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Unemployment Rises, Debunking Obama Stimulus Claims
“The joblessness rate jumped to 8.2 percent. What makes that number particularly painful is that the Obama Administration claimed that the unemployment rate today would…
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Supreme Court Takes Another Bite Out of Constitutional Protections Against Double Jeopardy
The Supreme Court recently weakened constitutional protections against double jeopardy in Blueford v. Arkansas, a homicide case. The 6-to-3 decision was written by Chief…
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Lawyer Arrested for Constitutionally Protected Blogging Against Convicted Bomber, After Hearing Before Judge C.J. Vaughey
Earlier, I wrote about how a judge in Montgomery County, Maryland (a liberal bastion), had silenced a critic of convicted "Speedway Bomber" Brett…
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Injunction Imposed Over Blog Posts That Criticized Convicted Terrorist-Turned-Left-Wing Activist
In 2005, a New Mexico judge appalled people across America by issuing a restraining order against David Letterman after a wacky woman accused Letterman…
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Paycheck Fairness Act Contains Unfair Provisions, Would Result in Equal Pay for Unequal Work
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act when the Senate returns from its week-long recess,” reports Susan…
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When Schools Are Like Jails — Or Worse
A 17-year-old Texas honor student has been jailed for missing too much school. Diane Tran works both full-time and part-time jobs, in addition to taking…
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No, Obama Is Not “the Smallest Government Spender Since Eisenhower”
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EEOC Restricts Speech in Viewpoint-Discriminatory Manner in Dawson v. Donahoe: De Facto Ban on Confederate Flags
The First Amendment generally protects even offensive speech, so if you wish to wear a t-shirt celebrating a bloodthirsty thug like Mao, Stalin, or Che…
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Obama: Promises Broken, Promises Kept
President Obama has broken many of his promises aimed at the general public and jobless Americans, but he has kept promises to his left-wing base…
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Government Lost Tons of Money in the Auto Bailouts, Despite Benefiting from Blind Luck
As John Lott notes, “Having just $34 billion to show after a $100 billion-plus investment would get a chief executive of any private company…
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Senate Rejects Obama Budget, 99-0
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Cut Military Spending to Prevent Tax Increases; Obama Administration Endangers Anti-Terrorism Efforts by Exposing Undercover Agent
The Cato Institute has identified $17-20 billion in readily-achievable savings to the 2013 military budget. Such cuts can help stave off tax increases. As…
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More First Amendment Violations from Obamacare, Thanks to HHS
Obamacare will drive up costs for most patients and insurance policyholders. Yet "health-insurance companies must tell customers who get a premium rebate…
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Austerity Is Mythical, But It Would Have Real Benefits
Left-leaning commentators are wrong to decry “austerity” in Europe, since, as the Richmond Times-Dispatch notes, such “austerity” is largely mythical: European nations have not…
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Cyberbullying and Bullying Used As Pretexts for Censorship
In the name of fighting “cyberbullying,” many New York legislators would like to force blogs to remove blog comments that offend readers, unless they…
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Amendments That Take Away Rights
The Supreme Court, like European courts, has long recognized that corporations have constitutional rights, ever since its 6-to-1 decision in Dartmouth College…
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IRS Pays Out Billions in Fraudulent Tax Credits, Ignoring Warnings from Whistleblower and Inspector General
Like whistleblowers, inspector generals often tell the government things it does not want to hear, or let the public know about how government agencies have wasted their…
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Law Professors: I’m Shocked to Find Gambling In This Casino!
