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Source: Cato-at-liberty
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Total 49 results found since Jan 2013.
Spotlighting Protester Surveillance: FOIA Lawsuit Edition
Patrick G. EddingtonThis coming May 25 will mark three years since the murder of George Floyd by then ‐Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. That event sparked some of the largest political street protests since the Vietnam War era. In both cases, the federal government’s reaction was to increase domestic surveillance targeting the protesters. This time, however, two federal entities that did not exist during the 1960s protests were key players in responding to the national outcry over Floyd’s murder: the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).The public learned abo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 2, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Patrick G. Eddington Source Type: blogs
Friday Feature: unCommon Construction
Colleen HroncichAaron Frumin knows what it ’s like to be disengaged at school. He dropped out of college in his third year because he wanted a more purposeful life. And that ’s exactly what he’s created—for himself and for hundreds of students—withunCommon Construction, an innovative program where high school students build houses from the ground up.Aaron ’s path had many twists and turns. After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, he took advantage of his flexibility and moved to New Orleans to volunteer with the Red Cross. Before long, he was helping with construction—and found he liked it. After his serv...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 13, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Colleen Hroncich Source Type: blogs
Cambridge Eliminates Parking Minimums, Reduces Development Costs
Vanessa Brown CalderWith the City Council ’s recent vote, Cambridge, Massachusetts becomes the latest city to reform parking requirements. Cambridge is unique among Massachusetts cities in that it is the first tofully eliminate parking minimums citywide. But it is not unique among U.S. cities more generally, and comes as a wave of other locations, including San Francisco, California; Lexington, Kentucky; andSt. Paul, Minnesota; have made sweeping parking reforms.Parking minimums are a type of urban regulation that require developers to provide a predetermined number of parking spaces for a certain number of residen...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 8, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Vanessa Brown Calder Source Type: blogs
Americans Worried about Housing Costs, Open to YIMBY
Michael D. Tanner andVanessa Brown CalderFor years Americans have been concerned with rising home prices, and, at least grudgingly, recognized that one way to bring down those costs was to build more housing. But many drew the line on building those new homes in their own neighborhood —what made NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) one of the most recognized rallying cries in local politics.A newly releasedCato Institute National Survey of 2,000 adults, conducted by YouGov, suggests that the tides may be slowly shifting. The road to housing reform remains bumpy —but it is not impassable.That is fortunate, because housing afford...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 28, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Michael D. Tanner, Vanessa Brown Calder Source Type: blogs
The White House ’s Statement on Cryptocurrency
Nicholas Anthony andJack SoloweyThis morning ’sstatement on the White House ’s “Comprehensive Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets” touches on a lot of topics but was more signal than substance. Most items were left to be determined, and positions tended to be hedged. But as every economist knows: signals matter.Given the scope of the press release and underlying reports, we will have fuller analyses over time. However, there are some portions worth immediate attention. Namely, the sections on cryptocurrency regulation, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and financial crime.Cryptocurrency ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 16, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Nicholas Anthony, Jack Solowey Source Type: blogs
Qualified Immunity Is Still the Key to Real Police Reform
Clark NeilyAs we approach the one ‐year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police, Congress stands at a crossroads: It can deliver the real reform it has repeatedly promised by overhauling qualified immunity, or it can settle for a package of largely meaningless window dressing that leaves untouched our indefensible policy of near ‐zero accountability for police. From a purely policy standpoint, the choice is a no ‐brainer. As explained below, it’s good politics as well.To briefly recap, there is bipartisan agreement that American policing stands in desperate need of ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 14, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Neily Source Type: blogs
After the Derek Chauvin Verdict
Walter OlsonPolitico invited me to bepart of a mini ‐symposium about the jury ’s verdict finding former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all three counts (second‐degree unintentional murder, third‐degree murder and second‐degree manslaughter) in the death of George Floyd. Here’s what I wrote.Police are not above the law. And yet it ’s hard to get juries to convict an officer. Social respect for the job often sways the outcome toward acquittal where the facts are ambiguous. They weren’t ambiguous here, thanks to the video. “I feared for my safety” often works as a&...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 21, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Chauvin Verdict Only First Step Towards Accountability
Clark NeilyFormer Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder for killing George Floyd —a verdict that most Americans will likely find just. But of course, that conviction will not bring Mr. Floyd back to life, nor should we suppose that the criminal justice system reliably punishes officers who violate people’s rights. To ensure proper accountability we must eliminate the judge‐ made doctrine of qualified immunity, which too often prevents civil‐rights plaintiffs from holding police and other government officials liable for the harms they commit under color of law.
