Occupational Licensing Is Keeping Americans Stuck in Place
Licensing reform efforts cross partisan barriers. Unfortunately, so do efforts to cripple opportunity and prosperity.
Policy
Anti-Tech Wave Grows with New Justice Department Antitrust Efforts
Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook are all in the federal government’s crosshairs.
NIMBYs Should Pay Developers, Not Sue Them, To Save Their Views
In a beautiful display of how markets can resolve conflicts, Manhattanites pay a developer to not block their view.
Cannabis Companies Explain To Congress Why Denying Them Banking Access Is Bad for Law Enforcement
Senate hearing shows, once again, why marijuana needs to be decriminalized at the federal level.
The Justice Department's 'Big Tech' Antitrust Investigation Is Unnecessary Political Theater
Both Democrats and Republicans are cheerleading for government action against Facebook, Google, Amazon, and the rest, but Americans should be skeptical.
Occupational Licensing Stops Workers From Moving Across State Lines. Andrew Yang Wants To Fix That.
The Democratic presidential candidate is the latest example that occupational licensing is truly a bipartisan battle.
Scotch Whisky Makers Don't Want a Virginia Distillery Using the Word 'Whisky'
What's in a name? Money, apparently.
Progressives and Libertarians Team Up to Deregulate Airports
Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Thomas Massie have introduced a bill that would cut federal airport spending while giving airports more freedom to raise their money.
Judge Rules Florida Can Require a License To Give Out Diet Tips
No diploma, no making money telling people how to eat better.
Berkeley, California Will 'Degenderize' Its Municipal Code, Getting Rid of Words Like 'Manhole' and 'Ombudsman'
The progressive bastion is trying to make its laws more inclusive, semantically at least.
New York Passed Sweeping, Progressive Rental Regulations. Now It's Getting Sued.
Landlords are suing to overturn state rental regulations that limit how much they can charge tenants and who they can rent to.
Rhode Island Is the Latest State To Abolish Onerous Hair-Braiding Licensing
Previously, hair braiders were required to spend 1,500 hours taking cosmetology classes.
How Justice John Paul Stevens Shaped—and Misshaped—American Law
The retired Supreme Court justice has died at 99.
Sanders, Warren Use 'Prime Day' to Blast Amazon
Plus: Everything you need to know about the latest Scarlett Johansson controversy, new 2020 fundraising and polling numbers, and warnings about "meth-gators"
While Homeless Population Balloons, San Francisco Residents Use Environmental Lawsuit to Stop Homeless Shelter
Yet another neighborhood group is using a California environmental regulation to stop a housing project they don't like.
Heads Up, California: Sydney Has Figured Out How to Get the Rents Down
It's by building lots more housing, obviously.
Update on the Preakness Takings Case
The City of Baltimore has dropped its attempt to use eminent domain to take the Preakness Stakes Horse Race. But questions linger about the city's willingness to continue to use the threat of condemnation to force Preakness and other commercial enterprises to stay in the city.
New Numbers Show San Francisco's Homeless Population Has Grown by 30 Percent
This is nearly double the increase the city first reported in May.
A Mural Quoting Trump at His Most Profane Is Protected Speech, Judge Rules
New Orleans can't use zoning regulations to decide what counts as artistic expression.
Kamala Harris' Plan To End the Racial Homeownership Gap Doubles Down on the Worst Aspects of U.S. Housing Policy
The 2020 contender wants to give $25,000 grants to homebuyers living in historically segregated neighborhoods.
How to Make Bar Exams Great Again
Bar exams should be abolished. But if that's not feasible, this modest proposal for exam reform should help restore them to their former glory!
After 6-Year Fight, Florida Couple Wins Right to Grow Veggies at Home
Local governments can't outlaw home vegetable gardens under a new Florida law.
California Politicians Want More Federal Money to Keep Doing a Terrible Job With Homelessness
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti doesn't like President Donald Trump's insults, but does want more money from his administration.
Pennsylvania Opens Up to Workers From Other States
Gov. Tom Wolf just signed a bill to recognize occupational licenses obtained in different parts of the country.
Oregon Becomes First State to Ditch Single-Family Zoning
State lawmakers end the legislative sessions by passing a bill that will allow for denser housing construction across the state.
Democratic Debate Opens by Declaring Big Tech and Corporations as the Enemy
Bill de Blasio: "We are supposed to break up big corporations when they're not serving our democracy."
The YIMBY Movement Has Made it to D.C. Republicans Are Leading the Way.
Proposals from the White House and Sen. Todd Young highlight the role regulation plays in raising housing costs.
The Supreme Court Says Your Filthy Trademark Is Protected by the First Amendment
A 6-3 ruling says that the First Amendment protects brand names that are considered “immoral” or “scandalous.”
Congress May Not Bar Registration of "Immoral or Scandalous" Trademarks -- But "Vulgar or Profane" Marks, Maybe
The Supreme Court rules that the bar on "immoral or scandalous" marks is viewpoint-based, but Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Breyer, Alito, and Sotomayor say that an exclusion of "vulgar or profane" marks would be viewpoint-neutral though content-based. (The other five Justices express no opinion on a hypothetical "vulgar or profane" mark ban.)
How Europe Censors What Americans Say Online
Stanford Law professor and former Google attorney Daphne Keller says tech giants are facing pressure from governments worldwide to clamp down on content.
Can $1 Billion From Google Really Solve the Housing Crisis in the Bay Area?
The tech giant's plan to add 20,000 homes will require lots of government permission slips and other investors' money.
Is America Finally Waking Up to Its Government-Created Housing Crisis?
Mainstream media is starting to embrace the idea of deregulating housing construction. Will policymakers?
New York's Progressive-Backed Rental Regulations Are a Huge Gift to Wealthy Tenants
The state's new rental regulations make it more difficult for landlords to raise rents on well-off renters.
San Francisco Developer Proposes Private Housing Project in 2014. City Delays For Years Before Deciding to Spend Millions Developing the Site Itself. Construction Might Start by 2022.
Delaying housing projects for years will not make cities more affordable.
New York City Landmarks Historic Bookstore The Strand Over Owner's Objections
"They want to put a bureaucratic noose around me," says Nancy Bass Wyden, third-generation owner of New York's best bookstore. "We're just asking to be left alone."
Federal Hospital Regulations Are a Competition-Killing Mess. A New Bill Promises To Fix That.
Consolidation in hospital markets is one cause of rising healthcare costs.
Will Antitrust Action Against Big Tech Resolve Anything?
Being a big company is not a crime. What problem are we trying to fix?
Philadelphia Politicians Want to Ban Bay Windows
The supposed symbol of gentrification has become the target of city politicians.
Union Sues Over Approval of 1,000-Unit Silicon Valley Housing Project, Arguing Building's Shiny Windows Will Kill Too Many Birds
An environmental lawsuit holds up yet another residential development in housing-starved California.
How Oppressive Will Connecticut's New Nail Salon Occupational Licensing Be? Stay Tuned.
To state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, “Raising women up” apparently means depriving them of employment opportunities.
New York Might License Elevator Mechanics to Solve a Public Safety Problem That Doesn't Exist
Those claiming that elevators are a public safety risk likely have ulterior motives.
Foot-Voting Nation
The seventh post in the Volokh Conspiracy symposium on "Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative" (ed. by Joshua Claybourn).
