Leon Neyfakh of the Boston Globe has a detailed article discussing Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerken’s outstanding work developing a new “progressive” theory of federalism: Election reformers tend to shudder at the patchwork inconsistency with which the United States approaches its national elections, and they regard the process as a woefully disorganized mess. Yale […]
Author Archive | Ilya Somin
Supreme Court Decides to Hear Important Regulatory Takings Case
The Supreme Court has just decided to hear an important regulatory takings case, St. Johns River Waste Management District v. Koontz. Paul Beard of the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing the property owner, has a helpful summary of the case: Coy A. Koontz wants to develop commercial land, most of which lies within a […]
Why the Presidential Debate Should Have Covered the Issue of Judicial Nominations
In this Politico post, I expanded on my recent VC post about dogs that didn’t bark during last night’s presidential debate. It was especially unfortunate that both candidates and the moderator completely ignored the issue of judicial nominations: [N]either of the candidates or the moderator even mentioned judicial nominations, even though this is one of […]
Dogs that Didn’t Bark in Tonight’s Presidential Debate
By Ilya Somin on October 3, 2012 11:22 pm in Elections, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Obama, Political Ignorance
In addition to Willow, there were two major dogs that didn’t bark during tonight’s presidential debate. First, even though the debate was supposed to focus on domestic policy, neither the moderator nor the candidates ever focused on some of the most important domestic issues on which the president can have a big impact: issues such […]
Retriever Debate Prep
Even as the presidential candidates get set for tonight’s debate, our 16 month-old golden retriever Willow is fully prepared for her very first presidential debate-watching experience:
Today’s Oral Argument in Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States
The transcript of today’s oral argument in the important Supreme Court takings case of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States is now available here. I discussed the issues in the case in this post. Legal reporter Lawrence Hurley of Greenwire interprets the oral argument as going badly for the federal government: A majority […]
Tomorrow’s Important Takings Case Before the Supreme Court
Although it may be lost in the shuffle of more highly publicized cases, tomorrow the Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments in Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States, the most important regulatory takings case in a long time. In this case, the US Army Corps of Engineers inflicted extensive damage on a […]
Institute for Humane Studies Webcast on the Pros and Cons of Law School
The Institute for Humane Studies has an interesting webcast scheduled for tomorrow at 7 PM eastern time on the pros and cons of going to law school, especially for people interested in making a career of pursuing libertarian causes. The speaker will be Trevor Burrus of the Cato Institute. Interested readers can sign up here. […]
Harlan Institute Constitutional Law Opportunities for High School Teachers and Students
The Harlan Institute, run by South Texas College of Law professor and prominent legal blogger Josh Blackman, has all sorts of interesting materials on constitutional law for high school teachers and students. They include a “Fantasy SCOTUS” contest for teams of students. There is a separate sign-up site for teachers. The Institute also has opportunities […]
Why We Choose Presidents Based on the Wrong Issues
By Ilya Somin on October 1, 2012 9:38 pm in Democracy, Political Ignorance, Presidency, Public Opinion
In a recent Slate column, John Dickerson points out that presidential elections typically focus too much on issues the president has little control over and too little on those that he has more effect on: Nothing tests a president’s temperament like foreign affairs. Though this presidential campaign has only recently touched on the topic, the […]
The Libertarian Personality
This recent Wall Street Journal article summarizes an important study of libertarians by famed political psychologist Jonathan Haidt and several other scholars: An individual’s personality shapes his or her political ideology at least as much as circumstances, background and influences. That is the gist of a recent strand of psychological research identified especially with the […]
Dinesh D’Souza and Obama’s “Anticolonial” Ideology
Gene Healy of the Cato Institute recently wrote a harsh, but I think correct assessment of Dinesh D’Souza’s recent movie 2016, which purports to prove that the origins of Barack Obama’s leftism are to be found in the “anticolonialism” and socialism of his Kenyan father: “2016” grew out of conservative provocateur Dinesh D’Souza’s 2010 Forbes […]
Upcoming Appearances at the University of Minnesota and the University of Tulsa
For those who may be interested, I am going to be speaking at the University of Minnesota Law School and the University of Tulsa this week. On Wednesday at 12:15 PM, I will be debating University of Minnesota Professor Fred Morrison about the Supreme Court’s health care decision at the University of Minnesota Law School, […]
The Bitter Harvest of Immigration Restrictions
Time has an interesting article describing how state laws intended to crack down on illegal immigrants have led to a crisis in agriculture. Unable to use immigrant labor to harvest it, many farmers have had to let much of their crop go to waste: Ralph and Cheryl Broetje rely on roughly 1,000 seasonal workers every […]
What Did Clarence Thomas Actually Say About Whether African-Americans Were Part of “We the People” at the Time of the Founding?
In this recent post, I took issue with Justice Clarence Thomas’ apparent recent statement that African-Americans were not considered part of the “we the People” referred to in the Preamble of the Constitution. In conveying what Thomas said, I relied on a report in the Washington Post, which was echoed by many other media sources. […]