Nina Easton writes about so-called reform that’s both anti-speech, and deeply hypocritical: One narrative of election year 2010 was shaped long before any votes were tabulated. President Barack Obama penned the first chapter with his January condemnation of a Supreme Court ruling that lifted government prohibitions on spending by corporations in elections. The 5-to-4 decision…
Law
Law
A Read-the-Bill Rule for Congress
by JOHN ADAMS •
Hannah Volokh, while at visiting at Emory University’s law school, published an intriguing proposal in the Missouri Law Review: A Read-the-Bill Rule for Congress: In this Article, I argue that legislators have a duty to read the text of proposed legislation before voting to enact it. A Read the Bill political movement has formed in…
Law
Second Amendment Rights (and implicitly First Amendment rights, too)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Earlier this month, Madison police cited two men (of a group of five) for obstruction of justice for failing to identify themselves to officers at a Culver’s restaurant. The men were openly carrying firearms, as Wisconsin law allows. (One can’t openly carry a gun anywhere, but it’s lawful to carry one in a Culver’s, for…
Law, Laws/Regulations
Ieshuh Griffin on The Daily Show: Slogan’s Hero
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve written before about Ieshuh Griffin, the Wisconsin candidate who wanted to use “NOT the whiteman’s bitch” as her description of candidacy on the November ballot. She’s now hit the big time — a mention on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The Government Accountability Board denied Griffin’s request to use that description, and a…
Law
Wisconsin Attorney General Hosts Public Records Seminar
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Wisconsin’s Attorney General, J.B. Van Hollen, will host an open records seminar this week in Madison. The Wisconsin Department of Justice will hold several public records seminars, live or video-taped, over the next few weeks. See, Wis. AG to host first open records seminar. Free registration for the seminars…
Freedom of Speech, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
From the Institute for Justice: Defending the Right to Ordinary Speech
by JOHN ADAMS •
Is it possible, in America, that government will not allow citizens to make a living describing national landmarks without holding a license from the state? A license, literally, to speak about our democratic heritage. Not a business license — no, a second license from government — by which government claims to permit a person to…
Law, Liberty
Im Not Going to Be Interrogated As a Pre-Condition of Re-Entering My Own Country – Hit & Run : Reason Magazine
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s justifiable pride in being an American citizen: America is an extraordinary place, a free, beautiful republic. There are countless reasons to be proud of being a citizen, so many reasons to love the American way of life. Unfortunately, the encroachment of government regulations is so considerable that federal officials often assert authority that they…
Law, Libertarians, Liberty
Reason.tv: Anyone Care About Economic Liberty Anymore? George Thomas on the 14th Amendment
by JOHN ADAMS •
George Thomas of Claremont McKenna College discusses economic liberties. Reason.tv’s interview is a solid contribution to the topic. I have embedded the video, and a description of it, below. (By the way, if you’re looking for those who take economic liberties seriously, there’s no better place to start than the “merry band of litigators” at…
Government Spending, Law, Laws/Regulations
Wisconsin: State Journal: Shame those who hide state contracts
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Government Accountability Board deserves credit for trying to put some teeth into the law that requires state agencies to post online the details of any contracts that involve more than $10,000 in state money…. Problem is, that website [to post details] has been mostly blank, as agencies have routinely ignored the requirement for online…
Law, Police
Balko on Concealment and Dishonesty in Northern Virginia
by JOHN ADAMS •
The battle for openness in government is a difficult but necessary one. In some parts of the country, notably northern Virgina, some police departments are doing everything they can to prevent greater openness. Radley Balko of Reason writes about how departments in that state batten on the legitimate need for public safety to justify their…
Law, Liberty, Police
Instapundit – A Prosecutor on the War Against Photography
by JOHN ADAMS •
The principal attribute of a campaign against photography, or the encroachment on private property rights (see, “Is a Man’s Home Still His Castle? – Washington Examiner“) is that officials aim to take from American citizens rights that Americans now have, and have historically had. This is the dark – and reactionary — side of contemporary…
Law, Liberty
Is a man’s home still his castle? | Washington Examiner
by JOHN ADAMS •
But to arrest someone who is unmistakably on their own property, and doing nothing remotely illegal, is an abuse of power pure and simple. Even if it were true that Gibson was endangering herself by witnessing the traffic stop from the confines of her front porch, how could that possibly be construed as “resisting arrest”…
Law
Jonathan Tobin: The Federal Government’s Steroids Problem
by JOHN ADAMS •
A waste of resources, and prosecutorial grandstanding. These cases suck time and money that should be allocated against violent crime. Tobin has it just right: The news today that former baseball great Roger Clemens has been indicted on federal perjury charges will, no doubt, serve as the catalyst for another outpouring of moral outrage about…
Government Spending, Law
Wall Street Journal – SEC Sues New Jersey as States’ Finances Stir Fears
by JOHN ADAMS •
One can expect to read of more suits like this, against sundry state and local governments that have issued bonds – The Securities and Exchange Commission, in its first securities-fraud case against a state, accused New Jersey of misleading investors about the health of its two largest state pensions while selling billions of dollars in…