Blog
CEI Sues National Park Service and Interior Department under FOIA over Government Shutdown Documents
Last night, CEI filed suit against the United States Department of the Interior and the National Park Service for failing to produce documents in…
Legal Brief
Complaint in CEI v. Department of Interior, National Park Service
Overlawyered
Schuette v. Coalition, in tweets
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court, over two dissents, ruled that the voters of Michigan were within their rights under the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause to…
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Print Edition Only)
Disparity Reflects a Sad Reality
Walter Williams was right to criticize a recent "guidance" letter from the Obama administration that pressures schools to have the same school discipline rates for…
Overlawyered
Schools Roundup
More applications of New Jersey’s pioneering “anti-bullying” law. And will it stand up in court? [Hans Bader, earlier here, etc.]…
Washington Post
The Truth About Lilly Ledbetter
In her April 13 op-ed column, “A political stunt by Democrats,” Ruth Marcus wrote that a woman who lost a pay-discrimination case in the…
Blog
CEI, Former State Department Officials Defend Freedom of Contract in Supreme Court Case against Argentina
[caption id="attachment_74355" align="alignright" width="300"] Argentina President Cristina Kirchner[/caption] Can a country seeking to welsh on its debts invoke sovereign immunity to evade not just court…
Politico
White House Calls in the Deans — China Growth Slows — Bloomberg Says He’s Going to Heaven
COURT MOVES AGAINST PART OF DODD-FRANK — CEI’s John Berlau: “[The recent] ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that Dodd-Frank’s ‘conflict minerals’ disclosure…
Power Line
Lilly Ledbetter and the Lie That Will Not Die
When a lie becomes an article of faith not just for a movement for an entire political party, that lie is probably here to stay.
Overlawyered
Free Speech Roundup
New Jersey ruling letting parents be sued over kids’ Facebook posts will chill speech [Hans Bader/CEI, earlier]…
Blog
Unconstitutionally Overbroad New Jersey Anti-Bullying Law Challenged; Reference To “Head Lice” Deemed “Bullying”
New Jersey's anti-bullying law, which applies to the state's schools and universities, is so overly broad that a fourth-grader was punished just for…
Blog
EEOC Loses Hypocritical Lawsuit against Employer over Background Checks
"In this case the EEOC sued the defendants for using the same type of background check that the EEOC itself uses." So began a…
Blog
Threatening Free Speech, New Jersey Court Allows Parents to Be Sued for Children’s Facebook Posts
Earlier, we wrote about a Wisconsin town whose ordinance holds parents liable for bullying by their children, including certain speech. We and law professor…
Legal Brief
Complaints filed in CEI v EPA
CNS News
NJ Court Allows Parents to Be Sued for Children’s Facebook Posts
Earlier, we wrote about a Wisconsin town whose ordinance holds parents liable for bullying by their children, including certain speech. We and law professor Eugene…
Washington Times
School-Conduct Codes Aren’t Racist
Blog
CEI Appeals Agency’s Withholding of Documents about Its 2013 Government Shutdown Shenanigans
Earlier, I wrote about how Obama administration officials have been very “tight-lipped in response to FOIA requests” about their “government shutdown shenanigans,” such as closing private…
Legal Brief
FOIA Appeal – USDA, Forest Service
Blog
Agencies Withhold Documents about Closures of Private Businesses in Government Shutdown
In last October's government shutdown, the Obama administration closed down, or blocked access to, many private businesses that had been allowed to operate in earlier…
Washington Times
More Overtime Rules Enrich Obama
The Washington Times‘ editorial board notes that the Obama administration is poised to introduce “new and murkier definitions of overtime eligibility” that will “stifle job…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Hoover’s Deficits
Regarding the March 12 letter “It’s Time to Reject National Debt Fear-Mongering”: Nathaniel Brodsky claimed that President Herbert Hoover made “attempts to shrink” the national…
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief – American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo, Inc.
