Issues

The Jones Act (officially known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920) was passed in the wake of WWI. In the new, post-war world, the U.S. felt compelled to strengthen its maritime capabilities and bolster national security. So Congress passed the Jones Act, which requires all ships transporting goods between U.S. ports to be U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, a ...

Happy Thursday, SCOTUS Lovers. There weren't any arguments over the past two weeks, but here's a quick update on what else was happening at the marble palace that never sleeps. Political accountability is for lovers On Valentine's Day, the Trump administration asked the justices to weigh in on the president's power to remove ...

Much has been made of Vivek Ramaswamy's exit from DOGE to focus on other aspirations. Some have reported that Elon Musk and Ramaswamy had different visions for DOGE. While Elon Musk has been focused on boosting entrepreneurship, Ramaswamy was focused on constitutional separation of powers. And both are right. While Musk focuses on the symptoms, ...

Jason Murchison has been drawn to the ocean his whole life. Surfing is his passion, and for him, there is nothing like the adrenaline rush of a good barrel wave. He also loves that surfing doesn't have to be competitive; it can be just about the synergy of him and the ocean. It's good for the soul. Born and bred in Southern California, Jason beg ...

In a recent column, state Delegate Scot Heckert argues that West Virginia's Certificate of Need (CON) program is needed to protect health care services in rural communities. Unfortunately, his defense ignores clear evidence that these outdated laws reduce access to care and increase patient costs. Health care CON laws make it difficult or impos ...

A remarkable story emerged as The New York Times rewrote an infamous 1970s trope when it revealed that scientists had invented an 'endangered species' -- a tiny fish called the snail darter -- to stop a southeastern energy project. "Saving" the snail darter became a model for how to leverage laws designed to protect the environment to kill energy a ...

This month marks the 207th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass, one of the greatest Americans ever to live. After he escaped from slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, Douglass eventually settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an anti-slavery stronghold, and got his first job as a dockworker. His enthusiasm for being able to work as a free ...

How's everyone's neck doing? Because mine is suffering from a serious case of whiplash. In President Biden's first 100 days, he undid over 60 of President Trump's executive orders. President Trump has now repaid him in kind, revoking almost 100 of President Biden's in just the first few weeks after taking office. Accompanying some of these revoc ...

A few weeks ago, PLF client David Wulf took his case against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Normally, this is a routine part of the litigation process, but in Wulf's case, it was a bit more complicated than usual. Just days earlier, in a separate case, the Court of Appeals for ...