Law & Principles
Brandon Dutcher | March 12, 2009
Earmarks are unconstitutional
Brandon Dutcher
President Obama recently said he opposes the elimination of congressional earmarks because, "done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts." But as constitutional attorney Herb Titus, a former law professor at the University of Oklahoma, has pointed out for OCPA, legislative earmarking is an unconstitutional exercise of executive power.
Brandon Dutcher
Senior Vice President
Brandon Dutcher is OCPA’s senior vice president. Originally an OCPA board member, he joined the staff in 1995. Dutcher received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He received a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public policy from Regent University. Dutcher is listed in the Heritage Foundation Guide to Public Policy Experts, and is editor of the book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint, which was praised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as “thorough, well-informed, and highly sophisticated.” His award-winning articles have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, WORLD magazine, Forbes.com, Mises.org, The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, and 200 newspapers throughout Oklahoma and the U.S. He and his wife, Susie, have six children and live in Edmond.