New York Legislators Approve Double Jeopardy for Trump Cronies to Protect 'the Rule of Law'

Yesterday the New York State Assembly approved a bill that carves out an exception to the state's ban on dual prosecutions for people associated...

In Money We Trust?

Look at the dollar bills in your wallet. They say they are "legal tender for all debts." But are they? What makes them valuable? What makes them...

Costume Manufacturer Alleges Competitor's Banana Suit Costume Looks a Little Too Much Like a Banana, Is Copyright Violation

If you think copyright law in this country is governed by reason, an absolutely bananas federal court case should disabuse you of that notion....

Offenders in California Get Saddled with Thousands of Dollars in Court Fees. This Bill Would Stop That.

Criminal convictions can come with significant fines and fees—and not just the kind where you're "paying for your crime." Criminal defendants get...

Ben Carson's 'Oreo' Gaffe Highlights Acronym Madness at Federal Agencies

"No, not an Oreo. An R-E-O. R-E-O." That's U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D–Calif.) speaking at a Capitol Hill hearing on housing yesterday. For those...

This Environmentalist Says Only Nuclear Power Can Save Us Now

Calling climate change an existential threat to humanity, congressional Democrats have proposed a policy package called the Green New Deal. It...

An Amber Alert Was Botched Because Detectives Struggled To Work a Fax Machine. Wait, What?

Police detectives located an 8-year-old kidnapping victim from Fort Worth, Texas, early on Sunday morning—in spite of a botched Amber Alert, a...

Beto O'Rourke Wants To Legalize Weed and Expunge Records, Too

Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D–Texas) is making it clear that his anti-prohibitionist view is about more than simply ending the war on weed. On Tuesday...

Video of NYU Panel on Hate Speech on Social Media

Earlier this month, I was on a panel entitled "Hate Speech on Social Media: Is There a Way to a More Civil Discourse?" at the NYU Arthur L. Carter...

Xenophobia and Pseudoscience Shaped U.S. Immigration Policy

When Donald Trump claimed in 2015 that Mexican immigrants will ravage our women, destroy our neighborhoods, and taint our ethnic and cultural...

Trump's Immigration Plan Could Use Some Work

Last week, the Trump administration released the outline of an immigration plan meant to reshape how and which people are allowed into the United...

Are We Seeing Early Signs of a Facial Recognition Technopanic?

San Francisco's board of supervisors voted last week to ban law enforcement use of facial recognition technology. The board enacted the ban in...

Brickbat: Keep It Quiet

An NYPD SUV carrying Mayor Bill de Blasio to an event in Harlem was going the wrong way  and had its lights and siren on when it crashed into...

11 Other Times Justin Amash Crossed Swords With President Trump

Saturday's assertion from the libertarian Rep. Justin Amash (R–Mich.) that President Donald Trump has engaged in "impeachable conduct" continues...

A Man Fights Back After His Profane Rant About a Deputy Ended in Harassment Charges

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of an Iowa man after he was charged with third-degree harassment over a profane...

The First Amendment Protects the Right to Work as a Tour Guide, Says Federal Judge

Telling stories for money should not require a government test and license in a country with a First Amendment, a federal judge in Georgia has...

Stossel: Money, Money, Money

Brickbat: An Important Lesson

Border Patrol Agent on Trial for Hitting Border Crosser With His Truck Called Immigrants 'Disgusting Subhuman Shit' in Texts

According to his own text messages, a border patrol agent standing trial for hitting a Guatemalan migrant with his work vehicle harbored strong...

Libertarians and Never Trump Republicans Court Justin Amash to Run for President

Restriction on Signs on Residential Property Violates First Amendment

A 69-Year-Old Great-Grandmother Was Arrested at Disney World for Carrying CBD Oil

Kamala Harris Wants to Force Companies to Report Pay Data to the Federal Government—and Fine Them If They Don't Offer Equal Pay

An Alt School in Steel City

Court Throws out Lawsuit Against Tor for Providing Anonymous Routing

From a decision yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benton in Seaver v. Estate of Cazes (D. Utah): This action arises from the death of G.S.,...

House Freedom Caucus Too Busy Scolding Justin Amash To Care About Today's Bipartisan Budget Apocalypse

Unless you are a Washington obsessive, you may have missed the news that bipartisan leaders of both houses of Congress are on the verge of...

Unsuck DC Metro Called Out Public Transportation's Failings, So Local Media Doxed Him

For those of us who live in Washington, D.C. and rely on public transportation, Unsuck DC Metro has been a dose of sanity in a world gone mad. The...

Reminder To All the News Outlets Hiring Rahm Emanuel: He's Awful

Justin Amash Is Right About Impeachable Conduct

Justin Amash thinks Donald Trump is guilty of "impeachable conduct," and he is absolutely right. Impeachable conduct is whatever the House of...

