Blog
What President Obama Will Not Tell Leonardo DiCaprio About Climate Policy
“President Obama will meet with actor Leonardo DiCaprio at an upcoming White House-sponsored arts festival to discuss the dangers posed by climate change,” the Washington…
The Daily Signal
The Sneaky Way Public Unions Are Getting Tax Dollars for Union Activities
Taxpayers expect their government to spend tax dollars wisely, on activities that benefit the public. But across the country, governments at all levels give away…
The Washington Post
More might die on the road rather than submit to a TSA body scan?
The Washington Post reports on CEI's lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration's body scanner rule, and discusses the case with Marc Scribner. Opponents…
News Release
CEI Expert: Devastating Overtime Rule Must be Delayed
This week, the House will consider Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-Mich.) Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act (H.R.6094), which delays the implementation…
Blog
House Considers Bill Delaying Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule
Today, the House Rules Committee will consider Representative Tim Walberg’s bill to delay implementation of the Department of Labor’s overtime rule.
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 7: Track Regulatory Accumulation
This is the seventh entry in a series on how the next president can reduce the scope of bureaucracy. Earlier installments have addressed a freeze on…
Blog
CEI Files Opening Brief in TSA Body Scanner Lawsuit
Yesterday, CEI, The Rutherford Institute, and two CEI employees (VP of Strategy Iain Murray and yours truly) filed our opening brief against the Transportation Security…
Fox News
It’s Judgment Day for the EPA’s Clean Power Plan
On Tuesday, September 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear arguments over EPA’s massive Clean Power Plan. The…
Bloomberg BNA
Not Everyone is Happy with the $14.7 Billion Volkswagen Settlement
Bloomberg BNA reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the Volkswagen emissions settlement. In August, the attorneys who represented the…
InsideSources
House Republicans Fight to Delay Obama’s Overtime Rule
InsideSources discusses the overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. The Competitive Enterprise Institute has been one of several policy groups expressing concern over…
Blog
Tom Cotton’s Last Minute Anti-Gambling Bill
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) fears the Internet.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Agencies issued more than six dozen new final regulations last week, ranging from minerals to dates.
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 6: Enhance Disclosure in ‘Unified Agenda’
There are rules, and then there are rules. Agencies are supposed to alert the public to their priorities in the semi-annual “Regulatory Plan and Unified…
Blog
Surface Transportation Board Seeks to Impose Backdoor Railroad Price Controls
The infamously destructive Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) may be history, but many outside of the railroad policy world are unfamiliar with its predecessor: the Surface…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Penniless Presidencies and Fashioning America
This week, we discuss two new books covering the national debt crisis and political values with authors Dr. Alan Axelrod and Cathy Lynn Taylor.
Comment
CEI Comments on New Mandates for Freight Railroads
View Document as PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the Surface…
The Hill
Meet the new Robber Barons
There was a time when railroad tycoons built empires by exploiting government connections to take advantage of the little guy. Today, the tables are turned,…
News Release
CEI Urges Rail Regulators to Nix Proposed Backdoor Price Controls
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today submitted public comments to the nation’s top railroad regulator opposing new mandates and price controls on freight railroad…
News Release
CEI Files Opening Brief Against TSA Body Scanner Regulation
Blog
Comment on EPA Power Plan’s Alleged Air Pollution “Co-Benefits”
Climate activists assure us that even if we don’t consider global warming a big problem, we should still support carbon taxes, renewable energy quota, and…
Blog
Obama Readies the Military for Climate Change, Our No. 1 Global Threat
The White House on 21st September released a Presidential Memorandum on Climate Change and National Security. Section 1 states its purpose: “This memorandum establishes a…
NewsBusters
Liberals, Media Allies Might Face Some Serious Opposition on Financial Regulation
New York State’s Department of Labor recently made headlines with its rules mandating that employers paying their workforces with prepaid debit cards ensure that employees…
Blog
Economics Made the World Great – and Can Make It Even Better
This week our friends at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University hosted their Annual Dinner here in Washington, D.C., and it was an elegant…
Blog
Mr. Robot and the Future of Money
Last week, the cult USA channel TV show Mr. Robot showed once again why it is required viewing for anyone interested in technology.
