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Merck & Co. v. HHS: Is There a Tao of Chevron?
Taoism is a Chinese philosophy that is often represented by the yin-yang—a symbol of contrasting opposites in perfect balance with each other. From the Taoist perspective, “day” is only “day” in relationship to the night. In other words, all things are...
Deference to the Bureau of Prisons Results in Time Lost for Thousands Under Its Custody
The rule of lenity requires that if a criminal statute is ambiguous, courts must interpret the ambiguity in a manner favorable to the defendant. There are two primary reasons for the rule of lenity. First, criminal laws must provide people with fair notice so people...
FDA Shadow Regulations Target Fido’s Dinner
Answers Pet Food, a brand created by Pennsylvania-based company Lystn to provide high quality, organic pet food, is being targeted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to comply with an unofficial, zero-tolerance policy toward naturally occurring...
Going off the Rails: The CA High-Speed Rail Authority
Billions of dollars over budget. Years behind schedule. Hundreds of acres of land taken from Central Valley farmers, who are still waiting to receive their compensation. How did a project to build America’s first high-speed railway become such a wreck? The...
FINRA is a Double-Delegation Disaster
Photo by Ajay Suresh, Rights Reserved The current nondelegation doctrine may not be long for this world, evidenced by the concurrence and dissent in this term’s Gundy v. United States. In its present iteration, the doctrine allows Congress to give away legislative...
A Farmer, An Irrigation Ditch, and the Environmental Protection Agency: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
David Hamilton is an engineer by training and colorful by nature. He likes to build things and has spent his adult life creating successful natural gas processing companies and utilities in two states, as well as buying and improving farms around his hometown of...
Bye-Bye, Buildingcrats
“I like not fair terms and a villain’s mind.” –William Shakespeare, The Merchant of VeniceWhen I told my friend (and fellow bookworm) that Strand Bookstore had just been designated a “landmark” in New York City, my friend clapped and smiled, excited at the idea that...
The Troubling Administrative-Law Implications of the 2020 Census Case
Photo by Quinn Dombrowski, Rights ReservedPeople across the political spectrum have strong opinions about whether it is a good idea to include a citizenship question on the 2020 short-form census. This blog post expresses no opinion on whether that is a good or a bad...
The Constitution Protects You Even if You Don’t Know It
The problem with the Fourth Amendment is that it doesn’t really say what we want it to say. It “secure[s]” the “right of the people” “against unreasonable searches and seizures[.]” But it doesn’t say anything about our privacy. While courts have spent most of the last...
How Chilling Brewers’ Free Speech Puts the First Amendment on Ice
I’ve got a great idea. Go out and get yourself an Atlas Brew Works Blood Orange Gose (I had one while moderating our free speech event yesterday—it’s delicious!), come back to this blog, and click here to listen to NCLA’s Lunch & Law event (Happy Hour Edition,...
Privatizing Idaho
Their Own Private Idaho“Something remarkable just happened in Idaho,” according to James Broughel at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, “The state legislature opted to—in essence – repeal the entire state regulatory code.” Idaho’s new governor, Brad Little...
Judicial Fecklessness
NCLA recently had the pleasure of hosting Peter Wallison at a lunch event to discuss his new book, Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance to Rein in the Administrative State. (You can listen to audio of the event here.) As the title suggests, Wallison argues that to rein...
Wait, Maybe Judges Shouldn’t Work for the Prosecutors After All
Of all the many oddities and unfairness baked into administrative proceedings, the one most surprising to casual observers (read—my wife), is the fact that many administrative law judges (ALJs) are employed by the same agency prosecuting alleged violations of law in...
Happy Patriots Day, America!
How the Administrative State Spawned the Granddaddy of All Patriotic Holidays Patriots Day—the granddaddy of all patriotic holidays—is today, April 19th . While it deserves national recognition, it is an official holiday in only four states. In Massachusetts, Patriots...