Two columns on Biden’s mischief in federal court cases.
Judge tells feds to keep hands off state tax policies (Nov. 17)
President Joe Biden continued his losing streak in federal court earlier this week — and deservedly so.
Biden already has lost court battles involving his plans to kill oil leases, to punish employers if their workers are unvaccinated, to institute a race-based relief program for farmers and restaurateurs, and to impose a housing eviction moratorium, among others. Then, on Nov. 15, U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler blocked a major tax provision from the massive bill Biden pushed through Congress in the name of coronavirus relief.
Thirteen states had objected to the provision, which would bar states receiving federal COVID-19 relief funds from reducing state taxes for the next three years.
The states sued on multiple grounds, and Coogler ruled the states do indeed have legal “standing” to challenge the provision because “they are subject to continuous and ongoing harm [to] … their legislative process[es].” Having acknowledged the states’ standing, Coogler examined whether the no-tax-cut provision amounted to coercion or “compulsion” by the federal government that unconstitutionally interfered with the ordinary taxing authority of the states…. [The full column is here.]
It’s sickening to try to force collegiate women to shower with men (Jan. 22)
Amid other news last week , it was easy to miss a crucial oral argument by a small Missouri college defending itself against the Biden administration’s serious legal and moral disorder.
The College of the Ozarks is a private, nondenominational Christian school of about 1,500 students that charges no tuition, instead relying on grants and donor-based scholarships for part of the costs while requiring students to work on-campus jobs to “pay” for the rest. It has been nicknamed “Hard Work U” since a 1973 Wall Street Journal article so labeled it.
Ozarks requires that its students adhere to a strict code of conduct that, among numerous other provisions, forbids sexual relations outside of marriage. Students apply to the school largely because they want to pursue academics in this atmosphere of self-reliance, honor, and Christian values.
Backed by a number of other colleges and 14 state governments, Ozarks is challenging a “directive” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that (quoting the school’s lawsuit) effectively would require even “private religious colleges” to “place biological males into female dormitories and to assign them as females’ roommates.” It also means males could use young women’s “intimate spaces such as showers and bathrooms in [their] dormitories.”…. [The full column is here.]
