American citizens should not allow federal agencies to replace their own discernment and instinct by blindly believing that regulations reduce risk—the government will never be a benevolent parens patriae. Skepticism of the government is a natural result of being in the public interest legal profession, but entering motherhood heightened this distrust. The sanctity of protecting…

A pending Supreme Court case threatens the right of many citizens’ to challenge agency actions that unlawfully harm them. In Food and Drug Administration v. RJ Reynolds Vapor Co, the Supreme Court will either confirm that right or permit the FDA to shut the courthouse door on many people and businesses harmed by unlawful agency…

The recent flurry of pardons issued by our outgoing and incoming presidents raises a question I’ve pondered from time to time but never resolved: Can (and should) presidents grant clemency to deserving people who committed no crime but nevertheless find themselves condemned to perpetual misery and impecunity for committing putatively “civil” violations prosecuted by federal…

The Forest of Laws The Department of Justice’s litigators have decided that management of the Minneapolis police department may no longer remain where the law says it must remain. This must be so, they say, because they are on the hunt for policing patterns and practices that allegedly produce racially disparate results.  No one wants…

Public commentary on the Supreme Court’s decision in SEC v. Jarkesy is an unusually stark litmus test of political and legal perspectives of the commentariat. Progressives sound a drumbeat of conspiracy, destruction, mayhem and even ruin against a lively background of originalists, libertarians, and conservatives shooting off fireworks and cannons or popping champagne to celebrate. …

Meta announced that it will discontinue its fact-checking program, which it will replace with a Community Notes model akin to that utilized by X (formerly known as Twitter).  Free speech proponents are celebrating this policy change as effectively ending viewpoint-based censorship on Meta’s social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads).  To accompany Meta’s written statement,…