Following a federal lawsuit brought by the Institute for Justice, the City of Richland has ended its practice of unconstitutionally forcing homeowners to upgrade city streets as a condition of obtaining a building permit. As a result of that change, Linda Cameron is...
supreme court
Greenwald Interviewed on His Charges
by Scott Horton | Jan 22, 2020 | Blog
In The New Yorker: The case against you relies in part on the claim that you helped in “facilitating the commission of a crime.” Did you do anything to encourage the hacking of cell phones or other devices? No. In fact, when the source first talked to me, he had...

Save the Pearl: New Group Formed to Oppose Tulsa Development Authority’s Eminent Domain Plans
by Conor Beck | Nov 13, 2019 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism
A community in Tulsa joins together to stop city officials from following through with plans to tear down homes for “urban renewal” Tulsa, Okla.—Today, residents and supporters of Tulsa’s Pearl District announced the formation of a new group, Save the Pearl Coalition....
After a 2 Year Court Battle, Man Gets His $52,560 Back from State Thieves
by Steven Woskow | Aug 16, 2019 | Blog
After a 2 year battle the State of Alabama Appeals Court ruled that the confiscation of $52,560 from Juan Manuel Martinez-Camacho was not supported by evidence presented by the state of Alabama. The court reversed the decision of a trial court that had found for the...

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Unanimously That States Cannot Impose Excessive Fines
by John Kramer | Feb 26, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics
In an historic ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court this morning held that the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment protects Americans not just against the federal government, but against states and local authorities too. No matter which state you live in, every...

Nationalism, the Ideological Delusion at the Heart of Protectionism
by Robert Higgs | Feb 3, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics
Every economic entity, whether it be an individual, a family, or a firm, faces a constant choice with regard to how it will secure the goods and services it desires in order to carry out its economic plans: make or buy? Most individuals and families give little...

How the left put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court
by Sam Peters | Oct 17, 2018 | Featured Articles, Politics
You might think that the left would have learned its lesson after blundering into the election Donald Trump in 2016, but it seems two years to reflect on their defeat has not been enough time for Progressives to rethink the strategy that handed them the biggest...
FPF #256 – Brett Kavanaugh
by Kyle Anzalone | Oct 10, 2018 | Conflicts of Interest
On FPF #256, I discuss new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's foreign policy. I explain how Kavanaugh's positions on presidential war powers are dangerous. Kavanaugh supports the Patriot Act, ignoring international treaties, and federal officials violating...

The Constitutional Reasons to Oppose Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court
by Brittany Hunter | Oct 3, 2018 | Featured Articles, Politics
After two days of political theater, the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to delay the vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court for a week. In that time, the FBI will conduct an investigation surrounding the allegations made against him by Christine...

The Supreme Court: Why the Stakes Are So High
by Jim Bovard | Sep 27, 2018 | Featured Articles, Politics
The furor over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh is spurring many commentators to bewail that the Supreme Court has become too powerful. But the real problem is that the Court is now often little more than a fig leaf to provide legitimacy for a Leviathan that would...
Unlawful Shield
by Scott Horton | Aug 27, 2018 | Blog
Check out Cato's great new project Unlawful Shield, "Dedicated to Abolishing Qualified Immunity." "Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine invented out of whole cloth by the U.S. Supreme Court that protects government agents, including particularly law enforcement...
6/29/18 Brent Skorup on the Supreme Court's Ruling in Carpenter v. United States
by Scott Horton | Jul 2, 2018 | The Scott Horton Show
Brent Skorup from the Mercatur Institute and George Mason University is interviewed on both the Capenter v United States ruling and his article in the Washington Times with Melodoy Calkins from June 27th, 2017 titled "A Supreme Court Call: On the Third Party Doctrine...
SCOTUS Whiffs on Masterpiece Cake Ruling Ep. 80
by Patrick Macfarlane | Jun 5, 2018 | Blog, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Vital Dissent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZtX-9qyzE Click Here for Audio Only The Supreme Court handed down a very dissatisfying ruling in the Masterpiece case on Monday, holding in a 7-2 opinion that: "[t]he Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s actions in assessing a cakeshop...
Supreme Court Rules 8-1 Against Warrantless Police Search in Important Fourth Amendment Case
by Damon Root | May 30, 2018 | Featured Articles, Justice
Fourth Amendment advocates scored a victory today when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against a warrantless police search that involved an officer entering private property for the purpose of examining a motorcycle stored under a tarp in the driveway near a home....
Blog
The Truth About Discrimination – Walter E. Williams
If people are free to discriminate in favor of, or against, a university or wine, what argument can be made against their having that same right with respect to choosing based on the race or sex characteristics of their mates, employees, tenants, or club members? If...
Black Youth Unemployment Before Democrats Started “Helping”
Although most people are familiar with more recent statistics on black youth unemployment, not many are aware of the black/white statistics for earlier periods. Table 3.2 (below) shows that in 1948, the two were roughly equal. For that year, blacks aged sixteen to...
Political Discrimination vs. Market Discrimination – Walter E. Williams
Gross racial discrimination alone has never been sufficient to prevent blacks from earning a living and bettering themselves by working as skilled or unskilled craftsmen and as business owners, accumulating considerable wealth. The fact that whites sought out blacks...
GDP is a Scam, Here’s How to Measure Wealth
https://youtu.be/mYfH_9arsRk In 1981, the cheapest IBM personal computer cost $4,459 (in 2018 U.S. dollars), or 210 hours of labor. An Insignia tablet and keyboard combo cost $120 in 2018, or 5.6 hours of labor. - Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know, CATO...
The Democratic Policy Which Keeps Poor People Poor – Walter E. Williams
To criticize occupational licensing laws is not to argue that information about the quality of a licensee's services is not important to consumers. However, it is by no means clear that licensing is the most effective way to provide that information. Indeed, licensing...
How Economic Regulation Hurts the Poor – Walter E. Williams
In the name of protecting public health, California requires that an individual who seeks to perform any kind of hairstyling service must complete nine months (1,600 hours) of classes at a state-approved cosmetology school, at a tuition cost of at least $5,000, before...