Washington, D.C. - Lecture with Ilya Somin '95

Political Ignorance in America

Ilya Somin '95
Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
Author of Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, 2013)
and
David Schleicher (Dartmouth '00)
Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law

Following the discussion there will be Q & A and refreshments.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014
6:30-8:00 p.m.

George Mason University School of Law
Room 121
3301 N. Fairfax Dr.
Arlington, VA 22201

The GMU School of Law is located very close to the Clarendon and Virginia Square Metro stops on the Orange Line. There are also several nearby public parking lots.

Kindly RSVP by Wednesday, October 22, 2014.

As we approach an important election, surveys continue to show widespread voter ignorance of basic facts about politics and government.  But there is great disagreement about the causes effects of that ignorance, and what can be done to alleviate its potentially harmful effects. Please join us for a debate and discussion on these issues with Ilya Somin '95 and David Schleicher (Dartmouth '00).

Questions? Please contact Willis Geffert '00 at wpgeffert@gmail.com.

Ilya Somin '95 is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law.  He has a B.A., Summa Cum Laude, from Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.  His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, and the study of popular political participation and its implications for constitutional democracy.  He is the author of The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming), and Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, 2013), and coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). His work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, and Georgetown Law Journal. Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times Room for Debate website, and USA Today.  He writes regularly for the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog.

David Schleicher is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law.  He is a 2004 graduate of Harvard Law School and holds an MS.c. in Economics from the London School of Economics and A.B. from Dartmouth College. Schleicher's research examines issues in election law and local government law. His election law research looks at how laws affect political party competition, particularly in the context of low salience local and state elections. Schleicher has been recognized as an innovator in integrating local government law with modern economic work on cities and agglomeration economics, and called "the most important thinker we have on the subject of local government."