In a new edition of Cato Out Loud, Daniel J. Ikenson explains why the federal government should not extend a financial bailout to the auto industry. Since November, Cato analysts have appeared on more than 50 radio and television programs discussing the bailout of “The Big Three.”

Today is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of alcohol prohibition. We are, alas, living in a time when way too many people think that the way to solve problems and improve the human condition is to enact more laws. Let’s remember that repealing certain laws can actually help to create a more free and prosperous society! 

Cato is celebrating today’s anniversary with an event this afternoon entitled “Free to Booze.” 

More thoughts on Repeal Day from Radley Balko and our friends at MPP. For Cato scholarship, go here, here, and here.

David Boaz once suggested that the Class Action Fairness Act—an important statute that federalizes lots of abusive lawsuits traditionally confined to states—gives federal courts power they shouldn’t have. In this article, I marshal new evidence of the Constitution’s original meaning that supports David.

In a nutshell: the evidence confirms an interpretation of the Constitution’s text advanced by (gasp!) Public Citizen’s litigation director Brian Wolfman. CAFA pins federal jurisdiction over state-filed class actions on the fact that many classes include members who are citizens of different states than the defendant. Congress, in turn, assumed these suits fall within federal courts’ jurisdiction over “controversies between citizens of different states.” 

However, in congressional testimony on CAFA, Wolfman argued that proposed members of a class are not parties to a constitutional “controversy.”  For reasons too technical to go into here, if Wolfman’s right that would punch a big gaping hole in CAFA, allowing plaintiffs’ lawyers to easily evade federal jurisdiction in lots of cases. 

My evidence suggests Wolfman is correct—although Congress has the power to rewrite CAFA in a way that would make it constitutional. Unfortunately, as the article explains, a “fix” for CAFA is probably not politically feasible, at least in the forseeable future.

For more on the argument, which involves some pretty technical points of federal jurisdiction and class action law, see the abstract, posted here, and a longer excerpt from the article posted by Professor Larry Solum on his Legal Theory Blog here.

The bottom line: Tort reformers who are faithful to the original meaning of the Constitution must confront the uncomfortable fact that the Constitution takes key provisions of CAFA, the tort reform movement’s greatest legislative achievement, off the table.

Cato’s associate policy analyst, David Kopel, comes to the defense of New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress in today’s Wall Street Journal. The WSJ law blog is hosting a discussion. 

The restrictive permitting system in New York allows for the rich and celebrities such as Robert DeNiro, Donald Trump, Howard Stern, and Harvey Keitel to carry a concealed weapon. Average, law-abiding citizens and non-residents are given no consideration. 

This news comes hot on the heels of Brian Doherty’s book, Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle over the Second Amendment, and our book forum (archived in video and podcast form).

What in god’s name is wrong with Ohio Republicans? There’s a party-line vote in the state House on costly and market-distorting tax credits for the film industry, and it’s the Democrats calling it out as fiscally irresponsible?

I know the Ohio Republican Party has done much, much worse over the years, but come on … when has enough damage been done?

The Dayton Daily News reports the government is facing “a budget nightmare for Ohio, which is now looking at a $640 million shortfall for the current fiscal year and as much as a $7.3 billion funding gap in the upcoming two-year budget.”

Perhaps Republicans could try to pass education tax credits before they leave. You know, the one and only tax credit that really does save taxpayers’ money and the only tax credit that actually decreases market distortion rather than increasing it.

A fiscal impact analysis of our Public Education Tax Credit shows that Ohio could save billions of dollars with school choice.

To give Ohio politicians a sense of the numbers we’re talking here, Illinois saves $5.1 billion in the first 10 years and $1.6 billion every year after the program has been in operation for 15 years. Wisconsin saves $9.3 billion in the first 10 years and $3.2 billion every year after the program has been in operation for 15 years.

But that probably makes too much sense. As an Ohioan, this pains me. But at least we’ll get to see what the Ohio Democratic Party wants to tax and spend on when they take over next year …

In these heady days of hope, change, puppies, and rainbows, not too many people are paying attention to the political tableau playing out in our northern neighbor. Those wags who do remember that Canada had its own election in October — resulting in the reelection of Prime Minister Stephen Harper — quip that, come January, the United States will have the most liberal government in North America.

