Author Archive | Randy Barnett

Last week I was on the Glenn Beck Show urging that state legislatures petition for a convention to amend the Constitution rather than passing purely symbolic “sovereignty amendments.” You can watch the 2 minute segment here. Although typically called a “constitutional convention,” this term does not appear in Article V, which states

Just received a copy of what looks like an important new book by Professor Sonu Bedi of the Department of Government at Dartmouth: Rejecting Rights. It looks like Professor Bedi is employing an approach similar to mine. Rather than focus on identifying rights, we ought to focus on identifying and scrutinizing the justifications for restricting […]

For background on this video, click “show” (show) From YouTube: More than 200 dancers were performing there version of “Do Re Mi”, in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for […]

Via Glenn:

Today’s Legal Theory Blog is a MUST READ.

In my posts last week, I mistakenly reversed the days I will speaking at the University of North Carolina and Duke on “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment.” Here is the correct information and details: Monday, March 30 at noon: UNC Law – Room 4085 160 Ridge Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 […]

I will giving my talk, “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights and the Constitution” today at 5:00pm at George Mason University School of Law (3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia) in room 221. GMU Professor Eric Claeys has graciously agreed to offer his comments. Next week I will be speaking on this topic on Monday at noon […]

In the 1990s libertarians were told that their case against central planning had grown stale and irrelevant. That everyone agreed with markets and that, with markets as the baseline, libertarians needed to move on to discuss how markets could be improved upon at the margin. Nowadays the entire panoply of arguments against central planning and […]

Eugene’s post brought back memories. When I was in college, my grandfather and brother were victims of an armed robbery in my grandfather’s tile store in Harvey, Illinois. During my first year of law school, the case went to trial. The defendant was acquitted when the defense produced the defendant’s identical twin in court to […]

Video of Monday’s Cato Book Forum on Helen Knowles’ The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty is now available here on the Cato website. Like her book, Helen’s presentation was outstanding, and I commented as well.

From a speech yesterday in the European Parliament by Member Daniel Hannan (sans teleprompter) to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: From his blog: The internet has changed politics – changed it utterly and forever. Twenty-four hours ago, I made a three-minute speech in the European Parliament, aimed at Gordon Brown. I tipped off the BBC […]

I will be speaking on “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights & The 14th Amendment”: At noon today at Georgetown Law (600 New Jersey Ave NW) in McDonough 207; and At 5pm on Thursday at George Mason Law (3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia) in room 221. Next week I will be speaking on Monday at noon […]

Two posts running contrary to bloggerian wisdom are up on the Right Coast. Tom Smith responds here to the pessimism of Victor David Hanson: I don’t agree that we are going to hell. I teach youngsters for a living and I am continually impressed by their resolve and courage. They are plenty smart but one […]

Today at noon, I will be speaking at a Cato book forum on a new book by political scientist Helen Knowles, The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty. Those who cannot attend in person can watch the event live on line here. Here is the Cato announcement: BOOK FORUM Monday, March […]

Next week, I will be giving my talk on “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment” at Georgetown Law on Tuesday at noon and at GMU Law on Thursday at 5pm. In my talk, I explain the original meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause and its connection to the Ninth Amendment. In […]