Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
In a 4-4 split vote, the Supreme Court has affirmed the judgment of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the preliminary injunction issued by federal district court Judge Andrew Hanen in the case brought by Texas and 25 other states challenging the Obama administration’s attempt to give legal status and work authorizations to…
The Supreme Court issued its disappointing decision in Abigail Fisher’s case on Thursday against the University of Texas at Austin. In an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, four members of the court ruled that the university’s race-conscious admissions program does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito…
The Obama administration is responsible for thousands of new regulations—including a historic number of major regulations. As the costs of these regulations add up, they place more of a burden on economic freedom in America. In 2015, 43 new major regulations went into effect, increasing regulatory costs by more than $22 billion. In 2015, 43…
A series of proposals released last week by House Republicans aim to get the branches of the federal government to respect limits the Constitution places upon them. “A Better Way: Our Vision for a Confident America” contains several regulatory reforms as well as proposals to curb executive power grabs by enhancing certain checks and balances….
In 2012, 51 leading economic experts were asked what they thought about the following statement: On average, citizens of the U.S. have been better off with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) than they would have been if the trade rules for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico prior to NAFTA had remained in place. One…
House Republicans released their taskforce report on health care on Wednesday. The 37-page document offers a vision for health care that is in sharp contrast to Obamacare. Unlike Obamacare, which hinges on turning more control over to the government, this vision recognizes and embraces the important role of the consumer in demanding from the market higher…
The House Education and Workforce Committee recently marked up a number of proposals concerning higher education. Instead of using the opportunity to address the drivers of tuition inflation or encourage innovation in the higher education sphere, the proposed reforms maintain an open spigot of federal college subsidies. The package of proposals includes: 1. Simplifying the Application…
After a series of previous failures, Pyongyang achieved partial success with the most recent launches of its Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile. On June 21, the two Musudan missiles traveled 150 and 400 kilometers—far short of a fully successful test but indicating incremental progress toward eventually achieving its estimated range of 3,500 kilometers. North Korea’s four…
In August 2012, a gunman entered the office building in downtown Washington, D.C., that houses the Family Research Council (FRC), a Christian organization dedicated to traditional moral teaching. By his own account, available on video, he was alerted by secular progressive “watchdog” groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, that painted the FRC as a…
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Orlando—the largest in the United States since 9/11—lawmakers on Capitol Hill have yet to introduce one piece of legislation that would actually fight terrorism. Not one. The focus on gun control continues in the world’s greatest deliberative body and any real measures to fight terrorism are nowhere…
On June 23 citizens of the United Kingdom will have the opportunity to choose freedom, sovereignty, and independence from the European Union. Americans, knowing a thing or two about fighting for independence from a certain European nation ourselves, should cheer on our cousins across the Atlantic. The British exit from the continental government—or “Brexit”—has been…
Last December, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rushed an arbitrary and ineffectual recreational drone-owners’ registry into effect, mere days before Christmas and just in time to criminalize the flying of toys by thousands of children and hobbyists. The agency has potentially roped those toys under its definition of “aircraft” for purposes of all aircraft regulation…
In the past three months, the Obama administration has accelerated the pace of the so-called Periodic Review Board hearings for Guantanamo detainees. Periodic Review Boards are administrative hearings designed to weigh the merits of keeping a detainee at Gitmo or recommending transfer from the island to third countries. The Periodic Review Boards, which are a more structured…
According to a recent article in The Fashion Law, the Federal Trade Commission is attempting to regulate fashion bloggers by arguing that their online sponsorships run afoul of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits deceptive conduct. The FTC is apparently concerned that popular fashion bloggers who are paid to promote product…
On Monday, the inconceivable happened. China announced it had built the world’s fastest computer. China has always been good at copying and/or stealing intellectual property, but it has rarely produced “indigenous innovation,” particular in the high-tech sector. The Chinese supercomputer, called the Tianhe-1A, is capable of performing over 2.5 thousand trillion operations a second and…
If the news reports are correct, the latest “gun control” proposal being put forward by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is a “measure that would block people on the Transportation Security Administration’s no–fly list from buying firearms,” according to ABC News. Let’s be clear—we don’t want terrorists buying guns in this country. There is one major…
Britain’s referendum on its membership of the European Union—which might lead to its exit (known as Brexit)—will take place on June 23. After a pause following the tragic murder of Jo Cox, a Labour Party member of the British Parliament, the campaign resumed on Sunday, with the polls still too close to call. But a…
President Barack Obama needs a reality check. Earlier this month in Indiana, he accused his critics of ignoring the “facts” and purporting “myths” about his economic record. But if Republicans are truly ignoring the facts, Obama should consider it a blessing. A quick look at the facts will show that Obama’s economic performance has been…
Thousands of American troops have been taking part in a large-scale military exercise on NATO’s front-line state of Poland, which borders Vladimir Putin’s Russia, its close ally Belarus, and war-torn Ukraine. The message is unmistakable—letting Moscow know that the U.S. and its allies take its treaty obligation to defend Eastern Europe seriously. The 10-day Polish…
One might hope that after the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, Democrats would get serious about protecting Americans from the Islamic State (ISIS). But instead of uniting with Republicans to identify common ground in the fight against terrorism, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., launched a 15-hour filibuster Wednesday demanding an end to what…