In February 2023, The Buckeye Institute sued the City of Columbus, Ohio, to stop its illegal and unconstitutional 30-round magazine ban. In Doe v. Columbus, Buckeye represents six Columbus residents who legally owned, and still own, 30-round magazines until the city banned them. This case is still in its early stages, but Buckeye has already won significant victories defending the Ohio and U.S. constitutions and protecting the rights of gun owners. 

At Cleveland.com, The Buckeye Institute encourages Ohio lawmakers to update the state’s antiquated and anti-competitive franchise law, which is responsible for lopsided restrictions that unfairly favor large wholesale distributors. “Ohio boasts an award-winning craft beer industry. But that industry and its small business owners have largely thrived in recent years despite — not because of — an unfair legal holdover from the Nixon era that should finally be changed, if not repealed entirely.”

In The Washington Times, The Buckeye Institute highlights how Europe’s experience reveals the economic pain the U.S. will face if it implements the Biden administration’s net-zero policies, writing, “There is little to be learned from the second kick of a mule, as the old saying goes. European countries took the first proverbial kick from net-zero mandates, and they have the economic bruises to show for it. There is no reason for U.S. farmers and consumers to stand behind the same mule.”

The Buckeye Institute recently filed Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury on behalf of John Ream of Licking County, Ohio, asking the court to overturn the federal government’s ban on the home distilling of spirited beverages and arguing that this ban exceeds Congressional authority and violates the Tenth Amendment. Robert Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, discussed this important case at a forum hosted by The Federalist Society.

In The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Buckeye Institute urges policymakers in the Queen City to avoid recycled tax-and-spend policies to address Cincinnati’s nearly $500 million budget shortfall, writing that “returning to outmoded tax-and-spend policies instead of creatively curbing public spending and attracting more workers, more residents, and more businesses will cost the city in the long run − perhaps even more than $500 million.” 

On RealClearEnergy, Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center and the vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute, marks Earth Day by looking at the progress “Americans and their businesses have made in making the air, water, and land cleaner and healthier for everyone” and cautions against draconian government policies that could cause more harm than good. 

Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue rulings in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. U.S. Department of Commerce, which could rein in the power of unelected government officials to make laws well beyond what Congress authorized. In the new issue of the Columbus Bar Association’s Lawyers Quarterly, The Buckeye Institute’s David C. Tryon looks at the end of Chevron deference and what comes next.

To the IRS and state tax collectors, your money looks a lot like theirs—especially today, when tax returns and taxes owed are due. Writing checks for the government to cash always hurts, but it could be worse. The Buckeye Institute has helped reduce state taxes in Ohio, and championed tax reforms with think tanks across the country to help spur growth and relieve tax burdens.

Home distilling is illegal under federal law, but represented by The Buckeye Institute John Ream is challenging that prohibition in Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury, arguing that homemade spirits are a hobby as American as apple pie. The Buckeye Institute’s Robert Alt joins Anna Staver on All Sides to discuss the case.

An engineer and brewer thought he would take up home distilling as a hobby, but he then learned it’s a federal crime. In Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury, he’s fighting back. The Buckeye Institute’s Robert Alt, John Ream’s attorney, explains.