PUBLICATIONS BY Brian Walsh
Research
Commentary
Media Appearances
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.
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 M. Walsh
(Legal Memorandum #19)
A federal court in Manhattan ruled that Justice Department policies and practices for investigating alleged white-collar crime are unconstitutional.
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
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.
December 4, 2008
