Law and Constitution

Government regulations are based on laws, and those laws in turn rest on the limited powers granted to government by the Constitution. Whether these constitutional limits succeed in actually reining in government is one of the basic issues facing our country. This is where CEI's legal expertise comes in.

Since 1986, CEI has engaged in strategic litigation on regulatory issues, in areas ranging from free speech to environmental mandates and health care policy to financial regulation. This includes court challenges to both Obamacare and the Dodd-Frank Act. CEI’s legal team works to defend the Constitution, protect the rule of law, and bring transparency and accountability to the regulatory state.

CEI Leads Coalition Letter Supporting Blumenauer-McClintock Amendment on Legal Marijuana

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, Representative McCarthy, and Chairman Serrano:

On behalf of the many of Americans whose views and values our organizations represent, we respectfully urge you to support the bipartisan amendment to the CJS Appropriations Act offered by Reps. Blumenauer (D-OR) and McClintock (R-CA). While the amendment may appear to simply prohibit the use of taxpayers’ money by federal authorities to prosecute marijuana providers and users in compliance with state-based marijuana laws, at its heart it protects our nation’s fragile principle of federalism. The right of states to govern matters within the sovereign powers of the state were central during the formation of our democratic republic.