Not so fast. It turns out that while Harper’s Conservatives did strengthen their minority government — that is, they won by far the largest plurality in the nation’s multi-party parliament, increasing their previous result — by definition a minority government can be outvoted if other parties gang up on them. Here’s the math: Canada’s House of Commons has 308 seats (meaning 155 constitutes a majority), of which the Conservatives have 143, the Liberals 77, the Bloc Quebecois (whose sole raison d’etre is that Quebec should be a separate country, but who can ideologically be described as populist-socialist) 49, New Democratic Party (socialists) 37, and unaffiliated independents 2. And here’s the short version of what’s gone down to upset the applecart: In a new fiscal program unveiled last week, PM Harper announced, among other things, cuts to public funding of political parties and restrictions on public sector unions’ right to strike. The opposition would have none of this and quickly arranged what in other circumstances might be a called a palace coup: Liberal leader Stephane Dion (already a lame duck after leading his party to its worst showing ever), citing the Conservatives’ failure to prepare for a recession (nevermind that Canada’s economy grew in the third quarter, and by more than it has all year), agreed on a tripartite deal with the NDP and Bloc that would oust the Tory government.

The biggest news here is that, for the first time ever, a separatist party will be a formal part of the government — the king-makers, no less. The federalism/​Quebec “question” is, shall we say, a delicate one in Canada, so this is a pretty big deal. 

While the Bloc will not have any ministers (the Liberals and NDP are to divvy up cabinet spots in a 3:1 ratio), it will, per the formal text of the deal, be part of a “permanent consultation mechanism.” As blogger and National Post columnist Ezra Levant put it:

Well, we already have one of those – it’s called Parliament. But Parliament is a little too public for this coalition – you know, with nosy Canadians watching how deals are made. This consultation mechanism will be private – a way for the separatists to make their demands in secret, and for Prime Minister Stephane Dion to meet those demands in secret.

Indeed, those demands were many: an immediate $1 billion transfer to Quebec, along with a slew of patronage posts, including Senate seats (the Prime Minister appoints senators, and there are currently 18 vacancies). Apparently, Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party (which won no seats in parliament but captured 6.8% of the vote) was also offered a Senate seat. 

And, as part of a “Policy Accord to Address the Present Economic Crisis,” the new coalition proposes such “stimulus” measures as “support for culture, including the cancellation of budget cuts announced by the Conservative government” and “support for Canadian Wheat Board and Supply Management.” And then came word of a (further) $30 billion national “bailout,” as yet undefined. In other words, a mish-mash of left-wing policy ideas dressed up as emergency measures.

OK, so now what happens? Well, according to parliamentary procedure, Dion, as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, will call for a “vote of non-confidence” in the government. Assuming the Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition holds together — Canada’s mainstream media, displaying the same bias as America’s, calls this the “Liberal-NDP” coalition so average Canadians don’t think about the separatists — the prime minister will have to resign and Governor-General Michaelle Jean (the titular head of state, filling the role the British monarch used to, in this case appointed by the Queen on former Liberal PM Paul Martin’s recommendation) can either invite Dion to form a government or call new elections. Harper plans to head off this turn of events by asking Jean to “prorogue” (suspend) the parliament until January, by which point the Conservatives will have plead their case to the people and thereby either win a confidence motion or force new elections.

The bottom line: Canada is having a bit of a constitutional crisis, the most likely result of which is an unstable governing coalition composed of liberals, socialists, and socialist separatists. In the meantime, the Toronto Stock Exchange has tanked. It almost makes card check, the Fairness Doctrine, and the auto bailout look good by comparison.

…or, “Here, hold this until my son gets back.”

Edward Kaufman is about to become the Benjamin A. Smith II of Delaware. Smith was a college roommate of John F. Kennedy. When JFK was elected president in 1960, he persuaded the governor of Massachusetts to appoint Smith to his Senate seat. Smith took the job and obligingly chose not to run in the 1962 special election, when brother Teddy was finally old enough to serve in the Senate.

Now Kaufman is doing the same favor for Joe Biden. Biden persuaded outgoing governor Ruth Ann Minner to appoint Kaufman, his longtime friend and Senate chief of staff, to his Senate seat. Kaufman said he will not run for the seat in 2010, allowing Biden’s son Beau, attorney general of Delaware and currently serving with the National Guard in Iraq, to claim the seat then.

Like Alaska, Delaware has a relatively small population, so maybe there really aren’t many people in the state qualified to serve in the U.S. Senate. But it’s awfully nice of Kaufman to hold on to the seat until the Biden family can reclaim it.