Articles

American Habits : When lawmakers outsource their powers to California regulators

December 14, 2023 | By LUKE WAKE

Brian Wanner is the owner of Peters Brothers Trucking in Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania. But on some of the most important decisions facing his business he doesn’t call the shots. Instead, he takes orders from regulators . . . in California — a state he doesn’t even do business in. That’s because the Pennsylvania Department of Envi ...

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Issues & Insights : Why The U.S. Still Remains A Model For The Rest Of The World

September 19, 2023 | By LUKE WAKE

This summer, Israelis mobilized into rival factions in a contentious battle over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform proposals. These reforms would limit the Israeli court’s power to invalidate laws and give lawmaker’s greater control over judicial appointments. Proponents believe these reforms are needed to preven ...

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Bloomberg Law : Department of Labor Oversteps Authority With Salary Rule

September 13, 2023 | By LUKE WAKE

The Department of Labor proposed an audacious rule that will dictate salary level requirements for 3.4 million employees without any clear authority. The rule would require employers to pay salaried employees at least $55,068 in annual compensation, which is an over 60% increase from the DOL’s current mandate that salaried employees must be p ...

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The Messenger : The ‘Major Questions Doctrine’ Keeps Government Accountable to the People

July 02, 2023 | By LUKE WAKE, JOSH ROBBINS

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed banning all non-compete agreements in the United States. Non-competes are currently legal in at least some form in 47 states and are commonly used by employers. Yet the FTC — originally constituted to address individual cases of unfair competition — now claims authority to outlaw this frequently used em ...

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The Hill : We should prefer accountable government to rule by the administrative state

August 01, 2022 | By LUKE WAKE

The Supreme Court ended its term with a highly consequential 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. EPA. The court repudiated the Environmental Protection Agency’s claim that Congress had delegated sweeping powers for the agency to pursue a regulatory agenda of its own creation that would force energy companies to adopt alternative energy sources. ...

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The Hill : After two long years, it’s past time to end Newsom’s emergency powers

March 18, 2022 | By LUKE WAKE

In March 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide public health emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing him to issue lockdown orders and close businesses however he saw fit. That was 744 days ago. Yet after so long — and even as the COVID cases drop — Newsom’s emergency order remains in … ...

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The Hill : When a president’s impatience supersedes freedom

December 13, 2021 | By LUKE WAKE

When President Biden announced that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would impose a national vaccine mandate on employers, he said his “patience was wearing thin” with those Americans who had opted against vaccination. Of course, Biden is entitled to his views on the benefits of vaccination, just as everyone else ...

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The government’s favorite argument when it loses in court

September 28, 2021 | By LUKE WAKE

The government really doesn’t like losing in court. But instead of accepting and enforcing the court’s decision, it often tries to justify ignoring the broader implications of a ruling, by applying it only to the case at hand. Back in March, Pacific Legal Foundation struck a major blow to the Centers for Disease Control and … ...

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Supreme Court sides with landlords and PLF, secures an injunction against CDC’s eviction moratorium

August 27, 2021 | By LUKE WAKE

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services, affirming what Pacific Legal Foundation has argued on behalf of landowners for nearly a year—that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lacked the constitutional authority to enforce its nationwide eviction mo ...