Interview with Cato’s Ilya Shapiro on the legal challenges to the new federal health control law

by David Kopel | 4:18 pm, April 20, 2011

(David Kopel) Ilya Shapiro is senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. On Monday, I interviewed him for 39 minutes about Cato’s litigation program on constitutional issues, his traveling the country during the last year to debate the health control law, and the constitutional issues involved in [...]

The Libyan intervention is not wholly legal

by David Kopel | 11:31 pm, April 18, 2011

(David Kopel) That’s my argument in a new article for The Daily Caller. As I’ve previously explained, I strongly support the use of force against the Gaddafi tyranny. Indeed, I wish that President Obama were not so half-hearted in taking action to remove Gaddafi. However, the war against the Libyan dictator still needs to be voted on [...]

The Libyan intervention is not wholly legal

by David Kopel | 11:31 pm, April 18, 2011

(David Kopel) That’s my argument in a new article for The Daily Caller. As I’ve previously explained, I strongly support the use of force against the Gaddafi tyranny. Indeed, I wish that President Obama were not so half-hearted in taking action to remove Gaddafi. However, the war against the Libyan dictator still needs to be voted on [...]

Federal activities allowed in case of a government shutdown

by David Kopel | 11:10 pm, April 7, 2011

(David Kopel) The Constitution declares that “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” (Article I, Section 9, Clause 7.) As James Madison explained in Federalist 58, our Constitution is based on the princple that strict controls on spending are necessary to prevent abuses of power. Hence, federal money can only [...]

Tyrannical “governments” are not genuine governments

by David Kopel | 12:07 am, March 18, 2011

(David Kopel) Some background sources for the principle in our Declaration of Independence that tyrannical “governments” are merely a large-scale form of organized crime, rather than real governments: In the views of the American Founders: Don B. Kates, The Second Amendment and the Ideology of Self-Protection, 9 CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY 87 (1992) (Founders saw no fundamental distinction between individual [...]

Ecstatic crowds in Libya celebrating imminent use of U.S. military force against Gaddafi

by David Kopel | 5:08 pm, March 17, 2011

(David Kopel) U.N. Security Council Resolution passes 10–0. Live feed from Benghazi on Al Jazeera English. The Resolution authorizes “all necessary measures” except military occupation of Libya. By my reading, the authorization includes destruction of Gaddafi’s anti-aircraft defenses, and of his air force and its mercenary pilots. As President Reagan once said, “We begin bombing in five [...]

Text of U.N. General Assembly draft resolution on Libya

by David Kopel | 3:28 pm, March 17, 2011

(David Kopel) Right here, provided by the Inner City Press, which has long been the best English-language media covering the United Nations. The resolution authorizes member states–acting either through regional organizations or nationally–to “take all necessary measures” to establish a no-fly zone over Libya. It further authorizes the member states to enforce the arms embargo against Libya [...]

Obama’s moment of truth

by David Kopel | 6:17 pm, March 15, 2011

(David Kopel) Outstanding essay on the disaster in Libya and President Obama’s failure to act, by Larry Diamond in The New Republic. Diamond mainly discusses the consequences for the Libyan people, but I think that the harm will be global. Barack Obama’s America is showing itself to be a paper tiger; and every one of America’s enemies, especially the [...]

Why Obamacare mandate penalty can’t be a tax

by David Kopel | 10:36 am, March 15, 2011

(David Kopel) My recent op-ed in the Orange County Register explains why. In short, the statute says it’s a “penalty,” not a tax, and United States v. Sonzinsky teaches that courts should not speculate that something which Congress calls a “tax” is really a “penalty”–or vice versa. Besides that, it’s not a consitutional tax because: 1. it’s not [...]

Debates on gun control with Adam Winkler and John Donohue

by David Kopel | 6:26 pm, February 24, 2011

(David Kopel) Last month, I participated in a discussion about gun control on the Legal Talk Network with Adam Winkler of UCLA. It’s 35 minutes, and available here. As usual, Winkler was well-informed, amicable, and eager to engage in constructive dialogue. I also participated in a debate on WHYY, Philadelphia, with Stanford’s John Donohue. It’s 49 minutes, and [...]

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