Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

William Saletan on the new paternalism: Weisberg put his finger on the underlying trend: “Because Democrats hold power at the moment, they face the greater peril of paternalistic overreaching.” Today’s morality cops are less interested in your bedroom than your refrigerator. They’re more likely to berate you for outdoor smoking than for outdoor necking. It […]

Reason‘s Radley Balko supports the creation of a new federal agency, and it might actually be a good idea.

SCOTUSBlog has posted links to briefs filed by the Office of the Solicitor General in pending cases before the Supreme Court. Among the briefs that caught my eye is that in Pottawattamie County, Iowa v. McGhee, in which the Justice Department supports absolute immunity from Section 1983 suits for prosecutors who (as alleged in this […]

The Obama Administration is preparing to announce a new policy that would limit the use of the state secrets privilege, according to reports in the New York Times and Washington Post. The policy will take effect October 1. From the Post: The new policy requires agencies, including the intelligence community and the military, to convince […]

A federal district court judge overturned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s decision to remove Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone area from the endangered species list. From the LA Times: In a strongly worded order, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy said that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s conclusion that the bears would […]

A new paper in The Economists’ Voice concludes that the costs of the “cash for clunkers” program exceed the benefits by approximately $2000 per vehicle. Meanwhile, September auto sales are plummeting, leading to estimates the monthly total will be the lowest in nearly three decades.

I suppose this should not be a surprise. If the federal government funds art and other expressive endeavors, politicization is sure to follow. UPDATE: More, including corrective actions being taken by the Administration, here.

Over the summer I pondered the fate of Connecticut v. American Electric Power, a case argued before the Second Circuit in June 2006. The case, a suit filed by several states against several utilities alleging their emissions of carbon dioxide contributed to the “public nuisance” of global warming, was of particular interest because one of […]

The NYT reports on the looming debate over reauthorizing portions of the Patriot Act. Both the House and the Senate are set to hold their first committee hearings this week on whether to reauthorize three sections of the Patriot Act that expire at the end of this year. The provisions expanded the power of the […]

The evolution of Green Day is quite remarkable. They were basically a punk revival band when I saw them in concert some fifteen years ago. I liked their stuff, but I would never have thought them capable of producing work like 2004’s American Idiot and this year’s 21st Century Breakdown. These two albums are particularly […]

The Washington Post has an interesting article on the Justice Department investigation of CIA interrogations, suggesting the inquiry may be narrower than some hoped or feared. It begins: The Justice Department’s review of detainee abuse by the CIA will focus on a very small number of cases, including at least one in which an Afghan […]

My senior essay at Yale was an intellectual biography of Irving Kristol up through the founding of The Public Interest in 1968. I was particularly interested in what caused him to move from Left to Right, as I have always been intrigued by ideological migrations. What I discovered, interestingly enough, was that Kristol’s migration occurred […]

David Rivkin and Lee Casey argue that a federal mandate requiring all individuals to obtain health insurance would lie beyond the scope of Congress’ enumerated powers. Specifically, they argue that neither the power to “regulate commerce among the several states” nor the taxing and spending power could support such an all-encompassing mandate. Here is a […]

The LA Times reports on a recent rendition to the United States: A Lebanese citizen being held in a detention center [in Alexandria, VA] was hooded, stripped naked for photographs and bundled onto an executive jet by FBI agents in Afghanistan in April, making him the first known target of a rendition during the Obama […]

McClatchy reports: If you’re planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you’d best beware: You could be breaking a new federal law. As part of a campaign called Resale Roundup, the federal government is cracking down on the secondhand sales of dangerous and defective products. The initiative, which targets toys and other products […]