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Weekly Roundup: July 30, 2021

At the Blog We hosted the second and final part of our symposium on Courts and Capitalism, which is part of the Democracy Beyond Neoliberalism conference: Joey Fishkin wrote about the long history of the Supreme Court’s opposition to democracy, drawing on his forthcoming book The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution. Judge Lynn Adelman wrote about judges’ role…. . .

Labor Bargaining and the “Common Good”

In recent years, unions have experimented with a strategy of “bargaining for the common good”. But, as we have seen with teachers unions and school opening in the pandemic, unions and the general public do not always agree on what the “public good” is. What follows?

On Judging Cases in the Context of Crisis

I thank the Law and Political Economy Project for inviting me to participate in this blog symposium on capitalism and the courts. I begin by stating the obvious: that we live in a capitalist economic system and a political system that aspires to being democratic. There is clearly considerable tension between these systems. Most capitalists…

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Weekly Roundup: July 23, 2021

At the Blog We started a symposium on Courts and Capitalism, carried over from the Democracy Beyond Neoliberalism conference. Kathryn Sabbeth initiated the proceedings with a detailed meditation on the many points at which our system of litigation privileges the development of rich people’s law and underdevelops poor people’s law. Matthew Dimick. . .

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Weekly Roundup: July 16, 2021

On Monday, Christopher Ali argued that the history of rural electrification has more radical things to teach us about expanding access to rural broadband than is commonly assumed. On Tuesday, Erika Wilson compared the reproduction of school segregation–and “white island districts” in particular–to monopolization of an essential facility,. . .

Coalminers and Coordination Rights

In the two decades before the Hepburn Act’s enactment, two entities vied for the right to coordinate the price and distribution of coal. The first—a group known as the Joint Conference of Miners and Operators of the Central Competitive Field—was the child of the United Mine Workers.The second—a group of coal-hauling railroads known as the Seaboard Coal. . .

School Segregation, Social Closure, and the Anti-Monopoly Analogy

In my new article, Monopolizing Whiteness, I examine the causes and consequences of “white island districts,” i.e. those that enroll predominantly white and affluent student bodies, despite being in racially and economically diverse metropolitan areas. I theorize that white student segregation in districts like GPSD is a product of (what sociologists refer. . .