
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School; B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute; and Ä¢¹½AV Affiliate, Schar School of Policy and Government
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Biography
Ilya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason Ä¢¹½AV and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. He is the author of(Oxford Ä¢¹½AV Press, revised and expanded edition, 2022),ÌýÌý(Stanford Ä¢¹½AV Press, revised and expanded second edition, 2016), andÌýÌý(Ä¢¹½AV of Chicago Press, 2015, rev. paperback ed., 2016),Ìýcoauthor ofÌýÌý(Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and co-editor ofÌýÌý(Cambridge Ä¢¹½AV Press, 2017).ÌýDemocracy and Political IgnoranceÌýhas been translated into Italian and Japanese.
Somin’s work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including theÌýYale Law Journal,ÌýStanford Law Review,ÌýNorthwestern Ä¢¹½AV Law Review,ÌýGeorgetown Law Journal,ÌýCritical Review, and others.ÌýSomin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, includingÌýtheÌýNew York Times,ÌýWashington Post,ÌýWall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC,ÌýThe Atlantic,ÌýUSA Today,ÌýBoston Globe,ÌýUS News and World Report,ÌýSouth China Morning Post,ÌýNational Law JournalÌýandÌýReason. He has been quoted or interviewed by theÌýNew York Times,ÌýWashington Post,ÌýWall Street Journal,ÌýTime,ÌýNewsweek,ÌýThe Economist,ÌýtheÌýChristian Science Monitor, theÌýFinancial Times,ÌýThe Guardian, the Associated Press, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Al Jazeera, and the Voice of America, among other media.
Somin’s writings have been cited in decisions by the United States Supreme Court, multiple state supreme courts and lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of Israel. He has testified on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. In 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Somin writes regularly for the popularlaw and politics blog, now affiliated withÌýReasonÌýmagazine (previously affiliated with theÌýWashington PostÌýfrom 2014 to 2017). From 2006 to 2013, he served as Co-Editor of theÌý,Ìýone of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals.
Somin has served as a visiting professor at the Ä¢¹½AV of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also been a visiting professor or scholar at the Georgetown Ä¢¹½AV Law Center, the Ä¢¹½AV of Hamburg, Germany, the Ä¢¹½AV of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Zhengzhou Ä¢¹½AV in China. He is a Ä¢¹½AV Affiliate of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason Ä¢¹½AV, and an affiliated faculty member of the George Mason Ä¢¹½AV Institute for Immigration Research. Before joining the faculty at George Mason, Somin was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern Ä¢¹½AV Law School in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A.,ÌýSumma Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard Ä¢¹½AV, and J.D. from Yale Law School.
Curriculum Vitae
ViewÌýIlya Somin's CV