Immigration Laws at the Supreme Court: Constitutional but Bad Policy

By Ilya Shapiro

For anyone suffering from post-Obamacare-argument Supreme Court withdrawal, this Wednesday the Court takes up Arizona’s controversial Senate Bill (“SB”) 1070.  See my blogpost from when the Court granted review for some background. SB 1070 is much-misunderstood: it has nothing to do with sexy political issues like racial profiling and everything to do with boring legal ones like whether a given [...]

Immigration Laws at the Supreme Court: Constitutional but Bad Policy is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

National Surveillance Programs and Their State Impediments

By Jim Harper

Having originally come to Washington to defend federalism, I am always delighted to see the division of powers among the states and the federal government have its proper effect: to protect liberty and limited government. As with REAL ID, the E-Verify federal background check system is meeting up with state resistance. The Republican Liberty Caucus [...]

National Surveillance Programs and Their State Impediments is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

The REAL ID Fight Continues in the States

By Jim Harper

Federal programs almost never die. Bureaucrats and their big-government allies are still trying to cobble together an American national ID. But leaders in the states continue to fight. In this case, it’s Michigan state representative and House transportation committee chairman Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt). In response to a recent report citing state compliance with REAL ID [...]

The REAL ID Fight Continues in the States is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

RTD: ‘Insurance Exchange: Just Say No’

By Michael F. Cannon

Regarding legislation to create an ObamaCare “Exchange” in Virginia, the Richmond Times-Dispatch explains: Republicans at the General Assembly are falling prey to the fallacy of the false alternative… [H]ere are the real options facing Virginia: (a) federal bureaucrats determine the form of our exchange, or (b) federal bureaucrats determine the form of our exchange. There is [...]

RTD: ‘Insurance Exchange: Just Say No’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

‘We Are Not Deciding between Regulation and Autonomy, We Are Deciding Whether or Not We Want a Puppet Government’

By Michael F. Cannon

That’s how Charlie Arlinghaus, president of New Hampshire’s Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, describes the decision confronting states about whether to create an ObamaCare Exchange in this op-ed for the New Hampshire Union-Leader.
‘We Are Not Deciding …

‘We Are Not Deciding between Regulation and Autonomy, We Are Deciding Whether or Not We Want a Puppet Government’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Violates Federalism

By Ilya Shapiro

Today Cato filed its second Supreme Court amicus brief in the Obamacare litigation, on the issue of whether the health care law’s Medicaid expansion is a proper exercise of the Constitution’s Spending Clause. That is, states must now accept a comprehensive reorganization of Medicaid or forfeit all federal Medicaid funding—even though the spending power is circumscribed [...]

Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Violates Federalism is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Morning Bell: New Year’s Resolutions for Conservatives

Let’s be honest: We all know you’re not really gonna quit smoking, start exercising, and eat more vegetables as of today. As Emerson wryly remarked: “All promise outruns performance.” The key to keeping your New Year’s resolutions is to make them more realistic. Rather than try to drastically change the way you live, why not start with the more modest goal of changing the way you speak? And what better place to start for conservatives than with America’s Founding principles? As conservatives continue to rediscover the Declaration of Independence and … More