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
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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
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
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,…
Covid ‘Relief’ Bill Spends Billions on Items Unrelated to Crisis Recovery and Risks Inflation
The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on final passage of the ‘American Rescue Plan Act,’ a $1.9 trillion proposal touted as…
CEI Files Amicus Brief in Thompson v. Marietta Education Association Appeal for Cert at Supreme Court
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for cert at the Supreme Court in 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…
