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Thomas Ascik Subscribe

Since retiring as an assistant United States Attorney, Thomas R. Ascik has written about legal and constitutional issues at a variety of websites.

January 17, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, John Roberts, Judge Reed O'Connor, NFIB v. Sebelius

On Obamacare, Is Common Sense Really Judicial Activism?

by Thomas Ascik|8 Comments

Affordable Care Act text (Ellen McKnight/Shutterstock.com).
Ironically, it was efforts to save the ACA that produced Judge O'Connor's conclusion that Obamacare could not stand.

November 30, 2018|asset forfeiture, Barron v. Baltimore, Federalist 45, Fourteenth Amendment, Gitlow v. New York, Incorporation, Timbs v. Indiana

Asset Forfeiture, Incorporation, and the Fourteenth Amendment

by Thomas Ascik|17 Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court at dusk (Greg Blakeley/Shutterstock.com).
Nothing surpasses the intellectual intoxication and will to power of a federal constitutional lawsuit—democracy be damned.

October 8, 2018|Fisher v. University of Texas, Gratz v. Bollinger, Grutter v. Bollinger, Harvard University, Racial Preferences, Regents v. Bakke

Harvard’s Student Body: Hitting the Targets, Spinning the Story

by Thomas Ascik|5 Comments

Commencement at Harvard University, 2014 (image: f11photo / shutterstock.com)
Harvard officials insist that the university does not engage in racial balancing, but their own admissions statistics prove otherwise.

August 28, 2018|DACA, DAPA, Dream Act, NAACP v. Trump, Prosecutorial Discretion

Enforcing Immigration Laws is “Arbitrary and Capricious”

by Thomas Ascik|7 Comments

Protest against end of DACA in Portland, OR, September 5th, 2017 (Diego G Diaz / Shutterstock.com).
Granting federal prosecutors the "discretion" to choose as a matter of policy what laws they favor and what laws they do not favor is just fine, right?

June 27, 2018|Abortion, crisis pregnancy centers, First Amendment, Governor Jerry Brown, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, NIFLA v. Becerra

Supreme Court: “Targeted” and “Content-Based” Speech Restrictions Are Unconstitutional

by Thomas Ascik|5 Comments

The Life Center in Sacramento, CA: a crisis pregnancy center (Chris Allan/Shutterstock.com).
In yesterday's 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court held compelling crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortion violates free speech.

April 24, 2018|Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Hawaii, Immigration and Nationalization Act, Supreme Court, Travel Ban, Trump v. Hawaii

Trump’s Travel Ban and the Constitution

by Thomas Ascik|2 Comments

Protesters rally against President Trump's travel ban on February 4, 2017 in Washington DC (Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com),
If the Supreme Court were to accept the plaintiffs' logic in Trump v. Hawaii, the judicial branch will gain new powers over defense policy.

March 28, 2018|Antonin Scalia, Benisek v. Lamone, Buckley v. Valeo, Gerrymandering, Gill v. Whitford, Partisanship, Vieth v. Jubelirer

A Supreme Court Takeover of Reapportionment?

by Thomas Ascik|7 Comments

Maryland Congressional District Map, 2013 (U.S. Department of the Interior)
We should view Congressional Reapportionment as a political, not a judicial process.

February 27, 2018|Donald Trump, Federal Conspiracy, Mueller Indictment

What Is the Mueller Indictment Really About? Part II

by Thomas Ascik|12 Comments

Mueller has presented an indictment alleging that foreign nationals attempted to “undermine public confidence in democracy” by means of social media.

February 26, 2018|Donald Trump, Hammerschmidt v. US, Klein Conspiracy, Robert Mueller, Russian conspiracy, US v. Coplan

A Criminal Conspiracy to Undermine Our Government and Our Country? Part I of II

by Thomas Ascik|2 Comments

What does it mean “to defraud” the entire United States government or “any” of its agencies?  

November 29, 2017|Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, Employment Division v. Smith, Free Exercise Clause, Free Speech Clause, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, RFRA, Same Sex Marriage, Texas v. Johnson, West Virginia v. Barnette, Wooley v. Maynard

Its Momentousness Is Baked in the Cake

by Thomas Ascik|40 Comments

Such is the state of American law and of American society that the decision of a single Colorado baker not to make a cake for a customer because of his religious objection to what the cake was for will now go before the Supreme Court. Argument in the “cake case,” Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, will take place next Tuesday, December 5th.

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Book Reviews

Andrew Roberts Takes the Measure of the “Populist” Aristocrat, Churchill

by Joao Carlos Espada

Yes, there is something new to be learned about Winston Churchill, and it's in the new 1,105-page biography by Andrew Roberts.

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Honor, Sacred and Profane

by Lynn Uzzell

Craig Bruce Smith shows that honor was a vitally important concept for the development of the American nation.

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Liberty Classics

Bringing Natural Law to the Nations

by Samuel Gregg

If sovereign states ordered their domestic affairs in accordance with principles of natural law, the international sphere would benefit greatly.

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Belloc’s Humane Defense of Personhood and Property

by James Matthew Wilson

Perhaps the memory of that metaphysical right to property informs our fears, and could lead to a restoration of human flourishing.

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Podcasts

Born-Again Paganism: A Conversation with Steven Smith

A discussion with Steven D. Smith

Steven Smith talks with Richard Reinsch about his provocative thesis that a modern form of paganism is becoming public orthodoxy.

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"Slouching Towards Mar-a-Lago:" A Conversation with Andrew Bacevich

A discussion with Andrew J. Bacevich

Andrew Bacevich discusses his new book Twilight of the American Century

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Bureaucracy, Regulation, and the Unmanly Contempt for the Constitution

A discussion with John Marini

John Marini unmasks the century-long effort to undermine the Constitution's distribution of power.

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Beautiful Losers in American Politics: A Conversation with Nicole Mellow

A discussion with Nicole Mellow

Nicole Mellow on the beautiful losers in American politics who have redefined the country.

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Recent Posts

  • Completely Unjustified Occupational Licensing

    Occupational licensing is dangerous and we should almost always rely upon certification.
    by Mike Rappaport

  • Harold Ramis, Unlikely Prophet of Trump

    Nobody stopped to think these films were not just comedy, but also stories about a coming class conflict in America.
    by Titus Techera

  • Judicial Statesmanship versus Judicial Fidelity

    Since the boundaries of left and right are always changing, a court focused on retaining its political capital would have the constancy of a weather vane.
    by John O. McGinnis

  • Born-Again Paganism: A Conversation with Steven Smith

    Steven Smith talks with Richard Reinsch about his provocative thesis that a modern form of paganism is becoming public orthodoxy.
    by Steven D. Smith

  • The Court Should Tear Down Everson, Not the Maryland Cross

    Does this Maryland cross violate our Constitution?  That very question is currently before the Supreme Court.
    by David Upham

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Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

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