The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog

Nelson Polsby, 1934-2007

Nelson Polsby has just passed away. Nelson was a giant of American political science, a leading academic authority on presidential elections, Congress, political party reform, and a host of other topics.  His PhD thesis was one of political science's path-altering works, demolishing the intellectual underpinnings of the community power literature, which was then all the rage in the academy.  He was also the greatest teacher I ever had and an extraordinarily sweet, generous, and funny man. 

During my freshman year at Berkeley in 1992, I was lucky enough to gain a spot in Nelson's freshman seminar on Presidential Elections.  Nelson taught the seminar once every four years, so I was in the right place at the right time.  He ran the freshman seminar as though he was leading a graduate student seminar - expecting the best out of his young students, leading us toward genuine insights, and gently demanding intellectual rigor.  He brought in some of the leading academics, journalists, and politicos of the day to talk with us, and somehow always managed to keep their egos in check, so that they would talk with us instead of at us.  Nelson was a pragmatist, but a charismatic one, and by the seminar's conclusion, we  had become his groupies.  During the next three years of my undergraduate education, my legal education, and my academic career, I always tried to tackle problems in the clear-headed, intellectually honest way that Nelson did, not always succeeding, but doing far better than I'd have done without him as a role model.   

Razors and Blades Again and Again: Apple and Kodak

The last two days have been interesting for those of us with a strong interest in razors and blades, in this case, Apple’s iPod and music and newly-announced printers by Kodak and the cartridges that will go in them. Yesterday, Steve Jobs posted Thoughts on Music on the Apple website, in which he set out his views of music DRM. Apple is prepared to walk away from DRM (well, only sort of, and nothing suggests that Steve Jobs is willing to do so more generally (read: Don’t expect Pixar films to be free of DRM anytime soon)). And Kodak has announced a new approach to selling printers and cartridges: “think: is it smarter to save money on a printer or ink? (Hint: You only buy the printer once.)” Raise prices on printers and lower prices on cartridges. Both of these are worth considering more carefully.

Chief Justice Roberts and the Role of the Supreme Court

In a recent speech in Chicago, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that the Supreme Court functions best “when it can deliver one clear and focused opinion of the Court.” He lauded the importance of judicial “consensus,” arguing that cases should be decided “on narrow grounds” and that differences of opinion among the Justices generally should be expressed secretly in the Court’s private conferences, rather than in published dissenting or concurring opinions.

 As one who does not share the very conservative inclinations of the majority of the current Supreme Court, I should heartily endorse the Chief Justice’s call for “narrow” decisions that reflect a “consensus” among the Justices. The more the Court follows the Roberts, the less damage it is likely to do to the fabric of constitutional law. My self-interest as a citizen should cause me to cheer Roberts on.