The Daily Caller
The EPA’s “Power Plan” Is An Unlawful Power Grab
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument next Tuesday, September 27 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s so-called Clean Power Plan. The centerpiece…
Washington Post
How Trump would stimulate the U.S. economy
The Washington Post highlights Wayne Crews's calculated cost of federal regulations from his anual Ten Thousand Commandments report. Beyond trade, America’s Gulliver economy…
Washington Examiner
Dems’ climate pact ‘doomed from the start,’ group says
Washington Examiner speaks with Chris Horner on emails regarding the subpoena CEI recieved for their work on climate change. Soon after, U.S. Virgin…
Bloomberg Law
Not Everyone is a Fan of the $14.7 Billion VW Settlement
Bloomberg Law reports on the Volkswagen emissions settlement and CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the settlement. A proposed $14.7 billion…
Cato Journal
Review of “Markets without Limits”
Are there some things that should be beyond the market, that is, which should not be permitted to be bought and sold? Jason Brennan and Peter Jaworski…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Opposing Estate Tax Changes
Blog
Inquiry into Judicial Deference
Deference is judicial respect for agency interpretations of ambiguities in texts that carry the force and effect of law.
Letters
CEI Joins 35 Organizations in Support of Free Trade
Blog
Issues to Watch in Next Week’s Clean Power Plan Oral Argument
Next week the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral argument on EPA’s so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP), which establishes first-ever carbon dioxide (CO2) emission…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 5: Scrutinize Informal ‘Guidance’ Documents
When a new president scrutinizes agency rules as we have called for in this series, he or she also needs to bring “guidance documents” under…
Blog
How the Next President Can Improve Labor and Employment Policy
With the presidential election heading into the first debate, what can the next president do to improve national labor and employment policy?…
Politico
DOT doesn’t try to provide all the answers in driverless cars guidance
Politico's Morning Transportation quotes Marc Scribner on the Department of Transportation's guidance on self-driving cars. Marc Scribner, research fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute: “Highway…
Inside Unmanned Systems
DOT Issues Autonomous Vehicle Policy
Inside Unmanned Systems discusses the Department of Transportation's guidelines for self-driving car technology with Marc Scribner. The non-mandatory aspects of the policy provisions…
Blog
Reform of “Toxic Substance” Rules Could Increase Health Risks
Although it was not unwarranted for safety reasons (as I detailed before), TSCA reform has granted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greater power to remove…
Blog
A Free Market Response to the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy
The quickest way to slam the brakes on innovation is for bumbling bureaucrats to outlaw it.
Blog
Response to Prof. Aaron Nielson on ‘Auer Deference’
As I’ve discussed before, there is a robust ongoing debate over the propriety of Article III courts giving binding respect to a regulatory agency’s interpretations…
Blog
RIP Reed Larson
Don’t have to pay union dues? You can probably thank Reed Larson.
Blog
Response to Prof. Ronald Levin on ‘Auer Deference’
Last week, I posted about an ongoing symposium at Notice & Comment, regarding Auer deference to agency interpretations of their own regulations.
Blog
Ghost Rules and Dark Matter: Developments in Regulatory Law
Blog
Obama Administration Violates Judicial Independence in Dakota Pipeline Case
Last week, I lambasted the Obama administration for effectively overturning an Article III court decision regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline. Below is a summary of…
Talk Media News
57 illegal aliens nabbed at Texas stash house, Improbable crime rate study
Talk Media News reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's objection a proposed class action settlement from the Volkswagen emisisons scandal. The…
The Hill
White House rolls out guidelines for self-driving cars
The Hill discusses the Department of Transportation's guidance on self-driving cars with Marc Scribner. Marc Scribner, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise…
Ars Technica
The federal self-driving vehicles policy has finally been published
Ars Technica discusses the Department of Transportation's guidelines on self-driving cars with Marc Scribner. Marc Scribner, an expert on transport policy at the…
The Houstonian
$3500 Lemonade Stand: How Government Regulation Stifles Entrepreneurialism
The Houstonian highlights Wayne Crews's annual report on the cost of federal regulations. Regulatory barriers to trade – not only on the federal…
The Daily Caller
Think Tank Claims Attorneys Bilked VW Claimants Out Of Hundreds Of Millions
The Daily Caller reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the Volkswagen emissions settlement. Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed an…
News Release
CEI Seeks Supreme Court Review of Unfair Lawyer Payout in Global Fitness Class Action Settlement
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a challenge to a lopsided class action settlement agreement that leaves…
News Release
CEI Flags Flaws with New Obama Driverless Car Policy
The Obama administration today put out long-awaited regulatory guidance on self-driving cars. CEI transportation policy expert Marc Scribner says that along with some sensible policies,…
Blog
How A New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 4: Expand Number of Rules Receiving Cost Analysis
The Office of Management and Budget conducts review of some significant or major rules’ cost-benefit analyses, but not quite as many or as deeply as…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Agencies issued 78 new regulations last week, ranging from cherries to dairy.
