America’s Hidden Judiciary
Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal regulatory agencies have their own court system for adjudicating disputes that businesses and citizens have with regulators. These agencies rely on special...
View ArticleA Ghostly Parable Against Central Planning
Halloween was the favorite holiday of Russell Kirk, modern American conservatism’s founder. As much as he enjoyed trick-or-treating and other spooky festivities, October 31 meant something even more...
View ArticleKilling Me Softly with Paperwork
The relief of suffering is a noble enterprise, but in contemporary Britain, the creation of a new bureaucracy is even nobler, or at any rate easier. The next bureaucracy to be created is the office...
View ArticleHow to Make the DOD a Better Customer
The Department of Defense’s entrenched procurement model is characterized by high costs, low volumes, and sole-source contracts. Given the demands of modern warfare, it represents a critical...
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The High Cost of Political Capture
Politics doesn’t just make strange bedfellows; it can also make self-dealing ones. A new study of the economic impact of the $787 billion 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is trying...
View ArticleGrievance-Based Policy Analysis
Since the Nixon administration, the federal government has been required to justify the use of public resources using benefit-cost analysis. This method, known as BCA, says that a regulation or a...
View ArticleTrading Constitutionalism for Bureaucracy
In eras of unrest, the scope of politics changes, as subjects once considered outside power’s scope get drawn into contests over who holds it. A subtle but significant example of this shift surfaced...
View ArticleSociety Without a Chest
That power corrupts is an adage known by all—though how far it is the corrupt in the first place who seek power is an open question. Does the opportunity make the crook, or does the crook make the...
View ArticleBureaucracy and the Tin-Pot Stasi
A pure bureaucracy, which is what the British criminal justice system has become in all but name, will do almost anything rather than solve the problem with which it is presented. It will invent any...
View ArticleEnvy, Hypocrisy, and Inequality in French Politics
The French Minister for Ecological and Solidary Transition, François de Rugy, was recently forced to resign over public outcry at allegations of unnecessary extravagance at public expense—allegations...
View ArticleEmpowering the State Will Not Advance Social Conservatism
Ross Douthat has called attention to a growing number of conservatives, particularly religious conservatives, who are calling for more state power to advance conservative ends. They see the state not...
View ArticleA Reagan Holdover’s Belated Appreciation for George H.W. Bush
As a holdover from the Reagan administration, I confess to having found working for George H.W. Bush frustrating. With Reagan, there was a clear and simple direction to the bureaucracy—smaller...
View ArticleThe Least Democratic Branch Is Neither the Senate nor the Courts
With Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation and the Senate staying in Republican hands, complaints abound about the “undemocratic” Senate. The thing is, there is a much more undemocratic branch of the...
View ArticleBen Sasse on How the Administrative State Injures American Democracy
Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse’s opening remarks last week at Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing focused attention on Congress delegating its own legislative power to the executive branch. The...
View ArticleCompetition Between Courts and Agencies
During the late 19th century, a major reason for the creation of bureaucratic administration as an alternative to judicial administration was Congress’s determination that courts and the legal...
View ArticleFour Reasons for Pessimism About Free Speech on Campus
There are powerful reasons to be pessimistic about free inquiry and free speech on most campuses today. And I am not talking here about merely the obligation of schools to protect the talks of...
View ArticleBlurred Lines in Contemporary Warfare
Rosa Brooks is a Georgetown law professor, a former senior staffer in the Pentagon, and is married to an Army Special Forces officer. She has seen war through first-hand experience in Uganda as a field...
View ArticleDemocratic Persuasion and the Weakness of Social Democracy
Let me stipulate that Russia tried to interfere with our election. It did so by playing up crude conspiracy theories and disseminating false facts. It is not as clear that it changed a very large...
View ArticleWe the Bureaucrats
Every year, the Harvard Law Review invites a well known scholar to write the Foreword, which generally involves an important matter of constitutional law. Writing the Foreword is one of the most...
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Envy, Hypocrisy, and Inequality in French Politics
Former minister Francois de Rugy speaking during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly, Ile de France, France on November 14, 2018 (Credit: Thierry Le Fouille/SOPA...
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