The Volokh Conspiracy ( ) is a
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
co-founded in 2002 by law professor
Eugene Volokh
Eugene Volokh (; born February 29, 1968 as Yevhen Volodymyrovych Volokh ( uk, Євге́н Володимирович Волох)) is an American legal scholar known for his scholarship in American constitutional law and libertarianism as well as ...
, covering legal and political issues from an ideological orientation it describes as "generally
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
,
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
,
centrist
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...
, or some mixture of these." It is one of the most widely read and cited legal blogs in the United States. The blog is written by
legal scholars
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and provides discussion on complex
court decisions.
Its name is a joking reference to
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's claim in 1998 of a "
vast right-wing conspiracy
"Vast right-wing conspiracy" is a phrase popularized by a 1995 memo by political opposition researcher Chris Lehane and then referenced in 1998 by the then First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, in defense of her husband, Presiden ...
" she believed was persecuting her and husband President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
.
In January 2014, ''The Volokh Conspiracy'' migrated to ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'',
with Volokh retaining full editorial control over its content. After June 2014, the blog was behind a
paywall
A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...
.
In 2017, the blog moved to ''
Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
.'' Volokh cited his principal reason for the move was to “be freely available to the broadest range of readers” and to have more
editorial independence.
Background
The Volokh Conspiracy was founded in April 2002 by Eugene Volokh, a
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
expert and
Soviet Jewish refugee. After being offered a guest-blogging gig on
InstaPundit
Instapundit is a blog maintained by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee.
History and characteristics
InstaPundit was launched in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. After the Sep ...
, Volokh decided to start his own blog in order to quickly disseminate his views in real time to a popular audience. Volokh, a professional
computer programmer
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
, built the site himself and invited his brother, Sasha, then a graduate student, to join him. The blog was initially called The Volokh Brothers and then changed to The Volokh Conspiracy, in reference to
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's claim of a "
vast right-wing conspiracy
"Vast right-wing conspiracy" is a phrase popularized by a 1995 memo by political opposition researcher Chris Lehane and then referenced in 1998 by the then First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, in defense of her husband, Presiden ...
."
Volokh recruited other contributors through a "closely guarded selection process."
The blog is written by
legal scholars
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
[Andy Guess]
"Blogs and Wikis and 3D, Oh My!"
''Inside Higher Ed
''Inside Higher Ed'' is a media company and online publication that provides news, opinion, resources, events and jobs focused on college and university topics. In 2022, Quad Partners, a private equity firm, sold Inside Higher Education to Time ...
'', May 9, 2008. and provides discussion on complex
court decisions.
Affordable Care Act
![Eugene Volokh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Eugene_Volokh.jpg)
The Volokh Conspiracy, among other blogs, played an important role in influencing the view of Americans against the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...
(ACA). Many of The Volokh Conspiracy's postings were picked up by journalists and integrated into
traditional media outlets. Subsequently, The Volokh Conspiracy impacted the questioning and opinions of judges and Supreme Court justices. Law professor
Andrew Koppelman wrote that the blog was the "most important incubator" for
constitutional challenges to the ACA.
According to legal scholar
Dick Howard, The Volokh Conspiracy "provided a forum for conservative legal scholars to develop arguments against the
individual mandate
An individual mandate is a requirement by law for certain persons to purchase or otherwise obtain a good or service.
United States Militia act
The Militia Acts of 1792, based on the Constitution's militia clause (in addition to its affirmative ...
, helping to break down the perception of expert consensus on the constitutional issues in play."
Additionally, authors of the blog were influential behind the ''
National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius'' case where they were invited to submit an ''
amicus brief
An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...
'' which would be later referenced by Justice
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
at oral argument.
The blog was the originator of the "
broccoli horrible" argument against the ACA.
Some contributors of the blog—including
Randy Barnett
Randy Evan Barnett (born February 5, 1952) is an American legal scholar. He serves as the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and is the director of the Georg ...
,
Jonathan Adler
Jonathan Adler (born August 11, 1966 in Bridgeton New Jersey) is an American potter, interior decorator, and author. Adler launched his first ceramic collection in 1993 at Barneys New York. Five years later he expanded into home furnishings, ...
,
David Bernstein,
Orin Kerr
Orin Samuel Kerr (born June 2, 1971) is an American legal scholar and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law."Faculty , UC Berkeley School of Law"Orin Kerr faculty profile/ref> He is known as a scholar in the subjects of computer crim ...
,
David Kopel
David B. Kopel (born January 7, 1960) is an American author, attorney, gun rights advocate, and contributing editor to several publications.
As of August 2021, he is research director of the Independence Institute, associate policy analyst at ...
, and
Ilya Somin
Ilya Somin (born 1973) is a law professor at George Mason University, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a blogger for the Volokh Conspiracy, and a former co-editor of the '' Supreme Court Economic Review'' (2006–2013). His research focu ...
