November 30, 2009 1:37PM 

# Is Cato ‘Liberal’ on Criminal Law Issues? 

By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) 

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Kent Scheidegger, who blogs over at [*Crime and Consequences*](http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/2009/11/consensus-of-right-and-left-on.html), takes issue with the recent *New York Times* article that said liberal and conservative groups are finding [common ground](https://www.cato.org/2009/11/24/right-and-left-take-on-feds/) on criminal justice issues. He makes some fair observations but then he had this to say about Cato:

> The picture is somewhat complicated by the existence of libertarian groups such as Cato that side with conservatives on economic issues and liberals on criminal law issues, but that is an issue of taxonomy rather than realignment.

I don’t think that’s accurate at all. To begin with, Cato has been very critical of [gun](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=1143) [control](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&method=cats&scid=33&pid=1441412) [regulations](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8126). A few other issues where we part company with our liberal friends include [hate crime legislation](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8227) (and the [role of the federal government](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4739) more generally), [welfare/​social spending](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&method=cats&scid=21&pid=144165), and the rights of [businesspeople](https://www.cato.org/2008/07/14/federal-prosecutors/). There are doubtless more issues, but this should suffice. I might add that ending the [misguided drug war](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4780) is a major objective, but there are plenty of [conservatives](http://www.nationalreview.com/12feb96/drug.html) who agree with libertarians on that topic.

More Cato scholarship [here](https://www.cato.org/criminal-justice-law-enforcement).

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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