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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,...
Max Stearns
Oct 19, 20198 min read
3,192 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Sep 29, 20195 min read
69 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Jul 21, 20195 min read
402 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Apr 7, 20195 min read
121 views
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Why Corruption Matters
The print and social media are jammed with stories of corruption. The plea deals and resulting convictions pursuant to the Mueller...
Max Stearns
Mar 18, 20195 min read
50 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Jan 18, 20196 min read
94 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Jan 6, 20196 min read
102 views
0 comments
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...
Max Stearns
Dec 20, 20188 min read
108 views
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The “M” Word
Based on social media comments, including some on this blog, “Moderate” connotes unprincipled, spineless, lacking commitment, ignorant,...
Max Stearns
Dec 20, 20186 min read
99 views
0 comments
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...
Max Stearns
Sep 21, 20187 min read
194 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Sep 14, 201810 min read
5,868 views
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Disequilibrium
Equilibrium is a foundational concept in the study of both private and political markets. Professors convey the concept with two curves,...
Max Stearns
Aug 12, 20186 min read
57 views
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Gutting the Center
I have always considered myself a centrist. I believe that, subject to minimal limitations clarified well in advance, reproductive rights...
Max Stearns
Jul 1, 20186 min read
93 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Jan 10, 20185 min read
92 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Nov 28, 20178 min read
1,203 views
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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...
Max Stearns
Nov 18, 20179 min read
6,230 views
0 comments
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...
Max Stearns
Nov 3, 20177 min read
259 views
0 comments
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...
Max Stearns
Oct 14, 20176 min read
54 views
0 comments
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...
Max Stearns
Sep 27, 20176 min read
59 views
0 comments
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....
Max Stearns
Jul 30, 20175 min read
57 views
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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.
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