Randy Barnett: Originalism, Obamacare, and the Libertarian Movement
Libertarian legal giant Randy Barnett on his epic Supreme Court battles, the Federalist Society, and watching movies with Murray Rothbard.
Supreme Court
Trump Values Judicial Independence Only When It Benefits Him
His criticism of President Joe Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reform is hard to take seriously.
Struggling with Standing
The Supreme Court's conservatives are not cutting conservative litigants any slack (and that's a good thing).
Biden's Last Gasps
Plus: Venezuelan election follow-up, racial segregation is back (for Kamala), and more...
What Kamala Harris' Coronation Says About the Democratic Party
Plus: A listener asks the editors about Project 2025.
Trump's Favorite Justice Was One of Those 'Stupid People' Who Think Flag Burning Is Protected Speech
Antonin Scalia twice joined Supreme Court decisions rejecting bans on that particular form of political expression.
Thoughts on Biden's Proposed Supreme Court Reforms
The proposals include term limits for Supreme Court justices, a binding ethics code, and a constitutional amendment limiting the president's' immunity from prosecution. All 3 are potentially good ideas. But the devil is in details.
Justice Kagan's Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference Remarks
Thanks to C-Span, video is now available.
The Behind the Scenes Wrangling in the Idaho Abortion Case
Joan Biskupic reports that the justices were initially inclined to back Idaho in the EMTALA case, until they realized the case was messier than they had thought.
Biden Now Wants To Force Others To Retire Too
Plus: Vance's anti-Trump emails, Venezuelan elections, toxic masculinity discourse, and more...
She Underpaid a Property Tax Bill. So the Government Seized Her Home, Sold It—and Kept the $102,636 Profit.
Chelsea Koetter is asking the Michigan Supreme Court to render the state's debt collection scheme unconstitutional.
"Wall Slammer" Kagan Seems to Endorse Ethics Code Enforcement at Supreme Court
Candid end of term comments from one of the Court's progressive justices.
Podcast Interview With Jay Nordlinger of National Review
Nordlinger's questions and my answers covered a wide range of topics on law, public policy, and more.
Zoning Police and NIMBYs Want To Keep People Homeless
Vineyard owners face $120,000 in fines for letting an employee and his family live on their 60-acre property without a permit.
The DOJ Claims Medical Marijuana Patients Who Own Guns 'Endanger the Public in Multiple Ways'
Defending the federal ban on gun possession by drug users, the government's lawyers seem increasingly desperate.
Biden to Propose Supreme Court Reforms
The proposals are likely to include term limits for Supreme Court justices, a binding ethics code, and a constitutional amendment limiting the president's and other officials' immunity from prosecution.
Supreme Court Left the Door Open for a Wealth Tax. But It's Still a Terrible Idea.
Wealth taxes discourage investment, shrink wages, and don’t generate much revenue.
Determined To Avoid Presidential Paralysis, SCOTUS Endorses Presidential Impunity
We need not conjure "extreme hypotheticals" to understand the danger posed by an "energetic executive" who feels free to flout the law.
Why the Media Covered for Biden
Plus: A listener asks whether Bruce Springsteen's song Born in the U.S.A is actually patriotic.
Learning to Like the "Loneliest Justice"
That some legal commentators are surprised by Justice Barrett may say more about Court commentary (and the way she was caricatured when nominated) than it does about Justice Barrett.
From "Deference" to "Respect" - The Real Import of Loper Bright
The decision to overturn Chevron removes an agency trump card, but does not instruct courts to ignore agency opinions--and they won't.
SCOTUS Will Decide Whether the FDA's 'Regulatory Switcheroos' on Vaping Were 'Arbitrary and Capricious'
The 5th Circuit ruled that the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it rejected applications from manufacturers of flavored nicotine e-liquids.
Presidential Immunity As a Question of Executive Power
There is no textual basis for "immunity" as such, but there are structural reasons why some degree of insulation is inevitable.
