Blog
Cy Pres You’ll Read This
Learn about the state of cy pres law without having to pay for a CLE class! Today, Washington Legal Foundation published a short and useful…
Blog
Unions’ Extensive Influence over Politics Highlights Need for Reform
As the midterm elections approach, it’s interesting to keep tabs on the biggest spenders and the heaviest-hitting activists.
Breitbart
Government Omits Any Mention of Jonathan Gruber in Most Recent Court Filing
Gruber and the amicus brief he signed were cited in nearly every government court filing in both the King v. Burwell case and the Halbig…
Blog
BPA Research Funding Linked to Researcher Bias?
The number of studies that have appeared in the news during recent years on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is staggering. Few substances undergo such scrutiny.
Blog
A Pen and Phone Strategy to Shrink Government
President Obama is right that Congress doesn’t do much. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, of course. But the pen and phone strategy Obama proposed…
Blog
The Economist: Interchange Fee Caps Benefit Large Retailers at Consumer Expense
Surprise! Price controls lead to unintended consequences—including transfers of wealth to parties who lobbied for those controls. That’s the actual – and unsurprising – result…
Blog
The 2014 Federal Paperwork and Red Tape Roundup, Part 2: Billions of Dollars and 13,000 Lifetimes Annually
Whoever makes two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, deserves better of mankind, and…
Blog
Where in the World is Jonathan Gruber?
The Obamacare insurance exchange rule is being challenged in four cases, and each one of them has been active over the last two weeks. The IRS…
Fox News
Pulling ‘an IRS’? EPA Reportedly Loses Text Messages Now Sought in Request
The EPA is being accused of pulling “an IRS” for reportedly planning to inform the National Archives it has lost text messages being sought in…
National Review
The EPA Chief’s Text Messages Go Missing
But Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of The Liberal War on Transparency, who is suing over the…
Washington Examiner
EEOC Says Its Background Checks Irrelevant
The government further argued that it would "dangerous" for the court to require that it turn over the policy since that would open up EEOC…
Forbes
A Win For Philly’s Financial Future
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission showed true grit Monday when it made the politically risky move of asking public sector teachers—just like the vast…
RealClear Markets
Obama’s Pen and Phone Can Achieve Great Things
"[I]f Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will," President Obama warned in 2013. "I will direct my cabinet to come up with…
Blog
Super PAC Attacks Kochs on Civil Rights, Endorses “Urban Renewal” Policies that Harmed Minorities
Last week, Alternet posted yet another bogus smear on the libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. It has since been reposted by Salon.com. The…
Blog
New Employment Data May Give Clues to Why Recovery Is Stuck in First Gear
The good news for workers is that the labor market is growing and the economy shows signs of improvement. The unemployment rate is down to…
Blog
See Me at San Francisco Crowdfund Banking and Lending Summit
My colleague Wayne Crews’ Forbes column Monday explained “How Entrepreneurs Can Speak Out About the Cost of Regulation,” but noted sadly that “businesses that never form…
Blog
The 2014 Federal Paperwork and Red Tape Roundup, Part 1: Big Bucks for Pencil Pushers
The more restrictions and prohibitions are in the Empire, the poorer grow the people. —Lao-Tzu When it comes to red tape and federal paperwork,…
Products
Oklahoma v. Burwell
News Release
Fight Over Online Gambling Pits Consumer Freedom, States Rights Against Federal Regulation
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 – Members of Congress are attempting to use a 1960s-era law governing organized crime and sports betting to regulate one of the…
Blog
CEI Awards Pro-Worker Senators
Senators with 100% Labor & Employment Scorecard Ratings Honored at Hill Event…
Blog
CalPERS: It Came from Sacramento
“Heads I win; tails you lose.” That essentially sums up the relationship the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) has long enjoyed vis-à-vis the Golden…
Blog
How Will the Future View the “Temples” of Eco-Theocrats?
While vacationing in Germany recently, I noted many beautiful and now largely untenanted churches. Elegant, majestic against the sky, they are potent symbols of a…
Blog
Results of “Cash for Appliances”
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (commonly called "the stimulus"), a $300 million program to subsidize consumer purchases of energy-efficient appliances called…
Blog
Oral Argument in Pearson v. NBTY, Inc.
