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October 2, 2024

Online Platforms and the Wall of Separation Between Government and Private Action

The US Supreme Court’s 2024 opinions in Moody v. NetChoice, Murthy v. Missouri, and National Rifle Association v. Vullo collectively should make it harder for plaintiffs to treat social media platforms as state-actor defendants for removing content the government dislikes. As previously explained, these decisions were important in recent appellate court rulings rejecting claims by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his Children’s Health Defense organization that YouTube and…

October 1, 2024

Legislative Patent Reform Efforts Come Up Short—Yet Again

“The definition of insanity,” Albert Einstein supposedly said, “is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” If true, then the advocates of legislative patent reform must be certifiable. As I’ve detailed in this space, the thus-far quixotic efforts of lawmakers—led chiefly by the bipartisan tag-team of Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Thom Tillis…

October 1, 2024

The American Growth Imperative

Every so often, I come across a policy analysis that is so quantitatively robust and crystal clear in its presentation, that it clarifies how I think. Today is one of those days. In a just-released report the Economic Innovation Group — a non-partisan think tank in Washington, DC — focuses on the rising share of government transfers…

September 30, 2024

The Central Trump and Harris Dangers Are Monstrous

Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris presidencies would engender political and policy outcomes monstrous in very different ways. Donald Trump is a thoroughly despicable man, a narcissist, and abject liar devoid of dignity and incapable of consistent behavior worthy of the presidency. Even now when a George Costanza-type “opposite” suppression of his instincts would advance…

September 30, 2024

Extending Years of Life Through Innovations in Drug Therapy

This summer I experienced a cruelty I hope no one should have to endure. On Saturday my mother passed away, just three months and two days after my dad did the same.  I was in my office cubicle working on this newsletter when I got the news about my dad. He was a cancer survivor…

September 30, 2024

The Broadband Dilemma

Broadband accessibility has rapidly transformed into a modern-day essential, integral to our nation’s economy.  However, some still do not have access to basic internet connectivity, which became more evident during COVID-19. As a result, government programs like the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program were created to expand internet connectivity to unserved…

September 27, 2024

Phased-In REAL ID Enforcement Is out of Phase with the Law

For my next trick, I hereby predict the fall of the new May 7, 2027 REAL ID compliance deadline. If you’re not a regular reader of my REAL ID posts, here’s the joke: Every REAL ID compliance deadline goes by the wayside. You won’t ever have to get a REAL ID. And when I wrote here and in The Atlantic earlier this year about the…

September 27, 2024

The Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics

Today I’m traveling to the 2024 Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics Workshop for Regulators. The 2024 IRLE Workshop marks not only the 18th annual gathering of regulators and scholars, but also the 20th anniversary of IRLE’s founding. Over the past two decades, this workshop has evolved into a valued educational and translational research resource for regulators…

September 25, 2024

The Supreme Court’s Recent Rulings Buttress Platforms’ Wins over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Last month wasn’t kind to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He suspended his run for president on August 23, saying he didn’t see “a realistic path to electoral victory.” Three days later, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Kennedy v. Google refused to grant his request for an injunction ordering YouTube to repost videos of his “political speech that it . ….

September 24, 2024

Australia Disconnects (Again)

Australia has made something of an art form of leading the world with digital laws that look interesting at first blush but then prove either difficult to implement or impotent. Way back in 2015 came the “Hockey Tax” in which Treasurer Joe Hockey passed a law requiring Netflix—not then a registered Australian company—to pay taxes on subscriptions…