In 1996, then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich introduced the Drug Importer Death Penalty Act which, as the name implies, would have imposed the death penalty on those who imported a sufficient amount of marijuana or other illegal drugs into the United States on more than one occasion. (Hat tip: Ezra Klein)
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Lawsuit Challenges NLRB Recess Appointments
Business groups have already begun to take aim at President Obama’s recess appointments. As SCOTUSBlog reports, a coalition of industry groups filed a motion (and supplementary memorandum) to include a challenge to the constitutionality of President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in ongoing litigation against recently adopted “notice posting” rule. According […]
Pointless Plane Prohibition
All electronic devices must be turned off prior to takeoff. If you fly anywhere, you’ve almost certainly heard this message. This requirement was adopted for passenger safety, right? Perhaps. Some electronic devices, phones in particular, can cause problems with the plane’s equipment. But the rule applies across the board, even to iPads in “airplane mode” […]
The President’s Agency Consolidation Proposal
This morning I received a CNN “Breaking News” alert that “President Obama said today he is elevating the Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level agency.” My first reaction was utter disbelief. The question is whether the SBA should exist, not whether it should be a cabinet-level agency. Fortunately, the CNN report was in error. What […]
No Bottled Water on Uncle Sam’s Dime
This morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided U.S. Department of the Navy v. FLRA, resolving a labor dispute over water. Judge Kavanaugh’s opinion for the court begins: This case turns on whether a government agency may provide employees with free bottled water even when safe and drinkable water is […]
Court Reaffirms Ministerial Exception
By Jonathan H. Adler on January 11, 2012 10:26 am in First Amendment, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, Supreme Court
SCOTUSBlog reports that the Supreme Court has issued its opinion in Hosanna Tabor v EEOC, unanimously reversing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on the question whether the First Amendment precludes employment discrimination suits against religious entities by those in “ministerial” positions. The Court was unanimous in the judgment. Chief Justice Roberts […]
Ackerman: Release the Recess Appointment Opinion
By Jonathan H. Adler on January 10, 2012 11:29 pm in Executive Branch, OLC Opinions, Recess Appointments
Yale’s Bruce Ackerman, writing in the WSJ, calls for the White House to release the legal memorandum upon which President Obama based his decision to make several recess appointments while the Senate claimed not to be in recess. As Ackerman notes, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel “traditionally served as the executive branch’s authoritative […]
Fined for Failing to Do the Impossible
Back in 2007, Congress created a biofuels mandate under which oil companies are required to use a minimum amount of cellulosic ethanol each year. The mandate was supposed to encourage the development of a domestic cellulosic ethanol industry. This has not happened. Several years after the mandate was imposed, there is still no commercial cellulosic […]
8-1 Four Times
The Supreme Court issued four opinions in argued cases today. Interestingly, all four cases were decided 8-1 (though some featured concurrences or separate opinions). Justice Ginsburg was the lone dissenter in two of the cases (Minneci v. Pollard and Compu-Credit Corp. v. Greenwood). In the other two cases the lone dissenters were Justice Scalia (Gonzales […]
McConnell on Recess Appointments and “Executive Overreach”
Today’s WSJ features an op-ed by former federal judge Michael McConnell on President Obama’s decision to grant recess appointments to Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Board and three members of the National Labor Relations Board. It is hard to imagine a plausible constitutional basis for the appointments. The president has power to […]
Funk on Sackett
Over at RegBlog (an indispensable resource for those interested in regulatory policy), Lewis & Clark Law Professor William Funk comments on the stakes in the Sackett case: Many environmentalists fear that a decision by the Court in favor of the Sacketts would hamstring environmental enforcement, on the theory that if defendants may delay compliance during […]
Sackett Oral Argument
At SCOTUSBlog, Lyle Denniston characterizes the oral argument in Sackett v. EPA as “A Weak Defense of EPA.” Perhaps that’s because the EPA’s position, applied in this case, is difficult to square with traditional notions of due process. Denniston highlights one passage of the oral argument (transcript) that highlighted the nature of the government’s position: […]
Sackett v. EPA
Today the Supreme Court hears oral argument in Sackett v. EPA, a challenge to the federal government’s claim that landowners (and other regulated entities) may not obtain pre-enforcement review of an administrative compliance order under the Clean Water Act. I previewed the case before. Here is how the WSJ reports on the case this morning: […]
Preemptive Recess Appointments
One justification for President Obama’s decision to make several recess appointments this week is that the appointments were necessary to prevent partisan obstruction from disabling federal agencies from performing their duties. In the case of Richard Cordray, it was clear that Senate Republicans would block his appointment as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Board […]
Recess Appointment Round-Up
The recess appointnment claus is an “odd clause” — and perhaps even the “oddest clause of all” in the Constitution, according to BU’s Jay Wexler. However odd it may be, it’s receiving lots of attention due to the President’s decision to make four recess appointments even though the Senate maintains it had not formally recessed. Michael […]