Freespace

David Beito’s book on the New Deal’s war on individual rights

In the latest National Review, I take a look at David T. Beito’s book The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights. Excerpt:

Pick at random any book about the New Deal, and it will contain no mention of his policies of censorship, mass surveillance, and intimidation and persecution of political opponents. It likely will concede that his decision to imprison 100,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps was wrong but excuse his refusal to act against Jim Crow as if it were an unfortunate reality forced upon a benevolent patriarch who wished he could heal the nation.

David Beito’s The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights is a welcome break with such rosy nostalgia. In nine succinct and deeply researched chapters, he explores how Roosevelt and his allies masterminded “mass surveillance of private telegrams, crackdowns on free speech, inquisitorial investigations, sedition prosecutions,” and other abuses — while blithely facilitating segregation and violence in the South.

Read the rest…

Frank Lloyd Wright: the rebel architect

I spoke at LevelUp (formerly TOS-Con) this summer about the life and career of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the video of my presentation has just been posted online. Unfortunately, due to some kind of technical error, the video consists almost entirely of my PowerPoint slides, so you'll probably find it easier to listen to, rather than watch, the presentation:

The Supreme Court decision that could help us take back our cities

I have an article on the Fox News site this morning about the Grants Pass lawsuit that the Supreme Court is being asked to take up—a case with important ramifications for the homelessness crisis in American cities, and especially in Phoenix. Excerpt:

To be fair, both of those rulings said cities can still enforce laws against camping on the streets. "Even where shelter is unavailable," the Martindecision declared, "an ordinance prohibiting sitting, lying, or sleeping outside at particular times or in particular locations might well be constitutionally permissible."

Nevertheless, bureaucrats nationwide have found the "involuntariness" rationale so confusing that some can’t figure out how to address their local homelessness problems—and others have seen the rulings as a handy way to evade responsibility. As Judge Blaney put it, "city officials that wish to do nothing while such encampments grow and fester" have viewed the Martin and Grants Passcases as "convenient excuse[s]."

Read the rest…

Talking with A&G about the homelessness cases

I joined Armstrong & Getty this morning to talk about the homelessness lawsuits in Phoenix--where a state trial court judge has ordered the city to clean up the "Zone" encampment--and in the U.S. Supreme Court, which has been asked to take up the Grants Pass case. If you missed it, you can listen here:

The Goldwater Chair in American Institutions at ASU

I’m honored to announce that I have been named the Barry Goldwater Chair in American Institutions at Arizona State University for 2023-24. This position (which has no relationship to the Goldwater Institute) was established on May 16, 1977, and according to its founding charter, is “a visiting professorship for scholars in political science, economics, history and related fields” with the goal of “honor[ing] Barry Goldwater for his distinguished service as a United States Senator and help students better understand the principles of Americanism, individual freedom, and the free enterprise system for which he has stood throughout his career.” I am profoundly moved to hold a position that has been held in the past by such luminaries as John Dean and Jack Goldsmith.

In my role as Goldwater Chair, I will be working with the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty to teach a class in the spring semester entitled “The American Dream: Economic Liberty as an American Institution,” which will explore the political, legal, and cultural ramifications of the right to economic freedom. The class will be hosted by ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.

In addition to the class, the Goldwater Chair traditionally delivers a number of public lectures, and I will be presenting three of these. The first will be on October 17 at 5 p.m. at Memorial Hall on the Tempe campus, on the subject of my book Freedom’s Furies: How Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand Found Liberty in an Age of Darkness. The second will be on November 28, on the subject of how licensing laws and other restrictions on economic liberty harm democratic values. The third will be announced as soon as it’s arranged.

The Foundations of Freedom

One of the projects I've been working on at the Goldwater Institute is a series of videos on the Foundations of Freedom. These short educational videos explore the principles of liberty, from private property to freedom of speech to the question of individual pride. The Institute will be releasing them in stages over the coming weeks--and here is the first one: The Power of Property. Hope you enjoy--and please share!

Emanations, Penumbras, and Zeugmas,* and Distributions

In my remarks about Haaland v. Brackeen at Cato Monday, I feel I gave short shrift to the question Prof. Christopher Green asked regarding Justice Gorsuch’s view that the Indian Commerce Clause gives Congress greater powers than does the Interstate or Foreign Commerce Clause, and I want to address it more fully.

I discussed the alleged “plenary power,” which the majority stitched together from the penumbras and emanations of the Treaty, Commerce, and other powers, and which Gorsuch rightly rejects. But I also rejected Gorsuch’s view that the Commerce Clause itself can encompass child welfare matters with respect to Indians when it obviously doesn’t encompass that with respect to states. I said that there are not three Commerce Clauses; there is just one: “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” Yet Gorsuch, relying in part on Prof. Green’s article in the Pennsylvania State Law Review, wrote in his concurrence that these three powers are substantively different.

Why Haaland v. Brackeen is not the end of the story

I spoke at Cato yesterday about the ICWA decision. You can watch my remarks here, and read my commentary on the case in the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review.

Osiris

My poem “Osiris” is in the new issue of Pulsebeat, just published.

“Because it is there”

The new issue of Reason Papers features a symposium on the ideas of Philippa Foot and Ayn Rand. I was honored to be invited to contribute, and my article examines how aspiration and inspiration work in the philosophies of these two fascinating thinkers. Simply put: is “because it is there” sufficient reason for climbing a mountain? Read on…