Just as a character in Casablanca claimed to be shocked to find gambling in a casino, race-conscious employers typically deny that they considered race…
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Education Department Pushes Racial Quotas in School Discipline
At Point of Law, Ted Frank of the Manhattan Institute criticizes the Obama Administration's demand for de facto racial quotas in school discipline:…
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How Elites Milk Racial Preferences for Their Own Gain
One of the pitfalls of race-based affirmative action is that many disadvantaged people are less able to take advantage of it than the legal and…
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Student Loans Drive Up Tuition, Create Demographic Time Bomb and Higher-Education Bubble
Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds writes in the New York Post about how student loan programs have contributed to skyrocketing debt and rising defaults:…
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Diversity Training Doesn’t Work, But It Persists Anyway, Due to Compulsion
Diversity training doesn't work, according to an article in Psychology Today. In it, Peter Bregman notes, “Diversity training doesn't extinguish prejudice. It…
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Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization: Don’t Let that Pesky Constitution Stand in the Way of a Law With a Nice-Sounding Title
Senators “will let legislation on domestic violence” known as the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act “pass the upper chamber despite having concerns about its…
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What the Washington Post Cited: “Severe Shortage of Skilled Factory Workers As Government Encourages Students to Pursue White Collar Jobs”
The Washington Post cited my blog post, “Severe Shortage of Skilled Factory Workers As Government Encourages Students to Pursue White-Collar Jobs,” in a…
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Gag Rule for Hedge Funds Challenged in Supreme Court on First Amendment Grounds in Bulldog Investors v. Galvin
Usually, you can advertise and discuss a product, even if not everyone is allowed to buy it. Thanks to the First Amendment, you can advertise…
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Stimulus Aided the Politically Connected at Massive Cost to Taxpayers
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An America of Inequalities
Increasingly, ordinary people get prosecuted for trifles, while politically connected people get a pass for the exact same crime, or far worse behavior. A whale-watcher…
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No, Paranoid Progressives, the Koch Brothers Had Nothing to Do With Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” Law
In primitive societies, people blame their misfortunes on witchcraft and other imaginary phenomena. The American Left blames the Koch brothers for everything, with equally little…
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ALEC Unfairly Demonized Over “Stand Your Ground” Laws
The pro-free-market American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is under fire for its support of self-defense laws, known as "Stand Your Ground" laws. It began after…
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Ambulance Chasers Feast on Americans with Disabilities Act Claims
Thanks to generous attorney-fee provisions contained in federal civil-rights law, trial lawyers are feasting on Americans with Disabilities Act claims at the expense of…
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Big Push for Costly “Comparable Worth” Legislation Coming? Lilly Ledbetter Returns to the Stage
Lilly Ledbetter, who made false claims about her pay discrimination lawsuit, has returned to the political arena, as you can see at…
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San Francisco Judge Dismisses Lawsuit against McDonald’s over Happy Meals
"In San Francisco, Judge Richard Kramer has dismissed the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s lawsuit on behalf of parent Monet Parham seeking to…
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Staggering Law School Debts Will Lead to Exploding Debt Disaster for Graduates and Taxpayers
Federal financial aid policies have encouraged law students to borrow increasing amounts to attend law school, despite the glut of lawyers (oddly, government…
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Grow Economy by Cutting Law School Subsidies
The economy remains slow, recovering from the recession at an unusually low rate, partly due to economically-harmful Obama administration policies. "U.S. stocks fell, dragging…
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Obama Administration Wrongdoing: One Scandal Uncovered, But Others Hidden Because Inspector General Slots Left Vacant?
