It is becoming increasingly common for politicians and activist groups to call for judges to recuse from high-profile cases on the flimsiest of grounds. One example was the laughable effort by Senator Elizabeth Warren to get Judge Don Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to recuse from a case involving […]
Rule of law
Determined To Avoid Presidential Paralysis, SCOTUS Endorses Presidential Impunity
Challenging the federal indictment stemming from his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Donald Trump argued that former presidents can be prosecuted for “official acts” only if they are first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate based on the same conduct. While rejecting that claim last week, the U.S. Supreme […]
Why the Media Covered for Biden
In this week’s The Reason Roundtable, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and special guest Elizabeth Nolan Brown size up the fallout from the mainstream media’s lag in coverage of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, despite evidence existing well before his seismic debate performance on June 27. 01:50—Media fallout after Biden’s debate performance 28:13—The Supreme Court […]
Two SCOTUS Cases Show How an Unaccountable Administrative State Hurts ‘Ordinary People’
After the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed the powers of federal agencies in two cases last week, progressive critics predictably complained that the decisions favored “big business,” “corporate interests,” and “the wealthy and powerful.” That gloss overlooked the reality that people with little wealth or power frequently are forced to contend with overweening bureaucrats who invent […]
Supreme Court’s Presidential Immunity Ruling Could Shield Outrageous Abuses of Power
Challenging the federal prosecution stemming from his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Donald Trump argued that former presidents can be prosecuted for “official acts” only if they are first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate based on the same conduct. The Supreme Court today rejected that claim, which […]
SCOTUS Rejects a Legal Interpretation Underlying Capitol Riot Charges
The Supreme Court today rejected the statutory interpretation underlying a criminal charge against some of the Donald Trump supporters who participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The same charge—obstructing an official proceeding—also figures in the federal indictment accusing the former president himself of illegally attempting to reverse the outcome […]
SCOTUS Repudiates Doctrine That Gave Agencies a License To Invent Their Own Authority
In two cases that the Supreme Court decided today, herring fishermen in Rhode Island and New Jersey challenged regulatory fees they said were never authorized by Congress. They asked the Court to reconsider, or at least clarify, a doctrine based on its 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which required that judges […]