Are you trick-and/or-treating in downtown Chicago this Halloween? If so, visit the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to watch oral argument…
PC World
Groups Accuse FCC of Helping Net Neutrality Advocates File Comments
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission engaged in the worst kind of “partisan politics” by working closely with net neutrality advocates to ensure their comments were…
Washington Examiner
Fannie, Freddie Investors Undaunted by Court Loss
A representative of Fairholme Funds, one of the activist hedge funds that brought the lawsuits in both the District and Federal Claims courts, told the…
Forbes
Defending the Virtue of the Business World at Home and Abroad
A new CNBC/Burson-Marsteller poll on attitudes toward business in both developed and emerging economies reveals some troubling findings. While business leaders in the U.S.
Study
The Wire Act and Implications for State-Based Legalization of Internet Gambling
More than 30 years after the original Federal Wire Act, members of Congress seek to use it to stop the rise of casino-style gambling on…
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Supporting Amicus Brief of the States of Kansas and Nebraska
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Supporting Amicus Brief of Seven Members of Congress
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Supporting Amicus Brief of Jonathan Adler and Michael Cannon
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Supporting Amicus Brief of the Pacific Research Institute and Cato Institute
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Supporting Amicus Brief of the Galen Institute
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Supporting Amicus Brief of Judicial Watch
Blog
Federal Government Granted $157 Million Subsidy to Government Unions in FY 2012
When someone is paid to perform services, it should not be considered volunteer work.
Blog
Must Every Product in the World Be Safe Enough for Children?
The New York Times reported Friday on the David-and-Goliath battle of businessman Shihan Qu, the last of the rare earth magnet renegades. Mr. Qu’s…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Federal Register topped the 60,000-page mark on Friday, and is on pace for the 6th-highest page count in its 79-year history. Along the way,…
Forbes
How Entrepreneurs Can Speak Out About The Cost Of Regulation
When federal bureaucrats in Washington released the Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations for fiscal year 2013, their hope was…
InsideEPA
CEI Pushes Air Law Reform To Bolster State-EPA ‘Cooperative Federalism’
Conservative think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is suggesting Congress pursue Clean Air Act amendments to correct what it sees as an imbalance in…
Legal Brief
King v. Burwell – Government Opposition to Cert Petition
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: En Banc Appendix
Legal Brief
Halbig v. Burwell: Appellants’ En Banc Opening Brief
Blog
Journalists Called Out for Bad Reporting on Consumption Data
Being a journalist is not an easy job; it demands fast paced and high volume production. For those “wonk” journalists tasked with analyzing data-heavy reports…
Blog
Opening Brief in Gascho v. Global Fitness Holdings
Candy corn, pumpkin pie, egg nog . . . no wonder that three months from now we’ll all be joining gyms. So let’s inaugurate the…
One News Now
Mobile Checking a “Scheme” or Good for Competition?
John Berlau discusses mobile checking with One News Now: "This week, an article in Salon calls it a scheme to prey on America's…
Blog
Is Driving to Work in Decline?
Over at The Washington Post's Wonkblog, urban affairs reporter Emily Badger has a post up on the recently released U.S. Census Bureau American Community…
Blog
Moody’s $2 Trillion Public Pension Shortfall Estimate Highlights Need for Better Pension Accounting Practices
In a new report, Moody’s estimates the nation’s largest pension funds face a $2 trillion taken together. That’s a lot of money. But as significant…
Cato Journal: Fall 2014 Vol. 34 No. 3
Cato Journal: “Unstoppable” Book Review
This article was originally published in the Fall 2014 Edition of the Cato Institute Journal. Read the Full Review…
News Release
Journalist Carrie Sheffield Selected as CEI’s Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow
Blog
Cyanide, Tylenol and How Free Markets Make You Safer
Today is the anniversary of one of the most significant food and drug related events in recent memory. Often discussed in college business classes these…
Study
Europe’s Fiscal Crisis Revealed: An In-Depth Analysis of Spending, Austerity, and Growth
Read the Full Study at Heritage.org Italy’s current economic problems are the result of a decades-old web of business-stifling regulation and a…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
A busy week ended with a flourish, with Friday’s Federal Register alone containing 28 final regulations and 542 pages.
National Interest
Can Europe Move Past Its Economic Malaise?
