Lexical Compendium

Wait... what is this? Sometimes I come across a word, phrase, idiom, quote, reference, bit of slang, person of interest, etc that either I don't know or I find amusing, interesting, etc. This is a collection of those items so that I can refer back to them in emails, texts, etc.

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Leahy Law

From Wikipedia:

The Leahy Laws or Leahy amendments are U.S. human rights laws that ostensibly prohibit the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign security force units that violate human rights with impunity.

In 2024, as the Israel–Hamas war wages on, the Leahy Law has been in the news a lot.


(link to this entry)

References:

  1. Wikipedia: Leahy Law
  2. Washington Post: I created the Leahy law. It should be applied to Israel - An op-ed by Patrick Leahy, author of the Leahy Law.

Tags: international , legal , leahy , eponymous

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The Hatch Act

The Hatch Act (1939) is a U.S. federal law[1] that restricts the political activities of government employees to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.

It was named for Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico who sponsored and introduced the bill.

In October 2025, The Hatch Act was in the news as the government shutdown continues and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem published a video to be shown in airports blaming Democrats[3].


(link to this entry)

References:

  1. osc.gov: Hatch Act Overview
  2. Wikipedia: Hatch Act
  3. CNBC: Politics Kristi Noem’s shutdown airport video may violate Hatch Act, Sen. Cantwell warns
  4. Robert Reich: The Hatch Act? Wassat? Who cares?

Tags: legal , politics , eponymous

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abrogate

I won't abrogate my duties as a journalist...

I heard the above while listening to the news and had to look up the word abrogate. By context clues, it's obvious that one meaning of this word is to abandon one's responsibilities.

The more common use is in a legal context and here it means to abolish a law.

And there's also a medical use, where it is used in the context of suppressing an immune response (...strategies to abrogate antibody production...).


(link to this entry)

References:

  1. Definition: abrogate

Tags: vocabulary , abrogate

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antitrust

The term antitrust originated in the United States during The Gilded Age of the late 19th century. During this time, trusts were established and dominated major industries. These trusts were arrangements in which stockholders of competing firms would transfer their shares to a common board of trustees to effectively merge them into one controlling entity. The trusts amassed immense power, leading to public outrage over monopolistic practices and economic inequality.

Sherman Antitrust Act[3] was passed in 1890 and was the first federal law to outlaw monopolistic behavior and "combinations in restraint of trade."

Enforcement began in earnest under Theodore Roosevelt, whose "trust-busting" campaigns[11] became a hallmark of early 20th-century progressivism. Later, the Clayton Act (1914)[6] and Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)[9] refined and strengthened the framework for regulating competition.

By the mid-20th century, antitrust had drifted from its populist roots toward an economic-efficiency doctrine shaped by the "Chicago School of thought."[12] Scholars like Robert Bork argued that the only legitimate concern of antitrust law was consumer welfare (i.e. whether prices went up).[13] This framework largely dominated enforcement through the Reagan era and beyond. (see related Lexicon entry: borked)

More recently, the pendulum has swung again. Lina Khan, chair of the FTC from 2021 through 2025, represents a new generation of antitrust thinking. Instead of the consumer-welfare standard, she has focused on structural power and long-term innovation. Her academic paper Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox[2] helped ignite this movement.

Only time will tell how the Trump administration will carry this torch. While rhetorically populist and occasionally combative toward Big Tech, the Trump administration has pursued a more uneven antitrust record -- sometimes emphasizing nationalistic or political motives rather than systemic reform (think: Paramount-Skydance).[7] This said, many of the cases that Khan's FTC put forth are still progressing. In April 2025 it was determined that Google was a monopoly.[4]

Updates:

  • In Nov 2025, Lina Khan joined Zohran Mamdani's transition team after he became mayor-elect of NYC [5]

(link to this entry)

References:

  1. Definition: antitrust
  2. The Yale Law Journal: Amazon's Antitrust Paradox
  3. Wikipedia: Sherman Antitrust
  4. DOJ Office of Public Affairs: Department of Justice Prevails in Landmark Antitrust Case Against Google
  5. The Guardian: Yes, New York will soon be under new management. But Zohran Mamdani is just the start
  6. Wikipedia: Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
  7. ProMarket: Weaponizing Antitrust and Regulation Will Hurt US Consumers
  8. YouTube: The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart - Lina Khan on Mamdani, Corporate Welfare & the FTC
  9. Wikipedia: Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
  10. Letters from an American: Heather Cox Richardson talks with Lina Khan
  11. Britannica: The Square Deal of Theodore Roosevelt
  12. Antitrust Law Source: 1990s to the present: The Chicago School and antitrust enforcement
  13. Wikipedia: The Antitrust Paradox

Tags: legal , politics , finance

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habeas corpus

Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase meaning "you shall have the body."

It is a legal principle that safeguards individual freedom by protecting against unlawful or indefinite imprisonment and it has its origins many hundreds of years ago in England. The Magna Carta in 1215 established that no one -- not even the king -- is above the law. In the 13th century and for the next few hundred years, common law court practices involved issuing writs to check unlawful imprisonment. These started with Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, meaning you have the body to submit [before the court]. Over time, this evolved into a powerful legal tool, eventually codified in the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679.

In the U.S., the right to habeas corpus is enshrined in the Constitution (Article I, Section 9), which states that it may only be suspended "when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." As it was centuries ago, it remains a key check on arbitrary power by government leaders. . I’ll be honest -- if you’d asked me to define habeas corpus or explain the Magna Carta, I probably would’ve stumbled through it. I knew the term appeared in the Constitution, but I couldn’t have told you exactly what it meant.

Then came the news cycle in late May 2025.

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, bungled answers on Tuesday about habeas corpus, incorrectly asserting that the legal right of people to challenge their detention by the government was actually the president’s “constitutional right” to deport people.

-- Gold, Michael. "Noem Incorrectly Defines Habeas Corpus as the President’s Right to Deport People" The New York Times, 20 May 2025

Heather Cox Richardson also covered this in the 20 May 2025 Letters From an American.

I'm guessing I wasn’t the only one suddenly revisiting high school civics after that performance.

Edit: Habeas corpus was in the news again in October 2025 as Donald Trump seemingly didn't know what (or who?) it was.


(link to this entry)

References:

  1. NYT: Noem Incorrectly Defines Habeas Corpus as the President’s Right to Deport People
  2. Letters from an American: May 20, 2025
  3. Wikipedia: Habeas Corpus Act 1679
  4. Wikipedia: Habeas corpus
  5. NYT: What Is Habeas Corpus, the Basic Right That Trump Officials Are Talking About Suspending?
  6. Independent: ‘Who?’ Trump stumbles after being asked about the suspension of Habeas Corpus during Antifa roundtable

Tags: vocabulary , law , latin

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