A few days ago, I blogged about a Chinese homeowner who refused to give up his house to a local government that sought to force him out in order to build a road on the site. It now appears that he has agreed to sell the house for the price offered by the government, which […]
Author Archive | Ilya Somin
Will the Mortgage Interest Deduction Sacred Cow Finally Get Slaughtered?
The Washington Post reports that Congress and the president are considering abolishing the mortgage interest deduction as part of a deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff”: Of all the deductions woven into the sprawling U.S. tax code, few have been more fiercely guarded than the enormous tax break that lets homeowners deduct the interest they […]
David Friedman on Exams
Exam time is coming up at George Mason and most other law schools. Here’s a good comment on exams by famous law and economics scholar David Friedman: I like to say that being a professor is better than working for a living, except when grading exams. One reason is that grading exams is a pain. […]
A Chinese Analogue to the Kelo Case?
This recent Chinese case has attracted a lot of attention in both China and the West, and is drawing comparisons to the famous US takings case of of Kelo v. City of New London. The Huffington Post describes the facts as follows: In the middle of an eastern Chinese city’s new main road, rising incongruously […]
Do You Have to Be a Lawyer to Understand the Constitution?
Co-blogger Orin Kerr quotes Herbert Hoover’s statement that you don’t have to be a lawyer to understand the Constitution. Interestingly, the Supreme Court agrees. As Justice Owen Roberts put it in a unanimous 1931 decision, “[t]he Constitution was written to be understood by the voters; its words and phrases were used in their normal and […]
Citizens United and the Fall of the Roman Republic
By Ilya Somin on November 27, 2012 7:49 pm in Election Law, Elections, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
In a recent Slate article, Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni claim that the history of the fall of the Roman Republic strengthens the case against the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, which ruled that the First Amendment protects corporate and union political speech against restriction by government. The influence of money in politics, they […]
Volokh Conspiracy Nominated for Top “News/Analysis” Law Blog by ABA Journal Blawg 100
The Volokh Conspiracy has been nominated by the ABA Journal Blawg 100 competition for the award for the top law blog in the “News Analysis” category. The winner will be determined by popular vote. Our loyal readers can vote for us (or, to be sure, one of the other worthy competitors), here. We are also […]
Massachusetts Highway Safety Director With Terrible Driving Record Resigns
Sheila Burgess, the Massachusetts Highway Safety Division Director with a horrible driving record and no qualifications for the job, has resigned. I blogged about Burgess here. The resignation was almost certainly caused by recent revelations about her driving record and the fact that she got the job through political connections without having any real qualifications […]
How Private Property Rights Saved the Pilgrims
Today is Thanksgiving, and there is much to be thankful for. Not least on the list is the institution of private property, without which the Pilgrims might not have survived, and we would not have this holiday. Economist Benjamin Powell recounts the story here: Many people believe that after suffering through a severe winter, the […]
Director of Massachusetts Highway Safety Division Has Extensive Record of Car Accidents
It sounds like something from a bad libertarian parody of government. But it turns out that the Director of the Massachusetts state highway safety agency has a long record of traffic accidents and moving violations. She apparently got the job through political connections, even though she had no relevant expert qualifications for the job. But […]
Local Government Forces Homeowners to Cut Down Trees so that Retired Baseball Star John Olerud Would Have a Better View of the Seattle Skyline from his House
Retired baseball All Star John Olerud has persuaded the Clyde Hill, Washington Board of Adjustment to force his neighbors to chop down two valuable trees on their property so that he will have a better view of the Seattle skyline: Nine years after he won his third Gold Glove as a Seattle Mariners first baseman, […]
Public Opinion on Secession
A recent Huffington Post poll shows that some 22% would “strongly support” (12%) or “tend to support” (10%) their state’s secession from the union (complete results here). This result, combined with recent petitions for secession sent to the White House by citizens of Texas and other states, has led to considerable alarmist discussion of the […]
A “Center-Libertarian” Nation?
In this recent article, James Rainey of the LA Times argues that public opinion has moved in a “center-libertarian” direction: Many debates have broken out about the meaning of last week’s election, including over whether conservatives should still push their claim that America is a “center-right nation….” A survey of last Tuesday’s electoral landscape suggests […]
Ancient D&D 20-sided Die in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
It turns out that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a 20 sided Dungeons and Dragons die made in ancient Egypt: The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns what may be the world’s oldest d20 die. It’s made out of serpentine and looks to be in remarkably good shape for its age. The die is a […]
Lessons of Gary Johnson’s Presidential Campaign
Although we don’t yet have absolutely final totals, it looks like Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, the former Republican Governor of New Mexico, got just under 1% of the popular vote. This is the best total for a libertarian candidate since 1980, when the party’s nominee got only slightly more than Johnson. I was wrong […]