Articles

The Hill : The dismal state of due process at the North Pole (and our federal agencies)

December 26, 2022 | By JOHN KERKHOFF

Every year, millions of kids wake up on Christmas to find that jolly old St. Nick has rendered his verdict on their performance over the past 12 months. Most think of Christmas morning as a time of joy and merriment; in reality, it’s merely the sentencing phase of a kangaroo court overseen by an out-of-touch … ...

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Discourse : Racial Balance Is Not a Worthwhile Goal for Public Schools

December 22, 2022 | By ERIN WILCOX

At Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax, Virginia, it no longer matters that one of the eighth graders applying for admission this fall has been building robots in his garage since he was 10, or that another won her middle school’s Math Olympiad last year and dreams of working for NASA someday. All that matters … ...

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Victory! Busking now legal in Houston 

December 21, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

In 2018, accordionist Tony Barilla wrote in the Houston Press about his quest to play music on the city’s street corners—a quest that led him into a frustrating maze of bureaucracy. Busking was outright banned in most of Houston. Musicians could play in public spaces only if they didn’t accept tips.   Tony was happy … ...

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The Hill : Are Georgia and Oklahoma racially discriminating in a homeowners’ COVID relief program?

December 19, 2022 | By GLENN ROPER

The federal government is giving away billions of dollars in taxpayer money to help Americans nationwide who are struggling to pay mortgages. But in Georgia and Oklahoma, whether homeowners are eligible for assistance depends on their skin color. In both Atlanta and Oklahoma City, for example, a couple making $95,000 a year can receive tens … ...

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In America, the law is king, not unelected bureaucrats

December 14, 2022 | By JOHN KERKHOFF

As support swelled for America’s independence from England, an open question puzzled some hesitant colonists: Who will lead the new country? Thomas Paine had an answer: “In America, the law is king.” And so began a legal tradition like no other. Our written Constitution of limited and enumerated powers put forth a revolutionary id ...

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Landlords of Alameda County : No good deed goes unpunished

December 13, 2022 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

In Alameda County, California, a pandemic-era eviction ban has been in place for almost three years, even though COVID no longer poses the same threat it once did. As a result, “mom and pop” landlords have found themselves losing their livelihoods and dealing with problematic, and sometimes violent, tenants with no way to get rid ̷ ...

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The Hill : Efficiency is not a reason to keep the SEC’s unconstitutional in-house courts

December 12, 2022 | By WILLIAM YEATMAN, JENNIFER SCHULP

The in-house courts of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are not just at odds with the separation of powers, they also don’t serve their alleged purpose of efficient justice. In Federalist 47, James Madison, quoting Montesquieu, warned that government would become an oppressor if the prosecutor were “joined” with the ju ...

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What does “diversity” actually mean in college admissions?

December 06, 2022 | By ERIN WILCOX

Two hundred and four. That’s how many times the word “diversity” came up during the recent marathon Supreme Court oral arguments over whether to end affirmative action in college admissions. With characteristic bluntness, Justice Clarence Thomas remarked about midway through that, “I’ve heard the word ‘diversity̵ ...

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The Hill : Government-sponsored home equity theft robs the elderly and poor of millions of dollars

December 05, 2022 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

If you owe someone $14, should they be entitled to take a $100 bill out of your wallet and keep the change? Obviously not. Yet in a dozen states and the nation’s capital, the government collects delinquent real estate taxes that way. Take, for example, 93-year-old Geraldine Tyler. When she failed to pay approximately $2,300 … ...