Willful blindness is not knowledge; and judges should not broaden a legislative proscription by analogy. —Justice Anthony Kennedy, May 31, 2011[1] A recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in a patent lawsuit may, somewhat surprisingly,… Read more

Last week, President Obama squandered his primetime speech on the Gulf oil spill by belaboring the issue of BP’s legal liability and monetary payments. No one—not even BP or its drilling partners—had been questioning whether the companies should bear the full cost of their legal liabilities for the oil spill… Read more

The political pressure to criminalize innocent conduct has proved difficult for most Members of Congress, irrespective of party affiliation, to resist. As a result of these pressures, Congress often crafts criminal legislation that is “misguided, unnecessary, and even harmful.”[1] It is far too easy for a Member of… Read more

For centuries, the concept of a “guilty mind” has been at the core of what makes someone a criminal. Most Americans rightly think that no one deserves criminal punishment unless he intended to break the law or knew that his conduct was unlawful or sufficiently wrongful so as to put… Read more

Until recently, it was fashionable for the political left to argue that the United States should not serve as the “world’s policeman.” The international human rights community, heavily dominated by Europeans and other Europhiles, has lobbied so hard for so long to change that school of thought that the… Read more

Created in the middle of President Bill Clinton's first term, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS ) program[1] promised to put 100,000 new state and local law enforcement officers on the street by 2000. Critics said that COPS would fail to meet this goal and that state and local… Read more

Every decent person abhors violent crimes that are motivated by prejudice or bias. Thus, the case for congressional legislation that would expand federal authority that already prohibits some "hate crimes"[1] may seem compelling. But the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913, HCPA) is based on serious… Read more