Author Archives: Brian Wolfman

Major Ruling in Federal Tobacco Litigation

Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court in D.C. has issued this this major opinion imposing corrective remedies in the federal government's 13-year-old RICO suit against the tobacco industry. Judge Kessler has issued a separate order mandating that the tobacco companies publish "corrective statements" on five topics "on which the Court found they had […]

What Should Be Done About Underwater Mortgages?

In case you missed it, last week the Washington Post had this interesting article describing a meeting between President Obama and seven of the world's most prominent economists. The meeting took place over 13 months ago. Nearly all of the economists told the President that the government hadn't done enough to effectively forgive the mortgage […]

Supreme Court Hands Down Per Curiam Federal Arbitration Act Decision

The Supreme Court handed down a unanimous per curiam decision this morning in Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Eddie Lee Howard. The Court ruled that an Oklahama Supreme Court's decision nixing contract provisions was a decision for an arbitrator (not the Oklahoma courts): State courts rather than federal courts are most frequently called upon to apply the […]

Drug Industry Influence on Medical Journals and Medical Research

Nearly a year and a half ago, we covered the topic of drug industry influence on medical journals and research. The lead story in yesterday's Washington Post treats the topic in detail, noting that even the most prestigious medical journals have trouble avoiding bias in favor of the industry. The Post piece focuses on a […]

Massive New England Journal Study of Mammagrophy Sure to Provoke Controversy

This three-decade study of the effectiveness of mammography to screen for breast cancer is sure to provoke controversy. Mammography has detected many breast cancers and saved lives, but, the study says, mammography over-diagnoses — that is, in many circumstances, it purports to find problems that never would have progressed to clinical breast cancer. Here is […]

Feds Seek Dismissal of Suit Challenging Dodd-Frank and the CFPB

Last June, we told you about a federal-court suit filed by a Texas Bank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the 60 Plus Association challenging various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Here is the complaint. The federal government has now moved […]

More on George Will’s Criticism of the CFPB, and a Defense of the CFPB’s Use of Its Anti-Abuse Authority

Recently, on this blog, Jeff Sovern went after George Will's attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rightly noting that the CFPB's exercise of its regulatory and enforcement powers generally are not terribly different from what regulatory agencies have been doing for decades. Now, Jean Braucher has posted this extensive response to Will's piece. In doing […]