US News and World Report Article Urging Colleges to Reject Trump's "Compact" With Higher Education
I coauthored the article with four other legal scholars from across the political spectrum.
Conditional Spending
White House Proposal To Withhold Back Pay From Federal Workers Is More Rhetoric Than Reform
A new White House budget memo frames shutdown furlough pay withholdings as fiscal restraint, but the budgetary impact is minimal—the greater effect may be expanding executive control over the federal bureaucracy.
Federal Court Rules Trump Can't Deny Federal Disaster Relief Funds to Sanctuary States
Another in a long line of court decisions striking down Trump efforts to attach conditions to federal grants that were not approved by Congress.
Trump's Unconstitutional Plan to Penalize States that Allow Cashless Bail
His executive order directs the Justice Department to deny federal funds to jurisdictions that use cashless bail for suspects for many types of crimes. The plan is another assault on federalism and separation of powers.
Federal Court Rules Against Trump Plan to Condition Federal Transportation Grants to States on Cooperation with Federal Deportation Efforts
The ruling is the latest in a long line of court decisions striking down executive efforts to attach conditions to federal grants that were not approved by Congress.
Mitchell Berman on Conditional Federal Grants and the Constitution
While there is no constitutional right to receive grants, the Constitution does bar grant conditions that undermine constitutional rights.
Federal Court Blocks Trump Executive Order Denying Federal Funds to Sanctuary Cities
The decision is based on precedents in similar cases during Trump's first term.
Free Press Symposium on "Is Donald Trump Breaking the Law?"
The degree of agreement among participants with major ideological diferences is striking.
District Court Rules Trump Violated Constitution by Usurping Congress's Spending Power
The decision involved administration attempts to withhold spending on foreign aid contracts, but has much broader implications.
Can the Trump Administration Unilaterally Cut Indirect Costs for NIH Grants?
As with some other recent executive branch actions, the Trump Administration appears to have overreached.
White House Rescinds Memo Freezing Federal Grants
This will, for the moment, avert what could have been a major legal battle over the spending power.
Trump's Attempt to Usurp Congress's Spending Power
The White House's withholding of federal grants, impoundment plans, and other actions, are a major attack on the separation of powers.
What the Federal Government Can do to Alleviate the Housing Crisis
Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, a leading expert on housing policy, offers some ideas on how Congress can use conditional spending to break down barriers to housing construction.
Eleventh Circuit Becomes Second Federal Appellate Court to Strike Down Tax Mandate Condition in 2021 Covid Stimulus Bill
Like the Sixth Circuit before it, the Eleventh ruled that the requirement that states receiving stimulus money refrain from cutting taxes was never clearly authorized by Congress.
Sixth Circuit Concludes ARPA Condition on COVID Relief Violates Spending Clause
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit concluded some state challenges to the COVID relief bill were not justiciable, but reaches the merits in one case and finds the law lacking.
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.
Ninth Circuit Concludes Arizona Has Standing to Challenge Conditions on COVID Relief Funds
Language in the American Rescue Plan Act prohibits states from using the funds "directly or indirectly" to offset lost revenues from tax cuts.
"The Law of '. . . or Else'"
My review of Philip Hamburger's new book, Purchasing Submission.
