Walter Olson Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has used presidential power, both lawfully and otherwise, to overawe many of the alternative power centers in American society, from universities to the legal profession to the media. He has been somewhat more cautious thus far about trying to push around state governments, which, under our Constitution, pose a unique ...
Emily Ekins and Hunter Johnson As open military strikes erupt between Israel and Iran, Americans are not ready for another war in the Middle East. Put simply: Americans are exhausted. New surveys show that few Americans support getting the US military involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran. Instead, most would prefer diplomatic pathways, sanctions, or even cyberattacks on ...
Jeffrey A. Singer The Food and Drug Administration approved a new injectable drug on June 18 that provides pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV, requiring individuals to take it only twice a year. By removing barriers to access for adults and adolescents, the FDA makes the drug, lenacapavir (brand name Yetzugo), more widely available—great news for HIV prevention. Manufactured by Gilead ...
Michael Chapman Politicians who support tariffs and other forms of government intervention in the economy frequently emphasize reshoring, trade deficits, cheap imports, and national security, but they rarely talk about consumers. That’s no accident. In a market economy, it is consumers, through their choices, who determine what goods and services are produced and at what price. They—not federal planners—are the ...
Alex Nowrasteh The Trump administration is considering American intervention on the side of Israel in its war against Iran. My colleagues have persuasively written that US intervention is unjustified. But American involvement is increasingly likely, according to the betting markets and the intensity of bellicose words exchanged between President Trump and Iranian politicians. Like previous US military interventions, there is ...
Jeffrey Miron Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, recently fired all seventeen members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), replacing them with eight new members. Most reaction has addressed the qualifications of the new versus prior members, especially their alleged “biases” about vaccine science. A different perspective asks whether government should play ...
Jai Kedia Politicians love to blame the Fed when the economy goes south, and recent weeks have been an exception only in the delivery of that blame. It’s much harsher and more childish than normal. For example, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is under serious pressure, with President Trump hurling insults at him and again calling on him to lower rates by as ...
Romina Boccia and Ivane Nachkebia The Social Security Trustees released their annual report today—and the outlook is bleak. The program is barreling toward insolvency—and fast. The trust fund is projected to run dry in 2033, triggering an automatic 23 percent benefit cut, a 10 percent increase from last year’s projected 21 percent benefit cut. The program’s 75-year unfunded obligation—the difference ...
David Inserra I recently published a working paper that examines the effectiveness of Meta’s Oversight Board in driving pro-expression norms and principles by analyzing over 100 Board cases. Overall, I find that the Board has had mixed results in advancing free expression on Meta’s platforms. This outcome was not what I would have expected if you had asked me five ...
Mike Fox As a former public defender, I know better than to confess to a crime. But recently, I found myself in a situation that perfectly illustrates how easily an ordinary person can stumble into legal trouble, even with the best intentions. My crime: walking my dog along the West Front Lawn of the US Capitol on Memorial Day. What ...