Skip to main content

Research Archive

Welcome to Our Research Archive

Search and filter by content type, issue area, author, and keyword

May 10, 2024

Fifth Circuit Defies Supreme Court to Uphold Texas Age Verification Law for Pornography

Much of the field of Internet Law centers on the difficulty of how to apply offline law to online conduct. Because online activity is inherently communicative, the regulation of online expression is often complicated by the First Amendment. But this is apparently not a problem that troubles the Fifth Circuit. In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton,…

May 10, 2024

May 6, 2024: Beyond the SCIF: A Conversation with Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) on AI and Biosecurity

Event Summary On May 6, following introductory remarks by Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Mike Turner (R-OH), Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) moderated a panel with AEI’s Dan Blumenthal, Anna Puglisi of Puglisi Ventures, Anthony Ruggiero of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Palantir’s Ken Staley, and Dov S. Zakheim of the…

May 8, 2024

Artificial Intelligence and Constitutional Interpretation: Can New Technologies Uncover Old Meanings?

Can artificial intelligence assist conservative jurists in pursuing an originalist text, history, and tradition approach for interpreting and applying the US Constitution? Can it help them better ferret out––more accurately and efficiently––the original public meaning of contested provisions such as the press clause in the First Amendment or what the Second Amendment’s right to “bear arms” meant upon ratification in 1791? According to Judge John K. Bush of the US Court of…

May 7, 2024

How Serious Are They? Colorado Leftists Sold Out Their Climate Commitments for a Paltry $140M

That the environmental left is relentless is not news, but the current machinations on policies intended to suppress fossil energy production in Colorado are fascinating. Under a compromise being negotiated between Gov. Jared Polis (D), the state’s oil and gas producers and the environmental left, production fees estimated at $140 million per year (based on future crude oil and…

May 7, 2024

No, the REAL ID Deadline Is Not in One Year

According to a slew of minor media reports, one year remains before the REAL ID deadline. On May 7, 2025, the story goes, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will begin turning American travelers away at airports if they don’t have an ID card that meets federal standards. Well, there are government programs, and there are…

May 3, 2024

Regulatory Uncertainty Pushes Good People Out of Crypto

There’s a kind of policy argument around technology that relies on inevitability. It surely must rankle a given technology’s foes, and it probably does not persuade them. But it may help policymakers near or on the fence to consider that a technology isn’t going away. Trying to make it go away only harms the United…

May 2, 2024

Examine the FCC’s Proposal on Bulk Billing: A Call to Protect Consumer Interests

Jessica Rosenworcel, Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), recently shared with her fellow commissioners a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) aimed at eliminating bulk billing arrangements for broadband and video services in multi-tenant environments (MTEs), such as apartments and condos. If approved, the NPRM will be released to the public and open for comment….

May 1, 2024

Minimal Human Effort and New Speech-Creating Technologies: Protecting Both Conduct and Content

The First Amendment to the US Constitution safeguards “freedom of speech” from government censorship. But does it––and should it––protect speech created by modern technological tools that involve minimal human effort, like the simple push of a digital button or the entry of a short query? Put differently, does de minimis mortal exertion in generating meaningful (to some) expression cramp…

April 30, 2024

Six Takeaways from Stanford University’s 2024 Report on the State AI

The 2024 Artificial Intelligence Index, released by Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), delivers crucial insights into AI’s influence and developments. This detailed yearly report presents a data-based overview of AI’s progress across significant areas, including research, ethics, policy, public perception, and economics. A few highlights from the report are below. AI Beats Humans…

April 28, 2024

We Must End the Litigation Doom Loop

A federal judge recently issued an injunction to block the approval of a powerline that would have connected 161 renewable energy projects to the electric grid, providing more clean energy to consumers in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. This is the second time this project, known as the Cardinal-Hickory transmission line, has been blocked by an injunction in…