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Sensible Science and Authenticity
On this week’s RealClear Radio Hour, Tracey Brown weighs risk, reward, and science, and Glenn Carroll describes authenticity’s paradox.
Reuters
In objection to $14 billion VW deal, Ted Frank claims class lawyers breached duty
Reuters reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the proposed Volkswagen emissions settlement. Reporter Alison Frankel calls CCAF's Ted Frank a "class…
E&E News
Conservative group says settlement shortchanges consumers
E&E News reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the proposed class-action settlement over the Volkswagen emissions scandal. In a…
One News Now
‘Amazing’ developments re: self-driving cars
One News Now discusses technology developments for self-driving cars with Marc Scribner. "More training options are great," says Marc Scribner, transportation policy analyst…
Los Angeles Times
If a law has a first name, that’s a bad sign
Donald Trump claims to be running for president as an outsider. But his campaign has resorted to one of the oldest tricks in the book…
Bloomberg BNA
Should Late Shopping of Class Settlements Draw Sanctions?
Bloomberg BNA reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's involvement in an insurance class action settlement. Attorneys for both sides have appealed…
News Release
CEI Objects to Abusive Volkswagen Settlement at Center of Emissions Scandal
On Friday evening, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) Center for Class Action Fairness asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California…
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief: In Re Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness filed an amicus brief before the U.S. District Court…
Litigation
Volkswagen ʺClean Dieselʺ Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation
On September 16, 2016, CEI filed an objection on behalf of a class member to the proposed settlement in In re Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices,…
The Hill
Driverless cars face regulatory roadblock
The Hill highlights Marc Scribner's study examining state laws restricting truck platooning technology. But it’s not just pedal and steering wheel rules that…
The Denver Post
Like Obama, Hickenlooper using heavy-handed tactics on climate policy
On climate change, is Gov. John Hickenlooper ripping a page directly from President Obama’s authoritarian playbook? Obama dodged global warming during his reelection campaign, only…
Instapundit
HANS BADER: Obama Backs the Worst Colleges While Destroying For-Profit Schools.
Instapundit highlights Hans Bader's comments on the ways the Obama administration is pressuring for-profit schools. The federal government happily subsidizes inferior state colleges…
Real Clear Policy
Footlong Subs and Other Frivolous Lawsuits
You may have heard about the attorney who sued his dry cleaner for $67 million for losing his pants, or the movie-goer who…
Letters
CEI Joins Groups Opposing Fast-Track Loans for Ex-Im
Blog
Obama’s Worst Power Grab Yet
The $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline is a partially completed project that would move almost 500,000 barrels of oil daily from the Bakken oil fields in…
Blog
House Panel Holds Hearing on Its Power to Investigate New York and Massachusetts AGs
On Wednesday (September 14, 2016), the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee held a hearing on the Committee’s efforts to subpoena documents from the New York…
Blog
Wells Fargo and the Principal-Agent Problem
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has celebrated the $100 million fine it has imposed on San Francisco bank Wells Fargo for its employees’ improper handling…
Study
Empirical Answers to Outstanding Questions in the Ongoing Debate Over Auer
This study was originally posted at the Yale Journal of Regulations. View it here. View the study at the…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 3: Review, Revise, Repeal, and Sunset
Short of the moratorium advocated at the top of this series, and in keeping with the spirit of executive orders and retrospective reviews that agencies…
Blog
Appreciate Checks and Balances on Constitution Day
This Constitution Day marks 229 years since the Framers signed the U.S. Constitution following more than four months of debate, votes, and revisions in Philadelphia.
Blog
Sexual Harassment Regulation Expands Federal Bureaucracy
Writing in the California Law Review, Harvard Law School professors Jeannie Suk and Jacob Gersen note that “Today we have an elaborate and growing federal…
Forbes
Why Future Federal Communications Commission Oversight Hearings Should Explore Sunsetting the Agency
There’s another Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight hearing underway in the Senate Commerce Committee, with most of the time being spent on doings with…
Forbes
Banner Ads Are A Joke In The Real World, But Not In Class-Action Land
Forbes discusses lawyers' use of questionable Internet marketing techniques to get notice of class-action settlements out to clients with Ted Frank. “Everybody knows these notice schemes…
Blog
Everything You Should Know about ‘Auer Deference,’ the Most Pressing Issue in Administrative Law
Among the most controversial topics in administrative law is the propriety of Article III courts giving binding deference to agency interpretations of their own regulations.