A Sniff by a Pot-Detecting Dog Requires Probable Cause and Does Not Justify a Search, Says Colorado Supreme Court

Drug-sniffing dogs in states that have legalized marijuana should be worried about their job security in light of a decision that the Colorado...

Are Millennials Responsible for Their Own Student Debt?

As the father to sons who are 25 and 17 years old, I love Millennials and Gen Z. But it's getting harder and harder to feel sympathy for kids born...

California Sues to Protect Its Federal Bullet Train Pork

Today the state of California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after the feds cut off funding for California's high-speed rail...

Holocaust Revisionism at Williams College

KC Johnson has an excellent piece at the Tablet about a recent controversy at Williams College involving the refusal of the student government to...

A Texas Attorney Was Arrested and Detained for Helping Three Young Migrants on the Side of the Road

On the night of Feb. 27, Teresa Todd listened as a Border Patrol agent read off her Miranda rights, something intimately familiar to her as the...

Here Are 5 Times Donald Trump Warned Against Going to War With Iran

Trump's 2016 campaign was defined largely by the scattershot and freelancing style of his rallies and debate performances, but one of his most...

Texas Poised To Ban All Red Light Cameras

If Texas cities want to fine drivers into the poor house, they're going to have to do it the old-fashioned way—with actual law enforcement officers....

Why I'm Lukewarm on the ALI's "Principles of the Law: Policing"

For the last four years, I have been serving as an Adviser to an ongoing American Law Institute project, Principles of the Law: Policing.  This...

Late Capitalism or Latest Capitalism: Game of Thrones Edition

So Game of Thrones is finis. This seems like a good time to recount how various consumer brands riffed off the show, even episodes depicting what...

Trump's One-Sided War Against New York's Political Elite

The list of people ready to guffaw at the pending national humiliation of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is longer than the walk-up line for To...

The Democrats' Dumb War Against Charter Schools

How bad is the plan to ban for-profit charter schools, released Saturday by second-place presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)? Bad...

Bernie Sanders Has a Strange Affinity for Strongman Daniel Ortega. He's Not the Only Democrat Who Does.

Give The New York Times credit for publishing, over the weekend, a long investigative piece about the strange enthusiasm of Democratic...

Once Again, the Mongols Motorcycle Club Can Legally Keep Its Patch

Meth dealing. Money laundering. Murder. These are just a few of the crimes for which members of the Southern California-based Mongols Motorcycle...

Trump Loses Round One in Financial Record Fight

This afternoon, Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia rejected President Donald Trump's attempt to block a...

Unpacking the Supreme Court's decision in Pepper v. Apple

We begin this episode with a quick tour of the 5-4 Apple antitrust decision that pitted two Trump appointees against each other. Matthew Heiman and...

Immunize Your Kids Against Intrusive Government

Do I vaccinate my son? You bet—and not just against the usual motley mix of physical childhood ailments. Almost every day our homeschooling...

Kavanaugh v. Gorsuch—Part Deux

Last week, I discussed how the Supreme Court's two newest justices—Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch—agree less often than one might expect....

Brickbat: It's the Thought That Counts

The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld a DUI conviction against Courtney Noelle Weakland, even as the judges acknowledged that the blood draw taken...

Justin Amash's Principled Stand Against Trump Will Not Make Him Popular in the GOP: Reason Roundup

Libertarian-leaning Rep. Justin Amash (R–Mich.) has become the first Republican legislator to signal support for impeaching President Trump on...

Reflections on "Game of Thrones"

All TV series must die! Sunday's final episode of Game of Thrones is a good opportunity to reflect on the series' legacy. Like many  viewers, I...

Meet the Teens Who Want To Get Vaccinated Against Their Parents' Wishes

"My mom is a very stereotypical all-natural person, and she doesn't want chemicals being put into my body," says "Ester," a 16-year-old sophomore...

Does the Second Amendment Secure a Right to Carry Guns in Most Public Places?

The case is  Rogers v. Grewal , which challenges New Jersey's restrictive firearms carry license policy. There's a split on the subject among...

Donald Trump Responds To Justin Amash: 'Never a Fan…Total Lightweight…Loser'

Yesterday, the most-libertarian member of Congress, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said that he believes President Donald Trump had "engaged in...

Game of Thrones Finale: Daenerys Vows to Make a Hell of Earth

For its first 40 minutes, the Game of Thrones series finale is a gripping horror story. It's snowing in King's Landing—or are those ashes?—when...

Rep. Justin Amash Says Trump 'Has Engaged in Impeachable Conduct'

In a series of tweets this afternoon, Justin Amash accused President Donald Trump of having "engaged in impeachable conduct." The...