Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior…
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More Legal Shenanigans from the Biden Administration’s Department of Education

Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior of federal administrative agencies, whose vast armies of overpaid bureaucrats remain unaccountable for their excesses.

Among the most familiar examples of that bureaucratic abuse is the Department of Education (DOE).  Recall, for instance, the United States Supreme Court’s humiliating rebuke last year of the Biden DOE’s effort to shift hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt from the people who actually owed them onto the backs of American taxpayers.

Even now, despite that rebuke, the Biden DOE launched an alternative scheme last month in an end-around effort to achieve that same result.

Well, the Biden DOE is now attempting to shift tens of millions of dollars of…[more]

March 19, 2024 • 08:35 AM

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91 Supreme Court Vacancy: Follow the (Original) Obama-Biden-Reid Rule

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…

92 With a Court Ruling Unlikely, States Still Hold the Key to Checking Union Power

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…

93 Republicans Shouldn't Fear a SCOTUS Fight

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…

94 Constitutional Text and History Favor Senate Republicans on Scalia Vacancy, Not Obama

"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…

95 Democrats' Big Lie About the Supreme Court

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…

96 Federal Court Deals Obama Administration Another Humiliating Defeat

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 "…

97 A First Amendment Reckoning for Teachers Unions

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…

98 Political Earthquake Ahead

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…

99 'Messing With the Constitution'

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…

100 New Court Defeat for Obama Means Win for Redskins, Free Speech and Intellectual Property Rights

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…

101 George Will Encourages Judicial Tyranny Through "Substantive Due Process"

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…

102 Attacking the Truth

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…

103 Government Endorses Discrimination for “Diversity’s” Sake

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…

104 Courts Hand Obama Administration Two New Judicial Defeats

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…

105 The Fuel to America's Fire of Innovation and Prosperity

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…

106 Justice Breyer: American Judges Should Internationalize

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…

107 Obama Administration Suffers "Significant Defeat" in Court

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…

108 Execrable ObamaCare Ruling Offers Important Corrective for Conservatives and Libertarians

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…

109 Second Amendment: Constitutional Rights Shouldn't Be Subject to "Good Cause" Government Approval

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…

110 IRS Tells Court: We Can Selectively Target Pro-Israel Group

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…

111 Ten Years After Kelo, Supreme Court Can Make Property Rights Course Correction

"...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…

112 The 'Disparate Impact' Racket

The U.S. Department of Justice issued two reports last week, both growing out of the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of Michael Brown. The first report, about "the shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson" ought to be read by every American. It says in plain English what facts have been established by…

113 Rand Paul Announces Judicial Policy That Should Alarm Conservatives and Libertarians

As his prospective 2016 presidential candidacy congeals, Senator Rand Paul's (R - Kentucky) discordant policy proclamations have so far tended toward the realm of foreign affairs.  In recent remarks before a Heritage audience, however, Paul announced a domestic judicial philosophy that will exacerbate concern among conservatives and libertarians…

114 Why Conservative Lawsuits Aren’t Examples of Judicial Activism

It’s January 2015, and liberal politicians in Washington are already making good on one of their resolutions – frame Republicans as hypocritical on judicial activism. Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, got the ball rolling when he said that Republican lawsuits challenging the legality of President Barack Obama’s…

115 Second Amendment Ends 2014 On a High Note

It's important for conservatives and libertarians, preternaturally pessimistic regarding societal drift from constitutional liberty, to acknowledge and savor positive milestones when passed.  In that vein, the year 2014 concluded on a positive note for Second Amendment rights advocates.  First came this December 10 release from the left…

116 Inside the Texas-Led, 20-State Lawsuit Challenging Obama’s Immigration Amnesty

With the additions of Arizona, Florida and Ohio, there are now twenty states suing the Obama administration over the president’s unilateral decision to grant temporary amnesty and work permits to as many as five million illegal immigrants. The Texas-led lawsuit is a textbook case of Constitutional Litigation 101. Brushing aside any notion that…

117 Is John Roberts Listening to Jonathan Gruber?

Is John Roberts listening to Jonathan Gruber? In a move that stunned Republicans and Democrats alike two years ago, Roberts, the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, changed his mind and single-handedly rewrote ObamaCare in NFIB v. Sebelius to save it from its own unconstitutionality. A key ingredient in Roberts’ judicial about-face was his ability…

118 Move over Lois Lerner: Lawsuit Says IRS Destroying Evidence in Separate Case

Private lawsuits against the IRS are nothing new, but one claim against the tax-gathering agency should interest House Republicans investigating the possible willful destruction of evidence by former manager Lois Lerner and other employees.  According to federal court documents, the IRS “wiped clean a number of computer hard drives containing…

119 Humiliating New Legal Defeat for Obama Administration, but Rule of Law Remains in the Balance

You don't need a fancy legal degree to understand that Congress intended for every eligible American to have access to tax credits that would lower their healthcare costs, regardless of whether it was state officials or federal officials who were running the marketplace."  -White House spokesman Josh Earnest  "It is not our…

120 IRS and the Spoliation of Evidence Legal Standard

“Innocent until proven guilty” is an unconditional canon within our legal system, right?  Not always.  As a first-year associate fresh out of law school, my very first assignment centered on the legal issue known as “spoliation of evidence.”  Pronouncing the term correctly (spō-lē-Ā-shŭn)…

 
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