Law & Government
Will 2025 Be the Year of U.S. Fiscal Sanity?
With inflation risks persisting and entitlement spending surging, the situation cannot be ignored. But we never should have gotten to this point to begin with.
The Laken Riley Act is Unjust - and a Trojan Horse
The act doesn't target violent criminals and sex offenders, and is likely to harm innocent people and divert resources from genuine anti-crime efforts. It also makes it easier for state governments to try to impede legal immigration.
FERC Not Required to "Second Guess" State Energy Choices Under NEPA
The D.C. Circuit adopts a suitably constrained view of FERC's legal obligations when conducting environmental impact assessments.
Texas Cop Chases Prostitution Suspect, Causes Car Accident, Gets Immunity
Houston police "initiated a high-speed chase to pursue a suspect evading arrest for paying $40 to solicit sexual activity from another adult," notes a Texas Supreme Court judge.
Challenge to California Policy Limiting Teachers' Disclosure to Parents of Student's Changed Gender Identity …
can proceed (under the First Amendment and under parental constitutional rights law), the court says, though there's no actual decision on whether the plaintiffs (parents and teachers) will prevail.
Why Did the D.C. Circuit Make It More Difficult to Find Opinions? -- Redux [UPDATED]
A good example of why the D.C. Circuit's website upgrade was actually a step backwards.
Why Building a Lot of 'Affordable' Housing Is Bad News for Affordability
Cities become affordable when lots of new housing is built, not when a larger percentage of a small amount of new housing is made "affordable" by regulation.
California Schools Stay Open Despite Plummeting Enrollment
Ballooning costs and shrinking student populations have left districts facing financial crises, but political pressures have kept closures off the table.
Lawsuit Challenges Vermont Climate Program
Is the Climate Superfund Act unconstitutional?
Kamala Harris' Long Day
Plus: Evading congestion pricing, expelling Hondurans (and the U.S. military), and more...
Biden Strengthened the Refugee Resettlement System. Will Trump Undo It?
Refugee resettlements last year hit a 30-year high, but that progress is fragile.
"There Is, Technically, No Snail Darter," But the Snail Darter Still Delayed the Tellico Dam
A case study in how the Endangered Species Act encourages the politicization and distortion of science.
Mike Johnson Is Speaker of the House. Again.
After a delay, Johnson secured the slimmest of majorities.
Rights and Wrongs of Chief Justice Roberts' Year-End Report on the Judiciary
Roberts identifies genuine problems, but little in the way of good solutions. He also sometimes overlooks ways in which the Supreme Court is partly responsible for the challenges the judiciary faces.
Will Thomas Massie Get To Pick the Next Speaker of the House?
The libertarian-adjacent congressman says he "definitely has no Fs to give now" and promises to vote against Mike Johnson.
Sixth Circuit Rejects FCC's Open Internet Order as Inconsistent with Statutory Text
The unanimous panel has little difficulty concluding the FCC sought to exercise authority it did not have.
Former Democratic Socialist Houston Judge Franklin Bynum Reprimanded by Texas Judicial Disciplinary Board, for …
what the board finds to be willful violations of the law, bias against domestic violence victims, and, among other things, having "selfie while wearing a 'Defund Police' t-shirt ... on his Twitter feed."
Will the EPA Limit Water Fluoridation?
RFK Jr. is not the Trump Appointee whose views on water fluoridation are likely to be most important.
Helen Prejean: Why This Nun Is Fighting To End the Death Penalty
Billy Binion speaks to Sister Helen Prejean about her activism to end the death penalty, as depicted in her book Dead Man Walking.
Pay Up, Trump
Plus: Biden's last-minute Ukraine cash surge, Tennessee age-verification law blocked, Kentucky man killed by cop who showed up at wrong house, and more…
How FDR Built the American Security State
Historian Anthony Gregory explains how liberalism can be used to build an apparatus of repression.
Final Farewells
Plus: What Biden regrets, Trump supports visas for skilled workers (or does he?), a major Amtrak screwup, and more...
RIP Jimmy Carter, the 'Passionless' President
The libertarian case for the late Jimmy Carter.
Shareholder Derivative Lawsuit Against Fox Officers and Directors Over Fox $787M Libel Settlement Can Go Forward
"[T]he complaint alleges facts sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt that at least three other directors lack independence from Murdoch."
Hypocrisy on Bodily Autonomy at the DEA
Trump’s pick for federal drug enforcement was ousted for not respecting personal freedom. Too bad that that’s a job requirement.
Alabama Teen Killed During 'No-Knock' Drug Raid Had His Hands Raised, Lawsuit Says
The wrongful death lawsuit says Randall Adjessom came out of his bedroom with a gun when Mobile police broke down his family's door in a predawn raid, but when he realized they were cops, he put his hands in the air.
California Gov. Newsom Speaks Loudly, Carries Small Stick
Newsom is a prototypical modern progressive governor whose pro-democracy tour of Southern states evoked more mocking than fear.
An El Paso Christian Charity Is Caught Up in Texas' Border Fight Against the Feds
Annunciation House feeds, shelters, and clothes immigrants. State officials say it's "systemic criminal conduct."
Congress Sanctions a Syrian Government That No Longer Exists
The Caesar Act was meant to punish Bashar Assad’s government. It’s now a serious obstacle to Syria’s reconstruction.
2 Florida Men Who Thought They Were Freeing Illegally Caught Sharks Are Now Felons
Federal prosecutors argued that John Moore and Tanner Mansell stole property when they hauled in a fishing line they mistakenly believed had been set by poachers.
How FOIA Gave Rise to Government Transparency Laws Around the World
Flawed as it may be, the U.S. Freedom of Information Act became a model in transparency for other countries to follow.
White House Vetoes Bipartisan Bill to Create Needed Judgeships
It is apparently unacceptable that some of the new judges would be appointed by a Republican.
Even Without the Sex and Drug Allegations, Matt Gaetz's Nomination Should Have Been Doomed
The House Ethics Committee's findings, combined with Gaetz's lack of relevant experience, again raise the question of why Donald Trump picked him for attorney general.
Kay Granger, Like Joe Biden, Is a Symptom of America's Gerontocracy
The 81-year-old congresswoman has not voted since July, at which point she apparently moved into an eldercare facility.
Foreign-Born Religious Workers Are Trapped in a Green Card Backlog
Without a fix, churches and other places of worship could lose their clergy.
Biden Commutes Nearly All Federal Death Penalty Sentences
Biden preserved the death sentences of three mass murderers but commuted the sentences of 37 other federal death row inmates to life in prison.
Cancerous Politics
Plus: Taking gerontocracy to new heights, a real life Arc Reactor, Happy Festivus, and more...
A Decaying Joe Biden Underlines the Need for a Less Powerful Presidency
The power of the office is excessive, and we don’t even know who is wielding it.
