• About
  • Contact
  • Staff
  • Home
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Podcasts
  • Book Reviews
  • Liberty Classics

September 16, 2016|

State Attorneys General Didn’t Start the Fire

by Michael Toth|

In response to: Commandeering Federalism: The Rise of the Activist State Attorneys General

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (C) speaks as Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (2nd from R) looks on during a press conference at the office of the New York Attorney General, July 19, 2016 in New York City. They announced lawsuits against Volkswagen AG and its affiliates Audi AG and Porsche AG. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The American form of government, in the classic formulation of Justice Salmon Chase, contemplates “an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.”[1] The Constitution, apart from assigning specific functions to the federal government, and prohibiting the states from exercising certain powers, largely leaves the determination of public policy to the 50 states. As numerous jurists, statesmen, and political commentators have noted, the Union presupposes the inherent right of the states to self-government. To be sure, the never-ending quest to find a federal/state equilibrium has engendered many debates and controversies. In his Liberty Forum essay, Professor Nolette asserts that state attorneys general have…

Read More

More Responses

They’re Not the Main Culprit

by Hans Bader

State attorneys general aren’t ruining federalism. It was already ruined, as Michael Greve’s 2012 classic The Upside Down Constitution chronicles. It is tempting to blame them, given how badly many state attorneys general behave. Some use their office to enrich themselves or their lawyer pals, or to pursue vendettas against adversaries. The attorney general of Pennsylvania,…

Read More

Federalism and State Attorneys General

by Jonathan F. Mitchell

There are many challenges in designing a federalist system of government. Perhaps the most daunting is how to create incentives for government officials to preserve a regime of state-by-state decisionmaking—especially when constituent pressures, partisan allegiance, or ideological beliefs tug in other directions. The U.S. Constitution tries to preserve state prerogatives by enumerating the powers of the…

Read More

State Attorneys General Remain Unsteady Allies for Federalism

by Paul Nolette

My thanks to Hans Bader, Michael Toth, and Jonathan F. Mitchell for their thoughtful responses to my essay concerning state attorneys general (AGs) and contemporary American federalism. Each raises good points about the AGs’ various roles in the era of executive federalism that has rapidly expanded during the Obama years. As all three authors note,…

Read More

April 8, 2016|climate change, Exxon, First Amendment, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Noerr-Pennington doctrine

The New Eco Tyranny

by Hans Bader|

N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman speaks at a news conference in Manhattan with other state attorneys general to announce a states-based effort to combat climate change, March 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Last week, the attorneys general of 20 states met at a conference “dedicated to coming up with creative ways to enforce laws being flouted by the fossil fuel industry,” in the words of the conference’s host, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The environmental website Ecowatch called it “an unprecedented, multi-state effort to investigate and prosecute” oil companies that the AGs say “stymied attempts to combat global warming.”

Read More

December 3, 2015|Exxon, Lysenkoism, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Prosecutorial Discretion, subpoena power

The Unconstitutionality of the Exxon Subpoena

by Philip Hamburger|

What is the power of an attorney general to pry into private papers? Earlier this month, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a subpoena to Exxon, demanding that the company turn over many of its records, so that he could investigate it for fraudulent statements about the climate. Many Americans cheered. The subpoena, however, comes with constitutional dangers.

The exact content of the subpoena is not yet known. It appears, however, to have come from Attorney General Schneiderman rather than from a grand jury, and if this is true, it is problematic.

Read More

Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

Read More

The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

Read More

Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

Read More

James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

Read More

Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

Read More

Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

Read More

Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

Read More

America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

Read More

About

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.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
  • Home
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Archive

© 2021 Liberty Fund, Inc.

This site uses local and third-party cookies to analyze traffic. If you want to know more, click here.
By closing this banner or clicking any link in this page, you agree with this practice.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Necessary Always Enabled

Subscribe
Get Law and Liberty's latest content delivered to you daily
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Close