Clark Neily
@ConLawWarrior
Senior VP @CatoInstitute / Constitutional & Legal Studies. Bane of bureaucrats & lover of liberty. https://www.cato.org/people/clark-neily
One of the Constitution’ most brilliant features is that govt can’t punish anyone without persuading 12 members of the community—unanimously—that the person not only violated the law but also *deserves* whatever punishment the govt proposes to inflict. And the judiciary burned…
I’ll say it again: Americans’ faith in institutions has never been lower. And yet it is still WAY too high—especially with respect to institutions of the federal govt. If nothing else, I hope this finally puts a stake through the vampire heart of the “presumption of regularity.”
Don’t ever let anybody tell you that “no one is above the law.” That is absolutely NOT how our system works. The correct phrasing is “no one is *supposed* to be above the law.” See, e.g., reason.com/2025/07/21/hun…
Litigating against a federal agency is just asking the government to admit the government was wrong in front of a judge who used to work for the government. Go figure.
After 25yrs litigating against govt, I can say for certain that when you find yourself skeptical of something the govt is representing/asserting/swearing to in court, the simplest and most accurate explanation will nearly always be that it’s lying. Occam’s razor cuts clean here.
Man, if Trump sues the WSJ over that salacious birthday card he almost certainly sent to Epstein, I might have to take a leave of absence and go back into private practice and try to beg my way onto the defense team.