Sign Up

NCLA Site Search

Media Room

Op-Eds

An Insider’s Look at the Implications of ATF’s Bump Stock Ban Being Vacated

By: Sheng Li November 14, 2024
In Orwell’s 1984, after years of war against Eurasia as Eastasia’s ally, Oceania abruptly switches sides, becoming Eurasia’s ally against Eastasia. Instead of articulating a policy change, the government simply rewrote history to declare that “Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” The modern Administrative State uses the same Orwellian tactic to rewrite the law.…
Read

Big Government’s License to Kill Space Travel

By: Philip Hamburger October 4, 2024
Something strange is intercepting our trajectory into space. The obstacle isn’t space debris, old satellites, or meteors. Rather, it’s licensing. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet granted a license for the launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship, and even the Fish and Wildlife Service is still evaluating whether to permit it. Licensing is thus…
Read

Overturning Chevron Is a Major Victory

By: Philip Hamburger September 19, 2024
How important is the decision issued in June by the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and its companion case, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce? The Claremont Institute’s Theo Wold observes that this victory against the administrative state is merely “incremental.” Although valuable, “it will not remake the administrative state or solve the post-New Deal power imbalance in the federal government.”…
Read

Will Lower Courts Preserve the Administrative State?

By: Garrett Snedeker September 4, 2024
Even if many close court-watchers anticipated overturning Chevron deference during the Supreme Court’s last term, where the Court would place its accent remained an open question. However, the overturning of Chevron in the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright/Relentless decision will not be shaped exclusively or even largely by what the Supreme Court said or what Congress does in its wake, despite what…
Read

The ‘Tell’ in Zuckerberg’s Letter to Congress

By: Philip Hamburger August 27, 2024
Mark Zuckerberg sent a mea culpa letter Monday to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, admitting that Meta, which owns Facebook, erred in acquiescing to government pressure for censorship. But it’s important to look closely at what the letter says and what it doesn’t. On the one hand, Mr. Zuckerberg concedes what by now is obvious—that there was much…
Read

In ‘Over Ruled,’ Justice Gorsuch Tells of the Folly of the Administrative State

By: Philip Hamburger July 30, 2024
Books by Supreme Court justices usually focus on constitutional doctrine—on judicial interpretations of the Constitution. “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law” is, therefore, a pleasant surprise. Justice Neil Gorsuch and his former clerk Janie Nitze prioritize not legal analysis, but a series of stories about unfortunate litigants, whose experiences illuminate the dangers…
Read