A Selection Of The Worst Federal Laws Currently In Force In The United States

The U.S. Constitution

1. The Electoral College. Article II, Section 1 (as amended).

2. The right to bear arms as interpreted in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) and McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010). Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Federal Statutes and Interpretations Of Federal Statutes

1. The Federal Arbitration Act. 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16. 

2. The nearly complete unavailability of a discharge in bankruptcy for student loans, even if you didn't graduate and a decade or more has passed since the loans were incurred. 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8). 

3. The lack of a statute of limitations after an unlawful entry during which a person can be deported. Primarily missing from the Immigration and Nationality Act. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101-1537. 

4. Qualified immunity for law enforcement from civil liability arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 

5. The lack of vicarious liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for governmental employers. 

6. The habeas corpus provisions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). 28 U.S.C. § 2254. 

7. ERISA pre-emption. 29 U.S.C. § 1144. 

8. The ability of states to opt out of Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, mostly as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in National Federation of Independent Business et al v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012), interpreting the Affordable Care Act, and especially 42 U. S. C. §§ 1396a, 1396c and 1396d.

9. Preferential tax treatment of capital gains under the Internal Revenue Code. 26 U.S.C. § 1(h).

10. The untaxed step up in basis of capital gains at death. 26 U.S.C. § 1014.

11. The disallowance of deductions for expenses involved in selling controlled substances (including marijuana) for income tax purposes. 26 U.S.C. § 280E.

12. Drug Enforcement Administration insistence on treating marijuana as a Class I controlled substance pursuant to 21 USC 812(b), for example, in its Notice of denial of petition to reschedule marijuana, 66(75) Federal Register 20038-20076 (April 18, 2001).