Tomorrow from noon to 1pm, the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, is hosting a panel about the VC’s own book, A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case. The one and only John Malcolm will moderate, and the participants will be Randy, Ilya, editor Trevor Burrus, and me. For those who […]
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A Shout Out to Josh Blackman
A shout out to GMU Law alum Josh Blackman, one of Forbes’s “Top 30 under 30” for law and policy. Way to go Josh! Except it makes the rest of us feel awfully old…. Josh’s blog is here.
The “Law Revolution”
Although there have been endless reports/commentaries etc. about the crisis in legal education and the legal profession, this one, by Jordan Furlong, struck me as particularly cogent and well put together.
How Mature
The Modern Language Association (not a group with which I normally sympathize much) apparently denied the Daily Caller press credentials for this year’s MLA conference. The response of Eric Owens, “Education Editor” of the Daily Caller? Calling the MLA “douchebags” six times, plus once in the headline of the column, a headline that right now […]
The Sanders Letter: Is This the Dumbest NSA-Hating Stunt Yet? And Did Ted Cruz Fall For It?
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has written a letter to NSA’s director, asking whether the agency has spied on members of Congress. It sounds like he’s uncovered a scandal, until you read the fine print. It turns out that Sen. Sanders is simply asking whether NSA collects the metadata for calls made by members of Congress, […]
Profs. John McGinnis & Michael Rappaport Guest-Blogging This Coming Week
I’m delighted to report that Profs. John McGinnis & Michael Rappaport will be guest-blogging this coming week about their new book, Originalism and the Good Constitution. Both are among the most prominent originalist scholars in America, and their book sounds extremely interesting; here is a summary from the publisher: Originalism holds that the U.S. Constitution […]
The Intelligence of Plants
The New Yorker has a remarkably thought-provoking article on what some call the “neurobiology” of plants. That’s a deliberately edgy way of pointing out just how much communicating and sensing and adapting plants do, all without anything resembling a brain. Some samples: Plants have evolved between fifteen and twenty distinct senses, including analogues of our five: […]
A Reporter’s Guide to Applications Pending Before the U.S. Supreme Court
It’s published by the Court and intended for reporters, but I suspect other Court-followers will find it useful. Thanks to Michelle Olsen of Appellate Daily for the link.
Wisconsin Lawyers Interested in Being Pro Bono Local Counsel for an Interesting First Amendment Criminal Harassment Case?
A student and I will be filing a brief in an interesting Wisconsin First Amendment/criminal harassment case, and we need pro bono local counsel, for help with filing and for review for compliance with Wisconsin formatting details. (UCLA will pay any filing and printing fees.) Might any of you folks be interested? If so, please […]
The Oregon Medicaid Experiment and New Possibilities for Quasi-Experiments
Jonathan Adler has already noted the new article in Science using data from Oregon’s Medicaid experiment. It found that expanding Medicaid led to a 41% increase in visits to the emergency room, including increases in visits for conditions that would be better treated in a primary care setting. Here is the abstract: In 2008, Oregon […]
“Snowden’s Jig”
Though hesitant to interrupt serious discussion with something so frivolous, in light of today’s New York Times’ editorial describing Edward Snowden as a whistleblower and calling for clemency, I offer you … “Snowden’s Jig.” (Otherwise known as “Genuine Negro Jig,” and composed by the Snowden Family Band, a 19th century African-American musical group based […]
Welcome to 2014
I’ve made a New Year’s resolution to blog more, and I guess one way to begin is with an article from the Washington Post by Julie Zaumer, dating back to July 2013, and the remarkable escape a young woman made when her car went off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, into the river 27 feet below: “How […]
Illegal Aliens May Get License to Practice Law in California
So holds this morning’s In re Garcia (Cal. Jan. 2, 2014), interpreting the relevant federal and state statutes. I’m not an expert in this field, but the court’s analysis of the statutes seems sound to me (whether or not one thinks that the statutes themselves are sound).
Upcoming Talk on Democracy and Political Ignorance at McGill University
By Ilya Somin on January 2, 2014 11:25 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Uncategorized
On Thursday, January 9, I will be doing a talk about my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter at McGill University in Montreal. Th lecture is sponsored by McGill’s Research Group on Constitutional Studies, will run from about 4:30 to 6 PM (including time for questions), and will be held in […]
George Will on Ilya’s New Book
I’m delighted to say that George Will’s column for today talks in some detail about Ilya’s Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government Is Smarter (Stanford Univ. Press). Quite a feather in Ilya’s hat!