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FDA Regulation of Tobacco Opposed
Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina is opposing a bill to place the tobacco industry under the jurisdiction of the FDA. He cites the…
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More Controversy About the N-Word
The Montgomery County Schools are eliminating a lesson plan designed to prepare students to read Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird, saying that…
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Attorneys General: Corruption By Contingency Fee
Adam Liptak of The New York Times recently wrote about the increasing practice by state attorneys general of hiring trial lawyers to bring lawsuits…
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Hate Crimes Bill is Back
Earlier, I wrote about how the federal hate crimes bill contains provisions that would undermine protections against double-jeopardy and constitutional federalism safeguards (see here,…
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Greenhouse Gas Sanctimony
Al Gore was born into a wealthy family and lives high on the hog. But he is very preachy and sanctimonious about the little people…
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$200 Billion Class Action Lawsuit Over “Light” Cigarettes Appealed
Today, the federal appeals court in New York heard the appeal of trial judge Jack Weinstein’s decision to certify a $200 billion class action…
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Ambushed by the Unruh Act
California's Unruh Act is a trial lawyer's dream, and a nightmare for the rule of law. It has been interpreted to ban "discrimination" against customers…
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Bong Hits 4 Jesus Fallout
Julie Hilden has an interesting column at Findlaw on the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding a teenager’s suspension for holding up a “Bong Hits…
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More Foreign Lawsuits Against Tobacco Companies
Back in 1998, in the Master Settlement Agreement, the big tobacco companies agreed to pay 46 states billions of dollars in perpetuity, supposedly to defray…
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Racial Set-Asides Cost D.C. Taxpayers
Washington, D.C. has a minority set-aside program that results in taxpayers of all races paying hundreds of millions of dollars more in taxes to pay…
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Scooter Libby’s Sentence Commuted
Bush has just commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence, eliminating his prison sentence, while leaving his $250,000 fine intact. That is what I recommended here.
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California Loots Safe-Deposit Boxes for State Spending Spree
To finance mushrooming government spending, California is seizing as “abandoned” property the contents of bank safe-deposit boxes held by customers with currently active bank…
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The Hidden Costs of CAFE standards
Charles Krauthammer has an interesting column today on the perils and hidden costs of higher CAFE standards, which would order automakers to increase the…
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Supreme Court Overturns Race-Based Student Assignments
The Supreme Court has overturned the race-based assignment of students in Seattle and Louisville schools. (The decision can be found here). CEI filed an…
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Reid Removed Limit on Welfare for Amnestied Illegal Aliens
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) omitted a limit on welfare for amnestied illegal aliens previously adopted by the Senate when he revived the…
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Supreme Court Denies Property Owners Relief from Harrassment
On Monday, the Supreme Court weakened property owners' protection against government harassment in Wilkie v. Robbins. Law Professor Ilya Somin explains why the decision…
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First Amendment Double Standards
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued two First Amendment rulings, one expanding First Amendment protection and the other narrowing it. In Morse v. Frederick,…
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Massive Flaws in Senate Immigration Bill
The Senate immigration bill supported by Ted Kennedy and George Bush will make things worse for high-tech businesses, according to a news story in…
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More on Bogus Food Stamp Challenge
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Crybaby Judge Can Be Fired for Seeking $54 Million for Lost Pants
Roy Pearson, an administrative law judge in the District of Columbia, recently cried on the witness stand while seeking $54 million from his drycleaners…
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Court Blocks Use of Tobacco Settlement As Slush Fund
The Mississippi Supreme Court has just upheld a court ruling blocking the diversion of $20 million a year from Mississippi’s multi-billion dollar tobacco settlement…
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Social Workers Seize Children to Receive Adoption Bonuses
In England, as in the United States, local governments receive cash incentives from the national government for adopting out children. In England, this has led…
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Weeping Judge Seeks $54 Million for Lost Pants
Marc Fisher of The Washington Post gives an entertaining account of the trial in which D.C. judge Roy Pearson is suing his dry cleaners…
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Zero Tolerance Policies and the Abuse Excuse
Today, I published a letter to the editor in The Washington Post, contrasting the treatment of two women recently sent to jail. (Instapundit…
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Supreme Court Protects Non-Union Workers from Union Coercion
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in Davenport v. Washington Education Association that it is not a violation of the First Amendment for a…
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Victory for Property Rights in New Jersey
There's good news on property rights from New Jersey, of all places. The New Jersey Supreme Court, in Gallenthin Realty v. Borough of Paulsboro,…
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Judge’s Multi-Million Dollar Pants Suit Goes to Trial
Roy Pearson, a Washington, D.C. administrative law judge, is suing his drycleaners for $54 million for losing his pants and posting signs saying “satisfaction guaranteed.” His ridiculous lawsuit is…
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Tobacco Settlement Too Greedy and Venal for Even the ABA
Yesterday, I said that trial lawyers received $14 billion (not million, billion) under the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), in discussing how that lucrative…
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More Nigerians Sue U.S. Tobacco Companies for Billions
More states in Nigeria are suing American tobacco companies for billions of dollars. The suit began when one state in Nigeria decided to…
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Cigarette “Lights” Class Action Lawsuits Can’t Be Pulled Out of State Court
The Supreme Court has just ruled in Watson v. Philip Morris that the tobacco companies can’t pull lawsuits against them out of state court…