Will incoming European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s cabinet assignments set the scene for an economic turnaround within the European Union? The answer to that question…
Human Events
Reforming Education is Ultimately About Choice
Products
Response questioned
David Heckman’s response (“A bad idea,” Your Views, Sept. 6) to my recent op-ed (“Tolls less regressive than gas taxes,” Views, Aug. 31) conflated mine…
Blog
Study on Artificial Sweeteners Interesting But Flawed
A new study out of Israel on the possible effects of artificial sweeteners is making a lot of headlines this week. Unfortunately (and as usual)…
Washington Examiner
Federal Regs Cost $1.88 Trillion, More With Obama’s ‘Pen and Phone’ Rules
Burdensome federal regulations cost American taxpayers and businesses a shocking $1.88 trillion annually — far more than the administration estimates — and that doesn’t include…
Blog
Are Consumers Smart Enough to Understand Airline Ancillary Fees?
In May, I criticized the Department of Transportation’s opening of a rulemaking on airline ancillary fees (baggage, seat assignments, etc.), noting that the primary…
Wall Street Journal
Arne Duncan vs. Fairness and the Rights of the Accused
The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights has indeed "imposed onerous demands" on colleges like Princeton University in how they investigate sexual harassment and rape…
Legal Brief
National Review – Appellate Reply Brief
Comment
CEI Comments in DOT-OST-2014-0056
View the Full Comments Here The Department of Transportation is using consumer complaints over baggage and other fees as a pretext to…
Legal Brief
Competitive Enterprise Institute, Appellate Reply Brief
Blog
The NLRB Forces CNN to Rehire Workers Terminated Over a Decade Ago
CNN is appealing a recent ruling from the National Labor Relations Board which forces CNN to hire back workers from a temp agency known as…
Blog
CalPERS Abandons “Hail Mary” Investment Strategy – About Time
CalPERS knows when to fold ‘em. The California Public Employee Retirement System, the nation’s largest public pension fund (and one of the world’s largest), announced…
Blog
For Fannie and Freddie Reform, Transparency Is a Must
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
National Review
Access Is Power
The foxes are running the henhouse at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In academic parlance, this is a textbook example of “regulatory capture” —…
National Review
Dodd-Frank Will Cripple American Energy
The two recent federal court decisions on Obamacare subsidies — one for, one against — prompted fevered reactions and discussion. By contrast, two recent rulings…
Human Events
He Who Can, Does. He Who Cannot Takes a Job with a Federal Safety Agency
A former colleague, who lived and worked in the U.S. on a valid work permit, would travel back to Canada periodically to renew the permit.
Wall Street PR
RadioShack Corporation’s (RSH) Class-Action Settlement Anulled By Federal Appeals Court
Wall Street PR reports on the case in which the Seventh Circuit court sided with CCAF's argument that plaintiffs' lawyer fees must be proportionate to…
Stockwise Daily
Federal Appeals Court Declares Radioshack Corporation (RSH) Class-Action Settlement Void
Stockwise Daily reports on the Redman v. RadioShack Corp. and mentions Center for Class Action Fairness' Ted Frank and his reponse to the outcome of the case.
