PUBLICATIONS BY Brian W. Walsh
Research
Commentary
Media Appearances
2009 Research
July 02, 2009
Correcting False Claims about the New False Claims Act Legislation
By Hans A. von Spakovsky and Brian W. Walsh
(Legal Memorandum #42)
Congress's latest amendments to the federal False Claims Act destroy the FCA's prior balance that protected federal taxpayer funds while providing some restraints against abusive and profiteering litigation. This enriches individual plaintiffs and trial lawyers at the expense of the American taxpayer.
May 11, 2009
COPS Program: COPS Improvements Act of 2009 Exacerbates Flawed Federal Policies
By David B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D., and Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #2434)
The COPS Improvements Acts of 2009 would encourage state and local officials to become permanent supplicants for federal COPS funding.
April 29, 2009
Federal Hate Crimes Statute: An Unconstitutional Exercise of Legislative Power
By Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #2416)
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 is based on serious analytical and constitutional flaws and would actually be counterproductive to prosecuting violent crime.
March 12, 2009
Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act: Revising Federal Gratuities Law to Criminalize Innocent Conduct
By Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #2340)
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering a bill that would greatly expand the reach of a key "public corruption" offense, an offense that is already far too broad.
March 04, 2009
The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (S. 386): Criminalizing Our Way out of the Financial Crisis
By Brian W. Walsh and Tiffany M. Joslyn
(WebMemo #2322)
Members of Congress should not embrace harmful or misguided legislation simply to show they are "doing something" to "solve" the subprime meltdown and resulting financial crisis.
January 09, 2009
Enacting Principled, Nonpartisan Criminal-Law Reform: A Memo to President-elect Obama
By Brian W. Walsh
(Special Report #42)
President-elect Obama, during your campaign, you promised to improve the administration of criminal justice for all Americans without limitation. This promise is vital because criminal punishment is the greatest power that government routinely uses against its own people. Every expansion of the federal criminal law beyond its proper bounds, and every unjust federal criminal offense, is an exercise of raw governmental power that undermines Americans' trust and confi-dence in the justice system.
2008 Research
September 26, 2008
COPS Reform: Why Congress Can't Make the COPS Program Work
By David B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D., and Brian W. Walsh
(Backgrounder #2188)
The COPS program has an extensive track record of poor performance and should be eliminated. Some Members of Congress propose resuscitating it with COPS 2.0. Congress should limit itself to asserting uniquely federal interests, starting with those that the Constitution clearly assigns to the national government. Effective policing at the state and local levels does not require funding from the federal government.
September 26, 2008
Executive Summary: COPS Reform: Why Congress Can't Make the COPS Program Work
By avid B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D., and Brian W. Walsh
(Executive Summary #2188)
Executive Summary: The COPS program has an extensive track record of poor performance and should be eliminated. Some Members of Congress propose resuscitating it with COPS 2.0. Congress should limit itself to asserting uniquely federal interests, starting with those that the Constitution clearly assigns to the national government. Effective policing at the state and local levels does not require funding from the federal government.
February 14, 2008
Human Trafficking Reauthorization Would Undermine Existing Anti-Trafficking Efforts and Constitutional Federalism
By Brian W. Walsh and Andrew M. Grossman
(Legal Memorandum #21)
The current version of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act would undermine accountability by inviting officials at all levels of government to "pass the buck" on enforcement issues, distract and divert federal law enforcement from actual human trafficking and other responsibilities that are inherently federal in nature, and detract from states' ability to function as "laboratories of democracy."
January 31, 2008
Thwarting Terrorists While Protecting Innocents: The Material Support and Related Provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act
By James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Brian W. Walsh, J. Kelly Ryan, and Paul S. Rosenzweig
(Heritage Lecture #1057)
Restrictions enacted into law after 9/11 barred persons who provided any kind of support to a group of persons viewed as terrorists from entering the U.S. The laws were also interpreted to cover those who under duress and the threat of harm to themselves or their families were forced to provide the terrorists with food, housing, or other material support. The Administration and Congress have been working to remedy this problem and allow more otherwise eligible and honorable applicants for admission, refugees, and asylees to settle in America.
January 25, 2008
The Intelligence Community Needs Clear - and Permanent - FISA Reform
By Robert Alt, Todd Gaziano, and Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #1782)
Congress should take the steps necessary to avoid hobbling America’s wartime intelligence-gathering abilities.
2007 Research
November 27, 2007
Gang Crime Prevention and the Need to Foster Innovative Solutions at the Federal Level
By Brian W. Walsh
(Testimony #9999)
Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Forbes, and members of the committee and subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today on the subject of a proper and effective federal role in the prevention and elimination of gang-related crime. In my allotted time, I will touch briefly on two topics: the constitutional principles of federalism that apply to the criminalization of gang-related conduct and the effective federal funding of programs to reduce and prevent gang-related crime.
October 16, 2007
Modernize FISA, But Don't Hobble American Intelligence Operations
By Brian W. Walsh and Todd Gaziano
(WebMemo #1666)
Congress should not impose unconstitutional restrictions on the ability of the executive branch to carry out one of its primary, constitutionally mandated functions: protecting Americans from acts of war by foreign enemies.
September 17, 2007
The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act: A Counterproductive and Unconstitutional Intrusion into State and Local Responsibilities
By Erica Little and Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #1619)
The best way to combat gang crime is to adhere to the principles of federalism by respecting the allocation of responsibilities among national, state, and local governments.
July 13, 2007
Dispelling Misconceptions: Guantanamo Bay Detainee Procedures Exceed the Requirements of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Law, and Customary International Law
By Steven Groves and Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #1556)
Contrary to the claims of the Bush Administration's critics, the detainees held at Guantanamo actually receive the most systematic and extensive procedural protections afforded to foreign enemy combatants in the history of armed conflict.
