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Pepperdine Caruso
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  • Kevin R Johnson

    Madhavi Sunder — U.S. News: Measuring What Matters in Legal Education?

    Madhavi Sunder looks critically at the U.S. News and Review law school rankings in this piece. Here is an abstract:

    “The most influential ranking system for law schools — the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings report — does not consistently measure what matters most in legal education: excellent and impactful scholarship and teaching focused on society’s most pressing challenges; access and opportunity for all students; and a commitment to service. Worse still, U.S. News metrics often undermine many of these values and create perverse incentives to abandon some altogether.

    Until metrics more fully account for the plural values at stake in legal education, schools chasing rankings will continue to be the tail wagging the dog. Little effort has been made to elaborate mission-aligned metrics. This Essay takes up this task.”

    Food for thought.

  • Sloan Speck

    SSRN Review & Roundup: Saito Reviews Gordon’s Tax and the Law of Market Cycles

    This week, Blaine Saito (Ohio State) reviews Jeff Gordon (Vanderbilt), Tax and the Law of Market Cycles (July 28, 2026).

    One of the major goals of economic policy is to allow for economic growth while limiting certain volatility. Since the 2008 financial crisis, finance has increasingly recognized that risk has to be viewed at the macro level: when many firms take the same action at once, individually tolerable risks become systemic. Furthermore, macroeconomic policy has also sought to tame business cycles. But when looking at other markets, like commodities or shipping, policymakers have done little to tame such volatility, and what they have done is often far from optimal. In Tax and the Law of Market Cycles, Jeff Gordon proposes an elegant solution to tame these markets, using taxation. When prices of many of these commodities rise and overinvestment occurs, tax would operate as a circuit breaker. And when prices fall and firms become distressed, tax flips to provide a subsidy.

    Gordon outlines the basic idea of a market cycle. In markets, such as commodities, prices secularly rise over the long term, which seems normal. But when one zooms in, one sees jagged ups and downs. When prices go up within a period of time faster than the trend, new investment floods in. That leads to a supply glut, causing a downswing or crash. Those who may have invested then lose their proverbial shirts. Gordon calls this the investment instability hypothesis, deliberately echoing Hyman Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis: stable, profitable conditions are exactly what breed the overconfidence that undoes them. The underlying mechanism is the century-old “cobweb model.” When today’s supply is set by yesterday’s price and a lag separates the investment decision from new supply hitting the market, prices and quantities can chase each other into ever-widening swings instead of settling down. This dynamic shows up most sharply where lags are long, markets are competitive, and the product feeds other economic activity rather than sitting on a store shelf. Key examples are primary commodities like hogs and oil, key services like shipping, or commodity-like products like polysilicon for solar panels or commercial real estate.

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  • Jeremy Paul

    Book of the Week

    Oxford University Press announces the publication of the second volume of Constitutional Democracy in Crisis edited by our colleagues, Mark Graber (Maryland), Mark Tushnet (Harvard), Sanford Levinson (Texas), and Antonia Barragia (University of Milan). You can find the table of contents here. It’s a star-studded line-up addressing the crucial issues of our time. A must read.

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  • Jeremy Paul

    Worst of the Worst????

    The International Academy of Trial Lawyers has condemned statements by James Percival, Department of Homeland Security General Counsel, which single out for criticism federal district judges who have ruled against the Administration. He has a posted “worst of the worst” list of judges, parodying lists already created to vilify violent criminals. Such flagrant attacks on the rule of law from people in senior posts are antithetical to the values of the legal academy. I hope more people in our community with join the IATL and some courageous federal judges in making clear that Percival’s words are unacceptable.

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  • Kevin R Johnson

    Justice Department Accuses Duke Law School of Racial Discrimination in Admissions

    Christine Charonsky for Law.com (subscription required) reports that

    “The DOJ alleges Duke Law deliberately used race in admissions for its 2023–2025 entering classes.
    Investigators claim Duke Law used diversity-focused essays and application `tags’ to produce admissions advantages for Black and Hispanic applicants.
    The DOJ is seeking a voluntary compliance agreement, while Duke says it is reviewing the findings and remains committed to following the law.”