Goldsmith on the Trump Immunity Decision
A thoughtful, sober take on Trump v. United States.
Judges Block Indiana and Mississippi Age Verification Laws for Porn, Social Media
And the Supreme Court agrees to weigh in.
Two SCOTUS Cases Show How an Unaccountable Administrative State Hurts 'Ordinary People'
Contrary to progressive criticism, curtailing bureaucratic power is not about protecting "the wealthy and powerful."
Sotomayor Is Right: The Supreme Court Should Reevaluate Absolute Immunity for Prosecutors
The doctrine makes it nearly impossible for victims of prosecutorial misconduct to get recourse.
A Law Professor's Beef With a First Amendment 'Spinning Out of Control': Too Much Speech of the Wrong Sort
Even as he praises judicial decisions that made room for "dissenters" and protected "robust political debate," Tim Wu pushes sweeping rationales for censorship.
The Supreme Court Didn't Destroy the Regulatory State. It Stood Up for Due Process.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says these cases will "devastate" the regulatory state. Good.
Why the End of Chevron Could Be a Win for Immigrants
“Immigration is an area of the law where the partisan alignments break down over Chevron.”
Gorsuch Apes NIMBY Government Lies in Supreme Court's Grants Pass Decision
Plus: A disappointing first round of "Baby YIMBY" grant awards, President Joe Biden endorses rent control, and House Republicans propose cutting housing spending.
Weekend at Biden's
Plus: Trump immunity ruling, cosmopolitan thinking on immigration, cringe Kamala, and more...
Supreme Court's Presidential Immunity Ruling Could Shield Outrageous Abuses of Power
By requiring "absolute" immunity for some "official acts" and "presumptive" immunity for others, the justices cast doubt on the viability of Donald Trump's election interference prosecution.
Social Media Moderation Is Speech, Says Supreme Court
The Court is remanding these two cases for more analysis—but it made its views on some key issues clear.
Ketanji Brown Jackson Joins Conservative Justices in Upending Hundreds of January 6 Cases
Her concurrence is a reminder that the application of criminal law should not be infected by personal animus toward any given defendant.
SCOTUS Rejects a Legal Interpretation Underlying Capitol Riot Charges
The decision also negates two counts of the federal indictment accusing Donald Trump of illegally interfering in the 2020 presidential election.
Supreme Court Rules That Punishing the Homeless for Sleeping Outside Isn't 'Cruel and Unusual'
Homeless advocates say the court's decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson gives local governments a blank check to "to arrest or fine those with no choice but to sleep outdoors."
SCOTUS Repudiates Doctrine That Gave Agencies a License To Invent Their Own Authority
The Court says Chevron deference allows bureaucrats to usurp a judicial function, creating "an eternal fog of uncertainty" about what the law allows or requires.
Why Are Liberals Suddenly Denouncing the Right to a Jury Trial?
Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the Supreme Court ruling in SEC v. Jarkesy "a power grab." She's right, but in the wrong way.
SCOTUS Stays Enforcement of EPA's "Good Neighbor" Air Pollution Rule (Updated)
In a 5-4 decision, the male justices side with the state and industry challengers and the female justices side with the Environmental Protection Agency
Divided Over Purdue Pharma Deal, SCOTUS Unites in Accepting a Dubious OxyContin Narrative
The majority and the dissenters agree that the drug was "central" to "the opioid crisis," even though there is little evidence to support that thesis.
SCOTUS Rules SEC's In-House Handling of Securities Fraud Cases Violates the Right to Trial by Jury
The decision rejects a system in which the agency imposes civil penalties after investigating people and validating its own allegations.
SCOTUS Allows Emergency Abortions in Idaho
The decision reverses the Court's previous stay of a lower court decision blocking part of the law.
He Faced a Terrorism Probe, Went to Jail on a Gun Charge, and Now Is Charged With Drug Possession
Although the FBI never produced evidence that Ali Hemani was a threat to national security, it seems determined to imprison him by any means necessary.
