Navel-Gazing
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“From a Realist Point of View” now delivered to the press and should be out in Spring 2026…
…in the "Oxford Legal Philosophy" series. Here's the official OUP blurb: From A Realist Point of View combines new essays with revised versions of the most important recent work of preeminent legal realist Brian Leiter. This collection offers a systematic and philosophically ambitious account of legal realism and links it, for the first time, to…
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Summer quasi-hiatus from blogging has begun…
…as readers may have gathered. I'll continue to update the laterals list, and will try to post about important or time-sensitive matters, but don't expect much regular content until August. Good wishes to readers for a productive and enjoyable summer!
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We have a new Dean: Adam Chilton
I'm delighted with this outcome. I should note we had three remarkable finalists, all outstanding, so we were very fortunate indeed. (A public "thank you" to my colleague Jonathan Masur who led the Dean Search Committee, and did a great job!) As Professor Chilton comments in the preceding news release: "I strongly believe that the…
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Law professors reading Marx
A nice note from a law professor elsewhere: I wanted to pass on a note thanking you for your marvelous book with Jaime Edwards on Marx. The explanation of ideas is lucid and exactly what this non-expert needed as a clear and comprehensive introduction. Like many, I have read at one time the Manifesto and bits…
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I’m moving from Twitter/X to Bluesky
If you use X or similar social media to follow the blog, please follow me there. Thank you. ADDENDUM: Here's why you should move too: Musk is manipulating the algorithms on his platform in service of Trump and the Republicans. ANOTHER: Join the exodus to Bluesky: The platform formerly regarded [by ignoramuses-ed.] as a utopian…
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Books
Forgive the navel-gazing here, but perhaps some readers will be interested in some of the three books of mine that have appeared this year. (1) Marx, co-authored with Jaime Edwards, has just appeared. Here's what the political philosopher Allen Buchanan (emeritus, Duke University; Laureate Professor, University of Arizona; author of Marx and Justice: The Radical…
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Entering summer blogging schedule
It's grading crunch time here at the University of Chicago (we're on a quarter system), and as in prior years, I'll be posting less going forward, until August, when some more regular posting will resume. I'll still update the laterals list, post memorials of well-known figures in the legal academy as they arise, and perhaps…
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Most “influential” people in American legal education?
It's not for me to say; a lot of Deans and administrators, plus some guys with blogs. The "top twenty": 1. Erwin Chemerinsky (Dean, Berkeley) 2. Kellye Testy (President & CEO, LSAC) 3. Mark Alexander (Dean, Villanova; 2023 AALS President) 4. Paul Caron (Dean, Pepperdine, and "Blog Emperor"!) 5. Bobby Ahdieh (Dean, Texas A&M) 6. …
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Welcoming the JD Class of 2026 and LLM Class of 2024 to Chicago
My remarks from the welcome dinner on September 21, including some amusing ancedotes about Karl Llewellyn, and discussion of legal reasoning and ordinary reasoning, and the Socratic method, among other topics. Response from students was gratifying ("awesome," "inspiring")!
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Probably not much new here until the New Year
I wish everyone a pleasant holiday break!
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“Feedburner” is defunct
For those who enjoy receiving blog posts delivered to your email account each day, I'm sorry to report that the service known as Feedburner has been discontinued by Google. As an alternative, you can use an RSS reader, and still subscribe to this blog via Feedly, NewsBlur, or Inoreader.
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Summer blogging
I'll be posting less regularly until early August. Professor Sisk and colleagues at St. Thomas are working on a new scholarly impact study, and I will make time for thost results as they become available.
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Seven Chicago alums clerk on SCOTUS for second year in a row
I hope readers will indulge my sharing some local good news.
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July blogging hiatus
I'm taking a break from the blog in July in order to make progress on a book and deal with some other matters. If there's something absolutely time-sensitive, I may put it up, but otherwise please don't send news items until very late July. Thanks, as always, for reading.
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“Capitalism, Social Democracy and Socialism: Which is Right for America?”
In what is probably my last trip for a good while (having so far cancelled events in Canada, England, and Ireland,with no doubt more to come), I'll be driving up to Madison today for a debate/discussion with the economist Bryan Caplan (George Mason). So probably not much new until Friday. Since "social distancing" is the…
A quick comment before I’ve read the piece: It seems pertinent to both the debates and the assessment of the…