The legal battle between the Koch brothers and the Cato Institute is officially over. The Cato Institute has issued a press release detailing the settlement. The key points of the settlement are as follows: 1) The shareholder agreement upon which the Koch brothers claimed majority ownership of the Cato Institute is dissolved. 2) The Cato […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Most of Arizona Immigration Law Preempted
There’s no health care decision today, but the Court did decide Arizona v. United States. In a 5-3 decision, the Court found that federal law preempted most of the challenged provisions (specifically Sections 3, 5(C), and 6), and held another provision (Section 2(B)) would need to be construed by state courts before the Court could […]
Correcting Misconceptions about the Roberts Court
The Supreme Court has not yet ruled against the individual mandate, and who knows whether it will. Yet this has not stopped commentators from making sweeping charges about the Court. Many commentators, for instance, are charging that the Roberts Court is “activist.” For some, “activist” is just a label for judges that make decisions they […]
If Health Reform Law Survives, Litigation Will Continue
Unless the Supreme Court decides to eliminate the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in its entirety, Florida v. Sebelius is not the end of health care reform litigation, but only the beginning. Lawsuits are already pending challenging everything from the contraception mandate to the black lung benefits provisions to the structure of the Independent […]
Poor Prognostication
Northwestern University political science professor Jacqueline Stevens writes in today’s NYT: It’s an open secret in my discipline: in terms of accurate political predictions (the field’s benchmark for what counts as science), my colleagues have failed spectacularly and wasted colossal amounts of time and money. The most obvious example may be political scientists’ insistence, during […]
Suit Filed Challenging Constitutionality of CFPB
The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, the 60-Plus Association, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed suit against the Consumer Financial Protection Board alleging that the CFPB, as currently structured, is unconstitutional. Specifically the suit alleges that the CFPB lacks political accountability because, among other things, the President cannot remove the Bureau’s director save […]
Eminent Domain and the Public Trust
What happens when the eminent domain power is used to obtain title to lands or other properties in which there are public trust responsibilities? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit confronted this question in U.S. v. California State Lands Commission (aka U.S. v. 32.42 Acres of Land. In particular, the court considered […]
Flip-Flops on Executive Privilege
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 20, 2012 10:38 pm in Executive Branch, Kerr's Law, Separation of Powers
From Charlie Savage’s NYT report on President Obama’s assertion of Executive Privilege as the basis for the Justice Department’s refusal to turn over internal agency documents concerning the “Fast and Furious” scandal to a house oversight committee: The invocation of executive privilege by Mr. Obama added a new element to the drama. While there is little […]
White House Asserts Executive Privilege as Contempt of Congress Vote Looms
I have not been following the “Fast and Furious” scandal all that closely (or even much at all), but this seems like an interesting development for those who are interested in separation of powers questions. President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation Wednesday as a House panel moved […]
Is the Ninth Circuit Due for Environmental Correction?
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 20, 2012 10:05 am in Environment, Ninth Circuit Smackdown (Again), Supreme Court
Will 2012 provide a repeat of 2008? Specifically, will the Supreme Court’s October 2012 term find the Supreme Court repeatedly reversing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in environmental cases as it did in the October 2008 term? In 2008, the Supreme Court heard an unusually high number of environmental cases, six: […]
Report: Kochs and Cato Settle
The National Journal is reporting that the Koch brothers have settled their lawsuit against the current leadership of the Cato Institute: “Looks like we’ve come to an accommodation with the Koch brothers, Cato founder and president Ed Crane said Tuesday in a email to employees. Staffers will be briefed Monday on the settlement by Cato Chairman Bob Levy and John Allison, a […]
Support Subsidies, Pay Less for Subsidized Service
Gary Leff reports on a new Amtrak program whereby those who join the National Association of Railroad Passengers, a D.C.-based “advocacy organization” that supports greater Amtrak subsidies, get special discounts on Amtrak tickets. Leff comments: Whatever you think of government funding for train travel in the United States, is it problematic that a government corporation […]
Does Scalia’s New Book Reveal His Vote on the Individual Mandate?
With fevered anticipation of the Court’s most-awaited ruling in years, pundits and scribes are searching for clues as to how the Court will rule. Previewing Justice Scalia’s forthcoming book, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (co-authored with Bryan Garner), Adam Liptak reports on a few passages that could suggest how Scalia is likely to rule. […]
Auer Deference Still Up for Grabs?
Today the Supreme Court decidedChristopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., which concerned whether pharmaceutical sales representatives are subject to the “outside sales” exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements. The Department of Labor had claimed pharma reps are not exempt, but how its regulations applied to pharma reps was unclear and the Department’s position and jusitifcation […]
Today’s Interesting Lineup(s)
Today the Supreme Court decided Salazar v. Ramah Navajo Chapter. The Court split 5-4 in a most interesting way. Justice Sotomayor wrote for the majority, joined by Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Kagan. Chief Justice Roberts dissented, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer and Alito. Also interesting and unusual, as the folks at SCOTUSBlog note, is […]