Personal Responsibility Lawyer

Problems can be solved. This episode is all about solving the problems related to the gap between outcomes for black communities as compared to white communities. 

Race and racial tensions dominate the headlines. Very little of the news or arguments focus on how to make things better. This episode is all about solutions.

Dr. Richard A Johnson III is the director of the Booker T. Washington Initiative. He has been instrumental in c...

China may be a bad actor in international trade, but are tariffs the way to deal with them? The candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump has brought international trade policy—especially with respect to China—to the forefront of political discussion. The pre-Trump Republican Party was staunchly free trade, but Trump has challenged and changed that to a great extent, for better or worse.

Free trade advocates (like your intrepid host...

Unless you've been under a rock, you know that a huge part of the US economy has been shut down by shelter in place orders in nearly every state. The idea behind this is to limit human interactions, which then at least theoretically limits the transmission of the novel coronavirus. It makes sense, at least in theory.

But what are the costs? And how do we make fiscal policy--both in Congress and at the Federal Reserve--that minimize...

The first freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights is the freedom of religion. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." First Liberty is a public interest law firm based in Texas that helps people live out that freedom. I had the opportunity to sit down with Jeremy Dys (@JeremyDys) to talk about a recent landmark decision that First Liberty won at the United St...

If you’re paying any attention at all, you have heard the word “socialism” thrown around a whole lot more in the last few years than ever before. At least, you’ve heard it more frequently without an expletive before it. In fact, the current leader in the contest for the Democratic Party nomination for President is a self-described and unapologetic socialist.

But what does that really mean? The vast majority of us—I think—abhor the ...

You've got to lock up the bad guys in order to keep us all safe. Right? It seems right, but it's not so simple. NYU Law Professor Rachel Barkow (@RachelBarkow) discusses her book Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. Prof. Barkow is an expert in criminal justice reform. This conversation is full of surprising information about how our collective zeal to punish has ended up making us less safe, and has act...

The Anti-Federalists played a huge role in shaping the Constitution that we have today, even though they were opposed to ratification. But we have largely forgotten that there were Anti-Federalists, and that they wrote some very interesting articles in opposition to ratifying the Constitution, called (predictably) the Anti-Federalist Papers.

If you're serious about understanding the Constitution, you need to know more about the Ant...

Conservatives hate class actions, right? It's just greedy liberal trial lawyers who like class actions, and that's just because they get all the money and nothing goes to the victims, right? Not so fast, according to Prof. Brian Fitzpatrick. Prof. Fitzpatrick, a conservative former Scalia law clerk, explains the "ironic" history of class actions, and why conservatives should be more in favor of the class action than they are. 

Prof...

At some time, most of us will have someone we love living in a nursing home or assisted living facility. Sometimes, these places are a wonderful and safe place for the elderly. Unfortunately, though, that's not always the case. One way to make sure these facilities are safe is to hold them accountable when they fail to take care of our elderly the way that they should.

My guest today is David Hoey, a personal injury trial lawyer wh...

In a culture of shallow learning, shallow work, and shallow relationships, the Waterloo School of Austin is fostering deep learning, deep work, and deep relationships. The way we run schools was designed by 10 people back in the 1890s. Why should we be surprised that today's education system is not producing people ready to thrive in a dramatically changed world? The Waterloo School of Austin is a new high school that is changing h...

If you're arrested and indicted for a crime you didn't commit, no need to worry, right? The criminal justice system will give you a fair shake. Right? Well, not so fast, according to Clark Neily. Clark is the Vice President for Criminal Justice at the Cato Institute. In this interview, Clark and I discuss plea bargaining. Criminal cases almost never go to a jury trial. The default assumption is that a defendant will plead guilty an...

If you don’t know a lot about Frederick Douglass, well, join the club. But then get out of the club. You want to know about this man’s life. Trust me on that one.

My guest in this episode of the Personal Responsibility Lawyer podcast is Tim Sandefur. Tim is the Vice President of Litigation at the Goldwater Institute. We could have spent a full episode talking about the fascinating lawsuits he oversees involving constitutional right...

8th Degree Taekwondo black belt and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu brown belt Richard Johnson talks to me about his martial arts journey, and how martial arts teaches basic principles about life and personal responsibility.

Richard started in martial arts when he was in high school and was tired of being bullied. His idea was that he was going to start winning the fights with the ones who had picked on him. Instead, he hasn't been in a fight ...

I had a great time interviewing Twitter's Senator, Shoshana Weissmann! If you haven't already, you can find her on Twitter, @SenatorShoshana. If you're a Twitter kind of person, I highly recommend you follow her. She is also the digital media guru for the R Street Institute (@RSI or rstreet.org), a free market think tank in Washington, DC.

Shoshana and I talk about occupational licensing reform, and how the federal, state, and loca...

The government requires a license to work about 500 different jobs. How arbitrary and unreasonable can those licensing requirements be before they violate your constitutional (state or US) rights to earn an honest living? Can the government pass laws just to protect established businesses with good lobbyists? If the regulations violate your rights, what can you do? 

My guest today is Arif Panju (@arifpanju) of the Institute for Jus...