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…