New year, new SCOTUS opinions
The Supreme Court has issued its first handful (or scoop, if you will) of opinions. And it heard oral arguments in one of the most closely watched cases of the term. But first, the bad news. On Monday, the Court rejected six PLF petitions for review: Hierholzer (challenging racial preferences in federal contracting), Lincinio (asking the Court t ...
Why can’t we hold rights violators accountable?
Are you still full from Thanksgiving? Here's a scoop of SCOTUS to go with your leftover mashed potatoes. Why can't we hold rights violators accountable? The Court recently heard arguments in the case of a man whose dreadlocks were forcibly shaved—contrary to his religious belief—just before he was released from prison, after prison staff thre ...
Fox News : California restaurants choke on new allergen menu mandate amid compliance concerns and costs
California's restaurants are used to choking down the unpalatable. They've endured prolonged pandemic shutdowns, skyrocketing food costs and the slow exodus of customers fleeing high prices and higher taxes. Now, Sacramento has cooked up another ingredient for entrepreneurial misery: a law that will make California the first state in the nation ...
Guns, drugs, and ghosts of doctrines past
Happy Halloween, SCOTUS lovers. Need a last-minute costume? Don't want to be Taylor "Swift Justice?" Go as "The Dissenter." All black robe, dramatic lace jabot à la RBG, and add fake blood on a scroll for Halloween flair. You are now: "When your dissent was so good, it came back to haunt the majority." Alternatively: Lochner-era Bakery Owner. A ...
The justices and I are back
Bust out your pumpkin spice lattes and pocket Constitutions. It's October, which means the justices (and I) are back. What can you expect this term? Extra pumpkin spice. We're getting cases involving conversion therapy, trans athletes in sports, and executive power. The big ones The Court will hear two major cases involving executive power: Trump ...
Medicare should not stop seniors from accessing physical therapy
The daughter of an 83-year-old stroke survivor thought she had found the answer. Her father, who suffered from dementia, had made remarkable progress in inpatient rehab, regaining the ability to walk and perform basic tasks. But once he was discharged, Medicare sent him to a home-health agency in a remote area where therapy was infrequent and poo ...
Reason : New York City wants $250,000 from SoHo artists just to stay in their homes
The blocks south of Houston Street (SoHo) in New York City were a ghost town in the 1960s. Factories had shuttered, warehouses were empty, and landlords struggled to fill vast cast-iron lofts. Then artists moved in, hauling easels and welding equipment into open spaces that no one else wanted. They patched holes, rebuilt staircases, and improvised ...
National Review : On Independence Day, let’s reclaim independence from the ‘fourth branch’
"This wolf comes as a wolf." Almost 40 years ago, Justice Antonin Scalia warned of the rise of a "fourth branch" of government: an unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy wielding power once reserved for the president. He was the lone dissenter in Morrison v. Olson, a 1988 Supreme Court case that upheld the creation of "independent counsels." The ...
Judges should judge
The term hath endeth! The justices are slathering on the SPF, teaching classes in Italy, gallivanting in their RVs, and doing whatever else it is that the justices do for the summer. Justices, they're just like us—but with robes. After this scoop of SCOTUS, we'll have one final recap of the term before I, too, break for summer. Except my "break" ...