Government regulations are based on enacted 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 and constitutional 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.
Legal Issue Areas
Featured Posts

News Release
Roberts Keeps Auer Deference on Life Support
The U.S. Supreme Court today handed down its decision in Kisor v. Wilkie, a case that centered on the principle of Auer deference, the precedent…

Blog
Government of Singapore Demonstrates Real Online Censorship
Singapore’s recent policing of online content provides an instructive example of the difference between private curating of material by platform owners and dangerous curtailing of…

Blog
CEI Opposes Federal Government Coercing a State into Assisting with Federal Law Enforcement
Last Friday, CEI took a stand for federalism and separation of powers through an amicus brief. These constitutional principles are critical to the constitutionally limited…
Studies
No Spoof
Several states had serious doubts about the validity of tax credits for individuals purchasing insurance on Obamacare's federally facilitated exchange as early as 2011. Questions still remain,…
Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB: Narrow Separation-of-Powers Ruling Illustrates That the Supreme Court Is Not ‘‘Pro-Business’’
Full Document Available in PDF Chief Justice John Roberts has often been depicted as an advocate of narrow rulings and a judicial philosophy…
This Liberal Congress Went to Market: a Bipartisan Policy Agenda for the 110th Congress
DO…
Blog
Judge Rules in Favor of Retroactive Unapportioned Tax
In 2006, Charles and Kathleen Moore invested in a business aimed at providing affordable equipment to small-scale Indian farmers. No dividends have been returned to…
Louisiana Frog Feud Illustrates Regulatory Threat to Property Rights and Economic Freedom
The dusky gopher frog doesn’t grow very large—only to about three inches long, on average. But despite its diminutive size, this little frog has had…
CDC’s Eviction Moratorium is Unlawful, Unconstitutional
On Friday, September 4, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an emergency order imposing a nationwide moratorium on certain residential evictions…
News
Statement from Kent Lassman, president and CEO at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Shock and horror are natural responses to violent mobs. CEI condemns the lawlessness and violence in the nation’s capital. Every day CEI engages with people…
CEI Successfully Challenges Harmful and Unlawful Conditions on Charter-Time Warner Merger
In Competitive Enterprise Institute v. Federal Communications Commission, the DC Circuit Court agreed with CEI and co-litigants Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (HLLI) that several major…
Supreme Court’s Ruling On CFPB-A Good Advance For Accountability, But Not a Great One
The Supreme Court ruled today in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). CEI filed an amicus in the case,…
Op-Eds
National Review
Intimidation Tactics Against Trump Lawyers Undermine Justice
Two-hundred and fifty years ago, a young lawyer named John Adams risked professional and economic ruin when he defended British soldiers who were accused of…
USA Today
Invalidate Entire Affordable Care Act
The fate of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act is, once again, before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the justices will hear arguments in…
National Review
The Notorious RBG’s Turf War with Congress
Reexamining Justice Ginsburg’s dissent in Ledbetter makes the deep flaws in her approach to the law clear. The late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg…