Regulatory closet gets summer cleaning

Over the decades, state agencies and local governments have adopted a range of criminal penalties for offenses that, whatever their adverse social effects may be, don’t necessarily merit criminal prosecution.

N.C. sells liquor through 170 independent, political boards: What could go wrong?

It has begun. Or, probably more accurately, a local and statewide crusade to prevent privatization of North Carolina’s liquor business is intensifying.  Even though legislative efforts to move toward a system of private licensure are relatively nascent, and a leader in such labors is retiring after his term ends next year, local governments are settling...

Kind of a drag

SCOTUS showing subtleties of jurisprudence  

We tend to think of U.S. Supreme Court justices as ideological, their views and actions mapping neatly onto the conventional liberal-to-conservative continuum of American politics. Their decisions are thought to conform to the party of the president who nominated them. The current conservative bloc is Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil...

Gaffe-tastic

Injustice served