Blindspot

A BLOG ABOUT LAW, POLITICS, AND CULTURE

Jan 18, 2019
6 min

A Border-Wall Compromise

We are nearing the end of day 28 of the longest partial US government shutdown in American history. By most media accounts, and observing Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi, there is no end in sight. The costs are already enormous and threaten to become more so as time goes on: About 800,000 federal employees are forgoing regular income, although now with a commitment to backpay once this ends. Federal contractors whose livelihoods, on the other hand, depend on such cashflows have

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Max Stearns

Jan 6, 2019
6 min

A Coasian View of a Trumpian Wall

In 1991, the year before I started teaching, Ronald Coase received the Nobel Prize in Economics. In setting out his now eponymous theorem, a centerpiece of Chicago Law and Economics, Coase illustrated with fences and walls. As we enter the third week of the government shutdown, Trump’s border wall is morphing into a (perhaps invisible) fence. Coase maintained that by focusing on the fairness of outcomes, welfare economists tended to emphasize questions of pure distribution ov

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Max Stearns

Jun 7, 2018
6 min

The Textual Case Against Trump Pardoning Himself

And even tonight, with all of the heated back and forth, between my opponent and me at the debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each other. In fact, just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, “Pardon me.” (LAUGHTER) And I very politely replied, “Let me talk to you about that after I get into office.” (LAUGHTER) Donald J. Trump, speech at the Al Smith Dinner (Oct. 21, 2016) “As has been stated by nu

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Max Stearns

Jan 10, 2018
5 min

Oprah Ambivalence

I watched the inspiring Golden Globes speech. I listened to those ready to anoint a new Democratic hopeful. I reflected on those who urged caution, even deep reluctance, to respond to the supposedly populist entertainer-in-chief with a more congenial, liberal, enlightened, and thoughtful entertainer-in-chief, one who’s “personal Vietnam” was not womanizing without catching an STD, but rather was surviving brutal beatings as a young girl, along with having been victimized by r

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Max Stearns

Nov 28, 2017
8 min

Why I am not a Libertarian

Prelude I have spent approximately half my career at each of two very different law schools: George Mason Law School (now named for Antonin Scalia), which tends to track right or libertarian, and Maryland Carey Law, which tends to track left or progressive. Along the way, I have made friends who are ideologically liberal and conservative, who are Democratic and Republican, and who decline such affiliations, identifying instead as Libertarian or Independent. I strongly believe

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Max Stearns

Oct 14, 2017
6 min

Finding Trump’s Core

Leading media outlets increasingly recognize that Donald Trump lacks what game theorists refer to as a core. See here and here. An empty core is a technical term that implies a game lacking a dominant outcome or set of outcomes. A core generally corresponds to what is called a pure-Nash equilibrium, after John Nash, who won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics in large part for recognizing the concept. See here; for the book version, see here; or for the movie version, see here.

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Max Stearns

Sep 27, 2017
6 min

Donald Trump’s un-Grand Old Party

In his retweeted, doctored, video, Donald Trump hits a golf ball that eventually strikes Hillary Clinton in the back. See here. I don’t believe that Trump intends to convey an intent to physically harm his former opponent. Rather, despite some recent legislative triangulation and his newfound dinner companions, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, see here, Trump views Hillary Clinton, and his predecessor, Barack Obama, as the true symbols of the Democratic party. And it is the De

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Max Stearns

Aug 15, 2017
7 min

The False Inevitability of Donald Trump

George Mason Scalia Law Professor, and staunch Trump supporter, Frank Buckley, Jr., published a Wall Street Journal editorial explaining Trump's victory and claiming Democrats face insurmountable challenges. See here. Buckley's real message was to conservatives: either get on the Trump train or become irrelevant. Thankfully, Buckley's analysis is profoundly flawed. Buckley's op-ed, "How Trump Won, in Two Dimensions," a happy story for him and like-minded Trump supports, rests

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Max Stearns

Aug 7, 2017
3 min

The Price of the Price of Trump

Since Trump's election, the DOW has had 50 record closings, and since his swearing in, it has had 33. Unemployment is at a 16 year low; consumer confidence is at a 16 year high. See here and here. These are remarkably strong economic indicators. As far as I can tell, Donald Trump has nothing to do with them. Actually, that's unfair. He is the President. The more accurate assertion is that these indicators have developed in spite of, not because of, the Trump Presidency. These

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Max Stearns

Jul 30, 2017
5 min

The Genitalia Presidency (language alert)

Last week’s crude genitalia discourse should not distract us from the Trump Administration’s profound message about, well, genitalia. When historians look back at the Trump presidency, however long it might last, they will see last week as pivotal, a defining moment in what has emerged the Genitalia Presidency. First a quick recap: Trump repeatedly humiliated Attorney General Jeff Sessions by tweet; despite contrary medical advice, McCain urgently swept in to let the skinny A

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Max Stearns

Jul 22, 2017
3 min

My Reflections on Trump's Republican Nomination: One Year Later

One year ago today, after watching Trump accept the Republican nomination, I posted an analysis on FB. I reproduce that post below, with two comments: first, it demonstrates that there's nothing about Trump's conduct that wasn't predictable, and second, his subsequent conduct proves that Trump was never interested in surrounding himself with people who compensate for his personal deficits. I am not surprised, despite all that has happened since, that Trump remains incapable o

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Max Stearns

Jun 25, 2017
6 min

Trump isn’t the Problem (with language alert)

The number 1 trending NYT article is a list of Trump’s lies since he was sworn in as President. See here. Before the election, the NYT compiled a similar list, which it has since updated, of his insulting tweets. See here. Since his election, Donald Trump has compromised international relationships with NATO Allies, with Mexico, with China, even with Australia. He continues to try to put up that wall, yet tear down Obamacare. He seeks to block Muslim entry, just without calli

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Max Stearns

Jun 5, 2017
5 min

Twitter Theory: From Covfefe to a Bloody Head

Although I have recently taken to Twitter, I’m not very good at it. As far as I can tell, my tweets are like trees falling in the forest with no one (or very few) present, raising the metaphysical question whether they make a sound. I was skeptical about tweeting for that very reason and because I have long had my own theory of tweeting. People tweet because they wish to get some form of attention, respecting an accomplishment, an idea, a political position, or virtually anyt

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Max Stearns

Apr 4, 2017
6 min

Ideological Blindspots (part III): Virtue

Definition of virtue: "(1) (a) conformity to a standard of right: morality b: a particular moral excellence; (2) virtues plural: an order of angels — see celestial hierarchy; (3) a beneficial quality or power of a thing; (4) manly strength or courage: valor; (5) a commendable quality or trait: merit (6) a capacity to act: potency; (7) chastity especially in a woman." https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtue Barack Obama: "You didn't get there on your own. . . . Some

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Maxwell Stearns

I have been teaching law for twenty-nine years, and I am the Venable, Baetjer & Howard Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. My core areas of interest are Constitutional Law and Law & Economics, which I view as critically interwoven. My most recent book is titled Law and Economics: Private and Public (West Academic 2018, with Todd Zywicki and Tom Miceli). In this poster, recently created by the Maryland Carey Law Thurgood Marshall Law Library, I am pictured with several wonderful books that I've recommended to friends, family, and students.