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Judge Jones Stands Up for Separation-of-Powers Principles

Judge Jones Stands Up for Separation-of-Powers Principles

Defenders of the administrative state have long contended that the Government runs much more smoothly when professional bureaucrats are granted free rein to act in “the public interest,” unconstrained by political forces that they fear are, all too often, dominated by “special interests.” That belief led in 2010 to creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency structured by Senator Elizabeth Warren and others to be entirely insulated from control by the political branches of government.

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Energy Security Is National Security

Energy Security Is National Security

  In December 200,8 Marine Corps General James Jones (Ret) wrote in a Wall Street Journal article that “You can’t use the word energy independence. It is not a valid phrase. It is designed to excite people. But it is simply not going to happen.” At the time that...

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Everyone Entering Marco Island Be Warned: City Is Keeping Tabs on You

Everyone Entering Marco Island Be Warned: City Is Keeping Tabs on You

NCLA filed a lawsuit against the City of San Marco, Florida, on February 7, 2022, challenging the use of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) to track all drivers within city limits. This marks NCLA’s second lawsuit against a Florida municipality’s use of ALPR technology on Fourth Amendment grounds—the first case was filed against Coral Gables.

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Madness and Recovery: Dr. Skoly in Court

Madness and Recovery: Dr. Skoly in Court

Proving the truth about going “mad,” Rhode Island, in response to the COVID-19 Delta variant, enacted an excessively broad vaccine mandate for health care workers. As should have been foreseen, but was not (as is typical of political actions taken in fear and haste), the mandate has harmed the public: The termination of workers unwilling to be vaccinated has created staffing shortages so critical that Rhode Island has been forced to allow COVID infected workers to treat vulnerable patients.

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First Amendment Claimants Deserve Their Day in Court

First Amendment Claimants Deserve Their Day in Court

McCain-Feingold, the campaign-finance legislation adopted by Congress in 2002, includes several provisions (known collectively as “the Millionaires’ Amendment”) designed to protect incumbent members of Congress facing very wealthy challengers. Among the provisions is one that limits a campaign committee’s right to use funds raised after the election to repay large loans (in excess of $250,000) made to the committee by the candidate himself.

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NLRB’s Prosecution of a Twitter Jokes Has Left the Third Circuit Considering Whether to Check the Agency’s Expansion of Its Enforcement Authority

NLRB’s Prosecution of a Twitter Jokes Has Left the Third Circuit Considering Whether to Check the Agency’s Expansion of Its Enforcement Authority

When Vox Media employees walked out during a bargaining dispute in 2019, Twitter users tweeted along. Among the commentators was Ben Domenech, the publisher of the web magazine The Federalist. He tweeted from his personal account, “FYI @fdrlst first one of you tries to unionize I swear I’ll send you back to the salt mine.” A senior contributor at The Federalist tweeted in reply that workers “demand to be paid in Ben-mixed cocktails.”

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Courts Should Enforce the Rights of Veterans

Courts Should Enforce the Rights of Veterans

Throughout the past 80 years, Congress has passed a series of statutes designed to ensure that military veterans are well cared for. In recognition of Congress’s intent to help veterans, the courts have developed a well-established rule of statutory construction known as the “pro-veteran canon”: when the meaning of a statute is obscure, any ambiguity in the law is to be resolved in the veteran’s favor.

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Let’s Not Celebrate Constitution Day

Let’s Not Celebrate Constitution Day

I was not born an American citizen. I chose to be one. I grew up elsewhere. Few Americans realize how intrigued the rest of the world is with America’s Independence Day and Constitution Day. Few understand the significance of the two documents the two days celebrate—if they’ve read them at all. Fewer still grasp why these two documents are worthy of celebration. But all perceive there is something qualitatively unique about these documents and, therefore, the days that honor these documents.

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When Government Gags, Public Loses

When Government Gags, Public Loses

Freedom of speech remains a core tenet of democratic societies and free peoples. Speaking up and speaking out are always to be heralded, especially during contentious times in America. But while the freedom to speak is oft rejoiced, few realize that the interests protected by the First Amendment include the freedom to listen. When voices are silenced through suppression, intimidation, or violence, not only does the speaker lose a fundamental liberty, but so too does the listener.

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Supreme Court Hints Eviction Moratorium Was Compensable Takings

Supreme Court Hints Eviction Moratorium Was Compensable Takings

Last week, the Supreme Court released an eight-page per curiam opinion holding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lacked statutory authority to impose and repeatedly extend an eviction moratorium that covered most of the country. The Court reasoned that the public-health statute upon which CDC relied—which referenced measures such as “fumigation” and “pest extermination”—did not confer sweeping authority over landlord-tenant relationships.

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Administrative Surveillance Violates the Fourth Amendment

Administrative Surveillance Violates the Fourth Amendment

Fourth Amendment rights are crucial in preventing government abuse and securing privacy. It is then of little import whether that abuse or invasion of privacy is perpetrated by local police or the IRS; in both cases, Fourth Amendment rights apply with equal force. But judicial precedent has upended this commonsense view. As with other constitutional provisions, the Fourth Amendment is ignored and downplayed by the administrative state.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission Fails on 13 of 14 Counts Against NCLA Clients

The Securities and Exchange Commission Fails on 13 of 14 Counts Against NCLA Clients

After a near decade-long Ahab-like pursuit alleging NCLA clients Spartan Securities Group, Island Stock Transfer, principals Carl Dilley, Micah Eldred, and Dave Lopez were knowingly involved in a massive fraud involving creating fake “shell” companies, SEC lost its entire case against Mr. Lopez, and all but one relatively minor civil charge against Spartan, Island, Mr. Dilley, and Mr. Eldred. SEC’s approach was to throw as much spaghetti against the wall as possible in the hopes that something would stick.

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Justice Kagan and Stare Decisis

Justice Kagan and Stare Decisis

  Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has staked out a position for herself as the Supreme Court’s foremost defender of stare decisis. That doctrine holds that today’s Court ought to stand by yesterday’s decisions. Respecting stare decisis sometimes means sticking...

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