The Washington Post reports the Environmental Protection Agency will release proposed regulations governing the emissions of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants this week, perhaps as early as today. As described by the Post, this New Source Performance Standard regulation could put a halt to the construction of new coal-fired power plants unless and until […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Will the NLRB Lose a Member?
A report by the Inspector General of the National Labor Relations Board concludes that a current member of the Board, Terence Flynn, shared confidential information about Board deliberations with outside parties in violation of NLRB ethics rules. Flynn, a Republican, is one of President Obama’s recent recess appointees to the Board. Among those to whom […]
“Aggravated Pimping”
CNN reports that French authorities have charged former International Monetary Fund chief and alleged sex offender Dominique Strauss-Kahn with “aggravated pimping.” The charges stem from DSK’s alleged involvement with a prostitution ring. Here is how CNN explains the charge: The charge alleges involvement in the habitual operation of a prostitution racket. Specifically, “aggravated’ means on […]
Passport Dispute Does Not Present “Political Question”
In non-mandate news, the Supreme Court issued two merits opinions today, including Zivotofsky v. Clinton, a challenge to the State Department’s refusal to follow a federal statute directing the federal government to recognize Jerusalem as a part of Israel specifically by allowing American citizens born in Jerusalem to have “Israel” listed as their birthplace. The […]
Guns, Broccoli and the Individual Mandate – Thoughts on the Eve of Argument
Is Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida a replay of United States v. Lopez? I suggested as much in an October 2010 post, in which I wrote: n both cases, the issue is whether the Supreme Court will adopt limitations on the scope of government power that are greatly desired by libertarians and supported […]
False Arguments in Favor of the Mandate
There are serious arguments in support of the constitutionality of the individual mandate (just as there are serious arguments against it). There are also quite a few bad arguments, and quite a few that rest on patently false premises. A common example of the latter is that the mandate does not require anyone to engage […]
NHTSA vs. Effective Navigation
Cnet has a disturbing report on how federal regulations could destroy effective vehicle navigation systems in the name of curbing distracted driving. The cruel irony of this sort of effort is that less-effective and less user-friendly navigation systems will make many drivers less safe, as they strain to figure out where they are going. Modern […]
Koch v. Cato — David Koch Issues a Statement
Koch Industries Executive Vice President David H. Koch has issued a nine-page statement regarding the Koch-Cato kerfuffle and directly responding to some of the claims made by Bob Levy. As with his brother’s statement, more of the release consists of categorical statements or assertions, and there is relatively little in the way of verifiable detail, […]
Jonathan Adler to Georgetown
Story here. There’s no relation, but it’s still kinda cool.
Thoughts on Sackett v. EPA
The regulators lost to the regulated today in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. As Ilya notes below, the Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion held that property owners and other regulated parties may challenge administrative compliance orders issued by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act. This is a small, yet significant, victory guaranteeing a […]
FAA Reconsidering Pointless Plane Prohibition
As I noted here, the Federal Aviation Administration requires airplane passengers to shut off all electronic equipment during takeoff and landing without regard to whether such devices can actually interfere with the plane’s instrumentation, which is the ostensible reason for the restriction. Now the NYT reports the FAA is taking a “fresh look” at the policy, a step […]
Holtz-Eakin and Smith on the Individual Mandate
Former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Nobel Laureate economist Vernon Smith had an op-ed in today’s WSJ on the “flawed economic foundations” of the Affordable Care Act. On the individual mandate, they write: The Obama administration defends the mandate on the ground that a person’s decision to not buy health insurance affects commerce by materially increasing […]
LSAT Takers Continue to Decline
The NYT reports that the number of people taking the LSAT test has declined for the second year in a row. The Law School Admission Council reported that the LSAT was given 129,925 times in the 2011-12 academic year. That was well off the 155,050 of the year before and far from the peak of 171,514 […]
Politico’s “Four Hard Truths of Health Care Reform”
On Friday, Politico reported that President Obama’s “signature promise” about the Affordable Care Act — that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan” — “turns out” not to be true for many people. This is “an inconvenient truth at a really inconvenient time.” Moreover, as Politico notes, the law is not achieving […]
New EO on “Natural Resources Defense Preparedness”
Some corners of the internet were abuzz this weekend over a new Executive Order signed by President Obama on Friday concerning “Natural Resources Defense Preparedness.” The EO, which seeks to ensure the country has “an industrial and technological base capable of meeting national defense requirements and capable of contributing to the technological superiority of its […]