Leveraging federal authorities like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to persecute political opponents stands among the most grave abuses that officials can commit, as Richard Nixon learned the hard way four decades ago.  This month, an Obama Administration and IRS attempt to evade legal reckoning for their own admitted abuses suffered a stinging…

Did Hillary Clinton violate federal law by using an unsecured personal email system as Secretary of State?  That question generated intense commentary this week.  Because of the inherent political implications, however, most commentaries unfortunately generated more heat than light.  It's therefore worth highlighting the applicable…

Last week the Supreme Court of the United States voted that President Obama exceeded his authority when he granted exemptions from the immigration laws passed by Congress. But the Supreme Court also exceeded its own authority by granting the University of Texas an exemption from the Constitution's requirement of "equal protection of the laws,&…

Nothing stirs the passions of Democrats these days quite like the prospect of gutting the Constitution. In an unprecedented act of pretend political bravery, House members held a catered sit-in, demanding that Republicans allow a vote to strip away protections of Second, Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution. It was quite the scene. There…

Throughout my legal career, I've always favored what is known as the "English Rule," meaning that losing litigants should generally be required to pay the winning parties' fees and costs.  Under our current "American Rule," in contrast, each side generally pays its own fees and costs, win or lose.  That has always struck…

We recently discovered that Peter Thiel, the libertarian billionaire co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, bankrolled wrestler Hulk Hogan's lawsuits against the blog network Gawker Media. Now, as someone who considers himself a near-absolutist on free speech, I'm open to hearing arguments for why we need tort reform in these sorts of…

This week, two high-profile political events refocused Americans' attention on the judicial branch.  Also this week, two new legal victories for Second Amendment rights remind us why it matters.  First, Donald Trump released his much-anticipated list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees, which conservative and libertarian judicial observers…

Throughout American history, our First Amendment freedoms of speech and association have frequently demanded the security of anonymity.  Without that protective anonymity, Americans seeking to bring about political change or introduce politically incorrect opinions into the marketplace of ideas risk persecution by government officials or public…

Americans outraged by Obama Administration and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) efforts to target and persecute conservative organizations just received a spring gift from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  By way of refresher, thousands of private organizations each year - charities, churches, political organizations, schools and other groups…

In May 2005, Senator Harry Reid (D - Nevada) unequivocally renounced any Senate obligation to even vote on President George W. Bush's nominations, let alone confirm them, even though he had won reelection just months earlier:   "The duties of the Senate are set forth in the U.S. Constitution.  Nowhere in that document does it say…

Justice Antonin Scalia’s death last month was a terrible loss for the U.S. Supreme Court and for the country. Scalia was one of the sharpest minds ever to sit on the High Court. And he was one of three reliably originalist votes on the court (the other two being Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito). His replacement, whomever it may be, will pale…

Republicans need to ask themselves a couple of questions before they battle over Barack Obama's eventual nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Is there any good reason to allow this president to change the ideological composition the Supreme Court radically? What is the political downside of denying him? For one thing, despite…

"The President ... shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court...."  —United States Constitution, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 In the deepening partisan dispute over the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy following Justice…

Democrats are giddy over the prospect of President Obama replacing conservative Justice Antonin Scalia with a liberal. But Republicans are equally adamant about blocking Obama's lame-duck appointment. "This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president," says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. It's rare that a president…

This was an embarrassing week for the Obama Administration on two separate but interrelated fronts.   In Mexico, a powerful weapon capable of taking down a helicopter, which was obtained through Obama's "Operation Fast and Furious" debacle, was discovered in the cache of Mexico's notorious drug kingpin and prison escapee Joaquin "…

If the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of association means anything at all, it should mean the freedom not to associate. If we respect freedom of speech, Americans should reject any compulsion whatsoever in political speech. And if the government is going to force you to do something, it better have an awfully good reason for it. Freedom…

Bush v. Gore decided a single election. But the case heard by the Supreme Court on Monday could impact elections for many years. The Justices' remarks during arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association point to a major setback looming for public unions. The Court will likely rule that teachers and other unionized public workers don't…

In recent years, a small but growing number of people have advocated a convention of states to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The reaction to the proposal has been hostile, out of all proportion to either the originality or the danger of such a convention. The political left has been especially vehement in its denunciations…

Whatever the Washington Redskins' fortunes in the NFL playoffs that kick off this week, they've already enjoyed a notable judicial victory beyond the playing field.  The ruling also constitutes a victory for free speech and intellectual property (IP) rights, but yet another embarrassing judicial defeat for the Obama Administration on one of Barack…

An excessively deferential judiciary constitutes a threat to liberty.  But so does an excessively aggressive judiciary.  Unfortunately, George Will, perhaps the leading beacon of conservative thought, performs a disservice in advocating the latter in his ongoing effort to rehabilitate the discredited judicial concept of "substantive…

Among the many sad signs of our time are the current political and media attacks on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for speaking the plain truth on a subject where lies have been the norm for years. The case before the High Court is whether the use of race as a basis for admitting students to the University of Texas at Austin is a violation…

Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, which once again puts race-conscious college admissions to the constitutional test. With the rationale for racial discrimination dwindling — and understand, discrimination is precisely what the University of Texas has been engaging in &mdash…

In 2008, Barack Obama felt the need to reassure skeptical American voters that he would not behave irresponsibly or unilaterally.  He would therefore refrain, he promised, from what he characterized as the abusive practice of circumventing the legislative branch by issuing executive orders:  "I taught constitutional law for ten years…

In an excellent new piece entitled "The U.S. of Awesome:  Yep, America Still Leads the World in Innovation and Economic Dynamism," James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) highlights how, despite our own regulatory and tax headwinds in the Era of Obama, America continues to outpace the more sclerotic socialist economies…

Here's an odd, recurring and conspicuous contradiction.  The political left ceaselessly preens its fealty to gauzy multiculturalism, ostentatiously maligning Western, European, Judeo-Christian, ODWM (Old, Dead, White Male) culture in fits of self-flagellation.  Yet whenever it endeavors to uproot American norms it finds objectionable, the…

This week, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. issued what even The New York Times acknowledged constitutes "a significant defeat for the Obama Administration."  Although liberal partisans immediately struggled to minimize its importance, the Times characterized the ruling as one "that poses a new legal threat to the health care…

This week, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy paradoxically discredited a Supreme Court whose legacy and popular standing they appear so desperate to sustain.  In King v. Burwell, they joined the Court's four leftists in preserving federal ObamaCare subsidies despite the law's plain text that only states opting to participate…

Can government officials require American citizens "to demonstrate and elaborate good cause" and "provide supporting documentation" before exercising, say, our First Amendment right to free speech or religious practice?  How about our Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures?  Or our Fifth…

Apparently incapable of shame as its days dwindle, the Obama Administration offered a novel legal theory to the nation's second-highest court this week.  Namely, that its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can target a pro-Israel nonprofit on the basis of viewpoint.  The underlying facts of the case defy credulity, and are every bit as despicable…

"...nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."  —United States Constitution, Amendment V  Can government confiscate, in the name of regulating prices and market micromanagement, up to half of a farmer's crops without providing just compensation?  The Fifth Amendment seems perfectly…