Ilya Somin Assistant Professor of Law George Mason University  School of Law 3301 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA 22201 Voice - (703) 993-8069 Fax - (703) 993-8202 E-mail - isomin@gmu.edu

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Publications

            ARTICLES

• The Limits of Backlash: Assessing the Political Response to Kelo, Minnesota Law Review (forthcoming 2009).

• Democracy and International Human Rights Law, Notre Dame Law Review (forthcoming 2009) (with John O. McGinnis).

• Tiebout Goes Global: International Migration as a Tool for Voting With Your Feet, Missouri Law Review (forthcoming 2009) (Symposium on federalism and international law).

• The Political Economy of Economic Development Takings, Case Western Reserve University Law Review (forthcoming 2008) (Symposium on “Corporations and their Communities”).

• A Floor, Not a Ceiling: Federalism and Remedies for Violations of Constitutional Rights in Danforth v. Minnesota,  102 Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy 365 (2008).

• The Borkean Case Against Robert Bork’s Case for Censorship, 31 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 511 (2008) (symposium on the work of Judge Robert H. Bork).

• Is Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform Bad for the Poor? A Reply to David Dana, 101 Northwestern University Law Review 1931 (2007).

• Why Robbing Peter Won’t Help Poor Paul: Low-Income Neighborhoods and Uncompensated Regulatory Takings, 117 Yale Law Journal Pocket Part 71 (2007).

• Can We Make the Constitution More Democratic? 55 Drake Law Review 971(2007) (symposium on democracy and the constitution) (with Neal Devins).

• Should International Law be Part of Our Law? 59 Stanford Law Review 1175 (2007) (with John O. McGinnis) (analysis of the "democracy deficit" of international law).
• Controlling the Grasping Hand: Economic Development Takings after Kelo, 15 Supreme Court Economic Review  183 (2007).
• The Green Costs of Kelo: Economic Development Takings and Environmental Protection, 84 Washington University Law Review 623 (2006) (with Jonathan H. Adler).
• Knowledge About Ignorance: New Directions in the Study of Political Information, 18 Critical Review 255 (2006).
• A False Dawn for Federalism: Clear Statement Rules after Gonzales v. Raich, 2005-2006 Cato Supreme Court RevieW 113 (2006).
• Gonzales v. Raich: Federalism as a Casualty of the War on Drugs, 15 Cornell Journal of Law And Public Policy 507 ( 2006) (solicited for symposium on the War on Drugs).
• Federalism vs. States' Rights: The Case for Judicial Review in a Federal System, 99 Northwestern University Law Review 89 (2004) (with John O. McGinnis).
• Overcoming Poletown: County of Wayne v. Hathcock, Economic Development Takings, and the Future of Public Use,  2004 Michigan State Law Review 1005 (2004) (solicited for symposium on County of Wayne v. Hathcock).
• Democracy and Judicial Review Revisited, 7 Green Bag 2d 287 (2004)
• Political Ignorance and The Countermajoritarian Difficulty: A New Perspective on the “Central Obsession” of Constitutional Theory, 89 Iowa Law Review 1287 (2004).
• Voter Knowledge and Constitutional Change: Assessing The New Deal Experience, 45 William & Mary Law Review 595 (2003).
• Closing the Pandora’s Box of Federalism: The Case for Judicial Restriction of Federal Subsidies to State Governments, 90 Georgetown Law Journal 461 (2002).
• Revitalizing Consent, 23 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 753 (2000).
• Voter Ignorance and the Democratic Ideal, 12 Critical Review 413 (1998).

  REVIEWS

• Lessons of the Rise of the Legal Right, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (forthcoming) (review of Steven Teles, The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement (2007)) (invited review).
• "Active Liberty" and Judicial Power: What Should Courts do to Promote Democracy?, 100 Northwestern University Law Review 1827 (2006) (review of Stephen E. Breyer, Active Liberty: Interpreting our Democratic Constitution (2005)).
• Judicial Power and Civil Rights Reconsidered, 114 Yale Law Journal 591 (2004) (review of Michael Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights (2004)) (with David E. Bernstein).
• Wise Crowds? When the Many Know More than the Few, Humane Studies Review, Sept. 2005 (review of James Surowiecki, Wise Crowds:  When the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economics, Societies, and Nations (2004)).
• Pragmatism and Democracy: Rejoinder to Richard Posner, 16 Critical Review 473 (2004).
• Richard Posner’s Democratic Pragmatism, 16 Critical Review 1(2004) (review of Richard A. Posner, Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy (2003)).
• Review, 23 Cato Journal 475 (2004) (review of Ian Shapiro, The State of Democratic Theory (2003)).
• Do Politicians Pander? 14 Critical Review 147 (2001) (review of Lawrence Jacobs & Robert Shapiro, Politicians Don’t Pander (2000)).
• Book Note, Resolving the Democratic Dilemma? 16 Yale Journal on Regulation 401 (1999)  (review of Arthur Lupia & Matthew McCubbins, The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What they Need to Know? (1998)).
• Book Review, The European Legacy, Feb. 1998, at 129. (review of  Richard Sakwa, Russian Politics and Society (1997)).

