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
Pirates at the Parchment Gates
View Full Document as PDF In recent years, state attorneys general (AGs), have partnered with private lawyers working on a contingency fee…
The Nation’s Worst State Attorneys General 2015
From noteworthy ethical and legal breaches, including violating the Constitution, fabricating legal norms, usurping legislative powers, hiring campaign contributors as outside counsel on a contingency-fee…
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,…
Blog
Arizona Adopts Landmark Civil Forfeiture Reform Legislation
On May 6, Arizona Governor Greg Ducey signed into law House Bill 2810, which reforms the state’s civil forfeiture law and strengthens due process…
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…
News
Lawsuit Challenges Biden’s National Climate Task Force’s Defiance of Freedom of Information Act
A new lawsuit by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) seeks to subject President Biden’s National Climate Task Force to the federal Freedom of Information…
Unlawful CDC Eviction Ban Defeated in Court
A federal judge today vacated a nationwide freeze on evictions imposed by regulators at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ostensibly to stave off one…
CEI Appeals Case Against Retroactive Unapportioned Tax to Ninth Circuit
The opening appellate brief was filed yesterday in a constitutional challenge to the Mandated Repatriation Tax, part of the 2017 tax reform bill. The case,…
Op-Eds
Inside Sources
Counterpoint: Fix the Court, but Justice Should Not Be Random
Calls for “judicial reform” have too often been code for seeking changes to the courts for partisan advantage. This is why “reform” is rarely accomplished.
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…
