Emergency Powers Bill Passes Committee, Statement from Pelican CEO

By Daniel J. Erspamer
10/01/2020
Today, the Louisiana House and Government Affairs Committee passed House Bill 4, which will add checks and balances to Louisiana’s emergency declarations process. Pelican Institute CEO Daniel Erspamer released the following statement in response to the passage of the legislation: “Balancing executive power in Louisiana’s emergency declarations process has become one of the most consequential issues...

TAGS: checks and balances, Constitution, COVID-19, emergency declaration, Freedom

Protect Life and Liberty in a Pandemic

By Sarah Harbison
09/02/2020
Did Louisiana’s government infringe on the rights of its citizens with its COVID-19 mandates? Today, the Pelican Institute released a report to answer that question and offer approaches for addressing the ongoing pandemic and future disasters while safeguarding both public health and individual liberty. In future legislative sessions, lawmakers should consider the lessons learned from...

TAGS: Constitution, COVID-19, Economic Freedom, Freedom, Liberty

Lawyer, CNN Commentator Joins PeliCast to Talk Constitutional Role During COVID-19

04/01/2020
CNN political analyst Sarah Isgur recently joined Pelican Institute General Counsel Sarah Harbison on the PeliCast to discuss whether state and local governments’ emergency responses to the COVID-19 outbreak pass constitutional muster. In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued an executive order on March 16 cancelling all public and private gatherings. Governor John Bel Edwards...

TAGS: Constitution, Freedom, Liberty, U.S. Constitution

Six Reasons to Reject National Popular Vote

By Kevin Kane
05/04/2012
On Monday, Louisiana’s House of Representatives is expected to vote on HB 1095. This bill would make Louisiana party to the National Popular Vote (NPV) “compact” whereby state electors would pledge to cast their votes to the presidential candidate receiving the most votes nationwide, regardless of the results in Louisiana. Here are six reasons why legislators should reject this attempt to jettison our electoral system.

TAGS: Constitution, Elections, Electoral College, legislature, Louisiana, National Popular Vote, NPV

Controversial New Book Seeks to Revive Nullification

By Fergus Hodgson
09/20/2010
Thomas Woods argues that “Constitution has become non-issue to federal government” According to Rasmussen Reports, constituent hostility to the federal government is at an unprecedented high, and twenty state attorneys general, including Louisiana’s, are challenging the constitutionality of the 2010 federal health care reform. However, in his latest book, Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny...

TAGS: Clint Bolick, Constitution, Nullification, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Woods