Ilya Somin
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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%

Supreme Court rejects case seeking to overturn right to same-sex marriage. I was one of many observers who predicted this. Obergfell v. Hodges is highly unlikely to be reversed, and it was never going to happen in this dog of a case: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Casing Seeking to Overturn Obergefell
This result is unsurprising, and was predicted by most analysts, including myself.
reason.com

Video of Federalist Society National Convention panel on zoning, property rights, and the housing crisis. I participated along with James Burling (Pacific Legal Foundation), Prof. Peter Byrne (Georgetown), and Prof. Sara Bronin (George Washington University): www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNCx...
Socialism or Sensible Protections? Zoning, Rent Control, and the Roots of the Housing Crisis [NLC]
YouTube video by The Federalist Society
www.youtube.com

Reposted by Nicola Giocoli

Reposted by Ilya Somin

Reposted by Ilya Somin

I agree with @ilyasomin.bsky.social, US should recognize a Victims of Communism day. The #s of killed, starved, tortured, terrorized, blackmailed, surveilled, denied other basic liberties (religious practice, political participation, child rearing etc) are staggering

reason.com/volokh/2025/...
November 7 as Victims of Communism Day - 2025
NOTE: The following post is largely adapted from last year's November 7 post on the same subject. Since 2007,…
reason.com

I am not opposed. But you should start with Mussolini, the actual first Fascist dictator. Better still, make it Victims of Nationalism Day.

Reposted by Ilya Somin

Annual post on Nov. 7 as a potential Victims of Communism Day (instead of May 1). Nov. 7 is the anniversary of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
November 7 as Victims of Communism Day - 2025
NOTE: The following post is largely adapted from last year's November 7 post on the same subject. Since 2007,…
reason.com

Reposted by Nicola Giocoli

Reposted by Nicola Giocoli

My new article "Immigration is Not Invasion" is now up on SSRN. It comprehensively explains why illegal migration and drug smuggling do not qualify as "invasion" under the Constitution and the Alien Enemies Act of 1798: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Immigration is Not Invasion
<div> In recent years, state governments and the second Trump Administration have increasingly advanced the argument that illegal migration and cross-border dr
papers.ssrn.com

Reposted by Nicola Giocoli

I am not a plaintiff. Just one if the lawyers on the case.

Reposted by Ilya Somin

Reposted by Simon Lester

Compendium of links to my writings on our case against the Trump IEEPA tariffs , which will be argued in Supreme Court tomorrow (beginning with February post that inspired the case): reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Compendium of Writings About the Trump Tariff Case [Updated]
Links to my writings about our case against Trump's "Liberation Day" Tariffs and related issues.
reason.com

Reposted by Nicola Giocoli

Article about the origins of our case against Trump's tariffs, which is currently before the Supreme Court: news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
Blog Posts Help Spur Trump Tariffs Challenge at Supreme Court
A blog post attacking the legal basis behind President Donald Trump’s tariffs helped set in motion a lawsuit central to the dispute over presidential power that will be considered by the US Supreme Co...
news.bloomberglaw.com

Reposted by Nicola Giocoli

Reposted by Ilya Somin

I have met 3 current SCOTUS justices and am one hop away from the rest. Doesn’t make me a justice myself!

I have two degrees of separation from each of the last 6 presidents, multiple British and Canadian PMs, the King of England, and many more political leaders. Doesn’t make me a powerful politician myself.
I can get to the last tsar of Bulgaria in two hops.
Off the top of my head, in terms of degrees of separation I managed to get from myself to *Jimi Hendrix* in "three hops," this is a WILD assertion to make

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...