Articles

The free, non-harmful, and productive use of private property is a cornerstone of the American Dream. And proper regulation, to prevent harmful uses of property, is consistent with this principle. But government agencies too often abuse their regulatory authority. They issue compliance orders, drag landowners through seemingly endless administrativ ...

On Sept. 14, California voters head to the polls to decide Gov. Gavin Newsom’s fate in a historic recall election. Perhaps the biggest motivating factor behind the recall effort is Newsom’s aggressive COVID-19 pandemic response, in which he unilaterally issued orders for school, business and church closures; mask mandates; and other dem ...

Lina Khan, the new chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), generated a lot of attention after leading the agency’s five commissioners — on 3-2 partisan lines — to adopt a series of proposals that concentrate power in the chair herself, streamline and centralize agency rulemaking, and authorize sweeping investigations and enforce ...

On June 10, the Kentucky Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a pair of cases addressing whether Gov. Andy Beshear can ignore the laws of the commonwealth. These cases will be watched by other states considering reforms to emergency powers. In litigation last year, Gov. Beshear correctly argued that Kentucky’s emergency-powers laws “ ...

The modern Administrative State “wields vast power and touches almost every aspect of daily life.” Ensuring accountability for the officials who exercise this vast power is no simple task. But the Supreme Court has the opportunity to improve what Madison called the “chain of dependence”—so that “those who are employe ...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments across the country have tried to limit the economic damage caused by the unprecedented lockdowns. That is certainly a worthy goal. But far too often, rather than providing assistance across the board — which might require unpopular tax hikes on everyone — governments stick only some people with ...

“No good deed goes unpunished,” as the old saying goes. Distillery owners, who acted quickly last year to relieve the national shortage of hand sanitizer in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, learned that lesson the hard way. As COVID-19 lockdowns accelerated and supplies of paper towels, sanitizer and other key products dwindled, some ...

In 2017, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled a “Bill of Rights” for customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). Back then, he professed that “reliable, affordable, and accountable service from LADWP is not a privilege—it is a right to every Angeleno who relies on our utility.” That was then, th ...

Every fall marks the beginning of school. This school year, of course, looks markedly different from any in memory. Because of COVID-19, states and localities across the country remain in various stages of lockdown, while schools and families have scrambled to restart some kind of instruction. Some states have left the details up to local … ...