I recently posted about the states that had rejected deference in the past several years and noted that several more states were likely to reconsider deference in 2020. One state that I did not expect to see make the change was Arkansas whose state Supreme Court had as recently as 2014 had employed a highly deferential standard…

An Arizona federal court tossed a suit from police body camera and nonlethal weapon maker Axon Enterprise Inc. that challenged the Federal Trade Commission’s structure and merger review process as unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Dominic W. Lanza on Wednesday followed up on a tentative ruling from last month and dismissed the suit, which was filed…

On April 6, Harriet Hageman, senior litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, filed an amended complaint in the Wyoming federal district court on behalf of R-CALF USA and ranchers Tracy and Donna Hunt and Kenny and Roxy Fox. In an order dated, March 6, 2020, the court authorized R-CALF USA and the ranchers…

In an April 2019 mandate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) required all cattle producers to use radio frequency identification (RFID) ear tags and to register their premises with the government if they transport adult cattle across state lines after Jan. 1, 2023. On April 6, 2020,…

Part I in this series explained that Congress does not have a general police power. Part II added that Congress can seize property pursuant to its Commerce and Necessary and Proper Clause Powers. Part III turned to 18 U.S.C. 922(o), the statute that purportedly authorized the bump stock ban. This fourth part will analyze whether this statute is constitutional under Lopez, Morrison,…

Part I in this series explained that Congress does not have a general police power. Part II added that Congress can seize property pursuant to its Commerce and Necessary and Proper Clause Powers. But the federal government cannot seize property if the requisite statutory authority exceeds Congress’s enumerated powers. Part III will extend this analysis to the Trump…