The Supreme Court Was Wrong About Taxes
By: Rob Natelson Along with some good decisions, Supreme Court justices made some mistakes in the term just ended. One mistake involved taxes—and it is likely to bedevil the court ...
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The Supreme Court Bump Stock Case: Defeat for the “Deep State”
By: Rob Natelson Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion for the Supreme Court in Garland v. Cargill—the “bump stock firearms” case—may be more important for what it does not say than for ...
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Five Years Later Supreme Court Decision Still Hasn’t Significantly Limited Asset Forfeiture
By: Mike Maharrey Many people believe the Supreme Court “ended asset forfeiture” with its 2019 opinion in Timbs v. Indiana. As we argued at the time, Timbs ended nothing, and follow-up cases bear ...
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The Anti-Commandeering Doctrine: An Introduction
By: Mike Maharrey The anti-commandeering doctrine provides a powerful tool to undermine overreaching, unconstitutional federal power. So, what is this doctrine? What is it based upon? And how can it be ...
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Federal Farmer: Will the Judiciary Preserve or Destroy Liberty?
By: TJ Martinell While many anti-federalists, including Patrick Henry, regarded the judicial branch of the federal government under the proposed U.S. Constitution with deep suspicion, the Federal Farmer took a more ...
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Judiciary Act of 1789 Signed into Law
By: Mike Maharrey On this date in 1789, George Washington signed the Judiciary Act into law. This was arguably the first federal exercise of unconstitutional power. Article III of the Constitution delegated judicial ...
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Necessary Does not Mean Useful or Convenient
By: TJ Martinell One of the most famous and important Supreme Court opinions is from the 1819 McCulloch v. Maryland case. It set the stage for massive expansion of federal power by incorrectly ...
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Fact Check: No, overruling Roe v. Wade would not endanger other rights
By: Rob Natelson In a previous essay, I surmised that the purpose of leaking the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overruling Roe v. Wade (pdf) was to expose one or more justices to ...
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How the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part VII: Concentration Camps and the End
By: Rob Natelson This is the last installment in a series on the nadir, or low point, of the U.S. Supreme Court. This was the period from 1937 to 1944, when ...
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How the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part VI: Crushing Civil Liberties
By: Rob Natelson The first, second, third, fourth and fifth installments in this series traced how the Supreme Court responded to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to break constitutional limits and create a powerful federal government. After trying ...
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