[With apologies to Orin.] The more I participate in discussions on the constitutionality of the individual mandate, the more it feels to me like a replay of the debate over the limits of federal commerce clause power prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Lopez. In both cases, the issue is whether […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Climate Policy Without Cap and Trade
This week, environmental analysts from left and right came together to offer a “post-partisan” approach to climate change. In Post-Partisan Power: How a Limited and Direct Approach to Energy Innovation Can Deliver Cheap Energy, Economic Productivity, and National Prosperity, Steven Hayward (American Enterprise Institute), Mark Muro (Brookings Institution), and Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger (Breakthrough […]
The Individual Mandate and the Taxing Power
My colleague Erik Jensen, who has forgotten more about the Taxing Power than I’ll ever know, has a new paper on whether the individual mandate is a “tax” for constitutional purposes. Here’s the abstract: This article, prepared for a symposium at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University, considers whether the Taxing […]
Is the Individual Mandate “Necessary”?
Like my co-conspirators, I believe the Necessary & Proper Clause provides the strongest basis for the constitutionality of the individual mandate. I”m inclined to agree with Ilya nad Randy, rather than Orin, but I believe it’s a close call. The constitutional argument, as has been rehearsed in this space before, is that that mandate is […]
Economics Misperceptions Among Students
Alex Tabarrok has an interesting post about common misperceptions about economics among college students. (Some of the comments are interesting as well.) I would be curious to see how much variation there is in answers from students with different backgrounds (e.g. those that held jobs during/after high school, those financing their own educations, those born […]
Interior Lifts Deepwater Drilling Moratorium
Today the U.S. Department of the Interior lifted the moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. As outlined in this memorandum of decision, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has instructed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly known as the “Minerals Management Service”) to permit drilling by operators that […]
Congratulations to Brown Law!
The Princeton Review has just released its 2011 law school guide book, “The Best 172 Law Schools,” which includes rankings based upon extensive student surveys. According to their press release (cached here), Brown University’s law school ranked number one in the “best professors” survey category. Congratulations to all our friends on Brown’s law faculty. (Hat […]
Sixth Circuit Holds Ohio Can’t Prohibit “rbST-Free” Labels
Last month, in International Dairy Foods Association v. Boggs, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down Ohio’s regulations barring dairy processors from labeling milk as “rbST-Free,” but upheld the agency’s ability to require disclaimers for some rbST-related product claims, subject to First Amendment constraints. In the process the decision illustrated […]
More on Insider Trading on Capitol Hill
There’s more on apparent insider trading on Capitol Hill from Deal Journal, Thom Lambert, and Professor Bainbridge. MORE: The WSJ reports Rep. Brian Baird and others will renew their push to enact the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act,” a bill to prohibit insider trading by members of Congress and their staffs.
Diamond, Mortensen and Pissarides Win Economics Nobel
The 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen, Christopher A. Pissarides for their work on “search markets,” and labor markets in particular. The press release announcing the choice reads: Why are so many people unemployed at the same time that there are a large number of job […]
Insider Trading on Capitol Hill
The WSJ has an investigative report in Monday’s paper showing extensive buying and selling of stocks by Congressional staffers who work for members of Congress with jurisdiction over the traded companies. The Journal analysis showed that an aide to a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee bought Bank of America Corp. stock before results […]
“An Apology from Someone Like Adler Would Be Meaningless”
The Washington Post reports on controversy surrounding allegations that Democratic Party operatives worked behind-the-scenes to get a third-party “Tea Party” candidate onto the ballot in New Jersey’s Third Congressional District in order to help re-elect first-term Congressman John Adler (What? You thought this post was about someone else?). The Post story draws on a report […]
4-4 Is Just Fine
Jason Mazzone explains why Senator Patrick Leahy’s proposal to allow retired justices to participate in place of justices who have to recuse is “a solution in search of a problem.”
Nuclear Off a Cliff
The Washington Post reports that constellation Energy is pulling out of a plan to build a third nuclear reactor at its Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. In a letter to the Department of Energy, Constellation explained that the conditions and costs of the federal loan guarantee was not “workable” and had generated too much uncertainty […]
Justice Breyer Rejects Theory of “Pro-Business” Court
Bloomberg reports: Justice Stephen Breyer rejected the notion that the U.S. Supreme Court has a pro-business slant and said the court doesn’t rule in favor of companies any more frequently than it has historically. “I looked back,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview in which he discussed his new book. “I couldn’t find a […]