trump Administration's arguments for denying birthright ctizenship to children of undocumented immigrants are at odds with the main purpose of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment - granting citizenshp to freed slaves and their descendants.
