Richard Epstein On Originalism

UPDATE: There's a better version of the video (below) here on the CATO site.

Here's a great video on Epstein's latest book, the Classical Liberal Constitution. At about 10:15 he gives a concise explanation of his stance on Originalism and why he is so obsessed with Roman law:

I think you could teach a whole semester on just this one talk. He hits on most of his major themes all without taking a breath.

Also, his latest Hoover article is a particularly good one: http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/163681

Here's a great example of how Epstein draws analogies to corporate rules to help interpret legal rules:

Indeed, the vital element in this clause is that it prohibits any transfer payment from one group of individuals to another, as those cannot serve the “general welfare of the United States.” To see why, take the analogous case where a corporate charter allows the Board of Directors to adopt only those measures that advance the general welfare of the corporation. Without question, the so-called business judgment rule insulates corporate officers and directors when they work in good faith to advance the welfare of the corporation, and thus all its shareholders, in transactions with third parties. But it is a per se violation of that rule for the directors to tax one subclass of shareholders in order to pay dividends to a second subclass. All transfer payments among shareholders clearly violate their duty to advance the welfare of shareholders as a group.

He links to this great diagram which I think complements his "law and geometry" stuff (discussed elsewhere).

As always, great stuff!

Richard Epstein On Animal Rights

The following are short clips from a 2006 interview by the folks at Gooseberry Productions in which Richard Epstein talks about animal rights. I'll see if they'll give us the full interview to post. :)

Respect For Anne Coulter

I don't know anything about Anne Coulter, but check out the video below at about 4:49. After listening to a clip of an interview with Richard Epstein, three educated adults completely misunderstood every word Epstein said, and Coulter gets it right and offers this endorsement:

"You should hang on every word by the genius Richard Richard Epstein. He knows everything about everything."

She's a polarizing figure for sure, but I'm glad she's on Team Epstein.

Props to Troy Senik

I don't know if the Law Talk or The Libertarian podcasts were his idea or if he was just selected to moderate them, but I'm grateful for the work Troy Senik does interviewing our man Richard Epstein. His interviews are always smart and frequently funny, and most importantly he steps back and lets The Man talk. Props to Troy!

David Friedman on Richard Epstein

David D. Friedman (Milton's son) talks about the difference between his brain and Richard Epstein's brain:

Thinking about it, it occurred to me that I had observed the same pattern in an entirely different context, the difference between how I think and how Richard Epstein, a friend and past colleague, thinks. I usually describe the difference as my thinking in series, Richard in parallel. It shows up when he is sketching the argument for some conclusion.
A implies B. B implies C. C ...

At which point I demonstrate that B doesn't really imply C, that there is a hole in the argument. That is no problem for Richard, who promptly points out that A also implies B', a somewhat different proposition than B, which implies C', from which he can eventually work his way back to D, or perhaps E or F, and so to the conclusion that the original line of argument was intended to establish. Pretty clearly, he is running a network of multiple lines of argument in his head and only has to find some set of links in the network that gets him where he is going. I am focusing on running a single line of argument. Hence parallel vs series.

It reminded me of a scene from Malcolm in the Middle in which the genius Malcolm describes the way his mind works as a nuclear chain reaction of thought, and another (even smarter) kid says his mind is like a bee hive in which all of the bees have brains like Malcolm's. It's hard to think of anyone as smart as David D. Friedman. Richard Epstein is truly a freak of nature.

The Classical Liberal Constitution by Richard Epstein

Happy Fourth of July! This latest Libertarian podcast with Richard Epstein offers some great reflections for this holiday:

Richard Epstein vs Dick Posner

Man, I am really falling behind on keeping this site up. I don't know why it is such a chore for me just to post links. Anyway, sorry for falling behind. If you're like me, you've wondered about the professional relationship of Epstein and Posner. The two share a lot of similarities.

Posner is undoubtedly the more famous and influential, and Epstein is undoubtedly the more talented and brilliant. But their interests and biographies share so many similarities that comparisons are inevitable. Well, now you can watch them duke it out on the issue of patent reform:

 

And Epstein talks some more about himself and Posner at the beginning of this great Law Talk episode: http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Under-Oath

Oh, and looks like there's a new episode of The Libertarian, too! I'll have to check this one out manana: http://0055d26.netsolhost.com/libertarian/20130508.mp3