Full document available in PDF CEI and ICLE filed a joint amicus brief in the Aereo case, which the Supreme Court…
Blog
More Unfunded Mandates for Private Colleges: Activists Seek Restrictions on Campus Sex in California
Legislators impose all sorts of misguided or costly mandates on colleges and schools that harm young people directly or indirectly. California activists are now seeking…
Cato
Kansas Court Wrests School-Budget Decisions from Voters
Blog
CEI Files Comments against IRS Proposed Rules That Would Illegally Restrict 501(C)(4) Speech
Today, CEI filed comments against the IRS’s proposed rules restricting speech by 501(c)(4) groups (which the IRS has suggested could be expanded in…
Comment
CEI Comments to the IRS on Proposed New Restrictions on Candidate-Related Activities of 501(c)(4) Organizations
Full Document Available in PDF The Treasury Department’s proposed rule has been…
Blog
The Bizarre, Slanted Coverage of Arizona’s SB 1062
Yesterday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have made clear that the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) applied not…
Forbes
Obama Administration Takes Groupthink To Absurd Lengths: School Discipline Rates Must Be “Proportionate”
Blog
Minimum Wage Increase to Wipe Out 500,000 Jobs
"Boosting the federal minimum wage as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are proposing" would "cut employment by roughly 500,000 jobs, Congress' nonpartisan budget analyst…
Blog
Right to Free Speech Includes Offensive Speech
"The Wandering Dago food truck wants to park and sell food at various events on New York State property. The state says no, because the…
New York Post
Obama Makes Up His Own Rules
Legal Newsline
Eleven AGs, three organizations file appellate briefs in Dodd-Frank challenge
Blog
More Equality in the U.S. Than in Europe: When the Minimum Wage Buys More in the U.S.
France and England may have higher minimum wages than most of the U.S. does, but things cost so much there that minimum-wage workers can afford less stuff…
Comment
CEI comments on Dodd-Frank proposed diversity statement Docket No OP-1465
Blog
Two Million Jobs Will Disappear Due to Obamacare, CBO Predicts; Deficit to Rise
“The new healthcare law will slow economic growth over the next decade, costing the nation about 2.3 million jobs and contributing to a $1 trillion…
Washington Post
Inconvenient Facts for Obamacare
Townhall
Married To The State
Washington Post
Obama’s minimum wage plan has more statutory authority than prior “unilateral” actions
Blog
State of the Union: More on the President’s Debunked Wage Gap Claim
Aloysius Hogan has already debunked the president's wage gap claim in his State of the Union Address in an earlier post, noting that labor…
The Blaze
Obama Minimum Wage Order Likely To Impact Just 3 Percent Of Federal Contractors
Blog
Obama Administration Undermines School Safety, Pressures Schools to Adopt Racial Quotas in Student Discipline
Crime rates are not the same across different racial categories, and student misconduct rates aren't, either. The Supreme Court ruled…
Washington Times
Obama Administration Guidelines Could Lead to Racial Quotas in School Discipline
Blog
Virginia Bill HB 933 Would Increase Excessive Child-Support Obligations by Ignoring Economic Realities
A bill introduced today in Virginia's House of Delegates would increase the state's child-support schedule. The bill, HB 933, would further increase child-support obligations…
Blog
Bogus Rationale for Obamacare Still Being Peddled Even after Study Debunked It
"More bad news for Obamacare and its proponents. A new study from Oregon shows that" expanded Medicaid coverage “increased–rather than decreased–both the number of folks…
Blog
No, Legislative Fixes to Obamacare Weren’t Blocked by the GOP
As Obamacare's implementation went badly enough that it was mocked by comedians on late-night TV, a search for excuses began. The result was the now…
The Blaze
How the IRS Could Chill Political Speech by Redefining the Word ‘Candidate’
f adopted, such a rules change would be open to broad legal interpretation, said Hans Bader, senior attorney for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free…
Blog
IRS Threatens to Curb Criticism of IRS and Bureaucratic Wrongdoing by 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) Groups
The IRS recently proposed rules “limiting political speech" by nonprofit 501(c)(4) groups. In Orwellian fashion, the proposed rules seek to redefine non-partisan, non-election-related criticism of government abuses as…
Wall Street Journal
The Latest IRS Power Grab (Letter)
Mr. Smith rightly criticizes proposed IRS rules "limiting political speech" by nonprofit 501(c)(4) groups. Those rules restrict even truthful, nonpartisan criticism of IRS and bureaucratic…
Blog
Minimum Wage Increases Harm the Young, Unskilled, and Less Educated
Minimum wage increases eliminate some jobs. Real world examples abound. As a business owner explains: The minimum wage kills jobs. End of story. I am…
Blog
Volcker Rule Curbs Useful, Profitable Proprietary Trading, Not Risky Lending
The government just approved a regulation called the Volcker Rule to curb proprietary trading by banks -- even though such trading did not cause the financial crisis,…
Washington Post
How Australia’s minimum wage differs from America’s (Letter)
Eugene Robinson [“An issue Democrats can win on,” op-ed, Dec. 7] argued that America’s minimum wage should be increased in part because it is lower…
Blog
President Pushes Welfare Rather than Opportunity and Social Mobility in Speech about Inequality
"President Obama on Wednesday declared that addressing income inequality would be the focus of 'all' of the White House’s efforts 'for the rest of…
Blog
Senate Abolishes Filibuster, With Potentially Profound Implications for the Rule of Law
Yesterday, the Senate voted 52-48 to effectively abolish the filibuster for nominations to federal offices, such as federal appeals courts and trial courts, and cabinet departments. It used a tactic Senate…
Blog
Obamacare Fallout Continues: Obamacare “Winner” Turns Out to Be a Loser Instead
"You screwed me over," says a woman cited by President Obama as an Obamacare success story. Jessica Sanford was used as a prop in the president's "…
Blog
A More Unequal America
Inequality grows hand-in-hand with the growth of the regulatory state. The proliferation of regulations increases economic inequality, since powerful people and politically connected companies know how to shape and manipulate…
NC Register
Obamacare Threatens to Hit Many Families’ Pocketbooks
Blog
Illegal Change to Obamacare Is Designed to Scapegoat Insurers, Not Restore Canceled Insurance Policies
If aliens from outer space read today's newspapers, they would assume that America is a dictatorship, not a republic, and that President Obama has the authority…
Blog
Under Obamacare, People Pay More for Inferior Health Plans, Lose Health Insurance They Liked
A Colorado woman who championed Obamacare lost her insurance plan. As a CBS TV station in Denver noted, "Millions of people are getting cancellation…
Blog
Senate Poised to Pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Yesterday, the Senate voted 61-to-30 to invoke cloture on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban workplace bias based on sexual orientation or…
Blog
Racial Preferences in Obamacare, and Discrimination, Too, Based on Weird Ideology
The Daily Caller has an interesting story about race-conscious provisions and racial preferences contained in Obamacare. It's a subject that has received remarkably little…
Blog
Racial Preferences and Red Tape Grow Under Federal Dodd-Frank Act
Last Friday on National Review's The Corner, Roger Clegg wrote about the 2010 law governing the financial sector, the Dodd-Frank Act, and the racial "diversity quotas"…
Blog
Glitches and Errors Widespread on Obamacare Health Insurance Website
In addition to the Obamacare web site glitches that left people unable to purchase insurance despite hours or days of trying, the website dramatically…
National Review
Dodd-Frank’s Diversity Quotas
Blog
J.P. Morgan Settlement Rips Off Taxpayers and Investors, Punishes Some Alleged Victims
Recently, The Washington Post reported that J.P.Morgan will pay $13 billion to settle lawsuits against it by the federal government and two…
Blog
Costly Anti-Bullying Programs Backfire
Countless tax dollars have been spent on anti-bullying programs, and 49 states have anti-bullying laws. After New Jersey passed a broad anti-bullying law, hundreds of schools…
Blog
Judge Rules Federal Government Cannot Close County Park in Shutdown
Earlier, I wrote about the federal government's use of the federal government shutdown as an excuse to close many private businesses. Those were businesses that lease…
Blog
More Myths About the Government Shutdown
Young people often don't realize that government shutdowns used to be common, until the middle of the Clinton administration. The George W. Bush presidency was an exception…
Washington Examiner
Obama White House closing private businesses to add pain to government shutdown
Obama administration officials are using the government shutdown as an excuse to shut down privately-run tourist attractions, even though doing so costs the government far…
Blog
Obama Administration Unnecessarily Shuts Down Many Private Businesses in Government “Shutdown”
PJ Media's Bryan Preston reported Wednesday that the "White House [is] ordering hundreds of privately run, private funded parks to close," using the government…
Blog
Obama Administration Uses “Government Shutdown” as Pretext to Block Access to Tourist Attractions
Daily Caller
Lawyers: Private parks should sue Obama administration for forcing them to close
“As a lawyer who once worked for the government, I assume there is no legal authority for this because these private tourist attractions were not…
Legal Brief
CEI v. EPA – Sept 11 Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment in Richard Windsor Lawsuit
Full Document Available in PDF Defendant’s motion for summary judgment should be rejected, because it has not complied with this…
Blog
Obamacare Quadruples Rates for Some, Subsidizes Some Wealthy Who Retired Early
Due to Obamacare, North Carolina "will see individual-market" health insurance rates "triple for women, and quadruple for men." In Tennessee, Obamacare will…
Blog
Modest Food Stamp Cuts Are Long Overdue
Blog
Massive Marriage Penalties in Obamacare Health Insurance Exchanges
On the Obamacare health insurance exchanges, being married can cost you a lot. Get divorced (or avoid getting married, if you live together), and you…
CNS News
Obamacare Provides $7,200 ‘Divorce Incentive,’ $11,000 for Older Couples
In the Obamacare health insurance exchanges, being married can cost you a lot. Get divorced (or avoid getting married, if you live together), and you…
Overlawyered
Hans Bader on disabled-hiring quotas
