Free Republic

At least three Nebraska lawmakers want to send a message to the federal government: Butt out of state business. Next year they will see if a majority of their colleagues agrees. The senators are working on resolutions asserting Nebraska's sovereignty under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. Nebraska wouldn't try to secede from the union under their proposals but would go on record objecting to federal laws that they say go beyond constitutional authority. “My goal here is to shine light on the fact that the federal government is overstepping its bounds,” said State Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln. “We...

A UCLA law professor is petitioning the Nebraska Supreme Court to review a case involving e-mails sent to Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln when he was a candidate for office. In June, the state Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of UNL student Darren Drahota, who had been found guilty of disturbing the peace and fined $250 for e-mails he sent to Avery in January and February of 2006. At the time, Avery was also a UNL political science professor. Eugene Volokh, a UCLA Law School professor who specializes in First Amendment law through teaching, writing and textbooks, filed the...