This morning, after months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of senators, led by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), unveiled a historic justice reform compromise. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would bring a number of reforms to the federal prison system, including an expansion of the "safety valve" exception to mandatory minimum sentences, the creation of a second "safety valve," and rehabilitative programs designed to reduce recidivism, or repeat offenses.

On Wednesday, September 16, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held another important hearing to discuss reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, more specifically in regard to S.356, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2015. This proposed amendment, which was introduced to the Senate in February by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has somehow been continually ignored despite attracting 22 cosponsors in the Senate and almost 300 cosponsors in the House, enough for a comfortable supermajority.

Perhaps one of the most outrageous practices in the justice system is the use of solitary confinement for juvenile offenders, most of whom are nonviolent. The practice has many long-term mental effects that lead offenders into a cycle of poverty and crime from which they are often unable to escape. Of course, that assumes they ever make it out of a juvenile facility, considering a shocking statistic from a 2009 study from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs. The study found that over 50 percent of juveniles who committed suicide in detention facilities were in solitary confinement.

From coast to coast, states throughout the country are trying to find any way possible to escape the widespread mess of Common Core. Recently, a large number of Long Island schools were at the center of attention when they reported having the highest number of Common Core opt-outs in the nation. Due to the immense number of students who refused to take place in the intrusive and cumbersome standardized tests, two schools in Long Island risk losing their prized national "Blue Ribbon" award for academic excellence nominations.

Sometimes a man’s just got to take a stand. Rand Paul did it his 13-hour filibuster on drone strikes, Ted Cruz did it in his 21-hour floor speech to defund ObamaCare, and now Mike Lee is invoking an obscure Senate procedure rule to completely repeal everyone’s least favorite health care law.

It’s rare when politicians in Washington can agree, and when they do, it’s usually bad news for liberty. But there’s an exception to every rule, and sometimes an idea is so obviously sensible that even the usual forces of reactionary partisanship aren’t enough to stand in its way.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an important, long overdue hearing on federal civil asset forfeiture laws and the need for reform to curtail or end abuse by the Internal Revenue Service and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

In this modern age of technological marvels and electronic wizardry, we keep a lot of personal information online. The average person’s inbox is practically overflowing with any number of details - from personal correspondence to sensitive financial information - that we would prefer not fall into the wrong hands.

Mike Lee is one of the most courageous and principled defenders of liberty in Congress, and when he has something to say, all of us would do well to listen. Our Lost Constitution: The Willful Subversion of America’s Founding Document, on sale April 7th, is the liberty-loving senator’s latest salvo in the neverending battle for freedom.