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 20, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Neily Source Type: blogs
Evidence of the Risks of Elevated Unemployment Insurance Benefits
Erin PartinLast week ’s job market numberswere strong. The unemployment rate fell to 6.0 percent – the lowest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 916,000 in March. But signs already suggest that the employment bounce-back is being restrained from its full potential by Congress’s decision to entrench a $300 weekly unemployment benefit sup plement through September.Combined with state unemployment benefits,around 37 percent of workers can currently make more unemployed than in work. A low-income worker in Massachusetts previously earning $535 per week faced a pre-pa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 8, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Erin Partin Source Type: blogs
Is Tax ‐Driven Interstate Migration Increasing?
Chris EdwardsThe health crisis and office shutdowns in New York, San Francisco, and other cities have prompted companies to liberalize their policies on remote working. That has led to some office workers rethinking where they live and moving to locations with nice weather, natural beauty, and lower taxes.TheWall Street Journalexamined the new moving trends the other day:Drew Erra, a 52‐year‐old insurance broker and moving‐company co‐owner, and wife Melissa Erra, lived in Minneapolis for 24 years. But in July—when many Americans were realizing that working from home, remote learning and social dist...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 5, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Minneapolis Won ’t Let Riot‐Battered Stores Install Security Shutters
Walter OlsonIn the destructive riots that hit Minneapolis this summer — riots I’ve argued libertariansshould be in the forefront of condemning —nearly 1,500 businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed.For many of these businesses, the Minneapolis city government adds a special insult: itwon ’t let shop owners install exterior shutters to protect against break ‐ins, a common practice in other cities. TheStar ‐Tribune reported on the resulting frustration:In a report justifying the rule change, Minneapolis officials argued that external shutters “cause visual blight” and create the impression that...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 15, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Do Immigrants Make the United States More Left ‐Wing?
ConclusionHow immigrants affect the size and growth of government is a complex issue with many moving parts. Immigrants have tended to vote for the Democratic Party or its predecessor since the 1790s. When the Democratic Party was the laissez-faire party, immigrants voted for it. When it became the interventionist party, immigrants continued to vote for it. They did so because the Democratic Party has been more pro-immigration than its competitors during most of American history.With some exceptions,people tend to choose a political party first and then change their opinions to match that party’s platform. Public opinion...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 13, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh, Andrew C. Forrester Source Type: blogs
The Supreme Court ’s Dereliction of Duty on Qualified Immunity
Jay SchweikertThis morning, theSupreme Court denied all of the major cert petitions raising the question of whether qualified immunity should be reconsidered. This is, to put it bluntly, a shocking dereliction of duty. As Cato hasargued for years, qualified immunity is an atextual, ahistorical judicial invention, which shields public officials from liability, even when they break the law. The doctrine not only denies justice to victims whose rights have been violated, but also exacerbates our crisis of confidence in law enforcement. By holding police officers to a far lower standard of accountability than ordinar...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 15, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Jay Schweikert Source Type: blogs
Americans Don ’t Want to #Defund Police, Instead They Agree on Reform
Emily EkinsConnor Friedersdorwrites in theAtlantic that police reform is popular, while rioting is not. He ’s right. While only 16% of Americansfavor cutting funding for police departments, theCato Criminal Justice National Survey found that Americans across racial and political backgrounds support a variety of policy changes that reformers say would help mend fences between police and the communities they serve.Read the full Cato 2016 Criminal Justice National Survey results here.It ’s true that Americans of different racial backgrounds have vastly different perceptions of police. Strong majorities of African Americ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 4, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Emily Ekins Source Type: blogs
Don ’t Lean on the Military to Solve Our Problems–But Learn from Them
Christopher A. PrebleI ’ve taken a close interest in civil ‐military relations for decades. I was taught the importance of civilian control over the U.S. military as a young NROTC midshipman. While on active duty, I opined publicly in the Naval Institute ’sProceedings on the reaction of servicemembers to Bill Clinton ’s election as president. And in graduate school, I carefully studied several incidents from the 1950s, when senior military officers defied the wishes of the sitting president, and took their concerns about the state of the nation ’s defenses directly to the American peop...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 2, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Christopher A. Preble Source Type: blogs
