Separation of Powers

The regulatory leviathan has wrapped its tentacles around a faith-based radio and TV network on the West Coast, as the Federal Communications Commission underhandedly pressures Perry Atkinson into adopting race- and sex-conscious hiring practices. Perry embarked on a mission when he sold his house in 1983, bought a 1,000-watt radio station in Medfo ...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) thinks it knows how to run small businesses better than their owners. That is the message the FTC sent the millions of small business owners across the country with its ban on non-compete agreements, set to take effect on September 4.    By some estimates, 48% of small business owners use … ...

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 … ...

In the days since a Pennsylvania man attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, barrels of ink have been spilled lamenting the heat of political rhetoric, entreating restraint from all sides. The precise motivation of the would-be assassin is unknown, but the rapidly forming consensus is that our overheated election rhetoric makes political violence li ...

In recent decades, the scope of federal law has grown massively. And with that growth has come the risk that Americans will be ensnared in criminal or civil proceedings for activities they had no idea were illegal.   It is often said that ignorance of the law is no excuse, and in general that is … ...

When Jamie Leach got the news that the Consumer Product Safety Commission was coming after her business, she imagined a years-long legal battle in the Commission’s in-house tribunal, enormous legal fees, and a devastating blow to her company’s otherwise-sterling reputation. Even if she managed to win, the ordeal could have buried her bu ...

What a way to head into the July 4th holiday: The Supreme Court announced big decisions on the penultimate day of the term—including an end to the doctrine responsible for decades of executive overreach.   Supreme Court overturns Chevron in Loper/Relentless  In today’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises/Relentless, the Supreme Court ov ...

“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.”   —Stubb, the second mate, in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick    In New Bedford, Massachusetts, sits an old chapel: the Seamen’s Bethel, built in 1832 for sailors to visit and pray before heading out to sea. … ...

The Supreme Court’s recent blockbuster cases have had to do with hot-button issues like abortion, racial preferences and guns. But this year, one of the court’s most highly anticipated cases has to do with fishermen and administrative law. Don’t be fooled. It may sound dry, but it’s a fascinating case that could upend a d ...