Dr. Rand Paul’s Op-Eds

After President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, I said I believed Judge Barrett would make an excellent justice that would serve our country...

In his speech to the Republican National Convention Thursday night, President Trump said if you want the rest of the country to look like Portland, Ore., put the Democrats fully in charge and that's what you'll get.That's hard to argue with considering what we are...

Labor Day has passed, and in most years, the entire country would now be back to school. Kids would be learning, catching up with old friends, and swapping stories from the summer. Teachers would have decorated and readied themselves for a year of struggles and...

While I'm a big supporter of home schools, many single parents who work aren't able to teach their kids at home. Even some parents with advanced educational degrees simply don't want to teach their kids at home or believe their kids will listen more consistently to...

When Alice Johnson ran to embrace her family after her release from prison, she was a 63-year-old grandmother who spent almost 22 years behind bars. But Johnson was supposed to die in custody. The co-defendants who testified against her received sentences ranging from...

In a free society, citizens should be able to easily distinguish between civilian law enforcement tasked with keeping the peace in our communities and the armed forces tasked with protecting our country from foreign adversaries.Unfortunately, thanks to the federal...

It has been almost 20 years since our country went to war in Afghanistan. After 9/11, the American population rightfully demanded our forces take action against those who attacked us. Had I been in Congress I would have voted for that action.When a country goes to war...

Fatal conceit: it is the concept that central planning, with decision-making concentrated in a few hands, can never fully grasp the millions of complex individual interactions occurring simultaneously in the marketplace.It is a fatal conceit to believe any one person...

The Roman Judge Lucius Cassius is reported to have often used the phrase: "Cui bono" or "who benefits?"That very question needs to be asked in examining why an intelligence officer in our government committed a felony by releasing classified information alleging that...

Last week, there was much discussion over "unmasking," where Obama administration officials flagrantly violated the constitutional rights of American citizens, including those of their political opponents.To be sure, this behavior was abhorrent, and I gladly...

As much as we respect Dr. Anthony Fauci's service to our country and medical opinion, we disagree that his current positions on the virus outbreak provide the best path forward. Instead, discouraging states from reopening will only prolong a long-term public health...

I don't think any medical professional would enjoy receiving a lecture from someone who is clearly scientifically illiterate.Ryland Barton's charged, leftwing diatribe scolding me for making "claims [not] backed up by science" is itself ignorant of and...

When I ran for office, I promised to read the bills. Apparently, that is not a requirement for Courier Journal columnists. Had The Courier read the anti-lynching bill and listened to the floor debate before launching into an ad hominem attack on me,  they might have...

In 2015, I filibustered reauthorization of the Patriot Act. My filibuster was not popular with other senators because it kept them in Washington over a Memorial Day weekend. I still remember one or two hotheads muttering and directing profanity under their breath. I...

In 1988, a certain congressman from Texas ran for president on a platform of bringing home our troops from around the world. Even then, more than 30 years ago, U.S. troops were in over 100 countries, and tens of thousands were still in Europe.That Texas congressman...

As we face the pandemic's many challenges, Americans are stepping up and working together to help equip our medical professionals with the masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) they need on the front lines of the fight.President Trump said on...

What if I had told you a month ago that some sort of contagion would be unleashed upon our country that would cause 20 million people to lose their jobs and for us to go $6 trillion further into debt?Many pundits would have likely responded, "That's crazy. It could...

The coronavirus pandemic is testing the American workforce in ways no one has ever seen. According to some estimates, the heavy-handed stay-at-home orders imposed in many states could lead to unemployment rates on par with the Great Depression before the end of...

I did not quarantine while awaiting a coronavirus test because I did not meet the criteria for quarantine. In fact, I did not meet the current criteria for even being tested, much less quarantined.I have not had an encounter with anyone that health officials...

Did you know that the bipartisan coronavirus bailout bill will provide nearly everybody in my family with a check? And I'm not poor. I'm a United States senator.As a member of the Senate, I think it's an abomination for the government to send checks to U.S....