pilon, roger
=<div>cites wsj opinion</div><div><div>
</div><div>Secret Prosecution Games</div><div>A prosecutor and newspaper are upset about our editorials.</div><div>March 24, 2015 7:31 p.m. ET</div><div>
</div><div>Wisconsin John Doe prosecutor Francis Schmitz is upset. He doesn’t like that these columns keep reporting details that are supposed to be under court seal as part of his </div></div><div>
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</div><div>Rashad Robinson heads up Color of Change, a civil rights group that successfully pressured the Mall of America to drop a restitution claim against a group of protesters that disrupted business with an action tied to the Black Lives Matter movement.</div><div>
</div><div>He says he's seen restitution used this way in California, Minnesota and Michigan.</div><div>
</div><div>"It's a tactic that we're seeing especially as corporations continue to gain more and more power in our democracy," Robinson says.</div><div>
</div><div>In some ways, what's going on between activists and their targets is a steady escalation on both sides.</div><div>
</div><div>Roger Pilon, vice president of legal affairs at the Cato Institute thinks it's only fair that protestors begin to bear some financial costs as well, particularly when they trespass to try to make a point.</div><div>
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</div><div>"We've established rules for protest. If you violate them, you can't expect to get away scot-free," Pilon says. "After all, you can't impose the cost of your moral virtue on the backs of people who are just trying to run their own business."</div></div><div></div><div>bs</div><div>
</div><div>r<span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; line-height: 22.500072479248px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ger Pilon is the founder and director of Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies, which has become an important force in the national debate over constitutional interpretation and judicial philosophy. He is the publisher of the</span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; line-height: 22.500072479248px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><em style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; line-height: 22.500072479248px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Cato Supreme Court Review</em><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; line-height: 22.500072479248px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; line-height: 22.500072479248px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and is an adjunct professor of government at Georgetown University through The Fund for American Studies.</span></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22.500072479248px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Prior to joining Cato, Pilon held five senior posts in the Reagan administration, including at State and Justice, and was a national fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. In 1989, the Bicentennial Commission presented him with its Benjamin Franklin Award for excellence in writing on the U.S. Constitution. In 2001, Columbia University’s School of General Studies awarded him its Alumni Medal of Distinction. Pilon lectures and debates at universities and law schools across the country and testifies often before Congress.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22.500072479248px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">His writing has appeared in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Wall Street Journal,</em> the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Washington Post,</em> the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">New York Times,</em> the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Los Angeles Times, Legal Times, National Law Journal, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Stanford Law and Policy Review,</em> and elsewhere. He has appeared on ABC’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Nightline,</em> CBS’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">60 Minutes II,</em> Fox News Channel, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and other media.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.0000495910645px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22.500072479248px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pilon holds a BA from Columbia University, an MA and a PhD from the University of Chicago, and a JD from the George Washington University School of Law.</p><div></div><div>std wu bs:</div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 28px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, exercising power purportedly delegated to it pursuant to Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce, has <a href="http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/utprairiedog/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">classified</a> the countless <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_prairie_dog" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">Utah prairie dog</a>, which has <b>no commercial value</b> and has never dug holes in any lands beyond southwestern Utah, as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), thereby prohibiting the “take” of said prairie dogs—which essentially means doing anything that disturbs the little rodents’ habitat. If the varmints invade their property, human residents cannot build homes, start or operate certain businesses, or, in the case of Cedar City, protect playgrounds, an airport, and a local cemetery from their burrowing and barking.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 28px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Joining as </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners (PETPO), and represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> residents filed suit, claiming that the “take” rule for the noncommercial, intrastate Utah prairie dog exceeds Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce. Congress has the power to regulate “commerce among the states,” not species. PETPO’s suit argues that the ESA cannot reach activities that are intrastate and noncommercial—activities, for example, like filling holes in your lawn or otherwise developing land where prairie dogs might live. The federal district court agreed and therefore </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/11/05/district-court-strikes-down-endangered-species-protections-for-exceeding-the-scope-of-federal-power/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">struck down</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> the “take” regulation. The case is now before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 28px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Joined by constitutional law professors Jonathan H. Adler, James L. Huffman, and Josh Blackman, Cato has filed a <a href="http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/petpo.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">brief</a> supporting the landowners. </p></div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 28px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Just when you thought the long-running “John Doe” prosecution/persecutions in Wisconsin couldn’t get any worse—SWAT teams conducting <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisconsins-shame-i-thought-it-was-home-invasion-david-french" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">pre-dawn raids on family homes</a>, <a href="http://mediatrackers.org/wisconsin/2015/02/09/will-lawmakers-heed-federal-judges-warnings-john-doe-secrecy" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">gag orders</a> on the victims, and <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-prosecution-games-1427239894" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">the prosecutor’s recusal motion</a> directed against no fewer than four state supreme court justices, all over politically driven campaign finance allegations—Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm suggested over the weekend that Gov. Scott Walker <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/in-iowa-scott-walker-raps-john-doe-connected-raids-on-supporters-b99488324z1-301309161.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">could be criminally charged</a> for lying. Walker’s “crime”? In Iowa on Saturday, he questioned whether the prosecution’s tactics were constitutional.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 28px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As so often happens in litigation over <a href="http://althouse.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-wall-street-journal-urges-us.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">often inscrutable campaign finance law</a>, this case is a tangle of legal complexities, many of which are outlined in <a href="http://www.cato.org/publications/legal-briefs/okeefe-v-chisholm" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">Cato’s amicus brief</a>, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the appeal of the “John Does,” their lives on hold as they suffer in silence. At its conference last Friday, the Court considered their cert petition, but it was not included in the Court’s list of denials this morning, indicating a “hold” and hence an increased likelihood that the Court will hear the appeal.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: DroidSerif, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 28px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Only two weeks ago, in her first campaign stop in Iowa, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/04/14/hillary-clinton-declares-support-for-constitutional-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(186, 35, 57); text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); background: transparent;">Hillary Clinton took a shot at the Roberts Court</a>, calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Court’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16.0000095367432px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Citizens United</em> decision. That would amount to nothing less than an assault on the First Amendment’s protection of political speech. With that speech so threatened, no better illustrated than in the appalling Wisconsin prosecutions, it’s time for the Court to bring an end to this tyranny.</p></div><div></div><div>
</div><div>==</div><div>1999 wht ppr god knows</div><h1 class="page-h1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; font-family: 'Hoefler Titling A', 'Hoefler Titling B', Times, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif; line-height: 54.0000228881836px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3">Letter from Roger Pilon to Sen. McConnell on Campaign Finance Reform</font></h1>