Senate Approves Fourth Round of Coronavirus Spending: $484 Billion for Small Businesses, Testing, Hospitals
The deal primarily sets aside $320 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses.
Law & Government
Trump Tweet-Threatens To Close the Borders (Which Would Just Destroy the Economy Even More)
Plus: New York legalizes Zoom weddings, federal labeling laws exacerbate grocery store shortages, and more...
Ilhan Omar's Bill Would Enable the Feds To Seize Landlords' Properties for Trying To Collect Rent During Coronavirus
The Minnesota congresswoman's proposal to cancel rents and mortgages during the coronavirus pandemic is both wildly impractical and constitutionally dubious.
Supreme Court Rules Non-Unanimous Jury Verdicts in Criminal Cases Unconstitutional
A 50-year-old precedent was tossed, which caused three justices to dissent.
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.
Can Trump Order Congress Home and Unilaterally Fill Vacancies Via the Recess Appointment Power?
The president contemplates a sweeping exercise of executive authority.
Frivolous Litigators Bite the Hands That Care for Them
Bogus lawsuits threaten medical professionals who are fighting on the front lines against COVID-19.
There Is Literally One Guy Overseeing Nearly $500 Billion of Emergency Coronavirus Spending
He has no colleagues or staff, but he's supposed to provide oversight on $454 billion in coronavirus spending—nearly equal to the annual budget for Medicare.
People, Not Politicians, Will Decide When the Coronavirus Shutdown Ends
It's not the politicians who have the power to reopen America, or at least the parts that are now closed. It's individuals, families, businesses, and religious congregations.
Trump Can Encourage States to Lift Their COVID-19 Lockdowns, but He Can't Decree That Outcome
The president has a history of asserting powers he does not actually have.
Trump Claims He Has 'Total' Authority Over When States End Social Distancing Rules. He's Wrong.
Plus: Americans plan to stay home for months, courts block more abortion bans, Amash "looking closely" at presidential run, and more...
No, Trump Cannot Open the Country Back Up Whenever He Wants
The president again insisted that the federal government can open the country by fiat. It cannot.
The Constitutional Case Against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Will the Supreme Court question the underpinnings of the modern administrative state?
Trump Has Secret Emergency Powers?
"Presidential emergency action documents” concocted under prior administrations purport to give him such authority, according to a New York Times op-ed.
Kansas Supreme Court Invalidates Legislature's Scheme for Supervising Governor's Executive Powers
The scheme, created by a concurrent resolution, is inconsistent with the Kansas Emergency Management Act. A legislative council's decision to overrule the Governor's church shutdown order has thus been invalidated, and the church shutdown is back in effect.
Huge Legislature-Governor Conflict in Kansas, Over Emergency Powers (Stemming from Religious Freedom Dispute)
A "drafting snafu" with the Legislature's concurring resolution, which endorsed the Governor's initial emergency order, is casting many things in doubt.
Chicago Jail Inmate With COVID-19 Dies Shackled to His Hospital Bed
The Cook County jail is the country's largest known single source of new coronavirus infections.
Law School Honor Code Violation Is a Basis for Denying Bar Admission
Impermissible collaboration on a take-home exam, and subsequent lying about it, kept one law graduate from admission to the Ohio Bar.
Zoom Is Keeping Pandemic-Stricken America Connected. Cue Congress's Tech Panic.
Plus: Court upholds Texas abortion ban, Americans say they're choosing to stay at home, a doctor's view on hydroxychloroquine, and more...
Remy: Savage (Megan Thee Stallion Coronavirus Bailout Parody)
The last time we sent this much money to the Kennedy Center, it was for a pair of Hamilton tickets.
House Coronavirus Committee Will Investigate 'Price Gouging,' Not Government's Failed Pandemic Response
"We're not going to be looking back," said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.
New York's New Budget: No Legal Weed, No Fracking, No Flavored Vapes, No Police Transparency. But You Get E-scooters!
If only everybody weren’t stuck in their homes.
Moot Court in a Time of Coronavirus
If law students can run a moot court tournament through video conference, I'd think appellate courts can too.
Dump the FDA for a Healthier America
The agency has hampered widespread COVID-19 testing and the production of both protective gear and hand sanitizer.
Coronavirus Gives the Illiberal Right Fever Dreams of Power
Hungary's Viktor Orbán consolidates power, Harvard's Adrian Vermeule fantasizes about wielding it, and many of those who oppose authoritarian conservativism beg Donald Trump to close the country down.
Another Trump-Appointed Judge Benchslaps the Trump Administration for Rewriting Federal Gun Laws
“The federal government forgot the Tenth Amendment and the structure of the Constitution itself.”
Will Pandemic Fears Grease the Way for Authoritarian Gun Controls?
Lawmakers are peddling restrictions on self-defense and other rights to a frightened public.
COVID-Era Abortion Bans Blocked in 3 States—For Now
Plus: "Netflix for 3-D guns," viral authoritarianism, COVID-19 behind bars, and more…
How Techies Ignored the Bureaucrats and Helped the COVID-19 Response
They were mocked for sounding the alarm. Now they're the ones providing the solutions.
New Jersey Allows, Then Blocks, Deliveries From Breweries and Distilleries
Takeout and delivery orders are the only thing keeping the state's 115 craft breweries afloat during the coronavirus outbreak.
Massie, and That Pesky Constitution, Hold Up COVID-19 Bailout Bill
Plus: civic dynamism on display, Justice Department embraces home detainment of federal prisoners, and more...
The Coronavirus Testing Debacle Stems From Decades of Bad FDA Policy
The agency's emphasis on caution over speed led to needless suffering and loss of life long before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly 3.3 Million Unemployment Claims Due to Coronavirus Economic Meltdown
Much about the COVID-19 outbreak has been unprecedented and historic, but until now it's been difficult to quantify exactly how serious a blow the virus would deal to the U.S. economy.
The Senate's COVID-19 Relief Bill Is a Crony Capitalist Dream
Plus: COVID-19 in prisons and jails, Trump campaign threatens TV stations, state disparities in new coronavirus cases, and more...
Most Politicians Are Disingenuous Opportunists. The Coronavirus Outbreak Only Makes That More Obvious.
Politicians are merely using COVID-19 to push for policies they already wanted.
FDA Relaxes Rules To Allow for More Ventilators, Finally
Restrictions have been loosened to help ramp up production.
Supreme Court Upholds State Law Limiting the Use of the Insanity Defense
Kansas “will not wholly exonerate a defendant on the ground that his illness prevented him from recognizing his criminal act as morally wrong.”
These Churches Refuse To Close Over COVID-19. Does the Constitution Protect Their Right To Remain Open?
Religious liberty, public health, and the police powers of the states
H.L. Mencken on 'Numskull' Presidents, the Spanish Flu, and the Depression
Thought during an epidemic from a defender of freedom
Supreme Court Postpones Oral Arguments Over COVID-19, Some Justices Will Work From Home
The coronavirus upends business as usual at SCOTUS.
The EARN IT Act Is the New FOSTA
The new bill takes aim at internet freedom and privacy under the pretense of saving kids.
Police Powers During a Pandemic: Constitutional, but Not Unlimited
Weighing the state and local response to COVID-19
An Epidemic Big Enough to Accommodate Everyone's Wish List
Politicians of both major parties are using COVID-19 to advance their pre-existing policy agendas.