Via The Washington Post: The chief of the General Services Administration resigned, two of her top deputies were fired and four…
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What Left-Wing Law Professors Really Think About You, and the Role of Lawyers
You're just a lab rat to be socially re-engineered by activist judges and lawyers -- who think they know how to run your life better…
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Economic “Recovery” Is Slow and Weak Due to Obama Administration Policies
Typically, after the economy suffers an unusually severe recession, it bounces back in an unusually rapid recovery -- what some economists and others refer to…
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Obama Budget Rejected by House in 414-0 Vote
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Obamacare Harms State Finances, Imposes Unfunded Mandates, Drives Up State Budget Deficits; Even Democrats Criticize Provisions
While public attention has focused on Obamacare's unconstitutional "individual mandate," challenged yesterday in oral arguments at the Supreme Court, other parts of the health…
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Supreme Court Begins Hearing Challenges to Unconstitutional Obamacare Provisions
At CNN, George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin explains why Obamacare's requirement that individuals buy health insurance is beyond Congress's power…
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Troubling Provisions Being Added to the Violence Against Women Act: Due Process Rights Threatened
Provisions are being added to the 1994 Violence Against Women Act that could undermine due process on campus and in criminal cases, as civil liberties…
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Supreme Court Affirms Right to Challenge Government Power Grabs in Sackett v. EPA; Justice Alito Cites CEI Amicus Brief
Rejecting the arguments of the Obama administration, the Supreme Court has just held that EPA "compliance orders" can be challenged in court if they…
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National Debt Skyrockets Under Obama, Far Faster Than Under Bush
CBS News finally reports the obvious: the national debt increased more in President Obama’s first three years in office than in the entire eight years of…
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Hate Crimes Conviction in Tyler Clementi Case, Which Fueled Anti-Bullying Panic and Assault on Free Speech
A New Jersey jury has convicted Dharun Ravi of hate crimes in the Tyler Clementi case, which created a furor over bullying that led…
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Obama Reveals His Own Ignorance of American and World History While Denouncing Others’ Alleged Ignorance
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Government Persecutes the Innocent, Turns Blind Eye to the Guilty, Rewards Corrupt Business Models
The federal government spent years persecuting a company lawyer who dutifully uncovered and disclosed wrongdoing by a company employee, as I discuss below. But…
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Obamacare Costs More Than Twice As Much As Obama Claimed; Stimulus Creates Debt, Not Jobs
As Daniel Foster notes, “When it was being debated, Democrats told you ACA [Obamacare] would cost $940 billion over ten years . . .
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Student Loans: America’s Next Debt Bomb
I understated things earlier when I wrote that the student loan bubble “may” explode in taxpayers’ faces, as law professor Glenn Reynolds pointed…
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Higher Education Bubble May Explode in Taxpayers’ Faces
"61 percent of folks with a student loan are not paying," notes Andrew Gillen, Ph.D., of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Many…
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New IRS Rule Would Benefit Foreign Dictators, Drive $87 Billion Out of U.S. Economy, Could Cause Bank Failures
A new IRS rule would benefit foreign dictators and drive $87 billion out of U.S. economy, as my colleague, Iain Murray, explains in The…
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Millionaire Collects Food Stamps; Food Stamps Cover Far More Than the Cost of Food
A millionaire in Michigan is collecting food stamps after winning the lottery. “Amanda Clayton, a 24-year-old from Lincoln Park, Michigan . . .
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Bloomberg News: “Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid”
"The Obama administration will extend mortgage assistance . . . to investors who bought multiple homes before the market imploded, helping some speculators who drove…
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European Union Pushes Discriminatory Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards
The European Union (EU) could not keep member states like Greece from cheating on EU budget rules, resulting in Greece's fiscal collapse and the current…
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Obama Administration Seeks Quotas Based on Disability, Race, and Perhaps Sexual Orientation
The Obama administration is pushing quotas in the workplace and higher education, seeking to force businesses that have federal contracts to hire at least…
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America Now Has Bigger Welfare State Than Canada, Italy, Denmark, and Austria
America now has a bigger welfare state than most countries, effectively doling out more welfare than Canada, Denmark, Austria, and Italy. As the New York…
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Severe Shortage of Skilled Factory Workers As Government Encourages Students to Pursue White-Collar Jobs
The government has encouraged people who once would have become skilled and valuable factory workers to instead go to college and work in white-collar jobs, contributing…
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Taxmageddon Comes Just After the Election
On December 31, shortly after the November election, tax rates will rise across the board in what congressional aides call "Taxmageddon," notes The Washington Post. Not…
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Government-Funded Job Training “Might Not Work”: Washington Post
Even a liberal Washington Post writer admits that taxpayer-subsidized job training “might not work,” despite its popularity with politicians, and President Obama’s desire to spend billions more…
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High Unemployment Masked by Exploding Disability Claims that Lead to Permanently-Higher Government Spending
The official unemployment rate is going down, but that's partly because many long-term unemployed people went onto Social Security Disability, citing ailments such as depression. …
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Maryland Weighs Discriminatory College Child Support Mandate
Married parents have no obligation to support their adult children, much less pay for their college education. But many Maryland legislators would like to force divorced…
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Misconceptions about the Obama Administration’s Contraception Mandate for Religious Employers
There are a number of misconceptions about the Obama administration’s recent rule requiring employers’ health insurance policies (including those of religious schools and hospitals) to…
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Government Thwarts Cancer Cures and Production of Life-Saving Drugs
The federal government thwarted a promising cancer treatment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski on trial twice, saying “it did…
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$26 Billion Mortgage Settlement Rips Off Investors to Trim Banks’ Massive Costs of Bailing Out Deadbeat Borrowers
The $26 billion mortgage settlement announced yesterday is bad news for “bond investors including pension funds, according to Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Scott Simon,”…
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Time to Pay Your Neighbor’s Mortgage, Again
The Justice Department, state attorneys general, and the biggest banks have reached an agreement to provide at least $26 billion to delinquent mortgage borrowers and…
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Massive Anti-Bullying Law and Bullying Initiatives Were Based on Misleading Publicity
"It launched a hundred 'anti-bullying' initiatives at all levels of government, but much of what you think you know about" the Tyler Clementi case "is…
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Even Liberal Reporters Sour on Stimulus-Funded California Rail Boondoggle
Even reporters at the famously-liberal Los Angeles Times have soured on California’s $100 billion-plus rail boondoggle, whose cost will far outstrip whatever the state will…
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Liberal Tax Fantasies Punctured
Some liberals have the unrealistic fantasy that by increasing taxes on the top one percent of the population, the government can finance a radically…
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Liberal Justices Complain About American Law Being Too Protective of Civil Liberties and Colorblindness
Recently retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who became the leader of the Supreme Court's liberal bloc in his later years on the Court, complained recently…
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Retaliation Charges Pose Growing Threat to Free Speech
Keeping quiet can seal your fate if you are a professor facing a campus kangaroo court after being wrongly accused of racial or sexual “harassment" based on your…
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More Criticism for Obama State of the Union Proposal on Schools
Syndicated columnist Steve Chapman is criticizing President Obama's proposal in the State of the Union address to require students to attend high school…
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12 More Law Schools Sued for Defrauding Their Students; Many More Class-Action Lawsuits Expected
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a team of eight law firms have just “sued a dozen more law schools across the country,…
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States Deliberately Qualify Non-Poor People for Food Stamps to Get Federal Money; Obama Administration Blocks Reforms
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Justice Kagan Should Recuse Herself from Obamacare Case
Only in Bizarro World can you claim someone is your attorney -- and thus shielded by attorney work-product privilege -- and then insist in the…
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Americans Now Owe $189,000 Each in National Debt and Unfunded Entitlements
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Romney Pays More Taxes Than He Would in Canada and Many European Countries
As an article in the Financial Post noted, if Mitt Romney were Canadian, he'd pay less tax than he does in America. That’s because most of…
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More Bailouts for Speculators and Delinquent Mortgage Borrowers from Obama Administration; More Taxpayer Money for Certain Banks
In his State of the Union address, President Obama, a consistent supporter of bailouts and crony capitalism, hypocritically railed against them, proclaiming, “no…
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Obama Fosters the Skyrocketing Tuition He Criticized in His State of the Union Address
In his State of the Union address, President Obama decried skyrocketing college tuition, attempting to take advantage of public anger over the steadily-worsening…
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Enr1 Goes Belly Up; Yet Another Solyndra
"After spending $55 million of a $118.5 million grant from" the U.S. "Department of Energy, Ener1, an Indianapolis-based maker of batteries," has just "declared…
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Obama State of the Union Proposal Could Increase Mortgage Costs, Shrink America’s 401(K)s
AEI's James Pethokoukis says that the mass-refinancing plan proposed by President Obama in his State of the Union address would "result in higher financing…
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Obama SOTU Proposal Could Increase School Violence and Disorder and Harm Parents, Students, and Teachers
Many soundbites sound good, but have very harmful consequences in the real world. That's the case for President Obama's proposal in his State of the…
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Obama’s False Claims about Outsourcing and Corporate Taxes in the State of the Union Address
President Obama has spent billions of dollars in taxpayer money on subsidizing foreign firms through his failed "green energy" programs, so it was…
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Obama’s State of the Union Address: More Failed Jobs Proposals?
