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Essay

Legal Theory in the Lowercase

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The idea that LPE is lacking in legal theory, as Sam Moyn has recently claimed, depends on what counts as legal theory. If we take Legal Theory to be a subject that is defined by the Marxism-related anxieties of CLS, then LPE work is severely under-theorised. If, instead, we endorse an idea of legal theory without capitalisation – a way of writing about. . .
Essay

Dismantle or Democratize Big Tech?

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With bipartisan calls to break up big tech, it is worth pausing to ask whether the proposed remedy matches the diagnosis of the problem. Antitrust breakups work best when there’s a clear conflict between public and company interests. Yet with some of the most pressing problems – such as the spread of disinformation – company and public interests. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: September 15, 2023

By LPE Editors

Dan Berger reflects on the long history of using RICO to criminalize resistance movements, Jed Purdy defends theoretical pluralism, and Brishen Rogers analyzes the NLRB’s Cemex case through the lens of contemporary legal theory. Plus, Lenore Palladino on labor’s green capital, Lev Menand and Morgan Ricks on the public utility roots of American banking,. . .
Essay

Cemex and the Right to Organize: Three Theories of the Case

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The NLRB’s recent Cemex decision should discourage employers from resisting unionization and therefore make it easier for workers to gain bargaining rights. But how should we understand the basis of this decision? Brishen Rogers considers the case from three theoretical perspectives: the liberal legalist, the progressive functionalist, and the low-key. . .
Essay

In Defense of Theoretical Pluralism

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Sam Moyn has recently suggested that the LPE movement should embrace an underlying account of what law does — and by extension, an account of capitalism and the state. But no single theoretical perspective, however self-consistent and well fortified, can match the complexity of our world. If we are to acknowledge this reality without falling into social-theoretic. . .
Essay

RICO and Stop Cop City: The Long War Against the Left

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In the case against the Stop Cop City activists, the state alleges a criminal conspiracy among people who have distributed flyers, coordinated a bail fund, and performed legal observation of protests. These charges are outlandish and represent a terrifying abuse of state power, but they are hardly novel. As the case of Ray Luc Levasseur shows, RICO has. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: September 8, 2023

By LPE Editors

Samuel Moyn theorizes about the need for theory, Greg Baltz and Shakeer Rahman question whether tenant unions should look to labor law for inspiration, and Maryam Jamshidi explains how terrorism torts could challenge Israeli settler violence. Plus, Veena Dubal on Glacier Northwest, Tim Barker on The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order, Sandeep Vaheesan. . .
Essay

How Terrorism Torts Could Challenge Israeli Settler Violence

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Since the early 1990s, the United States has created a scheme of laws allowing private parties to sue individuals, organizations, and foreign countries for acts of terrorism in U.S. courts. While these laws have primarily been used to target and harass Palestinians, the recent spate of violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank presents a potential if. . .
Essay

Why Should Tenant Unions Look to Labor Law?

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With tenant organizing on the rise across the United States, legal scholars have been drawn to the idea that tenant unions, backed by the right legislative framework, could serve a function akin to labor unions. But labor and tenancy serve different functions for capitalism. Housing is a commodity that tenants consume rather than produce, so tenants would. . .
Essay

Does LPE Need Theory?

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Are we liberals or low-key Marxists? What is our theory of the “capitalism” that we so often attack? And above all, how do we understand the role of law in the making and unmaking of social order? Sam Moyn kicks off a new year at the Blog by asking whether the Law and Political Economy movement needs deeper theoretical foundations than it. . .
Announcement

That Summer Feeling

By LPE Editors

Before the Blog goes on our August hiatus, we say farewell to Angela Harris, Sanjukta Paul, Caroline Parker, and Ann Sarnak. We also welcome Veena Dubal, Aziz Rana, and Karen Tani to our editorial board, and Kate Yoon to our editorial staff. Plus, to tide you over until September, we count down the top ten most read posts of 2023.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: July 27, 2023

By LPE Editors

Shanta Trivedi, Jane Spinak, Tina Lee, and Kelley Fong conclude our symposium on Torn Apart and Prosecuting Poverty. Plus, David Dayen on the importance of power-building for successful industrial policy and Megan Stack on how Starbucks is wantonly violating labor law.
Symposium

The Maternal Control Complex

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In carefully chronicling the history, logic, and operations of the child welfare system and Tennessee’s fetal assault law, Dorothy Roberts and Wendy Bach give us accounts not of singular systems, but of something much more wide-ranging: an almost suffocating network of authorities surrounding marginalized mothers.
Symposium

The Deep Roots Linking Help and Punishment

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Throughout America’s history, the deep-seated idea that poverty is fundamentally a moral failing on the part of the poor has shaped social welfare policies and practices. If they could run their lives properly, the logic goes, they would not be poor in the first place. Accordingly, poor and non-white folks cannot be trusted to care for their children,. . .

LPE Masthead

Managing Editor James Brandt Editoral Board Amna Akbar Corinne Blalock Veena Dubal Luke Herrine Amy Kapczynski Caroline Parker Aziz Rana Kate Redburn Karen Tani Noah Zatz Student Editors Liz Brown Chloe Miller Sohum Pal Elliot Setzer Eve Zelickson
Student Editor Emeriti Sam Aber Ashraf Ahmed Will Bloom Adam H. Bradlow Matthew Buck Brett Davidson Isabel Echarte Tariq El-Gabalawy Berto Elysee Molly Gordon Jeff Gordon Ruthie Lazenby Talya Lockman-Fine Andrew Miller Roxana Moussavian Lydia Nicholson