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Cato Daily Dispatch for October 1, 2004

Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via email

(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)

Supreme Court Term Starts Monday

"The new judicial term that begins Monday could be dubbed: Supreme Court, the Sequel," according to USA Today. "In several cases over the next nine months, the justices will be revisiting major decisions. They include a ruling in 1989 that permits the execution of those who were juveniles when they committed their crimes, and a decision in June in which the court cast doubt on whether federal sentencing guidelines are constitutional."

In the Cato Supreme Court Review, leading legal scholars analyze the most important cases of the Supreme Court's past term. There is also a chapter on the upcoming term that describes the six most important cases.

Ashcroft v. Raich involves the distribution of power between the state and federal governments to regulate commerce. Cato Senior Fellow Randy E. Barnett argued the case for Raich before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Two cases before the Court will challenge the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. In "Misguided Guidelines: A Critique of Federal Sentencing," Erik Luna, associate law professor at the University of Utah, argues the the sentencing guidelines violate "the constitutional principle of separation of powers" and sever "the typical lines of political accountability in American democracy."

Schwarzenegger Vetoes Prescription Drugs from Canada

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed several bills on Thursday that would have made the state the middleman in large-scale consumer purchases of prescription drugs from Canada," reports the New York Times.

"Schwarzenegger said the bills were illegal under federal law and did not have adequate provisions to ensure the safety of imported medicine. He said he was addressing the high cost of medications by negotiating directly with pharmaceutical companies to win discounts for the estimated four million low-income Californians who do not have prescription drug coverage.”

In "Drug Reimportation: The Free Market Solution," Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs, writes: "The current ban should be lifted, therefore, not to encourage reimportation, but to allow the incentives to surface that will "force" wider use of market practices and the international trade regimes that reflect such practices."

Report Supports Inclusion of Turkey in EU

"A confidential European Commission report on whether to invite Turkey to join the European Union gives the move a generally favorable review, calling the country's integration `beneficial' and emphasizing the potential boon to relations with the Middle East," the Wall Street Journal reports.

"But the report also details the long list of so-called Copenhagen criteria Turkey must satisfy to get an invitation. While noting substantial progress since last year, it makes clear that Turkey hasn't finished the job in improving human rights, among other areas."

In "EU Enlargement: Costs, Benefits, and Strategies for Central and Eastern European Countries," Marian Tupy, assistant director of Cato's Project on Global Economic Liberty, writes that when Eastern European countries join the EU, "they should pursue a strategy that seeks to introduce economic dynamism to the region by forging an alliance with more economically liberal governments to prevent further centralization in Brussels, working to prevent the adoption of costly welfare entitlements in the new EU constitution, guarding the national veto system within the EU, and working to abolish or substantially reform the unfair Common Agricultural Policy."

Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org