Ilya Somin
banner
ilyasomin.bsky.social
Ilya Somin
@ilyasomin.bsky.social

Law professor; author of Free to Move: Foot Voting Migration and Political Freedom; Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter; The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain; Volokh Conspiracy blogger. .. more

Ilya Somin is an American legal scholar. He is a law professor at George Mason University, B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, a blogger for the Volokh Conspiracy, and a former co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review (2006–2013). His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, migration rights, and the study of popular political participation and its implications for constitutional democracy. .. more

Political science 45%
Economics 24%

Reposted by Ilya Somin

Prominent Columbia law Prof. Philip Hamburger adds his voice to the call for the Supreme Court to hear Canna Provisions v. Bondi and use it to overturn Gonzales v. Raich: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Philip Hamburger on "The Importance of Granting Cert in Canna Provisions v. Bondi"
Illustration: Lex Villena Columbia law Prof. Philip Hamburger - one of the nation's leading constitutional law and administrative law scholars…
reason.com

My new Washington Examiner article on "Foot Voting, Housing, and Affordability" shows we can empower people to better their lives/vote with their feet by curbing exclusionary zoning. Do that, not snake oil like rent control, tariffs, and deportations:
www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/busines...
Foot voting, housing, and affordability
Instead of peddling snake oil, our leaders should deregulate housing construction and make it easier for builders to secure what they need.
www.washingtonexaminer.com

In this post, I urge the Supreme Court to hear case of Canna Provisions v. Bondi, and use this opportunity to reverse its awful decision in Gonzales v. Raich (which egregiously expanded federal power, and authorized awful War on Drugs abuses): reason.com/volokh/2025/...
The Supreme Court Should Hear Case Seeking to Overturn Gonzales v. Raich
Raich is one of the Court's worst federalism decisions,holding that Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce allows it to ban possession of marijuana that never crossed state lines, and was ne...
reason.com

Reposted by Ilya Somin

Reposted by Ilya Somin

In this post, I explain why Trump's collective punishment of Afghan migrants in response to yesterday's awful attack is both unjust and counterproductive to the goal of combating terrorism: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Trump's Unjust and Counterproductive Collective Punishment of Afghan Migrants
Stopping all immigration processing for Afghan migrants is unjust and undermines rather than furthers the goal of combatting terrorism.
reason.com