January 12, 2026

Now, on to the news…

Ever since the Trump administration sent federal agents to Minnesota to crack down on illegal immigrants, critics have claimed that the Somali-born immigrant population commits less crime. Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute is one such critic, posting a chart on X showing that Somali-born immigrants have lower incarceration rates than native-born Americans.

“We don’t buy this argument,” Matthew Lilley and Robert VerBruggen write. “Nowrasteh is not making an apples-to-apples comparison. Looking at incarceration rates introduces statistical bias in a way that yields a lower-than-expected rate of Somali offending.”

A better comparison? For starters, not contrasting lifelong Americans with immigrants who have spent only part of their lives in the U.S. would deliver more valid data. “Correcting for this, we estimate Somalis are twice as likely to be incarcerated as are similar native-born Americans,” they write.

Read more about their own sample and what their analysis found.

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in Chevron U.S.A. v. Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The case centers around the state’s ability to extract billions of dollars from energy producers—including Chevron—over their drilling for aviation gas under federal direction during World War II.

“The technical question before the Court is whether Chevron may remove a state tort case to federal court,” Richard A. Epstein explains. “The case in question produced a $745 million jury verdict for alleged erosion damage in Plaquemines Parish. The answer turns on a federal statute allowing entities to remove a state case to federal court when claims ‘relat[e] to’ actions taken under a federal officer’s direction.”

In May, the Fifth Circuit held that Chevron’s refining activities related to federal oversight, but its drilling didn’t. The commonsense view that the Court should adopt? Drilling and refining are fundamentally linked, Epstein argues.

Read his take.

The U.S. may be heading toward a Supreme Court showdown over social media age-verification laws, writes Jarrett Dieterle.

“Polls show that age verification for social media is . . . popular among American adults,” writes Dieterle. “That means the main question surrounding these laws is whether they can pass constitutional muster under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” While the Supreme Court has upheld similar laws in connection with pornography websites, it may not choose to do so outside that specific context.

Read why Dieterle argues that privacy concerns and the precise technologies used for age verification may be the determining factors for the Court.

The Manhattan Institute is proud to serve as the Principal Institutional Partner for the Sun Valley Policy Forum’s 2026 Winter Summit in the iconic resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho on February 11, 2026.

We are thrilled to join Joe Lonsdale and MI senior fellow Christopher F. Rufo for an evening on principled leadership and the future of American institutions in an AI-driven era. Please click here to learn more about the Sun Valley Policy Forum and our partnership and to purchase tickets at a discounted rate for friends of the Manhattan Institute.

More than 70 years ago, Alfred Hitchcock released one of his masterpieces, Rear Window. The film, shot almost entirely in one room, follows a hobbled photographer who believes one of his neighbors has committed murder. The tension builds as the protagonist, played by Jimmy Stewart, wheels around his apartment and follows through binoculars the movements of the suspected killer.

Carlos Acevedo reviews a new book on Hitchcock’s classic. He argues that while the book underwhelms, its subject—one of the great psychological thrillers of all time—maintains all its power.

“Nobody can untangle and expose the hypocrisy and intentional fraud of the leftist Media agenda like Heather Mac Donald. She is a gem.”

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AuldGuy, commenting on the New York Times’s problematic crime coverage

Photo credit: Myung J. Chun / Contributor / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images