Building on my post of yesterday, Competitive Enterprise Institute scholar Hans Bader makes several additional points about the Department of Labor’s new hiring…
Blog
Labor Department Imposes Disability Hiring Quotas, Even in Divisions that Don’t Get Federal Contracts
The Obama Labor Department has just finalized rules that will effectively require businesses that get federal contracts to adopt a 7 percent hiring quota for the…
Blog
Student Barred from Handing Out Constitution on Constitution Day, In Sad Sign of the Times
At Modesto Junior College, a student was prevented from handing out copies of the Constitution on Constitution day. He was also "told he needed to fill…
Blog
Ignoring the Government’s Role in the Financial Crisis, Five Years Later
When it comes to reporting on the 2008 financial crisis, many journalists are experts at ignoring the elephant in the room: the government's role in…
Blog
More Harm from “Disparate Impact” Regulations
Earlier, we wrote about the Obama administration’s attempt to inject a race-conscious “disparate impact” provision into colorblind anti-discrimination laws like the Fair Housing Act,…
Blog
CEI Opposes Risky, Race-Conscious Federal Lending Requirements in Supreme Court Case
“Disparate impact” is a term in anti-discrimination law for when a neutral policy happens to affect minorities more than whites. One example is a standardized…
Blog
Scholars React to President’s Call to Shrink Law School from Three Years to Two
We earlier discussed (and agreed with) President Obama’s suggestion that law schools cut their length of study to two years from the current three…
Blog
President Obama: Cut Law School from Three Years to Two
President Obama, a lawyer who once was a lecturer at the University of Chicago, recently urged law schools to reduce the length of study from three years…
Blog
New Mexico Court: Go Into Business, Lose Your First Amendment Rights
In Elane Photography v. Willock, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a wedding photographer violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act by…
Blog
Let in More Foreign Doctors to Fix Looming Shortage of Physicians Aggravated by Obamacare
“Bring on the foreign doctors,” writes Slate’s Brian Palmer: If President Obama’s health care reform plan is implemented in its current form, the United…
Blog
President’s Dog Airlifted at Enormous Expense to Taxpayers? Debunking Claims Made Against Budget Cuts
Blog
Federal Income-Based Repayment Plan Encourages Skyrocketing Law School Tuition
A recent item in The Washington Post explains "how Georgetown Law gets Uncle Sam to pay its students’ bills," averaging $158,888 over three years,…
Cleveland
NLRB, Now With All Members Confirmed by Senate, Begins First Week Reviewing Labor Cases
This week marked the first in a decade in which all five National Labor Relations Board members were confirmed by the U.S. Senate. . .
National Review
The Pinnacle of Rent-Seeking
In this post, Hans Bader of CEI explains how Georgetown Law School has figured out how to maximize its haul of federal-financial-aid money. You’ve almost…
Blog
The Misleading Push for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Last year, the Senate did not ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with supporters falling just short of the two-thirds…
Blog
The Rip-Off that Is Occupational Licensing
Occupational licensing rules allow trade schools in some states to force students to attend them, enabling the schools to charge students lots of tuition for…
Blog
More Economic Suffering Due to Obamacare
The Washington Post reports on the ever-growing number of people losing wages and facing pay cuts due to the 2010 healthcare law: For Kevin…
Blog
The Government’s Wasteful Obsession with Subsidized Homeownership
The government has spent vast sums of money promoting homeownership through subsidies, tax exemptions, and bailouts. For example, in prosperous Alexandria, Virginia, certain people who…
Bloomberg
New Sexual Harassment Rules Openly Defy Reason
The new federal guidelines for how colleges should handle sexual-harassment cases aren’t just unreasonable. They’re hostile to reasonableness in principle. The Justice Department and the…
Legal Brief
CEI v. EPA – July 15 Complaint in McCarthy Phonebill Case
Full Document Available in PDF This is an action under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, to compel…
Blog
Unions Plead for Changes to Obamacare, Citing Lost Wages and Benefits
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the leaders of three major labor unions are asking Congress to make fundamental changes to Obamacare, saying that without such changes, it will…
Blog
Senate Committee Passes ENDA, Which Would Lead to Meritless Litigation and Erode Free Speech
A Senate Committee has voted 15-to-7 to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, "a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis…
Blog
European Court Invalidates “Whole-Life” Sentences: Fuzzy International Norms Erode Sovereignty, Freedoms, and Safety
It's common to see supporters of U.S. ratification of international treaties claim that they will not radically uproot existing U.S. practices or freedoms, because their…
Blog
Another Reason to Love the Sequester: Budget Cuts Prevent Agency from Destroying Valuable Computer Equipment
An agency unnecessarily destroyed $170,000 worth of computing hardware, and planned to destroy $3 million more, in response to garden-variety, easy-to-guard-against malware that…