Politics, Moderate
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Trump's Abortion Stance Is Convenient, But That Does Not Mean He's Wrong: His Embrace of Federalism Is One of Those Rare Instances When Political Expedience Coincides With Constitutional Principles
"On abortion," The New York Times claims, former President Donald Trump "chose politics over principles." In reality, Trump's recent clarification of his abortion position is one of those rare instances when political expedience coincides with constitutional principles.
In a Truth Social video posted on Monday, Trump said each state should be...Read more
New York's Pot Legalization 'Disaster' Was Entirely Predictable: The State's Policies and Practices Seemed Designed to Strangle the Legal Marijuana Supply
Three years after New York legalized marijuana, unauthorized pot shops outnumber licensed retailers by more than 20 to 1. Legislators and regulators could have avoided this "disaster," as Gov. Kathy Hochul rightly calls it, if they had learned from the mistakes of other states that have struggled to displace the black market.
Disregarding ...Read more
The Supreme Court Should Reject Clandestine Government Censorship of Online Speech: The Biden Administration's Social Media Meddling Went Far Beyond 'Information' and 'Advice'
When federal officials persistently pressured social media platforms to delete or downgrade posts those officials did not like, a government lawyer told the Supreme Court on Monday, they were merely offering "information" and "advice" to their "partners" in fighting "misinformation." If the justices accept that characterization, they will be ...Read more
Expanding the Drug War to Include Tobacco Would Be a Big Mistake: The Judicially Approved Brookline Ban Reflects a Broader Trend Among Progressives Who Should Know Better
Last month, New Zealand scrapped a law that would have gradually prohibited tobacco products by banning sales to anyone born after 2008. But Brookline, a wealthy Boston suburb, will implement a similar scheme now that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has cleared the way.
Brookline's bylaw, which bans sales of "tobacco or e-...Read more
Texas and Florida Say the First Amendment Must Be Sacrificed to Save It: Supreme Court Arguments About Two Social Media Laws Highlight a Dangerous Conflation of State and Private Action
A social media platform is like a telegraph, Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson told the Supreme Court on Monday, defending his state's restrictions on content moderation by Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube. Paul Clement, speaking on behalf of the tech trade group NetChoice, rejected that comparison, saying a social media platform...Read more
Two New York Cases Lend Credibility to Trump's Complaint of Partisan Persecution: Neither Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Nor New York Attorney General Letitia James Can Explain Exactly Who Was Victimized by the Dishonesty They Cite
As Donald Trump tells it, all of the civil and criminal cases against him are part of a Democratic conspiracy to keep him from returning to the White House. Although some of the many charges against him involve credible allegations of serious crimes, they have been overshadowed recently by two New York cases that are much weaker.
In 2016, ...Read more
Did Decriminalization Boost Drug Deaths in Oregon?: Recent Research Finds 'No Evidence' That It Did, Undermining a Key Claim by Critics of That Policy
Oregon is considering legislation that would recriminalize low-level drug possession, reversing a landmark reform that voters approved in 2020. Although critics of that ballot initiative, Measure 110, cite escalating drug-related deaths, decriminalization is not responsible for that trend.
Opioid overdose fatalities have been rising ...Read more
Based on Loose Reasoning, a Federal Judge Upholds the Gun-Free School Zones Act: The Decision Likens the Federal Law to Reconstruction Era Restrictions on Firearms Near Polling Places
A federal law prohibits gun possession within 1,000 feet of an elementary or secondary school. That restriction, a federal judge in Montana noted last week, "covers almost the entirety of every urban location in the United States, including many places that have nothing to do with the closest school."
U.S. District Judge Susan Watters ...Read more
The 5th Circuit Says Criminalizing Journalism Is Not Obviously Unconstitutional: The Appeals Court Dismissed a Civil Rights Lawsuit by a Laredo Gadfly Who Was Arrested for Asking Questions
Five years ago, the Harris County, Texas, Institute of Forensic Sciences sent me reports on the autopsies of two people who had been killed in a Houston drug raid. After I wrote an article based on those reports, the county attorney's office told me they were not public information because they were part of an ongoing investigation.
Although ...Read more
Accused of Dictatorial Ambitions, Trump Doubles Down on Authoritarianism: His Understanding of Effective Leadership and Policing Should Repel Anyone Who Cares About Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law
Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of foreign autocrats, recently has been inveighing against the dangers of holding politicians and police officers accountable for breaking the law. If the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee wants to convince general election voters that there is nothing to charges that he harbors dictatorial ...Read more
The Chevron Doctrine Discomfits the Weak: Excessive Judicial Deference Gives Administrative Agencies a License to Rewrite the Law in Their Favor
In two cases the Supreme Court is considering, herring fishermen in New Jersey and Rhode Island are challenging regulatory fees they say were never authorized by Congress. Critics of those lawsuits misleadingly complain that the sympathetic plaintiffs are "providing cover" for a corporate attempt to "disable and dismantle" environmental ...Read more
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