Blog
Victory! Redman v. Radioshack
CCAF won a tremendous victory for class members in Redman v. Radioshack, just eleven days after oral argument! Judge Richard Posner, a legal authority renowned…
Study
Learning from the Past, Freeing up the Future: The Political Economy of Regulatory Change
Reuters
U.S. court voids RadioShack class-action settlement over card receipts
Reuters interviews Center for Class Action Fairness' founder Ted Frank on federal appeals court's decision to void RadioShack Corporation's class-action settlement. Ted Frank,…
The Hill
Black Markets Do Not Protect Minorities
Originally published at The Hill Former Denver mayor Wellington Webb argues in a Sept. 14 op-ed in The Hill that legalized online gambling would…
Watchdog.org
Officials quiet as police cite Uber-driving, retired Navy dad
Marc Scribner is a transportation expert at the Washington, D.C-based Competitive Enterprise Institute. He says the problem lies with Virginia’s laws — laws that didn’t…
Providence Journal
Disastrous Application of Dodd-Frank Law to Insurance Company
The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), an unaccountable, secretive task force of financial bureaucrats created by the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” act of 2010, has decided…
Letters
Letter to House Financial Services Subcommittee on Rights of Private Shareholders
View the Full Letter Here The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), in a coalition of 17 conservative and free-market public policy leaders, sent…
Blog
Billionaire Diversity: Foreign vs. Domestic
Brookings Institution scholar Darrell West, whose new book Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust is being released later this week, has another intriguing graphic…
Blog
Lesson from Ex-Im Fight: More Agencies Should Have Sunsets
Congress hasn’t voted just yet on the Continuing Resolution that includes the Export-Import Bank’s reauthorization. But we already know that it will pass this week,…
News Release
Coalition Letter: Conservative and Free-Market Leaders Urge House Finance Committee to Protect Private Property and Shareholders’ Rights
WASHINGTON – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), in a coalition of 17 conservative and free-market public policy leaders, sent a letter to Chairman Patrick…
Fox News
On Constitution Day, A Reminder That Political, Economic Chaos are a Good Thing
“I’m not a Constitutional scholar, I just play one on television.” That might be a fitting disclaimer for recent article by David Wheeler, an Asbury…
Legal Brief
FOIA Request to CMS on Contract Issues
Read the Full Request Here…
Blog
STB Reauthorization Bill Threatens Rail Investment
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has scheduled a markup for tomorrow afternoon of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act (S.2777). If…
Blog
In Memoriam: Elizabeth Whelan
I was very sad to hear last week that Elizabeth Whelan, founder and president of the American Council on Science and Health, had passed…
Study
Why British Columbia’s Carbon Tax Is Not Applicable to America
A carbon tax does not boost growth. It does not lower the tax burden, but merely shifts it around—and can even open the door to…
Investor's Business Daily
Ex-Im Bank Fight Shows How We Can Sunset More Useless Agencies
As far as flash-point issues go, the Export-Import Bank is about as unlikely as it gets. Few people have even heard of Ex-Im, a federal…
The Freeman
Freedom and Whisky Go Together
On Thursday, Scottish voters will decide whether to dissolve the 300-year-old union with England and Wales or remain in it. Until a few weeks ago,…
News Release
Report: British Columbia Carbon Tax, a Bad Fit for the U.S.
WASHINGTON – Rebutting claims that the United States should adopt a carbon tax, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report…
Blog
Regulator: True Ridesharing Illegal in California
In the past, I’ve noted that carve-outs for ridesharing providers leaves more innovative and disruptive business models—particularly future automated services—illegal. While self-driving on-demand transportation…
Blog
Will the NLRB’s McDonald’s Decision Destroy Franchise System or Make Companies More Accountable?
That was the question at the center of a September 9 House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee hearing, which was held in response to…
Blog
New Mexico Workers and Industry Would Benefit from Right to Work
Albuquerque Business First reports that New Mexico could become one of the next right-to-work (RTW) battlegrounds depending on upcoming election results, where Republicans could reclaim…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The number of new regulations topped 2,500 on the year, while the Federal Register added 1,853 pages to end the week just shy of the…
Human Events
Top-Rated Economies of the World Are Not By Coincidence
Isn’t it odd how we assign human characteristics to inanimate objects? We rank the “friendliest,” “least hospitable,” “most free” regions and countries. We nickname urban…
Blog
Celebrate Billionaire Diversity
Darrell West, a Vice President at the Brookings Institution, has a new book coming out next week on the political influence of the very wealthy,…
Blog
CDC Study: Kids Eat Same Amount of Sodium as Worldwide Average
It’s not exactly a blood-pressure raising headline, which is probably why the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is actually…
News Release
CEI Honors 27 Senators with “Champion of the Worker” Awards
For Immediate Release Contact: Annie Dwyer, 202-331-2765 Christine Hall, 202-331-2777 CEI Honors 27 Senators with…
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClellan: Divvying Up $2.7 Million in Leftovers
Bill Mclellan describes Ted Frank's arguments in the Oetting v. Green Jacobson PC case. The big question was this: Why should money belonging…
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClellan: Divvying up $2.7 million in leftovers
St. Louis Post-Dispatch discusses the class action case in which Ted Frank defends David Oetting arguing that the settlement money should be returned to the stockholders.
Blog
CEI Awards Pro-Worker Legislators
As we did last Congress, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has produced our Labor and Employment Policy Scorecard for this 113th Congress on our labor website,…