Neither Necessary nor Proper
It was sixteen years ago last month that the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Gonzales v. Raich (2005), ruled that the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801) did not exceed the power of Congress...
View ArticleThe Supreme Court Case that Protects Cops Using Dangerous Chokeholds
Even supporters of the police were shocked by the video of Officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee on George Floyd’s neck as the restrained man struggled to breathe. Chauvin used one form of chokehold,...
View ArticleThe Police State’s Reign of Terror Continues, With Help from the Supreme Court
You think you’ve got rights? Think again. All of those freedoms we cherish—the ones enshrined in the Constitution, the ones that affirm our right to free speech and assembly, due process, privacy,...
View ArticleWhen Are Secrets Not Secret?
“Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.”- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Last week, President George W. Bush’s torture regime reared its head in an unusual argument before the U.S....
View ArticleCongress’s new unconstitutional “tax mandate” and its runaway spending power
While the public focuses on the Biden administration’s vaccination mandate, many are overlooking yet another new federal mandate: Congress’s effort to ban state tax cuts. Congress passed the so-called...
View ArticleDoes Biden’s OSHA vaccination mandate exceed federal authority?
On November 12, a federal appeals court suspended the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) order fining businesses with 100 or more employees for each employee unvaccinated against...
View ArticleRecord Shows Supreme Court Overwhelmingly Protects Federal Power
One of the most prevalent political strategies is to sue and hope federal courts rein in unconstitutional federal overreach. But evidence shows it almost never turns out that way. While some justices...
View ArticleHow the Supreme Court rewrote the Constitution: 1937–1944; Part I
The Constitution created a relatively small federal government, with powers limited to certain listed subjects. It was a frugal institution, designed to “preserve the blessings of Liberty” and to bring...
View ArticleHow the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part III: The Court on the Brink
The first installment in this series explained that the Constitution created a small and frugal federal government. This didn’t change materially until the 1930s and 1940s. The second installment...
View ArticleHow the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part IV: A packed court and a...
The first, second, and third installments in this series explained that the Constitution created a small and frugal federal government. Those installments discussed how President Franklin D....
View ArticleHow the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part V: Killing Economic Freedom
The first, second, third, and fourth installments in this series described how the Constitution established a relatively small federal government with limited powers and how President Franklin D....
View ArticleHow the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part VI: Crushing Civil Liberties
The first, second, third, fourth and fifth installments in this series traced how the Supreme Court responded to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to break constitutional limits and create a...
View ArticleYet Another Federal Court Fail
Conservatives and libertarians often count on the federal courts to “protect their rights.” This is a bad strategy. Most of the time it fails. Instead of protecting rights, federal courts hand down bad...
View ArticleHow the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part VII: Concentration Camps...
This is the last installment in a series on the nadir, or low point, of the U.S. Supreme Court. This was the period from 1937 to 1944, when the court stopped protecting the Constitution’s limits on the...
View ArticleIndian Child Welfare Act: Another case of Congress’s overreach goes to the...
The federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a classic instance of congressional overreach: It imposes sweeping child adoption rules on the states and has caused extreme hardship for Native children...
View ArticleThe 1859 Oberlin Trial: A Victory for the Higher Law
Months prior to John Brown’s infamous 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry, a trial took place rooted in the same issues of slavery and federal enforcement that, while ultimately inconsequential in shaping...
View ArticleThe Fascinating Supreme Court Opinions in the Vaello Madero Case
Note: In this Supreme Court case, issued April 21, 2022, II’s Rob Natelson received his 21st citation from the justices—this time from Justice Clarence Thomas. In this essay, which first appeared in...
View ArticleFact Check: No, overruling Roe v. Wade would not endanger other rights
In a previous essay, I surmised that the purpose of leaking the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overruling Roe v. Wade (pdf) was to expose one or more justices to political pressure. Abortion proponents...
View ArticleThe Power of Precedent: How a 1796 Supreme Court Decision Supported Obamacare
A rather obscure Supreme Court case decided in 1796 set the stage for Chief Justice John Roberts to declare the Obamacare penalty a tax. It also underscores the long-running debate about the...
View ArticleHow the States Can be Even Worse than the Feds on Qualified Immunity
For decades, the federal courts have upheld the doctrine of qualified immunity, giving federal officials enormous legal protections against lawsuits from private citizens for violating their rights....
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