Category Archives: guest post

In case anyone hasn’t heard by now: The President plans to announce his nominee to the Supreme Court tonight…. Continue reading →

Hayek’s big claim about the price system was that it aggregates widely dispersed information and tastes. For this reason, he said that it was a “marvel.” We’ve been discussing other ways of aggregating information, and it might be useful to start with Wikipedia, if only because Jimbo Wales refers to Hayek in his comments. Wikipedia does aggregate dispersed information — amazingly so. In a general way, it’s definitely a Hayekian process. But there are at least two differences between Wikipedia and the price system. First, Wikipedia doesn’t rest on economic incentives. People aren’t participating because they’re getting a commodity or… Continue reading →

As recently reported, Republican-appointed court of appeals judges get significantly more conservative, and Democratic-appointed court of appeals judges get significantly more liberal, when they are sitting with judges appointed by a president of the same political party. But there are two areas where this does NOT happen — where Republican appointees differ from Democratic appointees, but where judges’ voting patterns are unaffected by the composition of the panel. Any guesses? Affirmative action? No. Environmental protection? No. Gay rights? No. Campaign finance or commercial advertising or obscenity? No. Race and sex discrimination? No. The two areas are: Abortion and capital punishment…. Continue reading →

Here at the University of Chicago, we have something called the Chicago Judges Project, by which we tabulate and analyze thousands of votes of judges on federal courts of appeals. One of our key findings thus far is this: In many controversial areas (eg, affirmative action, campaign finance, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, environmental regulation, and more), Republican appointees show especially conservative voting patterns when they’re sitting on 3-judge panels that consist only of Republican appointees. So too for Democratic appointees: They’re far more liberal, in their voting patterns, when sitting with two fellow Democratic appointees, than when sitting on a… Continue reading →

This is from Cass Sunstein; I’m most grateful to Larry for inviting me to post on his blog for a bit. His kind invitation is a result of a naive and ignorant inquiry I sent him in the recent past, about information aggregation and its possible limits. Background: A few years ago, a book of mine, Republic.com, emphasized the risks associated with echo chambers and self-insulation. I’m doing a new book, still inchoate, that continues to explore those risks, but that also stresses the excitingly general possibility that the Internet can allow widely dispersed “bits” of human information to be… Continue reading →

The Lessig blog community is pretty amazing. Self-regulating, constructive, challenging. Looking back I hope you can see how we paid off on our promise of informational incrementalism We’ve suggested that discrimination in the military might be ameliorated by asking a simple question. We’ve suggested that discrimination by the boy scouts might be ameliorated by mandating a private conversation. We’ve suggested that marriage discrimination might be ameliorated by collecting vacation pledges. We’ve suggested that employment discrimination might be ameliorated by certifications of legal promises not to discriminate. We’ve suggested that discrimination in a variety of contexts might be ameliorated by leaving… Continue reading →

Imagine that one day you hear your child at play say to another “The way you throw is so gay.” It seems “gay” has become a catch-all insult. How do you respond? You could just let it pass. After all, home and family should provide a refuge from the clamor of the outside world. Gay rights are fine, you might think, but social change is something that happens out there, in society, not within our walls. Then again, maybe social change must begin at home. Many heterosexual people –even those who avoid political activity — have become allies in the… Continue reading →

4 p.m. EST update on June 7, 2005: I’m told the pledge form is working again. My apologies for the inconvenience. Despite the Goodridge victory in Massachusetts, the battle for same-sex marriage has only begun. Many states have passed constitutional bans on gay marriage. Opponents of equal marriage rights even seek to amend the U.S. Constitution. The Vacation Pledge for Equal Marriage Rights encourages states to take the landmark step to democratically legalize same-sex marriage. Why is legislative action so important and how can individuals help to promote it?… Continue reading →

A little over one year ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court made history with its 2004 decision in Goodridge, generating a new option for gay couples: marriage. We all know the controversy (and state constitutional amendments) these changes have wrought. Much of the focus has been on same-sex couples and their choices: will they travel to marry? Will they seek to transport their marriages across state lines and impose them on unwilling home states? Less noted has been the new and difficult choice presented to heterosexual couples: Now that it is possible to marry in a jurisdiction that does not… Continue reading →

Here’s a proposal for making progress toward equality in the military that is again an example of both ambiguation and informational incrementalism. It comes from Chapter 6 of Straightforward. Ian and I support the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” But is there anything that can be done as a precursor to changing this law? Imagine that every soldier upon entering the military was asked a simple question. Would you prefer to serve in a command without any gay personnel? Soldiers would know that if they answer “No” they would be assigned to an “inclusive” command, and that if they… Continue reading →