Judiciary
Lysander Spooner’s Case Against Judicial Supremacy
“An unconstitutional judicial decision is no more binding than an unconstitutional legislative act.” That was Lysander Spooner, utterly rejecting the doctrine of judicial supremacy – the dangerous notion that a judicial opinion becomes law simply because judges...
The Supreme Court Was Wrong About Taxes
Along with some good decisions, Supreme Court justices made some mistakes in the term just ended. One mistake involved taxes—and it is likely to bedevil the court in future cases. Moore v. United States posed the question of whether Congress could tax corporate...
The Supreme Court Bump Stock Case: Defeat for the “Deep State”
Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion for the Supreme Court in Garland v. Cargill—the “bump stock firearms” case—may be more important for what it does not say than for what it does. On its face, Cargill granted a statutory victory to gun owners. Below that, however, it...
SCOTUS Defends Property Rights, but Raises Constitutional Questions
The current Supreme Court is a vigorous defender of property rights. In general, I like that. But as I observed in a column last year, the court sometimes goes beyond what an accurate reading of the Constitution can justify. The Fifth Amendment is part of the Bill of...