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    Congress Takes a Positive First Step to Address Overcriminalization

    On Tuesday, Congress took a definite step in the right direction toward addressing the serious problem of overcriminalization by announcing the creation of a bipartisan House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force of 2013. The task force, which will be chaired by Representative James Sensenbrenner (R–WI), will consist of … More

    Keeping Judges Out of the Foreign Policy Arena

    This week, the Supreme Court issued a historic decision that will help prevent U.S. courts (and activist judges) from interfering in foreign policy issues that are—and should be—the constitutional prerogative of the executive and legislative branches. Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum involved the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which was passed … More

    A Victory Against Judicial Activism

    A recent decision by the federal district court for the District of Columbia highlights the importance of proper statutory interpretation and fidelity to the text of laws. Judicial activism comes in a variety of forms and is certainly not limited to the act of striking down a law, as some … More

    President Obama: An Advocate for a Restrained Judiciary?

    Yesterday in a joint press conference with the Canadian prime minister and Mexican president, President Obama expressed his confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold his signature health care law, following more than six hours of oral argument before the Court last week. Obama suggested that the Court—not Congress—would be … More

    Founding Fathers Never Intended Courts to Make National Security Decisions

    Yesterday  Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama Justice Department would appeal a U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson’s order to release 9/11 terrorist operative Mohamedou Ould Slahi. This is a good decision by Holder. Our nation would be less safe if Slahi was released from U.S. custody. But … More

    Punting National Security To The Judiciary

    In a stunning display of political cowardice, the Obama administration has decided not to seek specific congressional authorization for a prolonged detention statute for Guantanamo Bay detainees deemed too dangerous to set free. It’s the latest troubling flip flop by the president, an utter abdication of the lofty promises he … More

    Meese Weighs in on Souter’s Retirement and What’s Next

    The Heritage Foundation released the following statement yesterday by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III concerning the announcement of Justice David Souter’s pending retirement from the Supreme Court. Meese is chairman of Heritage’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. “Justice Souter’s decision to retire presents President Obama and the … More

    No Credit to Congress: House Judiciary Committee Votes on Price Controls

    In 1979, Robert Schuettinger and Eamonn Butler wrote a book called “Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls,” detailing 4,000 years of disastrous attempts by government to control market prices. Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will vote on adding a 41st century to that litany of failure. The target: credit … More

    This Week in Washington: Liberals Block Bush’s Judicial Nominees

    Here’s a preview of the week ahead in Washington. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGtSIVoMj9Y[/youtube] The liberals continue to block President Bush’s conservative judicial nominees in the hope they can pack the courts with liberal judges in a potential Democrat administration. The federal courts are important because they are the training ground for our future … More