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Jacob Sullum (Dec 29, 2010)
Two weeks ago, writing in The Washington Post, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius argued that Americans must be forced... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 22, 2010)
Despite Vice President Biden's recent squabbling with Republican senators over the meaning of Christmas, he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell do agree on something.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 15, 2010)
During Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings last summer, Sen. Tom Coburn asked her whether a law requiring Americans to eat their fruits and vegetables... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 08, 2010)
Before it began its work eight months ago, one of the main knocks against the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was that it could do no more than... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 01, 2010)
According to the Transportation Security Administration, Americans have no problem with the new airport screening procedures. So they should stop complaining. That... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 24, 2010)
Timothy Leary noted that "psychedelic drugs cause panic and temporary insanity" in people who have never tried them. The same can be said of Four Loko, the drink that federal... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 17, 2010)
By publicly defending Stephen and Linda Schneider, a Kansas doctor and nurse accused of running a "pill mill," pain treatment activist Siobhan Reynolds irked the prosecutor... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 10, 2010)
Two months ago, The New York Times reported that "Democratic officials" believed "corporate interests, newly emboldened by regulatory changes," were trying to "buy the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 03, 2010)
Does a zombie count as "an image of a human being"? What about an android or a shape-shifting alien? If his arm regenerates when you hack it off, does that still amount to... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 27, 2010)
In my neighborhood of Dallas, not far from where George and Laura Bush moved after he presided over eight years of big-government conservatism, I often see signs that say:... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 20, 2010)
In 2005, the Supreme Court said the federal government's power to "regulate commerce ... among the several states" extends to the tiniest speck of marijuana wherever it may... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 13, 2010)
Here is a quick summary of President Obama's recent debate with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Chamber of Commerce: The Democrats' economic policies have failed. Obama: Look... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 06, 2010)
With a month to go before California voters decide whether to legalize marijuana, Proposition 19's opponents have pinned their hopes on desperate arguments that illustrate... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 29, 2010)
In the "Pledge to America" they unveiled last week, House Republicans promise they will "launch a sustained effort to stem the relentless growth in government that has... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 22, 2010)
As Democrats head for what promises to be a midterm election fiasco of historic proportions, a pre-emptive excuse has begun to circulate: It's all because of Citizens United.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 15, 2010)
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama criticized the Bush administration for its excessive secrecy, noting that it had "invoked a legal tool known as the 'state... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 08, 2010)
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal may never have served in Vietnam (despite his recollections to the contrary), but he is a hero in the war on... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 01, 2010)
Alan Simpson violated a taboo last week when he likened Social Security to "a milk cow with 310 million tits." But contrary to the dictionary-deprived critics who... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 25, 2010)
In a November 2008 telephone conversation that was recorded by the FBI, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich daydreamed about what he could get for appointing Barack Obama's... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 18, 2010)
I do not often agree with President Barack Obama or New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But they have taken the right position in the controversy over plans for a Muslim... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 11, 2010)
At first blush, the notion that there is no rational basis for California's ban on same-sex marriage, as U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled last week, seems... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 04, 2010)
In 1941, the Supreme Court overturned a Pennsylvania law that required non-citizens to register with the state, carry an "alien identification card" and present it to police... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 28, 2010)
A group called Public Safety First warns that "the pre-tax price of marijuana could substantially decline" and "consumption of marijuana would increase" if Californians vote... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 21, 2010)
Editors' note: the following column contains language that some readers may find offensive.
Last week, an appeals court in New York overturned the federal ban on broadcast... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 14, 2010)
Last week, a federal judge confounded both sides of the political spectrum by ruling that the 10th Amendment requires the federal government to recognize state-approved gay... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 07, 2010)
From last week's confirmation hearings, we learned that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan likes to eat in Chinese restaurants on Christmas. She did not say how she spends... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 30, 2010)
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment applies to states and cities as well as the federal government. Judging from their objections, the four... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 23, 2010)
Last week, after President Obama pressured BP to create a compensation fund for victims of its oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, Rep. Joe Barton denounced the arrangement as... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 16, 2010)
Imagine you are competing in a marathon. Every time you pull into the lead, someone picks up the other runners in a van and lets them off next to you. When you... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 09, 2010)
Nearly a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks, we still have not settled the question of how to deal with terrorism suspects. Should they be in military or civilian custody?... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 02, 2010)
In a 1996 law review article, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan warned that campaign finance laws "easily can serve as incumbent-protection devices, insulating current... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 26, 2010)
Last week, James Clyburn, a former civil rights activist who is now a Democratic congressman from South Carolina, warned that if Rand Paul is elected to represent... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 19, 2010)
It was bad enough when states began locking people up because of crimes they might commit in the future. Then, in 2006, Congress copied the idea, enacting a law that... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 12, 2010)
Last month, New York Times legal writer Adam Liptak said two recent Supreme Court cases "suggest that the Roberts Court is prepared to adopt a robustly libertarian... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 05, 2010)
Arizona encourages police to emulate "the toughest sheriff in America."
A few years ago, David and Jessica Rodriguez were leaving Arizona's Bartlett Lake with their two... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 28, 2010)
From reading New York Times editorials, I gather that the First Amendment protects celebrities who curse on TV and pit bull enthusiasts who sell dogfighting videos. Yet... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 21, 2010)
How is helping people play a card game like murder?
At the beginning of last year, Daniel Tzvetkoff, the young Australian entrepreneur who co-founded the online payment... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 14, 2010)
As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens "gradually became the leader of the court's liberal wing," The New York Times reports, "he became increasingly skeptical of... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 07, 2010)
Under U.S. law, a legal resident who commits an "aggravated felony" is automatically deported. But a crime need not be aggravated or a felony to qualify: As several groups... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 31, 2010)
John Thompson spent 18 years in a Louisiana prison, 14 of them in a windowless, 6-by-9-foot death-row cell.
According to a federal appeals court, "There were multiple... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 24, 2010)
A few weeks before Congress passed a law that orders every American to buy health insurance, the Virginia legislature passed a law that says "no resident of this... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 17, 2010)
A few weeks ago, I debated drug policy with Ron Brooks, president of the National Narcotics Officers Association, on John Stossel's Fox Business show. When Stossel asked... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 10, 2010)
"We allow the insurance industry to run wild in this country," President Obama declared on Monday. "We can't have a system that works better for the insurance companies than... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 03, 2010)
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court considered the question of whether the Second Amendment applies outside of jurisdictions controlled by the federal government. The court will... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 24, 2010)
The day before last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., a group of prominent conservatives gathered a few miles away at the Virginia... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 17, 2010)
The war on terrorism becomes a war on free speech.
The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history's most notorious terrorist groups,... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 10, 2010)
Can the government control health care inflation through subsidies?
First President Obama said critics of his health care plan had no ideas worth considering. Then he... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 03, 2010)
The day before President Obama delivered his State of the Union Address last week, The New York Times reported that "aides said he would accept responsibility, though not... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 27, 2010)
"This ruling strikes at our democracy itself," President Obama declared on Saturday. "This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money. ...... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 20, 2010)
Obama's health insurance tax doesn't go far enough.
President Obama's proposed tax on especially expensive medical benefits, which he last week agreed to modify in... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 13, 2010)
Why is killing abortionists wrong?
Scott Roeder, whose trial begins this week in Wichita, Kan., wanted to argue that killing the abortion doctor George Tiller was... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 06, 2010)
What's the difference between Barack Obama's anti-terrorism policies and George W. Bush's?
One of the Bush administration's most pernicious legacies is the never-ending... more