    Finya Swai on The Hill also offers details about the Justice Department investigation into Duke University School of Law. “In a findings letter released [yesterday], the department’s Civil Rights Division said Duke Law took racial diversity into consideration when admitting students to its 2023, 2024 and 2025 classes, violating the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that severely limited the use of race in college admissions.” Here are the findings and proposed resolution:

    “Findings
    The Department finds that after [ the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard (SFFA) (2023)], Duke Law discriminated against other applicants to benefit applicants of preferred race classes (black and Hispanic). This discrimination is apparent from the documents expressing an intent to discriminate, plus the significant disparity in objective academic metrics between black and Hispanic applicants compared with applicants from other racial categories. Duke Law’s internal documents, including policies, and communications confirm the Department’s findings that Duke Law intended to discriminate against all racial groups except black and Hispanic applicants, to accept more black and Hispanic applicants. As a result of these practices, highly qualified white, Asian, and other students were denied admission on the basis of their race.

    For these reasons, the Department concludes that Duke Law discriminated on the basis of race for the incoming classes of2023 through 2025, in violation of Title VI as interpreted by SFFA. Based on its review of Duke Law’s documents and data, the Department believes that this discrimination is ongoing.

    Resolution
    Having determined that Duke Law deliberately discriminated on the basis of race in its decisions to admit and deny applicants, the Department seeks to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with the University to ensure that admissions practices are brought into legal compliance.”


  • Jeremy Paul

    Moot Court Rankings

    The National Jurist has published a ranking of the moot court programs at various law schools. You can find it here.

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  • Shuyi Oei

    Zac Brown Band Fenway Park Free Cruise Giveaway

    I’m just going to leave this here without comment. (Tax profs looking for fresh hypos for your Federal Income Tax classes, please enjoy…)

    Ben Zimmoneau, Free cruise from Zac Brown comes with hundreds in expenses (WCVB, Aug 4, 2026)

    Zac Brown surprised 37,000 fans at a sold-out Fenway Park concert Sunday night by announcing what he called the biggest giveaway in live entertainment history: a free cruise for two for every attendee.

    But those who claim the prize will likely face hundreds of dollars in fees and expenses….

    The band valued the giveaway at $40 million, or slightly more than $1,000 per cruise. However, the initial announcement provided few additional details about the trips….

    Although the cruise fare is complimentary, fans must pay the associated taxes and fees on the fare and also cover gratuities. It’s also a good idea for cruisers to arrive at their departure city one day early to account for any flight delays, but that means fronting the cost of an overnight hotel stay.

    Sometimes big prizes can come with big income tax consequences, but that shouldn’t be the case here. A cruise line spokesperson said recipients will not receive a Form 1099 because its value is below the IRS prize reporting threshold for 2026 of $2,000. However, the spokesperson cautioned that guests should confirm that with their individual tax professional.

    Fans who claimed the giveaway must book their cruises by Oct. 31 with travel completed by Oct. 30, 2027.

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  • Jeremy Paul

    Never Too Late for Law School

    This story about Libby Downey, an 88 year-old woman who is enrolled in law school at Monterey College of Law was just too heartwarming to ignore. She’s starting with a master’s in legal studies but then …. ? Ms. Downey, you are an inspiration to us all.

  • Shuyi Oei

    WSJ: Missouri Voters Defeat Measure to Abolish Income Tax

    Jeanne Whalen, Missouri Voters Defeat Measure to Abolish Income Tax (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 5, 2026)

    Missouri residents overwhelmingly defeated a ballot measure that would have allowed lawmakers to eliminate the state income tax and replace it with higher sales taxes, breaking with other Republican-led states that have slashed income taxes.

    The lopsided vote against the Republican-backed measure—83.3% opposed versus 16.7% in favor—came after heavy messaging from Missouri Democrats that a sales-tax increase would hit the working class hardest while delivering a big tax break to the wealthy.

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  • Jeremy Paul

    Changes at the Top

    Long time Harvard Law School, Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin, who now leads the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is leaving Cambridge for the sunny confines of Palo Alto, where she will become Dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. Story is here.

    Also this week, Brown University’s 19th President, Christina Paxson announced that the 2026-27 year, her 15th, would be her last one leading the distinguished institution. She is the longest serving President at an Ivy League University. The NYTimes story is here. Brown will launch a national search for her successor.

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