When the people of several states presented our Constitution for ratification in 1787, one issue nearly derailed the adoption of the nation’s charter. The Anti-Federalists vehemently objected to the lack of a guarantee for a civil jury in the proposed document. They feared that Congress would be able to undermine or abolish the right altogether.…

Precision Patient Outcomes, Inc. (PPO) and its principal, Margrett Lewis, are being sued in San Francisco by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for selling and marketing high-quality dietary supplements and providing consumers with information that the vitamins they contain are thought to strengthen the body’s resistance to disease. NCLA represents PPO and Ms. Lewis in…

  What happens when federal bureaucrats get caught red-handed with both fists in the private-sector cookie jar? Do they apologize and return the funds they illegally confiscated, perhaps even with interest? (Okay—stop laughing please.) Of course not. Being a federal bureaucrat means never having to say you’re sorry—or having to “disgorge” your ill-gotten loot. Two…

The Federal Trade Commission has a well-documented history of asserting regulatory powers beyond anything granted to it by Congress. Just last year, in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Commission’s decades-long claim that it can seek equitable monetary relief, like restitution and disgorgement, in enforcement actions. The Commission recently…

  They say that an oral argument cannot predict a case’s outcome, but NCLA’s October 5, 2022 argument in Mexican Gulf v. U.S. Department of Commerce may prove to be an exception to that advice. There, a Fifth Circuit panel comprised of Chief Judge Richman and Judges Elrod and Oldham expressed deep skepticism at a…