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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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Destroying the Marketplace in Education
The federal government happily subsidizes awful state colleges that graduate few if any of their students.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Despite a Labor Day-shortened work week, agencies still found time to issue regulations from soap to whales.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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Three Fast Food Favorites from Franchises
It’s no secret that flexibility and freedom to experiment foster creativity.
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EEOC to Gadsden Flag Lovers: Shut Up or Face Costly Lawsuits
Libertarian think tanks have been known to distribute lapel pins that display the Gadsden flag, reading “Don’t Tread on Me.”…
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Michigan State Legislator Introduces Worker’s Choice Bill
Yesterday, a state representative from Michigan introduced novel legislation that would provide public-sector workers’ choice.
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Work Is Changing, Employment Regulation Needs to Change Too
For many people, the 9 to 5, office- or factory-based, corporate job that Dolly Parton lamented in the 1980s is a thing of the past.
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Precedent on Environmental Pacts: Treaty or “Executive Agreement”?
President Obama claims the global climate pact negotiated in Paris last December—the so-called Paris Agreement—is an executive agreement, not a treaty, hence is not subject…
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Senate Democrats Block Anti-Zika Bill Yet Again
Democrats in the Senate have blocked a bill that would have provided federal funds to combat the spread of the Zika virus, reports The Hill.
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Texas Constitution Bans Taxpayer Subsidies to Private Parties
It may seem obvious, but tax dollars are supposed to be used for purely public purposes, not the private benefit of an individual, corporation, or…
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New Drug Price Proposal Light on Competition, Heavy on Bureaucracy
Last Friday, Hillary Clinton announced a new plan to “respond to unjustified price hikes” on certain pharmaceutical drugs.
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Obamacare Shrinks Economy through Medicaid Expansion and Tax Credit Cliffs
Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid reduced employment in those states that participated in it by a statistically significant extent, according to a recent study by Georgetown’s…
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Rewards and Risks of a Federal Regulatory Budget (Part 6)
By shedding light on comparative agency activity, budgeting and simultaneous improved congressional oversight could counter agency overreach.