Blog
How Financial CHOICE Act Rescues Unbanked Americans
If the New York State Department of Labor is really concerned about unbanked employees being hit with fees, it should lend its support to the…
Blog
Arizona Supreme Court Rules Taxpayers Should Be Forced to Subsidize Government Unions
Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court determined that there is no better way to spend tax dollars than to give them to government unions so that…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 2: Boost Resources and Free Market Staff
If we must take the central, top-down administrative state as a given—and it seems that for the time being the Constitution is not coming to…
Blog
When It Comes to Trade Our Leaders, Not Other Countries, Are Ripping Americans off
In recent weeks, trade has repeatedly come up in discussions and speeches by presidential candidates. Donald Trump says he would renegotiate NAFTA, while Hillary Clinton’s…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Urging Congress to Pause the IANA Transition
Blog
Senators Examine Internet Naming Authority
This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts will hold a hearing entitled “Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications…
Washington Examiner
Dems’ climate probe reaches ‘scandalous’ proportions, group says
Washington Examiner highlights CEI's fight against the climate change subpoena we recieved from Attorney General Claude Walker. The attorneys general also have targeted conservative…
News Release
CEI Supports Regulatory Integrity Act
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act, introduced by Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). The…
Blog
Obama Administration Attacks ‘Reasonableness’ and ‘Common Sense’ in Sex Harassment Investigations
The Supreme Court has repeatedly said that not all sexual flirtation or interaction constitutes sexual harassment, and that whether conduct is bad enough to amount…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 1: Freeze Regulations Temporarily
In today’s economy, talk about regulatory liberalization has become a bit more bipartisan.
Blog
Clean Power Plan Litigation: A Giant Ball of Uncertainties
Prognosticating judicial outcomes is a foolish endeavor in general, but trying to predict the fate of the Clean Power Plan in Article III courts is…
Blog
Financial CHOICE Act, Replacement for Dodd-Frank, Passes Out of Committee
The House Financial Services Committee today approved the Financial CHOICE Act (FCA) 30-26 largely along party lines.
Blog
Destroying the Marketplace in Education
The federal government happily subsidizes awful state colleges that graduate few if any of their students.
Inside Unmanned Systems
State Regulations Hampering Automated Truck Platooning, Report Says
Inside Unmanned Systems highlights Marc Scribner's study on state regulations on automated vehicle platooning. In a new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Inside Unmanned Systems
What’s Important about Uber’s Autonomous Vehicle Announcements?
Inside Unmanned Systems discusses Uber's announcement of testing self-driving taxis with Marc Scribner. At least one industry observer believes one Uber announcement could…
News Release
CEI Criticizes Arizona Supreme Court Ruling Against Taxpayers, For Labor Unions
Taxpayers must still pay for labor union activities as a result of a ruling today by the Arizona Supreme Court. CEI labor policy expert Trey Kovacs…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Despite a Labor Day-shortened work week, agencies still found time to issue regulations from soap to whales.
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Criminal Justice Problems and Solutions
This week, I speak with two advocates for criminal justice reform: 33-year police veteran Jim Bueermann and formerly incarcerated entrepreneur Sharon Richardson.
The Hill
Obama eyes big finish on climate
The Hill discusses Obama's climate change policy agenda with William Yeatman. But conservatives see the push as another example of Obama moving toward…
Daily Signal
Enterprise Resists Pressure to Steer Away From Legislative Reform Group
The Daily Signal discusses the attack of the American Legislative Exchange Council on social media with Sam Kazman. ALEC is the victim of…
Reason
OCR to Frostburg State University: Common Sense, ‘Reasonable Person’ Standard Violate Title IX
Blog
Climate Change Already Measurably Harming Society, Study Claims
A UC Berkeley study published online this week in the journal Science purports to quantify the current harmful impacts of anthropogenic climate change. According to…
Blog
Senate EPW Takes Gina McCarthy to Task for Broken Promises
During the summer of 2013, the Senate considered Gina McCarthy’s nomination to become head of the EPA. In the course of this deliberation, Republicans on…