Author Archive | Randy Barnett

President Obama’s official chief White House photographer, Pete Souza, was also President Reagan’s official photographer. According to Souza, this photo taken of Reagan in Red Square shows what appears to be a young Vladimir Putin posing as a tourist during his time in the KGB. In an interview with NPR, Souza recounts a story from […]

Tim Sandefur reminds me that today is the birthday of James Madison to whom I dedicated Restoring the Lost Constitution (along with Lysander Spooner). He offers his own tribute here.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Broadway opening of

Keri Anderson, Student Coordinator for the Institute for Humane Studies, passes along information about IHS Summer Seminars. I highly recommend them. Many students want to add an intellectual component to their summer without a large time commitment or want to enhance their internships with additional career advice and networking. The free, weeklong summer seminars hosted […]

Tom Smith nicely captures my gut reaction to Peggy Noonan’s essays in the Wall Street Journal and rekindles painful memories of NPR’s Roger Rosenblatt. I finally realized who it is that Peggy Noonan reminds me of and why I wish she would just stop. It’s Roger Rosenblatt. You don’t see him around much these days […]

Angelo M. Codevilla, a professor of international relations at Boston University, has a fascinating analysis of the “war on terror” that challenges the conventional wisdom of conservatives, progressives, and libertarians alike. In fact, his essay Osama bin Elvis challenges so much conventional wisdom that it makes your head spin. Yet it is curiously plausible and […]

Back in 2007 I was invited to judge a moot court for Ted Cruz at the University of Texas to help prepare him for his Supreme Court argument in Medell

at 12:15 p.m. tomorrow, I am giving a noon-time talk on “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment,” sponsored by the Federalist Society Chapter at California Western School of Law in the Roy Bell Reading Room. The address is 350 Cedar Street San Diego, CA 92101. Remaining speeches in March: Tuesday, March 24th […]

Tomorrow I am giving a noon-time talk on “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment,” sponsored by the Inland Empire Chapter of the Federalist Society. It will be held at the Tamale Factory located at Avila Terrace, 3663 Main Street, Riverside CA. The cost is $30, which includes lunch. Check-In: 11:45 a.m. To […]

Tomorrow at 5:00pm, I will be speaking on “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment” at Western State University College of Law, 1111 N State College Blvd, Fullerton, CA 92831. The event is sponsored by the Federalist Society and will be held in room 102. If you are a VC reader come and […]

Next week, I will be giving 3 Federalist Society sponsored talks on “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment” in Southern California. Here are the details: Tuesday, March 10 @ 5:00 p.m.: Western State University of Law 1111 N State College Blvd Fullerton, CA 92831 Wednesday, March 11 @ noon: Inland Empire Chapter […]

A new release from the Moving Picture Institute: A 1948 cartoon extolling the virtues of freedom and capitalism over statism. Somehow, the film seems eerily appropriate today. (Although it condemns “isms” of all stripes — such as fascism, socialism, and communism — clearly libertarianism is an label that was later formulated to describe the pro-freedom […]

Here is an updated variation of the virtual reality holodeck concept that was such an entertaining feature of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The video, entitled World Builder, took one day of filming and two years of post-production by Bruce Branit. (Hat tip: Gizmodo) World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

I have received 3 polite emails to the effect that there is a reasonable “creationism” that a Republican candidate like Bobby Jindal could hold. Here are some excerpts: Correct me if I’m wrong, but are Jindal’s thoughts on creationism really so dangerous and scary? As a devout Catholic, who presumably adheres to Church teachings on […]

Libertarians hear a lot about pragmatism and the pitfalls of being an ideologue. While conservatives love to poke fun at libertarians’ preoccupation with the War in Drugs by suggesting we just want to get high, some of us have never even smoked marijuana. (Yes, it is true.) The argument from pragmatists is just to do […]