Timothy Sandefur

Timothy Sandefur

tmsandefur@gmail.com

Website: http://www.pacificlegal.org

Timothy Sandefur is a Principal Attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, where he is the lead attorney in the Foundation’s Economic Liberty Project, devoted to promoting constitutional protection for the freedom of business owners and entrepreneurs. He also litigates against the abuse of eminent domain, having defended property owners in courts across the country, and blogs regularly on the Foundation's PLF Liberty Blog. He is the author of two books, Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America (Cato Institute, 2006) and The Right to Earn A Living: Economic Freedom And The Law (Cato Institute, 2010), as well as some 40 scholarly articles on subjects ranging from eminent domain and economic liberty to copyright, evolution and creationism, and the legal issues of slavery and the Civil War. His articles have appeared in National Review, Liberty, The Claremont Review of Books, Forbes Online, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Times, and other places. He is an adjunct professor of law at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Sandefur is a graduate of Chapman University School of Law and Hillsdale College.

Timothy Sandefur

Timothy Sandefur is a Principal Attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, where he is the lead attorney in the Foundation’s Economic Liberty Project, devoted to promoting constitutional protection for the freedom of business owners and entrepreneurs. He also litigates against the abuse of eminent domain, having defended property owners in courts across the country, and blogs regularly on the Foundation’s PLF Liberty Blog. He is the author of two books, Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America (Cato Institute, 2006) and The Right to Earn A Living: Economic Freedom And The Law (Cato Institute, 2010), as well as some 40 scholarly articles on subjects ranging from eminent domain and economic liberty to copyright, evolution and creationism, and the legal issues of slavery and the Civil War. His articles have appeared in National Review, Liberty, The Claremont Review of Books, Forbes Online, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Times, and other places. He is an adjunct professor of law at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Sandefur is a graduate of Chapman University School of Law and Hillsdale College.

Recent Posts:

Rosen: pay no attention to the Constitution behind the curtain!

In an article for The New Republic, Jeffrey Rosen writes that the recent decision in the Hettinga case has “unmasked” the continuing machinations of Rosen’s “Constitution in Exile” conspiracy. I say his conspiracy because in Rosen’s eyes, the widening circle of lawyers, judges, and law professors who are drawing attention to the many shortcomings of the [...]

President Obama’s Clash With The Courts

I spoke this morning with Armstrong & Getty about President Obama’s comments about the judiciary’s power to strike down laws as unconstitutional. You can listen here. I think the whole thing is a tempest in a teapot. No doubt President Obama was wrong to say that his health care overhaul was “passed by a strong [...]

Previewing the Obamacare cases

In the run-up to the oral arguments in the Obamacare cases, I have a series of posts over at PLF Liberty Blog explaining the issues involved. The first installments are listed below; the rest are coming between now and the arguments, which begin a week from today. What to look for in the Obamacare arguments [...]

The due process debate continues

The discussion over my article, In Defense of Substantive Due Process, is continuing at Cato Unbound. Prof. Gary Lawson has posted his response here, and now the general discussion is beginning. I responded to David Bernstein’s questions this morning, and I’ll have some further thoughts soon. Please join the discussion! Update: Is my position true [...]

PLF Urges Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare

In its final brief in the Obamacare saga, PLF has joined forces with several other pro-freedom groups in challenging the constitutionality of the Individual Mandate provision of Obamacare. This is our eleventh brief challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. You can read it here. In it, we argue that the Mandate exceeds Congress’ constitutional authority to [...]

What is due process of law?

The February issue of Cato Unbound focuses on substantive due process. The opening essay, by me, is adapted from my article, In Defense of Substantive Due Process. Responses will be coming soon from Professors Gary Lawson, Lawrence Rosenthal, and Ryan Williams.

Happy birthday, Sir Edward Coke!

The greatest lawyer in the Anglo-American common law tradition would have been 460 today, had he lived.

Unions and speech: the First Amendment requires opt-in, not opt-out

When it comes to free speech rights, the Supreme Court typically applies the rule of “strict scrutiny,” which holds that a government restriction on free speech is presumed unconstitutional, until the government proves otherwise. The reason is that, given the importance of freedom of speech, courts should “not presume acquiescence in the loss of fundamental [...]

The absence of state constitutional history

K.C. Johnson has an insightful blog post on the collapse of serious American history scholarship, due in large part to the influence of politically correct fads in the academy. Johnson notes that the recent Montana Supreme Court decision regarding campaign finance restrictions relied heavily on scholarship about Montana history, yet the court cited nothing published [...]

Defending the right to earn a living in Missouri

Today Pacific Legal Foundation filed this motion in the case of St. Louis entrepreneur Michael Munie, asking the court to strike down a Missouri state law that essentially forbids anyone from going into the moving business without first getting permission from the existing moving companies. To be more precise, it’s illegal to run a moving [...]

Recent Comments: