Published in The Washington Monthly in January/February 2015

The public be damned,” railroad magnate William Henry Vanderbilt snorted at a reporter in 1882. The impertinent scribe had asked whether Vanderbilt ran his railroads with an eye toward public benefit. At the time, Vanderbilt was among the most powerful men in American business—and by his own estimation the richest man in the world. His figurative middle finger to the American public was big news, appearing on the front page of hundreds of newspapers within twenty-four hours.

Published on The Boston Globe on July 8, 2014

We’ve been had. And so has Justice Anthony Kennedy.

The Supreme Court ruled recently in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that corporations are “persons” under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Now Hobby Lobby and other corporations can conscientiously object to Obamacare’s requirement to provide health insurance that includes contraceptives.

Published on SCOTUSblog on June 30, 2014

Yes, this case is a case about statutory definitions, but it reads as a case about unconstitutional conditions. And because the Court made three fundamental corporate law errors, it got the conditions question wrong.

Published on The American Prospect on March 26, 2014

If businesses are allowed to discriminate citing religious beliefs, then get ready to see some ugly throwbacks to pre-Civil Rights Era America. 

Published on ACSBlog on March 24, 2014

I bet you’ve never thought of those three things together. Now, thanks to a couple of ACS board members, you have reason to.