Heritage Experts Today


Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today. Please reply to this email to arrange an interview. Eviction Moratorium by Presidential Fiat Blatantly Violates Constitution, Defies Supreme Court – Both the eviction moratorium itself and the CDC’s economic intent unlawfully breach any congressional authorization. Even if Congress had authorized the CDC to enact an eviction moratorium, the moratoria are unconstitutional. Most importantly, any federal law must be ‘necessary and proper for carrying into Execution’ the powers enumerated to the Congress, as stated in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Even if the regulation of evictions were a power enumerated to Congress by the Constitution --and it’s not) -- banning access to state courts or forbidding a state court from exercising its constitutional jurisdiction over the protection of private property or contractual rights is not a law that is ‘proper.’ In fact, such a ban on accessing the court is itself a violation of one’s right under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to ‘petition the government for a redress of grievances.’ This includes the right to request the court to issue an order for eviction. Regardless of the many other problems with the eviction moratorium, the violation of the necessary and proper clause renders it unconstitutional. Heritage expert: Joel Griffith 9 Things to Know About Senate’s $1.1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill – The bipartisan group promoting the infrastructure deal are attempting to sell it as a reasonable, centrist compromise. In reality, it would greatly expand the size and scope of the federal government, needlessly add to the national debt, waste hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, and promote a variety of far-left causes. Improving America’s infrastructure is a worthwhile goal that should have bipartisan support. This bill isn’t the way to do that. Heritage expert: David Ditch Energy and Climate Policies, Cronyism Don’t Belong in Bloated Senate Infrastructure Bill – Competition gives customers more choices, who are increasingly interested in “green” energy options and are always interested in reducing their expenses if given the freedom to make informed decisions. At the same time, competition forces companies to be efficient and innovative—inherently pro-environment features. Bailouts do the opposite. Many of the energy and climate policies in the infrastructure package aren’t as overt as a mandate. But expanding the scope of government in energy markets by way of the tax dollar quietly migrates power away from customers to politicians, bureaucrats, and politically favored companies and technologies. The infrastructure package should leave Americans with a lot to be concerned about, both for the price tag and for the opaque process through which it emerged. Heritage expert: Katie Tubb Illinois School District Violates Civil Rights Law, Calls it ‘Equity’ – According to a lawsuit filed by the Southeastern Legal Foundation on behalf of teacher Stacy Deemar, the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 in northern Illinois has been forcing its teachers and students to engage in programming that discriminates against individuals on the basis of race in violation of both federal civil rights law and the U.S. Constitution. The factual allegations made by the Southeastern Legal Foundation against District 65 are astonishing. They include claims that District 65 (1) trained its teachers that “to be less white is to be less racially oppressive,” that “white identity is inherently racist,” and that teachers who disagree with these principles are “racists”; (2) taught its students that treating people equally “helps racism”; (3) engaged in race-shaming, such as racially segregated teacher and student “privilege walks”; and (4) directed the use of racially segregated “affinity groups” in which teachers were divided based on their race or racial identification. These are just a few of the shocking allegations contained in the complaint. Heritage expert: Sarah Perry Sherman’s China Visit Was a Quiet Disaster – The Biden administration risks signaling to Beijing that Washington is desperate for a deal. The constant reiteration of climate change as an arena for U.S.-China cooperation, coupled with President Joe Biden’s repeated declarations that climate change poses the greatest threat to the United States (and the world), leaves little bargaining room for the United States. Beijing has already made clear, if only by its construction of more coal-fired electricity capacity than the rest of the world combined, that it will not allow concerns about climate change to shift major investments and construction. Beijing may well have been heartened by recent reports that suggest the Democratic Party is divided on whether to focus on confronting climate change or China. Thus, if the United States wants to make China change course, it will have to offer China concessions. The two lists are, in effect, China’s initial demands. The Chinese leadership is undoubtedly waiting to see how the Biden administration responds, whether it is more concerned with climate change or confronting China. Heritage expert: Dean Cheng
You are subscribed to Heritage Foundation e-mails as [email protected]. If you want to change your e-mail preferences, please click here to update your subscription.