Legal Commentary

Survey Article on Last 25 Years of Supreme Court Property Rights Decisions Looking for a New Home

By Ilya Somin

NOTE: I have re-posted this because the original version was posted close to the start of the weekend, and it?s possible some potentially interested parties may have missed it. 

Back in 2008, I wrote a survey article on the last 25 years of Supreme Court property rights decisions. It was originally commissioned for an edited volume that included contributions by various other scholars. Unfortunately, the volume was recently canceled for reasons that had nothing to do with the quality of my piece. So I am now looking to see whether any of our intrepid academic readers might know of some other edited volume or symposium where it could potentially fit. I might eventually restructure it as a conventional law journal article. But my tentative judgment at this point is that it might work better as part of an edited volume or symposium rather than as a stand-alone article.

The article discusses the major Supreme Court property rights decisions over that period, and argues that, although the Court has modestly increased protection for property rights relative to the historic low-point of the post-New Deal era, they are still relegated to second-class status. I also criticize several of the most common rationales for that second-class treatment, and briefly discuss prospects for the future. the paper only carries the story through 2008, but I would be more than happy to update it to cover the last 2 years of developments as well, many of which I have already written about right here at the VC and elsewhere.

I would be very grateful for any leads. I think it could work well as part of a symposium or edited volume on property rights or as part of one focused on constitutional theory or doctrine more generally. I?m also open to other ideas and suggestions. If you are an academic, book editor, or journal editor with a relevant suggestion, please let me know by e-mail or phone.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on August 23, 2010 (boomark / email).