Tax Prof Nancy Staudt (Northwestern) presented The Judicial Power of the Purse: How Courts Fund National Defense in Times of Crisis at Columbia yesterday as part of its Law and Economics Workshop Series. Here is the abstract:

This introduction to a forthcoming book (University of Chicago Press, 2011) briefly describes judges’ hidden purse powers along with a theory for how and why judges will utilize these powers to keep the nation safe in times of foreign policy crisis. Ultimately, the book-length project investigates the empirical implications of the theory with both qualitative and quantitative data and finds substantial support for the idea that judges use their financial powers differently in times of peace and in times of crisis.