Op-Eds

The FBI has used Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct warrantless “backdoor” searches of the private electronic communications of American citizens. It has done so, moreover, not just sporadically and by accident but quite deliberately and on hundreds of thousands of occasions.

It’s no secret that President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkashave presided over a national security and humanitarian crisis at our nation’s southern border. In the week leading up to the expiration of Title 42, Border Patrol saw more than 11,000 migrants crossing the border illegally each day – the highest single daily totals ever recorded.

As the Utah Legislature considers the newly proposed state flag, the words of Benjamin Franklin come to mind: “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Utah’s success is partly due to our sempiternal desire to improve, never to be content with a good thing that could be made better. In this spirit of growth and progress, I support the newly proposed state flag.

Recently, the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA)—a bill designed to protect same-sex marriage by essentially codifying the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges—cleared a major procedural hurdle and appears to be on a fast track to becoming law. Twelve Senate Republicans joined all 50 Senate Democrats to secure the super-majority needed to advance legislation in the Senate. Those voting for the bill relied on assurances from the bill’s proponents that it would codify the core tenets of Obergefell v. Hodges without undermining religious liberty.