The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog

Too Much Local Government?

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels recently created the bipartisan Commission on Local Government Reform. In recent remarks, the Governor noted: “For its size and population, Indiana has far too much local government. Indiana has some 2,700 local units of government authorized to levy property taxes. Governing these units are more than 10,700 elected officials, 1,100 of whom assess property. Few other states have as much local government.”

Perhaps not; but there are more than 500,000 elected officials in the United States, 96 percent of whom serve in local governments. The remarks are correct insomuch as electoral density—the number of elected officials per capita or per governmental unit—varies greatly from place to place. The most electorally dense county has more than 20 times the average number of elected officials per capita.

How would we know whether Indiana or any other state has too many local governments or too few? What is the benchmark for deciding whether there too many elected officials in a jurisdiction or not enough?

Randy Picker Featured on the Tech Policy Weekly Podcast

Professor Randy Picker recently spoke with the Tech Policy Weekly podcast about the First Sale Doctrine. He's joined by Fred Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as Braden Cox and Adam Thierer of the Technology Liberation Front. Listen to the discussion here.

Margaret Schilt: "Is the Future of Legal Scholarship in the Blogosphere?"

Margaret A. Schilt, our Faculty Services Librarian, has published an article in Legal Times that provides a great overview of the role that blogging currently plays (and might play in the future) in the field of legal scholarship. You can read the article here.

The Gonzales Legacy

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Alberto Gonzales’s sorry tenure in the Bush administration would seem to give credence to Shakespeare’s oft-cited incitement against the legal profession.

The primary responsibility of the Attorney General is to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States in a fair and even-handed manner. In failing to comprehend this responsibility, Alberto Gonzales compromised himself, his office, the Constitution, and ultimately even the President who appointed him.

Climate Change Justice

Papua, Indonesia, says that if other countries are concerned about global warming, they should pay Papua not to cut down its forests. For Papua, short-term development is more important than the long-term cost of global warming. China has made a similar argument. Global warming is a serious problem but China has a “right to development,” and until hundreds of millions of Chinese make more than $1 per day, China is right to avoid being entangled in international climate control commitments. If the rich countries want to avoid being swamped by rising seas, they will have to pay China to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.

Faculty Blog to Receive a Facelift

In conjunction with a redesign of the Law School website, we'll be updating the look and feel of the Faculty Blog over the next few months. In the collaborative spirit of the blogosphere, we'd like to get input about the upcoming changes from you, our loyal readers. What works for you about the current incarnation of the blog? What would you like to see changed? Thanks in advance for your help!

The Glenn and Helen Show Presents Richard A. Epstein

Our own Professor Epstein was recently interviewed about his book, Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation on "The Glenn and Helen Show," a podcast produced by Glenn Reynolds (of Instapundit.com fame) and his wife, Dr. Helen Smith, a forensic psychologist.

You can listen to or download the podcast here.

Hate Crimes and the Gospel

On May 3, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007. The Senate will take up a companion bill, known as the Matthew Shepard Act, when it returns from its summer recess. If enacted, this law would authorize the Justice Department, in certain narrowly defined circumstances, to criminally prosecute an individual who “willfully” causes bodily injury to another person or, “through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive ... attempts to cause bodily injury” to another person, because of that person’s race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

What Are the Limits of Competition?

The recent Tour de France melted down day-by-day as yet another race leader left the race facing accusations of doping. We still aren’t sure who won last year’s race, as the inquiry regarding Floyd Landis’s alleged cheating is still pending. And in baseball, Barry Bonds has passed Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record amidst a drumbeat of rumors that his performance has been enhanced by steroids. We seem to be at something of a crossroads: we can enhance athletes, but will that improve competition itself? It won’t: my pills will match your pills, so the games themselves won’t change, but pill-popping will saddle our heroes with a lifetime of possible medical problems.

Symposium on Terror in the Balance

Adrian Vermeule and I are defending our book, Terror in the Balance, in an online symposium over at Opinio Juris.  Below is a taste.  If you have comments, please post them at Opinio Juris, where the debate is in full swing.