Author Archive | Todd Zywicki

My new article (with Ed Stringham) has just been posted on SSRN.  It is entitled “Hayekian Anarchism“: Should law be provided centrally by the state or by some other means? Even relatively staunch advocates of competition such as Friedrich Hayek believe that the state must provide law centrally. This article asks whether Hayek’s theories about […]

Eugene can probably add something substantive but I’ll just note that University of Kentucky has settled a lawsuit for $125k against an astronomer who alleged that he was passed over for the directorship of the university observatory because he is Christian.

Speaking of amicus briefs, shortly before Christmas Josh Wright and I filed a brief in support of a petition for certiorari in an appeal from the 5th Circuit’s decision in Wine Country Gift Baskets.com v. Steen.  Because it is a brief in support of a cert petition it is not generally available on line but […]

A little while back I linked to a column by Toensing and DiGenova on the Anna Nicole Smith case before the Supreme Court.  I noted at the time that I agreed with their central argument (especially with respect to bankruptcy) but that I didn’t really follow their other example: “In another instance, a civil rights […]

I have a column in the National Law Journal on the latest iteration of the Anna Nicole Smith bankruptcy case that the Supreme Court will hear this week.  This link worked for me.

For those who are interested, it looks like you can listen to my appearance on “To the Point” here.

Barring unexpected developments, I am scheduled to appear on the NPR program “To the Point” tomorrow (Friday) to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in Ransom and consumer debt generally.  Check your local listings if you are interested.  They tell me that it will be archived online as well.

While mocking the decision to read the Constitution in Congress the Wa Po’s Dana Milbank inadvertently lends support for those who believe it was a useful exercise: In fact, there is only one version of the Constitution – and it wasn’t what the lawmakers read aloud. What the Republican majority decided to read was a […]

Just before the elections in the fall I mentioned a ballot initiative in Montana that would impose an interest rate cap of 36% percent that will extinguish payday lending and auto title lending (and presumably other similar loan products).  The initiative passed overwhelmingly.  Now those non-traditional lenders are starting to wind down–many chose not to […]

Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova have a column in today’s Washington Times previewing the upcoming oral argument in the latest round of the Anna Nicole Smith case.  Their concluding paragraphs get to what they see as the bottom-line issue: It all comes down to a matter of simple timing. Although the bankruptcy court was the first […]

In today’s WaPo, “Bank of America to Change Fees for Checking Accounts, Cites Increased Regulation“:

From yesterday’s opinion page to today’s news page–“At Banks, New Fees Replacing Old Levies”: As regulation curtailing financial institutions from levying certain charges on consumers has mounted over the past year, banks have had to dream up new fees to replace those now trimmed by laws. Credit-card users have experienced new inactivity fees and foreign-exchange charges, […]

I have a new Wall Street Journal column–running tomorrow but up on the website already tonight.

The Washington Post’s education blog has an update on UVA’s decision that Ilya and I mentioned a little while back to get rid of its policies that infringe on free speech.  FIRE discusses the story on its blog too. FIRE has also posted a round-up with links to all of its law review articles from […]

I like him a lot too, but not quite this much.