June 05, 2007
Federalizing "Gang Crime" Remains Counterproductive and Dangerous
By Erica Little and Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #1486)
If Congress is serious about addressing gang crime, it should consider policies that build upon, rather than undermine, federalism.
May 15, 2007
A New Gag Rule: How the Executive Branch Reform Act Violates Civil Liberty
By Brian W. Walsh, Matthew Spalding, and Andrew M. Grossman
(WebMemo #1456)
The Executive Branch Reform Act would pose grave threats to individual Americans’ rights to free speech and to petition the government, threaten the constitutional separation of powers, and prove unconstitutional in many applications.
February 06, 2007
Congress's Iraq Resolutions: Without Resolve or Constitutional Purpose
By Todd Gaziano, Steven Groves, and Brian Walsh
(WebMemo #1347)
The proposed Iraq resolutions are an abuse of Congress's authority and an unreasonable interference with the President's exclusive authority to make strategic military decisions during wartime.
February 01, 2007
Executive Summary: How to Fix the 100 Hours Homeland Security Bill
By James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Baker Spring, James Sherk, Brian W. Walsh, Lisa Curtis, and Helle C. Dale
(Executive Summary #2003)
Executive Summary: The Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, passed by the House as a part of the Speaker’s “100 Hours” agenda, muddles the mission of providing homeland security with misguided proposals. Congress should replace the most troubling provisions of H.R. 1 with initiatives that are more consistent with the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.
February 01, 2007
How to Fix the 100 Hours Homeland Security Bill
By James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Baker Spring, James Sherk, Brian W. Walsh, Lisa Curtis, and Helle C. Dale
(Backgrounder #2003)
The Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, passed by the House as a part of the Speaker’s “100 Hours” agenda, muddles the mission of providing homeland security with misguided proposals. Congress should replace the most troubling provisions of H.R. 1 with initiatives that are more consistent with the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.
2006 Research
November 06, 2006
What We Have Here Is Failure to Cooperate: The Thompson Memorandum and Federal Prosecution of White-Collar Crime
By Brian W. Walsh
(Legal Memorandum #19)
A federal court in Manhattan ruled that Justice Department policies and practices for investigating alleged white-collar crime are unconstitutional.
September 22, 2006
Federalizing "Gang Crime" Is Counterproductive and Dangerous
By Erica Little and Brian W. Walsh
(WebMemo #1221)
Proposed legislation would undermine federalism and retard law enforcement.
September 06, 2006
Better, Faster, and Cheaper Border Security
By James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Brian W. Walsh, David B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D., Laura P. Keith, and David D. Gentilli
(Backgrounder #1967)
U.S. border security strategy should employ a mix of resources in addition to Border Patrol agents, including state and local authorities, the National Guard, and private contractors. The DHS should heed the lessons learned from other large-scale contracting activities and should view border security as encompassing not only land borders, but air and sea borders as well.
2009 Commentary
November 20, 2009
Criminalizing Health-Care Freedom: Obamacare Supporters Would Use the Brute Force of Criminal Law for Social Engineering
By Brian Walsh and Hans A. von Spakovsky
The "reformers" in the White House and the House of Representatives have made all too plain their vision of the federal government's power to coerce individual Americans to make the "right" health-care choices. The highly partisan bill the House just passed includes severe penalties for individuals who do not purchase insurance approved by the federal government.
July 28, 2009
You're (Probably) a Federal Criminal
By Brian W. Walsh
Federal law now criminalizes activities that the average person would never dream would land him in prison. Consequently, every year, thousands of upstanding, responsible Americans run afoul of some incomprehensible federal law and end up serving time in federal prison.
March 24, 2009
Key Protection In Federal Criminal Cases Slowly Disappearing
By Andrew M. Grossman and Brian W. Walsh
Criminal intent -- what someone charged with a crime knew or was trying to do -- matters. At least, it should. Just ask Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, whose case is now before the Supreme Court.
March 05, 2009
Congress's Hammer: Another Criminal Law
By Brian Walsh and Tiffany Joslyn
As the saying goes, if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Case in point: Congress and the current financial crisis.
2008 Commentary
September 02, 2008
No Retreat Now
By Brian Walsh and Stephanie Martz
The long fight to protect the attorney-client relationship against aggressive prosecutors can only end with legislation
July 07, 2008
One New Crime a Week
By Brian Walsh
It used to be easy to avoid committing a federal crime. If you avoided murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, assault, battery and theft, there were few options left.
January 17, 2008
Stoneridge Sanity
By Robert Alt and Brian Walsh
In a refreshing act of judicial restraint, the Supreme Court yesterday resolved one of the most important business cases of this term. In a 5-3 decision (Justice Breyer recused himself, presumably because of his stock holdings), the Court in Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta ignored the pressure brought by the trial lawyers to engage in judicial legislation. The Court ignored the call to create by judicial fiat a new “implied” right for shareholders to sue any third party that does business with an allegedly corrupt corporation whose stock the investors own.
2006 Commentary
September 28, 2006
Justice's trap for unwary employees: Cooperate or else
By Brian W. Walsh
Sometimes what you don’t know can hurt you -- and your family -- a lot. Imagine that after almost 10 years at your company, you’ve been promoted to supervisor of the finance department. Lately you’ve heard through the grapevine that the company is the subject of a federal criminal investigation, but you know you’ve done nothing wrong.
September 28, 2006
In brave, new corporate world, cooperate or else
By Brian Walsh
Sometimes what you don't know can hurt you — and your family — a lot.
November 20, 2009
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