On behalf of the Association of Priority Mail Users, Inc., our firm filed reply comments in Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Docket No. RM2007-1 in response to PRC Order No. 15. The APMU comments respond to the UPS comments filed on June 18, 2007, in which UPS suggested that the PRC require that competitive products recover an additional amount above attributable and above institutional costs
God & Country Patriotic Celebration & Conference
Herb Titus spoke at the God & Country Patriotic Celebration & Conference” sponsored by the Institute on the Constitution. http://www.instituteontheconstitution.com/ On July 2, Herb Titus participated in a Panel Discussion entitled The Myth of Separation of Church and State (with Judge Roy Moore,
Association of Priority Mail Users, Inc. Comments on Second Round of Postal Rulemaking
On behalf of the Association of Priority Mail Users, Inc., our firm filed comments with the Postal Regulatory Commission in Docket No. RM2007-1 opposing either the attribution or assignment of assumed federal income taxes to specific competitive products and urging that they be treated as institutional costs of the Postal Service. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (“PAEA”),
Congressman Walter B. Jones Statement on the Floor U.S. House of Representatives
On June 18, 2007, Congressman Walter Jones addressed the U.S. House of Representatives about the Ramos and Compean case. He explained the issues raised in the amicus brief we recently filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Congressman Jones explained how the agents were convicted of a crime which Congress never enacted into law. The Congressman has asked the House Judiciary
Economic Imperatives that Drive Further De-averaging of Postal Rates
A paper by John Haldi, Ph.D. and William J. Olson entitled “Economic Imperatives that Drive Further De-averaging of Postal Rates” was presented today by Dr. Haldi at the 15th Conference on Postal Delivery and Economics in Semmering, Austria.
Herb Titus debates Barry Lynn at American Vision Superconference
Herb Titus squared off in a formal debate against Barry Lynn, Executive Director of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State before the American Vision Superconference held at the Ridgecrest Conference Center near Ashville, North Carolina. The topic was: “Does the No Establishment of Religion Guarantee Prohibit a Biblically-based Public Policy.”
Lynn took the affirmative,
FDA Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Today, on behalf of TREA Senior Citizens League (“TSCL”), we filed comments with the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) in opposition to the FDA’s “Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation”. According
U.S. v. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean Amicus Brief for Congressman Walter Jones, et al. 18 U.S.C. section 924(c)
Today we filed a Brief Amicus Curiae in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit supporting the appeal of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean. Counts four and five of the indictment charge the two with “Discharge of a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence,” under 18 U.S.C. section 924(c), which the Supreme Court has ruled is only a sentencing factor, not one of the three elements
Strict Construction of Federal Criminal Laws U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Brief Watson v. United States
On behalf of Gun Owners Foundation and the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, we filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Watson v. United States. This brief asks the Court to overturn the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and to re-establish the common law rule of strict construction of criminal statutes. In this case,
FDA Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Today, on behalf of TREA Senior Citizens League, we filed with the FDA for both Clarification of, and Extension of, the deadline for comments in response to the FDA’s rulemaking in Docket No. R2006D-0480, entitled “Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by Food and Drug Administration.”
Free Speech Coalition Critique of House Efforts to Restrict Grassroots Lobbying
With the House of Representatives soon to vote on the lobbying reform bill, the Campaign Legal Center has issued a memo arguing that grassroots restrictions are clearly constitutional under existing law. We prepared this analysis for the Free Speech Coalition explaining why such restrictions are unconstitutional, and why the analysis of the Campaign Legal Center is flawed.
Association of Priority Mail Users, Inc. Comments on Postal Rulemaking
On behalf of the Association of Priority Mail Users, Inc., our firm filed comments with the Postal Regulatory Commission addressing some of the problems associated with implementing the new Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (“PAEA”), P.L. 109-435, which changes the manner in which rates are set for Priority Mail and other types of mail now classified by Congress as “competitive
Michael New v. Donald H. Rumsfeld — Reply Brief of Petitioner
We filed in the United States Supreme Court a reply to the Government’s brief in opposition to former Army Specialist Michel G. New’s petition for review of his January 1995 court-martial conviction (for violation of an order requiring him to wear the United Nations uniform prescribed for deployment to a U.N. operation in Macedonia).
After we had filed the Petition for Certiorari in November
Wisconsin Right to Life — Amicus Brief
Today we filed a Brief Amicus Curiae in the U.S. Supreme Court in the Wisconsin Right to Life case. The brief asks the Court to reconsider its prior holdings in the McConnell and Buckley cases, and to strike down the Congressional ban on “electioneering communications.” (We had previously filed an amicus brief in support of Wisconsin Right to Life when the case
The Right of the People of Maryland to Keep and Bear Arms
Maryland Shall Issue, Inc. commissioned our firm to prepare an analysis of a 13-year-old Opinion of the Maryland Attorney General currently being used in the Maryland General Assembly to support SB 43, the so-called “assault weapons” ban. Our analysis — “The Right of the People of Maryland to Keep and Bear Arms: A Refutation of a 1994 Opinion of the Maryland Attorney
Free Speech Coalition Constitutional Analysis of Restrictions on Grassroots Lobbying Contained in Section 220 of S.1
The Campaign Legal Center recently issued a memorandum concluding that pending Senate restrictions on grassroots lobbying in Senate Bill 1 were clearly constitutional under existing law. We could not disagree more. Working with Free Speech Coalition Legal Co-Counsel Mark Weinberg of Weinberg & Jacobs, LLP (http://wjlaw.com),we
“Pelosi Set to Attack Conservatives”
Bill Olson was quoted in this NewsMax.com article regarding the “frontal attack on the First Amendment and political speech” of the Public Citizen/Pelosi bill.
The Risk of War to Our Liberties
Bill Olson’s 2001 statement about the increased risk to our liberties at times of war now appears in a collections of quotations about war at the following website: http://allthingswilliam.com/war.html
“There’s no question that historically the liberties of a people are at greatest risk in times
Michael G. New v. Donald H. Rumsfeld — SG ordered to file response
On December 21, 2006, William K. Suter, Clerk of the Supreme Court, wrote to the Solicitor General informing the General that, although his office had waived a right to respond to the Michael New’s petition for certiorari, the Court has directed the Clerk to request that the Solicitor General file a response to the petition on or before January 22, 2007. (This deadline was subsequently was
Free Speech Coalition Press Coverage
Bill Olson is quoted in this Investor’s Business Daily article, “Free Speech Coalition: Public Citizen has ‘Ethics’ Problem With its Grassroots Lobbying Legislation.”
Firm’s FOIA Litigation Against Social Security Administration Leads to Release of U.S. – Mexico Totalization Agreement
In response to our firm’s still-pending FOIA lawsuit on behalf of TREA Senior Citizens League (TSCL) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) finally released the “U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement,” hand-delivering it to the firm in late December 2006.
This is the first known release of the Mexican Totalization
Michael G. New v. Donald H. Rumsfeld — Petition for Certiorari
Today, we filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, seeking review by the United States Supreme Court of the dismissal of Michael G. New’s collateral attack on his January 1996 court-martial. (Former Army Specialist New was convicted of disobedience of an allegedly lawful order for failure to wear the United Nations uniform prescribed for his unit’s deployment as part of a U.N. commanded
Gun Owners Foundation Amicus Brief in United States v. Stanko
Mr. Rudolph Stanko was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(1), which prohibits any person from possessing a firearm or ammunition if that person has been convicted of certain types of crimes punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. According to the statutory definition, the predicate crime cannot be any federal or state