This morning, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled unanimously that Boris Johnson unlawfully suspended Parliament and annulled hisorder to prorogue. Today’s Supreme Court decision holds deep importance for Brexit, EU corruption, and the rule of law. The Supreme Court branded Prime Minister Johnson’s order to prorogue Parliament “unlawful” and declared it null and void. Members of Parliament were told to act as though it had never taken place. Speaker John Bercow announced Parliament will return to session tomorrow...

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy In America is renowned as one of the best examinations of early American society and politics, and remains one of the most mentaries ever written on the practice of democracy in the United States. In this edition of Acton Line, John Wilsey, Professor of History and Christian Apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, discusses Tocqueville’s masterwork and its continuing relevance for modern America. Wilsey also addresses the work of Tocqueville’s panion, Gustave de Beaumont, who wrote...

What is friendship? What does it mean to be or to have a friend? And why does Aristotle consider friendship a virtue and an important for political life? Wilfred McClay has a nice essay on friendship at the Hedgehog Review, where he reflects on the title of the song “My New, Old Friend.” McClay writes that he initially did not like the idea of a“new old friend,” first because true friendship is rare and takes time to develop, and second...

Senator Bernie Sanders announced his new “Tax on Extreme Wealth” proposal by tweeting, “Billionaires should not exist.” Under his wealth tax plan, far fewer would. Billionaires should not exist. — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 24, 2019 There should be no billionaires. We are going to tax their extreme wealth and invest in working people. Read the plan: — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 24, 2019 Here are the facts you need to know. What are the details of Sanders’ wealth tax?...

In recent years, Uber and other ride-sharing services have caused a lot of turmoil in urban transportation markets that have long been dominated by traditional panies. And with the arrival of a disruptive force in a market, many questions arise: who benefits from the disruptions caused by new technologies? How do those technologies and services fit into markets that have traditionally been heavily regulated? And what level of regulation is appropriate for the new styles of services? Angela Dills, Professor...

President Donald Trump addressed the Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom on Monday, ing the first U.S. president to host a United Nations meeting on religious liberty. The heads of state of more than 130 nations and UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended. Here are five key themes of his address: 1. Rights are unalienable, because e from God. “The United States is founded on the principle that our rights do e from government; e from God. This immortal truth is...

To Adrian Vermeule, the theory at the core of liberalism is Adam Smith’s “invisible hand,” the name Smith gave to the process through which participants in the market indirectly benefit from the collective actions of self-interested individuals. Likewise, Vermeule argues, “Liberalism as a concrete sociopolitical order rests upon a series of invisible hand systems: petition in explicit economic markets, petition in the marketplace of ideas, petition among branches of government, and so on.” But using the invisible hand to define...

In this week’s Acton Commentary I argue that pathos and politics isn’t enough to address the contemporary challenges of environmental stewardship in general and climate change in particular. I point to the necessity to recognize the gifts and responsibilities that God has given to humanity. This includes natural resources like trees and human endowments like ingenuity and creativity. And in case you think remembering the trees is too basic of an idea, I will say that I once attended an...