On Thursday, January 9, I will be doing a talk about my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter at McGill University in Montreal. Th lecture is sponsored by McGill’s Research Group on Constitutional Studies, will run from about 4:30 to 6 PM (including time for questions), and will be held in […]
Author Archive | Ilya Somin
The Benefits of State Polarization
By Ilya Somin on December 30, 2013 1:50 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Federalism, Political Ignorance
Many commentators decry the increasing polarization between “red states” and “blue states.” This recent Washington Post article summarizes some of the standard criticisms. But as my George Mason colleague Michael Greve explains, state polarization also has some valuable benefits: Polarization (whether measured by single-party control over states, policy outcomes, or whatever) has its downsides. Single-part […]
Upcoming Heritage Foundation Event on Our Book A Conspiracy Against Obamacare
By Ilya Somin on December 30, 2013 11:20 am in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Uncategorized
On January 7, co-bloggers Randy Barnett, Orin Kerr, and I will be speaking at an upcoming event at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC on our recently published book A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case, which details ours and the VC’s role in developing the arguments in the Supreme […]
Can Ghosts Increase the Value of Your House?
Most students who take a property law class study the famous New York case of Stambovsky v. Ackley, where a New York court ruled that sellers of a house must disclose to potential buyers the fact that the house was reputedly haunted. The court concluded that the house was “haunted as a matter of law” […]
Upcoming Federalist Society Faculty Conference Presentation on my Next Book – The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain
By Ilya Somin on December 26, 2013 11:25 am in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Next week, on Friday, January 3, between 5 and 6:15 PM, I will be doing a presentation on my next book, tentatively entitled The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain at the Federalist Society’s annual faculty conference. This will be a preview of the book, which will […]
My New Article on “The Borkean Dilemma: Robert Bork and the Tension Between Originalism and Democracy”
By Ilya Somin on December 20, 2013 11:15 am in Constitutional Theory, Democracy, Originalism, Representation-Reinforcement
My new article, “The Borkean Dilemma: Robert Bork and the Tension Between Originalism and Democracy,” part of a University of Chicago Law Review symposium on the work of Judge Robert Bork, is now available on SSRN. Here is the abstract: As a constitutional theorist, the late Judge Robert Bork was best known for his advocacy […]
New Mexico Supreme Court Strikes Down State Law Limiting Marriage to Opposite-Sex Couples
By Ilya Somin on December 19, 2013 8:17 pm in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Same-Sex Marriage, Sex Discrimination
In today’s decision in Griego v. Oliver, the New Mexico Supreme Court struck down state laws that limit marriage to opposite sex couples. I welcome the result, but would have preferred that the court based its decision on the ground that laws banning same-sex marriage discriminate on the basis of gender. The court ruled that […]
Review of Peter Jackson’s Second Hobbit Movie – The Desolation of Smaug
I was thinking of writing a review of Peter Jackson’s second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. But this review by Ethan Gilsdorf makes most of the same points I would have made. Overall, I agree with Gilsdorf that the Jackson’s second Hobbit movie isn’t nearly as good as the first, which I reviewed here. […]
University of Chicago Law Review Symposium on the Work of Judge Robert Bork
By Ilya Somin on December 18, 2013 11:10 am in Conservatism, Constitutional Theory, Democracy, Originalism
The University of Chicago Law Review recently posted its online symposium on the work of Judge Robert Bork, who passed away last year. The symposium includes essays by several prominent legal scholars, including Steven Calabresi, Bradford Clark, Richard Epstein, John Harrison, Kurt Lash, John McGinnis, and John Yoo. My own contribution, “The Borkean Dilemma: Robert […]
Property Rights on the Moon?
Space law scholar Glenn Reynolds (AKA Instapundit) has an interesting USA Today column on the potential development of property rights on the Moon: On Saturday, a Chinese lunar probe made the first soft landing anyone’s made on the moon since 1976…. Though the landing was a big deal in China, most of the rest of […]
Happy Saturnalia!
Today is Saturnalia, an ancient Roman holiday whose celebration has become a Volokh Conspiracy tradition. OK, in reality it’s only a tradition in so far as I put up a post about it every year. But that’s as traditional as anything in the blogosphere is ever likely to get. The Encyclopedia Romana describes this exciting […]
Radagast the Brown on “The Climate of Middle Earth”
Here at the Volokh Conspiracy, we try to keep readers informed about important new academic research. So it’s essential that we link to this new paper by Radagast the Brown on “The Climate of Middle Earth.” Far from being “Radagast the Bird-tamer! Radagast the Simple! Radagast the Fool!,” as Saruman described him, or being diverted […]
Uruguay Legalizes Marijuana
Uruguay recently adopted the most far-reaching legalization of marijuana attempted by any nation in recent decades: The passage of a landmark marijuana legalization measure Tuesday means Uruguay is set to become the first country in the world to have a system regulating legal production, sale and consumption of the drug. It’s practically a done deal. […]
Germany’s President May Be Boycotting the Sochi Olympics
German President Joachim Gauck may be boycotting the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in order to protest Russia’s human rights abuses: German President Joachim Gauck will not represent his country at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, his office says. The announcement makes Gauck, a former pastor, the first major political figure to boycott the […]
Heritage Foundation Event on A Conspiracy Against Obamacare
Readers who may have RSVP-ed for today’s Heritage Foundation event on our coauthored book A Conspiracy Against Obamacare should be aware that it has been cancelled because of the snowstorm in the DC area. However, we and Heritage intend to reschedule. When we have a new date for the event, one of us will post […]