Scholarly Articles
First Amendment
SpeechNow.org and the Paradox of Buckley v. Valeo
The right to free speech, including the right to speak out about who should be elected to public office, is a fundamental American right, essential to democratic debate. So, too, is the right of individuals…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Regulation through titling laws: A case study of occupational regulation
This case study examines a form of occupational regulation infrequently examined in academic literature – titling laws. These laws regulate who may legally use a phrase, or title, to describe their work to the public.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Interior Design | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Designing Cartels Through Censorship
Business interests sometimes use titling laws – laws establishing who can use professional titles – as a form of occupational regulation to restrict entry. Such laws allow practitioners to provide services without a license,…
Economic Liberty
One Test, Two Standards
Most of us have a drawer or a closest in our home where we put things that are not important enough to have their own place but are not quite worthless enough to throw away…
Economic Liberty
No Such Thing
The original legal definition of insanity is the inability to tell right from wrong.1 So it is the first irony of the “rational” basis test that it is, according to that definition, insane. The word…
Educational Choice
The Past Should Not Shackle the Present
In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the Supreme Court ruled that school voucher programs in which parents choose which schools, including religiously affiliated schools, their children attend do not violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The consequences…
Other
Judicial Abdication and the Rise of Special Interests
Interest group politics is a problem that has plagued American government since the nation was founded. The Constitution itself was drafted and adopted in large part because of the intractable problems that interest group politics,…