My take on President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address is at this link. It discusses one of the jobs…
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Stimulus was Designed to Provide Pork and Payoffs, Not to Revive the Economy
Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron argued that the $800 billion stimulus package wasn't even designed to stimulate the economy, but rather to benefit…
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Law Schools Teach Junk, Exaggerate Their Students’ Job Prospects
Propped up by government subsidies and regulations requiring students to attend law school before taking the bar exam, law schools waste their students' time teaching…
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Doctors Grow Disenchanted With Obamacare’s Costs and Burdens; Health Care Law Arbitrarily Discriminates
69% of physicians are “pessimistic about the future of medicine” because of the 2010 healthcare law, notes Dr. Marc Siegel in USA Today. “Just…
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Dodd-Frank Claims 4,300 More Jobs, Reduces Consumer Choice in Mortgage Market
The Dodd-Frank law passed in 2010 in the name of “financial reform” has wiped out another 4,300 jobs: MetLife is closing down its growing…
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The Ever-Expanding Concept of “Bullying” Casts an Ominous Shadow Over Free Speech
A school superintendant has labeled a column in a school newspaper that criticized homosexuality as “bullying.” (The Shawano High School newspaper decided to run…
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Obama Administration to People Needing Bone Marrow Transplants: Drop Dead
In December, a federal appeals court ruled in Flynn v. Holder that the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (NOTA)…
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Court Ruling Broadening Americans with Disabilities Act Will Harm Taxicab Safety and Cost Hundreds of Millions
A federal judge last month barred New York City's “Taxi and Limousine Commission from issuing permits for taxicabs unless they're accessible to people who…
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War on Drugs Keeps Badly Needed, Perfectly Legal Medicine Away from Sick People
Sick people, like those suffering from narcolepsy, are suffering from a manufacturing shortage of Adderall. That shortage was caused by the Drug Enforcement Agency,…
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Obama Seeks $1.2 Trillion Increase in National Debt Ceiling, To Pay for More Wasteful Spending
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Judge Criticizes American Law Schools
A prominent federal judge has added to the growing chorus of criticism for American law schools and their failure to provide practical training for…
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Self-Esteem Fad Harms Students and Education System
Two politically-correct beliefs have inflicted enormous harm on our education system: the belief that inflated, unearned self-esteem is a good thing, and the belief that…
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Eleven More Solyndras in Obama Clean-Energy Program
There are 11 more Solyndras in the Obama administration’s clean-energy program, reports CBS News. These companies are in financial trouble — five have already…
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EEOC Says High-School Diploma is Discriminatory Requirement, Stretches Employment Laws to Harm Small Employers
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently posted a letter on its website claiming that it is illegal for employers to have a high-school diploma requirement…
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Supreme Court Rejects Obama Administration Power Grab Over Churches in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC
The Supreme Court has rejected the Obama administration's argument that it can dictate who churches hire as ministers or clergy in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical…
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Fannie and Freddie Helped Spawn the Mortgage Crisis, and So Did Affordable Housing Mandates
In a recent letter in The New York Times, I noted the role played by the government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in…
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CEI Files Amicus Brief in Magner v. Gallagher, to Guard Against Financial Meltdowns and Racial Preferences
To help prevent another financial crisis, CEI helped file an amicus brief in a pending Supreme Court case, Magner v. Gallagher. The case tests…
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Obamacare Causes Layoffs in Medical Device Industry, Harms Medical Innovation
Ramesh Ponnuru writes about the layoffs and lost jobs resulting from Obamacare's new tax on medical devices at Bloomberg News: A year from…
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Pension Tsunami, Record Federal Spending Increase U.S. Debts by $4.2 Trillion; State Debts Explode
Massive budget deficits and mushrooming pension, Social Security, and Medicare obligations increased the federal government's long-term obligations by $4.2 trillion in 2011 -- more than three…