—
wrote about their experiences challenging the ACA in a book titled ''A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Affordable Care Act'' (2014). The book details the precursor to the challenges and provides the text of the actual blogs that helped influence legal battles against the ACA. In the foreword of the book, former
Solicitor General Paul Clement
Paul Drew Clement (born June 24, 1966) is an American lawyer who served as U.S. Solicitor General from 2004 to 2008 and is known for his advocacy before the U.S. Supreme Court. He established his own law firm, Clement & Murphy, in 2022 after le ...
, the lead attorney who contested the ACA, compared The Volokh Conspiracy to the
''Federalist Papers'' and wrote: "
ever a legal blog and a constitutional moment were meant for each other, it was the ''Volokh Conspiracy'' and the challenge to the Affordable Care Act."
Reception
The Volokh Conspiracy is one of the most widely read
and cited
legal blogs in the United States. It receives over 30,000 daily views. The blog's readership consists of scholars and policymakers across the
ideological spectrum.
The Volokh Conspiracy blog appeared in ''
ABA Journal
The ''ABA Journal'' (since 1984, formerly ''American Bar Association Journal'', 1915–1983, evolved from '' Annual Bulletin'', 1908–1914) is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It is no ...
''s "Blawg 100 Hall of Fame".
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...
professor
Jack Balkin
Jack M. Balkin (born August 13, 1956) is an American legal scholar. He is the Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School. Balkin is the founder and director of the Yale Information Society Project (ISP), a r ...
, founder of the liberal legal blog ''
Balkinization,'' stated that The Volokh Conspiracy "discusses law and public policy at a very sophisticated level...It’s an example of how blogging transcends existing categories and expectations." Legal scholar
Cass Sunstein
Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, law and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ...
wrote that the blog often provides "illuminating criticism" of the Supreme Court and found it filled with "civility, intelligence, and overall high quality," despite occasional
group polarization
In social psychology, group polarization refers to the tendency for a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members. These more extreme decisions are towards greater risk if individuals' initial tendenci ...
. Lawyer
Tom Goldstein
Thomas Che Goldstein (born 1970) is an American lawyer known for his advocacy before and blogging about the Supreme Court of the United States. He was a founding partner of Goldstein and Howe (now Goldstein & Russell), a Washington, D.C., firm s ...
, who co-founded
SCOTUSblog
''SCOTUSblog'' is a law blog written by lawyers, law professors, and law students about the Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes abbreviated "SCOTUS"). Formerly sponsored by Bloomberg Law, the site tracks cases before the Court from t ...
, asserts that The Volokh Conspiracy "remains the single best place to go for interesting, thought-provoking, high-level thinking on the law."
Adam Liptak
Adam Liptak (born September 2, 1960) is an American journalist, lawyer and instructor in law and journalism. He is the Supreme Court correspondent for '' The New York Times''.
Liptak has written for '' The New Yorker'', ''Vanity Fair'', '' Rolli ...
, Supreme Court correspondent for the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', wrote that the Volokh Conspiracy "is ''the'' most influential law blog with a point of view."
Andy Guess of ''
Inside Higher Ed
''Inside Higher Ed'' is a media company and online publication that provides news, opinion, resources, events and jobs focused on college and university topics. In 2022, Quad Partners, a private equity firm, sold Inside Higher Education to Time ...
'' wrote that the blog "probably has more influence in the field – and more direct impact – than most law reviews."
Law professor and blogger
Glenn Reynolds
Glenn Harlan Reynolds (born August 27, 1960) is Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and is known for his American politics blog, ''Instapundit''.
Authorship Instapundit blog
Reynolds ...
lists The Volokh Conspiracy as his favorite legal blog. Justice
Elena Kagan
Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 10, 2010, and has served since August 7, 2010. Kagan ...
is said to be a regular reader of the blog.
Fact-checkers like
PolitiFact
PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times'' ...
and
FactCheck.org
FactCheck.org is a nonprofit website that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in Politics of the United States, U.S. politics by providing original research on misinformation and hoaxes. It is a project of the Annenberg Public Po ...
have repeatedly cited The Volokh Conspiracy for legal analysis.
Contributors
Over twenty law professors from across the country contribute to The Volokh Conspiracy.
Notable contributors, past and present, include:
*
Eugene Volokh
Eugene Volokh (; born February 29, 1968 as Yevhen Volodymyrovych Volokh ( uk, Євге́н Володимирович Волох)) is an American legal scholar known for his scholarship in American constitutional law and libertarianism as well as ...
,
UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...
professor, one of its founders
* Alexander "Sasha" Volokh, professor of law at
Emory University School of Law
Emory University School of Law is the law school of Emory University and is part of the University's main campus in Druid Hills, Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1916 and was the first law school in Georgia to be granted membership in the Am ...
