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Jacob Sullum (Dec 30, 2009)
Since 2001, when an Englishman named Richard Reid tried to sabotage a flight from Paris to Miami by detonating explosives hidden in his shoes, American travelers have become... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 23, 2009)
This week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared that his chamber's health care bill "demands for the first time in American history that good health will not depend on... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 16, 2009)
"There are those who claim we have to choose between paying down our deficits ... and investing in job creation and economic growth," President Obama said last week. "This... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 08, 2009)
After Kelo v. City of New London, the 2005 decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court approved the forcible transfer of property from one private owner to another in the name... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 02, 2009)
In 2006, Congress passed a law that instructed the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board to write regulations aimed at preventing "unlawful Internet gambling."... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 25, 2009)
According to a report from a shoe store in Campbellsville, Ky., the Army Corps of Engineers "created or saved" nine jobs when it used money allocated by the American... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 18, 2009)
The most conspicuous effect you will see from President Obama's health care overhaul won't be at your doctor's office or the hospital. It will be at your local Burger King.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 11, 2009)
When Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan started shooting up the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Pfc. Marquest Smith dove under a desk. The Associated Press reports... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 04, 2009)
President Obama's promise to raise taxes only on the wealthy was easy to make and easy to break. He broke it barely two weeks after taking office, and he will break it again... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 28, 2009)
The recently revived idea of creating a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers may reinforce the impression that President Obama and his allies in... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 22, 2009)
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama repeatedly promised to stop federal interference with state laws that allow the medical use of marijuana. On Monday, the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 21, 2009)
Six years ago, when I asked an epidemiologist about a report that a smoking ban in Helena, Mont., had cut heart attacks by 40 percent within six months, he thought the idea... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 21, 2009)
Six years ago, when I asked an epidemiologist about a report that a smoking ban in Helena, Mont., had cut heart attacks by 40 percent within six months, he thought the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 14, 2009)
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Obama plans to sign soon, is named after two men who were murdered in 1998. Shepard, a gay... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 07, 2009)
In the 1856 case Dred Scott v. Sandford, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the idea that Africans and their descendants in the United States could be "entitled to the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 30, 2009)
Does "Conan the Barbarian" have serious artistic value? That's one of the intriguing questions raised by a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear next Tuesday.
Because... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 23, 2009)
At a July press conference, President Obama claimed "the average American family is paying thousands of dollars in hidden costs" because uncompensated health care for the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 16, 2009)
The other day, I was trying to figure out why the paycheck deduction for my health insurance was higher than I had expected. When I called my insurer to ask what the total... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 09, 2009)
When the government accuses a doctor of running a "pill mill," prosecutors portray every aspect of his practice in a sinister light. Prescribing painkillers becomes drug... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 02, 2009)
"When the government of the United States of America claims the authority to ban books because of their political speech," says Citizens United, " something has gone... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 26, 2009)
In a 2004 report that was made public on Monday, the CIA's inspector general noted that "a number of agency officers of various grade levels who are involved with... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 19, 2009)
Two years ago, the Senate rejected an attempt to regulate "astroturf," professional political agitation aimed at stimulating (or simulating) grassroots activity. Recently,... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 12, 2009)
Last week, Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Counsel of Economic Advisers, suggested that we think of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 05, 2009)
Lately, President Obama has begun calling his plan to reinvent America's health care system "insurance reform." Yet the version of the plan moving through the Senate also... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 29, 2009)
A few minutes into the police encounter that ended with his arrest for disorderly conduct, Henry Louis Gates Jr. reportedly exclaimed, "This is what happens to black men... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 22, 2009)
This week President Obama promised "the reforms we seek" will bring greater "inefficiencies to our health care system." It was a slip of the tongue, but the Obama-inspired... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 15, 2009)
In a speech he gave a couple of months ago, President Obama said he was determined to guarantee "meaningful due process rights" for terrorism suspects. But it turns out he is... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 08, 2009)
"The farmers are not our enemy," the State Department's Richard Holbrooke recently declared, referring to Afghans who grow opium poppies. Since the U.S. government is... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 01, 2009)
It turns out that strip-searching a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school is unreasonable. Who'd have thought?
Well, almost everyone except Kerry... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 24, 2009)
In a 1995 decision that overturned a federal ban on possessing guns near schools, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that "the Constitution creates a Federal Government of... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 17, 2009)
Gun Owners of America calls Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor "an anti-gun radical." The Second Amendment Foundation says her selection was "a slap at gun... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 10, 2009)
Tucked away in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was passed by the House in April and by the Senate this week, is a provision that speaks... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 03, 2009)
On Monday, after President Barack Obama unveiled his plan to nationalize General Motors, GM's vice chairman, Robert Lutz, exulted, "Their No. 1 goal is to make us... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 20, 2009)
During the commencement speech in which President Obama urged greater civility in the abortion debate, he... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 13, 2009)
Remember President Obama's New Era of Responsibility? It got off to an inauspicious start, with a $787-billion economic stimulus package, a $410-billion appropriations bill,... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 06, 2009)
The last time the federal government bailed out Chrysler, the Carter administration reached a deal with the carmaker in August 1979, but Congress did not approve the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 29, 2009)
In August 1999, police saw Rodney Gant pull into the driveway of his Tucson home and arrested him for driving with a suspended license. After handcuffing Gant and locking... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 22, 2009)
During his visit to Mexico last week, President Obama suggested that Americans are partly to blame for the appalling violence associated with the illegal drug trade there.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 15, 2009)
Last week, the Vermont legislature overrode the governor to legalize gay marriage. The week before, the Iowa Supreme Court achieved the same result by overriding the state... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 08, 2009)
The first time Tom Kiklas saw an electronic cigarette, he recalls, "I couldn't stand it … I thought, 'I don't want to be involved in this.' I'm an anti-smoking kind of... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 01, 2009)
“I’m a little disoriented here,” Justice Antonin Scalia said during last week’s oral arguments in a case involving legal restrictions on movies that criticize politicians.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 25, 2009)
Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would stop prosecuting medical marijuana distributors who comply with state law. Drug policy reformers... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 18, 2009)
Less than a day after Michael McLendon fired his last shot, gun control groups issued press releases that cited his murderous rampage through three Alabama towns as an... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 11, 2009)
Justice Department memos released last week paint a picture of a post-9/11 America where the military censors, searches and seizes people at will. Explaining why he sought... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 04, 2009)
In his speech to Congress last week, President Obama promised to "go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs."... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 25, 2009)
On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder visited the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay as part of the preparation for closing the detention center there. Although the prison's... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 18, 2009)
On Monday, after Richland County, S.C., Sheriff Leon Lott announced that he did not have enough evidence to arrest Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps for smoking marijuana... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 11, 2009)
I flashed back to the fall of 2001 upon reading the subhead over a New York Times story about Monday's presidential press conference: "He Says That Failing to Act Could... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 04, 2009)
Last October, while campaigning in Toledo, Ohio, Barack Obama called for "a new ethic of responsibility." The nation's economic troubles, he said, occurred partly because... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 28, 2009)
"We need more than the same old empty promises," President Obama declared on Monday. He therefore offered new empty promises, most conspicuously a vow to create "a new... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 21, 2009)
Seven years ago, the Pentagon began imprisoning men it described as "very hard cases," "the worst of the worst" among terrorists in American custody, at the U.S. Naval Base... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 14, 2009)
When Barack Obama takes office on Tuesday, he will promise to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." His predecessor took that oath twice.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 07, 2009)
Last week, the Treasury Department bought a $5 billion stake in GMAC as part of a plan to transform the lender, formerly the financial arm of General Motors, into a bank... more