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The Law and Political Economy Project

Federal Labor Unions Strengthen the Administrative State

Many unitary executive proponents argue that federal labor rights undermine presidential power. This position is simplistic and short-sighted: labor rights offer the executive a different, more valuable form of power – expanded state capacity – that is necessary for modern presidents to deliver on their political priorities. And they so do in a manner that is more democratically accountable than any of the likely alternatives.

How Anti-Trans Attacks Forge the Anti-Social State

The Trump Administration’s anti-trans policies should be seen as central, rather than peripheral, to the creation of what Melinda Cooper has called “an anti-social state” — a state that would abandon every duty to serve its citizens and residents, whose sole purpose would be to amplify presidential executive power.

Fossil Capital’s Regulatory Havens in the Caribean

Offshore jurisdictions don’t just hide wealth — they enable the climate crisis by shielding the fossil fuel industry from taxes, environmental regulation, and political accountability. The Caribbean’s role as a hub for regulatory havens underscores the deep entanglement between colonial extraction, global capitalism, and environmental degradation.

Eight Legal Experts on Trump’s Assault on Higher Education

Recent executive orders have targeted federal grant funding, trans students, non-citizen students, DEI efforts, and pro-Palestinian activism. Eight legal experts explain what these orders purport to require, analyze what they actually require, and assess how colleges and universities ought to respond.

The New Carceral Public Health Law

According to recent judicial decisions, the state can criminalize homelessness, ban abortion, and restrict gender-affirming care, all in the name of public health, yet it cannot mandate vaccines nor pause evictions. How should we understand this asymmetry, and how might we realign public health jurisprudence with the pursuit of equality?

How to Use Endowments to Protect University Missions

If endowments are fundamentally creatures of restriction, they are also in smaller measure creatures of interpretation and discretion. Universities should use what flexibility they do have to stand up for their programs, employees, and students – for the core constituents in a mission-driven environment – in this time of unprecedented assault.

Offshore Financial Law as Freedom-Promoting?

In mainstream American discourse, offshore financial centers are generally regarded as transnational dens of iniquity, where wealthy individuals conceal their assets and attempt to evade taxation. Yet in some post-colonial jurisdictions, offshore financial law has also played an important role in promoting economic independence.

Weekly Roundup: Feb 14

Luke Herrine on writing down our dreams during a living nightmare, Allison Tait on the not-so-secret lives of trusts, and Ezra Rosser on how antipoverty advocates can go on the offensive. Plus, an upcoming event with Umut Özsu and Sam Moyn, a new paper by Brian Highsmith, Maya Sen, and Kathy Thelen, a new piece by Marshall Steinbaum about the longstanding Democratic reluctance to declare war on inequality, and an open letter to students of the Third Reconstruction.