Today’s Links: March 6, 2012

OPINION

JOHN VILLASENOR: “Can the Government Force Suspects to Decrypt Incriminating Files?”
“What happens when the government’s desire to access a suspect’s encrypted electronic documents runs up against the Fifth Amendment? As with so many of today’s technology-related constitutional questions, the answers are complex, evolving, and sometimes contradictory. However, across the relatively small set of court rulings that have directly addressed this issue, a few key things stand out.”

SUSAN CRABTREE: “Coal Heats Up as Campaign Issue for Obama”
“As gasoline prices continue to rise and keep the heat on President Obama’s energy policies, critics also are accusing the president of shifting support away from the coal industry, a major source of fuel and jobs in several battleground states, including Colorado, Michigan and Ohio. Lawmakers on both sides of the partisan aisle say Obama administration environmental regulations aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissionsare poised to hit jobs and consumers harder than the Keystone XL decision at the same time the president seems to have abandoned his stated support for the coal industry and clean-coal technology.”

GENE HEALY: “Struggle for Individual Liberty Never Ends”
“For supporters of limited government who are closely following the 2012 presidential race, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is the ‘Cult of Obama’ is dead. […] The bad news, of course, is the Republican field. It might tax even H.L. Mencken’s cynicism to imagine an American public credulous enough to view Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, or Newt Gingrich as paladins who can ‘renew America.'”

NEWS

ENERGY – New Keystone Route in Weeks
“An executive with the Canadian company seeking to build an oil pipeline across the United States to the Texas Gulf Coast says a plan for a new route around Nebraska’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region will be ready within weeks.”

GUNS – State Supreme Court Rules Against Campus Gun Ban
“Gun rights advocates are celebrating victory after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in favor of three former students and a limited liability company that was formed specifically to fight campus bans on concealed weapons.”

HEALTH – DC Pays Almost $700K For Dead Patients’ Health Care
“The District shelled out nearly $700,000 in Medicaid payments for dead people, with one payment occurring nearly nine years after the patient died, a new audit has found.”