Blindspot

A BLOG ABOUT LAW, POLITICS, AND CULTURE

Max Stearns

Oct 19, 20198 min read

The Elizabeth Warren Fantasy

“I have a plan for that.” Elizabeth Warren There’s little doubt that Elizabeth Warren, the woman with a plan, is a force. She’s witty,...

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Max Stearns

Sep 29, 20195 min read

Why Quid Pro Quo Corruption Matters Even for Donald Trump

Despite its extraordinary nature, try to imagine the ordinary course of a Donald Trump impeachment inquiry. It would center on three...

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Max Stearns

Jul 21, 20195 min read

No, Nick Gillespie, the Last Few Days Explain Why I’m not Libertarian (and You Shouldn’t be Either)

Perhaps the single most important proposition that I try to convey to my students is this: Be most critical when evaluating content with...

396 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Apr 7, 20195 min read

The AOC Wars

Rarely has a political figure, especially one so young, so new, and a woman, provoked such visceral division within our polity as...

120 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Mar 18, 20195 min read

Why Corruption Matters

The print and social media are jammed with stories of corruption. The plea deals and resulting convictions pursuant to the Mueller...

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Max Stearns

Jan 18, 20196 min read

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...

90 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Jan 6, 20196 min read

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...

102 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Dec 20, 20188 min read

Fixing the Electoral College

Perhaps no feature of our Constitution is more problematic or hard to explain than the Electoral College. It has generated results that...

108 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Dec 20, 20186 min read

The “M” Word

Based on social media comments, including some on this blog, “Moderate” connotes unprincipled, spineless, lacking commitment, ignorant,...

99 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Sep 21, 20187 min read

Would you hire this nanny? (or what Professor Alan Dershowitz gets unforgivably wrong about the Bret

You had a baby. You and your spouse used up your parental leave, and you’ve decided that the best course is to hire a nanny. You’ve...

193 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Sep 14, 201810 min read

The Newest Viral Media Graphic

In November 2017, I stumbled upon Vanessa Otero’s viral media graphic, which, at the time, was in its third iteration. In my first...

5,867 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Aug 12, 20186 min read

Disequilibrium

Equilibrium is a foundational concept in the study of both private and political markets. Professors convey the concept with two curves,...

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Max Stearns

Jul 1, 20186 min read

Gutting the Center

I have always considered myself a centrist. I believe that, subject to minimal limitations clarified well in advance, reproductive rights...

93 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Jan 10, 20185 min read

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...

92 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Nov 28, 20178 min read

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...

1,178 views0 comments

The Viral Media Graphic (with special thanks to Vanessa Otero)

Max Stearns

Nov 18, 20179 min read

The Viral Media Graphic (with special thanks to Vanessa Otero)

I arrived a bit late to this party, which apparently began with Vanessa Otero’s December 19, 2016 post on her wonderfully titled “All...

6,191 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Nov 3, 20177 min read

Six Economic Concepts Everyone Should Know

This past week, I submitted the manuscript that I had been working on for two years, Law and Economics: Private and Public (with Todd...

258 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Oct 14, 20176 min read

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...

51 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Sep 27, 20176 min read

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...

58 views0 comments

Max Stearns

Jul 30, 20175 min read

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....

54 views0 comments

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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.