In January 2000, delegates from over 100 nations completed negotiations on an international treaty for the regulation of biotechnology, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The stated purpose of this protocol is to enhance the protection of biological diversity. Despite its good intentions,...

The existing environmental regulatory architecture, largely erected in the 1970s, is outdated and ill-suited to address contemporary environmental concerns. Any debate on the future of environmental protection, if it is to be meaningful, must span the political spectrum. Yet there is little...

Supreme Court decisions limiting citizen suit standing are commonly viewed as a threat to environmental protection. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment, and other cases are portrayed as attacks on environmental activists' ability to safeguard the public...

Electronic cigarettes pose a competitive threat to the makers of cigarettes and other tobacco products, as well as to nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum and patches. A common response to such a threat is support for government regulation to suppress competition. Predictably,...

In Solid Waste Association of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("SWANCC"), the Supreme Court considered whether federal regulatory authority reaches isolated wetlands and ponds due to the potential presence of migratory birds. In rejecting such an expansive view of federal...

Most Americans consider themselves environmentalists, yet most experts are dissatisfied with existing environmental regulations, which are both inefficient and inequitable. Worse, many don't serve environmental goals. This article outlines an alternative approach to environmental policy based on...

In 2010, few anticipated the fate of health care reform would rest with the Supreme Court. Yet National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius emerged as a watershed case that could remake the constitutional landscape. NFIB presented a conflict between two constitutional visions of...

State governments have adopted a range of policies intended to encourage the development of renewable energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some of these policies have the potential to burden interstate energy markets and may raise constitutional concerns. The Dormant Commerce...

The fundamental problem with existing approaches to environmental regulation is that they are excessively centralized. As such, they exhibit most of the failings of Soviet-style command-and-control systems: excessive rigidity, inefficiency, diminishing marginal returns, poor prioritization, and...

The Supreme Court's decision reaffirming limits on federal regulatory jurisdiction in Rapanos v. United States was significant, but hardly revolutionary. The Court's holding that the Clean Water Act only reaches those wetlands with a significant nexus to navigable-in-fact waters followed...