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,…