Articles

In the first chapter of Yuval Levin’s new book, American Covenant, he describes the U.S. Constitution as “a terse patchwork of compromises.” Not a promising start, for the United States or for this reader, who has devoted a good amount of time to thinking about and debating the meaning of that patchwork.   But American … ...

On July 24, the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit broke with the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits (as well as the original Fifth Circuit panel) in a case about the delegation of legislative power to the Federal Communications Commission and sub-delegation to a private entity—the Universal Service Administrative Company.   I … ...

Update: On June 17, the parties in the D.C. Circuit appeal mentioned below filed a Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal. The Fifth Circuit case remains pending On June 10, the Supreme Court declined to take up two similar cases that would have provided an opportunity for the Court to reinvigorate the nondelegation doctrine, which enforces the … ...

One of the main themes of the Passover seder is asking questions. Early in the evening, the youngest child capable of reading (or singing) recites “Ma Nishtana,” which asks why we do things differently tonight—at the seder—from all other nights (we eat matzah, we all recline, etc.). Many parts of the seder are structured to … ...

In January, the Supreme Court heard two cases that, according to Vox’s Ian Millhiser, “ask the justices to seize control of much of federal policy-making.” NPR similarly warned that the Supreme Court “could eviscerate the way the federal government regulates, well, everything.” That sounds bad! But those pieces and a w ...

Taking the government to court  When the federal government takes an action that hurts you, you probably assume there is a legal remedy available—that you can challenge the government in court. And indeed, you can: Under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) “a person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected o ...