Court Cases
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...
Five Years Later Supreme Court Decision Still Hasn’t Significantly Limited Asset Forfeiture
Many people believe the Supreme Court “ended asset forfeiture” with its 2019 opinion in Timbs v. Indiana. As we argued at the time, Timbs ended nothing, and follow-up cases bear this out. This underscores an important reality. We can’t rely on federal...