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About Ilya Somin

ILYA SOMIN is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, and the study of popular political participation and its implications for constitutional democracy. He is the author of Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, 2013), and coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming November 2013). His work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times Room for Debate website, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com, Newark Star Ledger, Orlando Sentinel, South China Morning Post, Legal Times, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, BBC, Al Jazeera and the Voice of America, among other media. He recently testified on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. In July 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. From 2006 until mid-2013, Somin served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country's top-rated law and economics journals. During the Fall 2008 semester, Somin was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before joining the faculty at George Mason, Somin was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University Law School in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A., Summa Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.

Author Archive | Ilya Somin

Repudiating the Japanese Internment Decisions

By Ilya Somin on March 13, 2013 5:52 pm in Racial Discrimination, War and Armed Conflict

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My Review of Einer Elhauge’s Obamacare on Trial

By Ilya Somin on March 11, 2013 4:45 pm in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper

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Attorney General Eric Holder Responds to Rand Paul’s Question on Domestic Use of Drones Against US Citizens

By Ilya Somin on March 7, 2013 6:31 pm in War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror

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University of Michigan Law School Talk on Property Rights Since Kelo

By Ilya Somin on March 7, 2013 4:25 pm in Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights

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Debate at Rutgers University Law School in Camden on Whether the Constitution Protects Economic Rights

By Ilya Somin on March 7, 2013 11:40 am in Economic LIberties, Property Rights

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Science, Political Ignorance, and Deference to “Authoritative” Experts

By Ilya Somin on March 6, 2013 7:39 pm in Junk Science and Quackspertise, Political Ignorance, Politicizing Science, Public Opinion

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Public Opinion and the California Gay Marriage Case

By Ilya Somin on March 3, 2013 11:45 am in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Public Opinion

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The Supreme Court’s Options in the California Same-Sex Marriage Case

By Ilya Somin on March 1, 2013 4:19 pm in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Sex Discrimination, Sexual Orientation

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Hawaii and New Mexico Legislatures Consider Bills to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession

By Ilya Somin on February 28, 2013 5:43 pm in War on Drugs

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Yankees Admit that they are “Baseball’s Evil Empire”

By Ilya Somin on February 23, 2013 6:53 pm in Baseball, Sports and Games

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Comstock, Bond and Predictions About the Individual Mandate Case

By Ilya Somin on February 22, 2013 11:54 pm in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper

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Immigration Stories Event in Lexington, MA

By Ilya Somin on February 21, 2013 1:30 pm in Immigration, Jewish Culture, Russia

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Immigrants as Our “Future Rulers”: Does the Danger of Political Externalities Justify Restrictions on Immigration?

By Ilya Somin on February 15, 2013 10:55 am in Immigration

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Symposium on the Battle of Hoth

By Ilya Somin on February 15, 2013 2:33 am in Science Fiction/Fantasy

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The Catholic Church and Science Fiction