Author Archive | Randy Barnett

I second Jacob’s recommendation of Harold Berman’s masterpiece, Law and Revolution. I was a student of Berman at Harvard in his course The Western Legal Tradition, and we read an early manuscript of Law and Revolution which at the time was sort of infamous for being unpublished for so long. I believe I wrote a […]

On Saturday, March 27th, the Boston University Libertarian Society is sponsoring its 1st Annual Liberty Conference. It is open to any and all students who wish to attend, and many have registered from other schools and cities. I am speaking on “Anarchism and the Constitution.” Other speakers are: Jeffrey Miron (Boston University), James Stacy Taylor […]

Responding to my post this morning Jews are the canary in the coal mine of civilization about Jeff Jacoby’s column The cancer of anti-Semitism in Europe, a colleague writes: I commend you for your post . . . regarding rising anti-Semitism in Europe, a fact that too many want to sweep under the rug. Unfortunately, […]

My friend Nate Oman thinks it’s off-putting/shallow/manipulative/condescending/dishonest when non-believers use religious arguments to try and persuade believers, like when non-Christians argue that the Passion misses the “true meaning” of Christianity or when Westerners argue that Islam is consistent with democracy. Alas, what of our entire education as lawyers, which is all about making arguments that […]

Just enjoyed a spectacular day driving from Mountain View to Monterey by way of the Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Being off-season and a weekday afternoon, the park was peaceful and largely deserted. Here I am standing in the redwood named the “Mother-of-the-Forest,” which stands 329 feet tall.. Hiking in this park reminded me that […]

Thanks to reader Robin Parry, formerly of Scales of Justice, I got a few years’ information from the Department of Labor library. Now all I need is 1963, 1965, and 1967. I’ll repeat my post from below, mutanda mutans: I need some numbers on workers’ compensation in different states. Most of my numbers come from […]

I need some numbers on workers’ compensation in different states. Most of my numbers come from a publication called Analysis of Workers’ Compensation Laws put out annually since 1976 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Its predecessor publication, Analysis of Workmen’s Compensation Laws, was put out annually from the 1950s to 1975. My period of […]

From the Laissez Fair Books website. Laissez Faire Books is pleased to announce the creation of the Lysander Spooner Awards for Advancing the Literature of Liberty. The honor will be awarded monthly to the most important contributions to the literature of liberty, followed by an annual award to the author of the top book on […]

On his new blog, Tutissima Cassis (How do people think of these names?), Nathan Oman takes on Jack Balkin’s accusation that conservatives are closet activists. Balkin sums up his argument by claiming, “The fact is, we are all living constitutionalists now; but only some of us are honest about it.” This, unfortunately, is not exactly […]

Interesting that Larry Tribe says, below, “It’s almost embarrassing for anyone who is a serious thinker about the Constitution to bandy [the phrase ‘judicial activism’] about.” Let’s go back to the time of the summer 2001 Should Ideology Matter? hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee. I was in the room, because Eugene and my then-boss […]

Reason has been hosting a debate on “how to think about liberty,” between Richard Epstein, Randy Barnett, David Friedman, and James Pinkerton. Some in the blogosphere think this is amusing. Belle just thinks the Barnett/Friedman varieties of anarcho-capitalism are loopy, which is fair enough; but she also thinks there’s something objectionable about even looking that […]

As you may recall from prior posts, my boomer generation, especially those a few years older than me, are a pet peeve of mine. For a nice rant on the boomers–and it is a rant–check out How The Left Lost Younger Voters by Captain Ed. (Check out the comments too.) Here is a sample: the […]

This week, I talk about Restoring the Constitution in Southern California. All events are open to the public. Be sure to let me know that you read the Volokh Conspiracy. Monday 3/1:Chapman law school (noon)Tuesday 3/2:UCLA law school (noon)Pepperdine law school (4:00pm)Wednesday 3/3:USC law school (12:20pm)Loyola-Marymount law school (5:00pm)Thursday 3/4:Univ. San Diego law school (Grace […]

So while in LA for the Southern California leg of my book tour, my wife and I attended the Second Annual “Night Before Party” at the Beverly Hills Hotel. It was an amazing scene, and hard to believe that so many A-list celebrities ever attended the same event. The pool had been covered up, and […]

The part of me that said, “Don’t post this,” was defeated by the part of me that cannot stop chuckling: Thanks to Jerry McCusker at Machine in the Ghost for creating it and Instapundit for the post that inspired its creation. My only quibble is that my guitar was a cherry red Gibson ES335 with […]