  BooK Chapters

• Taking Property Rights Seriously? The Supreme Court and the “Poor Relation” of Constitutional Law,  in The Supreme Court: Contested COnstitutional Doctrines (Steven Kautz, Arthur Melzer, and Jerry Weinberger, eds., University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming 2009)  (tentative title and publisher).

• Government Failure and Economic Development Takings, in Law Without Romance: Public Choice and the Legal System (Edward R. Lopez ed. forthcoming 2008).

• Yee v. Escondido, in Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court (forthcoming 2008)
• Public Interest, in Encyclopedia of Social Science (forthcoming 2008).
• Peonage Cases, in Encyclopedia of Race and Racism (forthcoming 2007).
• Political Ignorance, in Readings in American Government 66 (Steffen W. Schmidt, et al., eds., 5th ed.  2006)

  POPULAR PRESS

• Locked Liberties: New DC Gun Law Shows that the Battle over Gun Rights is Far from Over, Legal Times, July 28, 2008, at 42.
• Don't Count on Prop. 99: The Purported Anti-Condemnation Measure Would Actually Block Meaningful Eminent Domain Reform, Los Angeles Times, May 19, 2008, at A15.
• Shared Roots of Property, Civil Rights: Constitutional Issue Looms Large for Minorities in South, Orlando Sentinel, Apr. 28, 2008 (with David  Beito).
• Battle Over Eminent Domain is Another Civil Rights Issue, Kansas City Star, Apr. 27, 2008 (with David Beito).
• Kelo, MIA: Where is the Property Rights Campaign Debate, National Review Online, Apr. 2, 2008.
• Uncle Sam Wants You, Gramps: Why National Service Proponents Never Talk About Drafting the Old, Wall Street Journal Opinionjournal, Sept. 26, 2007.
• Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be  Federation  Tax Collectors: Federalism and Socialism in Star Trek, National Review Online, Sept. 28, 2007.
• Put Out to Pasture: The Supreme Court Again Fails to Give Property Rights the Respect they Deserve, Legal Times, July 30, 2007.

• The Limits of Anti-Kelo Legislation, Reason, August/September 2007.

• Be Careful What You Wish For: The Revived Equal Rights Amendment May Surprise Its Supporters, Legal Times, June 4, 2007.

• Post-Kelo America: Assessing the Progress of Eminent Domain Reform,  Reason Online, Apr. 20, 2007.

• A Pretextual Taking, National Law Journal, Jan. 8, 2007 (with Richard A. Epstein).
• The Politics of Ignorance: Election Day Reflections, The Jurist, Nov. 7, 2006.
• Blight Sweet Blight, Legal Times, Aug. 14, 2006, at 42 (criticizing condemnation of "blighted" property).
• The Final Prejudice, Legal Times, Apr. 17, 2006, at 68 (analyzing discrimination against atheists).
• Alito's Libertarian Streak, American Spectator, Nov. 10, 2005.
• Peace Through Federalism, Al Sabah (Baghdad, Iraq), October 2005 (published in Arabic translation).
• Rehnquist's Federalist Legacy, FOXNEWS.COM, Sept. 9, 2005.
• Should Courts Limit the Use of Eminent Domain for Private Economic Development? congressional quarterly Researcher, Mar. 4, 2005, at 213.
• In Politics Ignorance is not Bliss, NEWARK STAR LEDGER, Oct. 10, 2004, at P1.
• Are American Voters Stupid? Maybe Not, SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, Sept. 27, 2004, at A13.
• Political Ignorance is No Bliss, FOXNEWS.COM, Sept. 22, 2004.
• Poletown Decision did not Create Desired Benefits; New Ruling Protects Weak from Government Abuses, Detroit News, Aug. 8, 2004, at 13.
• Michigan Should Alter Property Grab Rules, Detroit News, Jan. 8, 2004, at 11A.
• The Timing Game Justices Play , L.A. Times, Jan. 13, 2003, at B11 (with Steven G. Calabresi).
• Riddles, Mysteries and Enigmas: Unanswered Questions about the End of the Cold War,  Policy Review, Fall 1994, at 80.

          BOOKS

• Democracy and the Problem of Political Ignorance (forthcoming - University of Michigan Press).
• Still-Born Crusade: The Tragic Failure of Western Intervention in the Russian Civil War (1996) (book based on undergraduate thesis – published by Transaction Publishers).

          MONOGRAPHS

• When Ignorance Isn't Bliss: How Political Ignorance Threatens Democracy, Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 525, Sept. 22, 2004.
• Robin Hood in Reverse: The Case Against Taking Private Property for Economic Development, Cato Institute Policy Analysis No.535, Feb. 21, 2005.