, brother of Eugene Volokh
*
Jonathan H. Adler
Jonathan H. Adler is an American legal commentator and law professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has been recognized as one of the most cited professors in the field of environmental law. His research is also credite ...
, professor of law at the
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Case Western Reserve University School of Law is one of eight schools at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association. It is a member of the Association of American ...
, who contributed under the pseudonym "Juan Non-Volokh" until May 1, 2006
*
Kenneth Anderson, professor of law at
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
*
Randy Barnett
Randy Evan Barnett (born February 5, 1952) is an American legal scholar. He serves as the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and is the director of the Georg ...
, professor of law at the
Georgetown University Law Center
The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...
*
David Bernstein, professor at the
George Mason University School of Law
The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., a ...
*
Josh Blackman
Joshua Michael Blackman is an American lawyer who is employed as an associate professor of law at the South Texas College of Law where he focuses on constitutional law and the intersection of law and technology. He has authored one book and co-au ...
, professor of law at the
South Texas College of Law
South Texas College of Law Houston (STCL or South Texas) is a private law school in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1923, it is accredited by the American Bar Association. South Texas College of Law Houston is the oldest law school in the city of ...
*
Dale Carpenter
Dale Carpenter (born December 27, 1966) is an American legal commentator and Professor of Law at the SMU Dedman School of Law. He formerly served as the Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law at the University of Minneso ...
, professor at the
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent Law ...
, and adjunct professor of law at
William Mitchell College of Law
William Mitchell College of Law was a private, independent law school located in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, from 1956 to 2015. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of ...
*
Paul Cassell, professor of law at the
S.J. Quinney College of Law at the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
*
Tyler Cowen
Tyler Cowen (; born January 21, 1962) is an American economist, columnist and blogger. He is a professor at George Mason University, where he holds the Holbert L. Harris chair in the economics department. He hosts the economics blog ''Marginal R ...
, professor of
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
at
George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
, and James Buchanan Center and
Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with ...
scholar
*
Clayton Cramer
Clayton E. Cramer is an American historian, author, gun enthusiast, and software engineer. He played an important early role in documenting errors in the book ''Arming America'' by Michael A. Bellesiles, a book that was later proven to be based o ...
, historian
*
Orin Kerr
Orin Samuel Kerr (born June 2, 1971) is an American legal scholar and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law."Faculty , UC Berkeley School of Law"Orin Kerr faculty profile/ref> He is known as a scholar in the subjects of computer crim ...
, professor of law at
UC Berkeley School of Law
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...
, formerly at
USC Gould School of Law
The USC Gould School of Law, located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 1896 and became affiliated w ...
*
Eugene Kontorovich
Eugene Kontorovich (born 1975) is a legal scholar, specializing in constitutional and international law.
Career
Kontorovich studied law at the University of Chicago. He later clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the U.S. Court of Appeals. In 2011 ...
,
Antonin Scalia Law School professor
*
David Kopel
David B. Kopel (born January 7, 1960) is an American author, attorney, gun rights advocate, and contributing editor to several publications.
As of August 2021, he is research director of the Independence Institute, associate policy analyst at ...
, research director of the
Independence Institute
The Independence Institute (II) is a libertarian think tank based in Denver, Colorado. The group's stated mission "is to empower individuals and to educate citizens, legislators and opinion makers about public policies that enhance personal and ...
and adjunct professor, University of Denver
Sturm College of Law
The Sturm College of Law ("Denver Law") is the professional graduate law school of the University of Denver. It is one of two law schools in the state of Colorado. Founded in 1892, the Sturm College of Law was one of the first in America's Mountai ...
*
Jim Lindgren, professor of law at
Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...
and director of their Demography of Diversity Project
*
Eric Posner
Eric Andrew Posner (; born December 5, 1965) is an American lawyer and legal scholar who has served as a counsel for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division since 2022. As a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, Posner has ...
, professor of law at the
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...
*
Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz
Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz (born November 28, 1970) is an American constitutional law scholar, professor, and Broadway producer. He writes and teaches in the fields of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and federal jurisdiction. He is t ...
, professor of law at the
Georgetown University Law Center
The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...
*
Ilya Somin
Ilya Somin (born 1973) is a law professor at George Mason University, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a blogger for the Volokh Conspiracy, and a former co-editor of the '' Supreme Court Economic Review'' (2006–2013). His research focu ...
, professor of law at
George Mason University School of Law
The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., a ...
*
Todd Zywicki
Todd Joseph Zywicki (born January 18, 1966) is an American lawyer, legal scholar and educator. He is a George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law, teaching in the areas of bankruptcy and contracts. ...
, professor of law at
George Mason University School of Law
The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., a ...
Articles are often posted by guest law professors who are not among the listed Conspirators.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Former website at ''The Washington Post''Original website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volokh Conspiracy, The
American legal websites
American political blogs
Libertarian organizations based in the United States
Internet properties established in 2002
2002 establishments in the United States
The Washington Post