If any of you follow the Supreme Court you will have undoubtedly come across a Josh Blackman post about some SCOTUS development. The man is simply a writing machine. He blogs daily. He publishes law reviews like some publish blog posts. He teaches at Penn State Law School. He is the President and Co-Founder of The Harlan Institute , a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness of the Constitution in High School students. And he created FantasySCOTUS where people predict how the Court will rule on cases for a given term.
I thought it would be interesting to see what this young, entrepren-eurial lawyer is up to, so I asked Josh to do a little Q&A with the CockleBur.
Shon: So, professionally, what is on the horizon for Josh Blackman?
Josh: Lots. Professionally, I am wrapping up a two-year clerkship for a U.S. District Court Judge in Pennsylvania. I am also a Teaching Fellow at the Penn State Law School. In August I will begin a clerkship in the Sixth Circuit. This summer, I will also apply to the Law School hiring market, seeking a full-time teaching position for the 2012 school year.
Personally, lots more. My blog is thriving, as I close in on 2,000 blog posts and 300,000 total visits in about two years of blogging. The Harlan Institute is gearing up for the 2012 school year, and we are in the process of developing some cool content to help students learn about our Constitution. As always, we are always looking for people to help out Harlan, both with their time and financially. FantasySCOTUS.net has about 10,000 players, who are generating extremely accurate predictions. We are working closely with WestLaw to help integrate TWEN and FantasySCOTUS. Never a dull day.
Shon: I hear that the Harlan Institute is planning a theme park. Is this true?
Josh: Maybe. The Harlan Institute sponsored “Constitution Land” theme park was a April Fools’ joke. Though, after chatting with some colleagues, such a theme park may be in the Harlan Institute’s future. I would still love to take a spin on the Originalist Time Machine
Shon: So what SCOTUS cases yet to be decided this term really intrigue you?
Josh: I’ll admit, this term is somewhat boring in comparison with last term. With Justice Stevens’ retirement, McDonald v. Chicago, Comstock, PCAOB, the honest service cases, the JLWOP cases,I was hooked. This term, Schwarzenneger v. EMA is cool, though it will probably fall along similar lines as Stevens last year. Flores-Villar presents an interesting intersection between gender discrimination and immigration policy. Arizona Christian Tuition v. Winn, decided two weeks ago, was very interesting, as it presented the first sharp 5-4 opinion with Justice Kagan in dissent. Hopefully the cert grants for next year will be more interesting.
Shon: What are the chances that the Court takes up another Second Amendment case next year?
Josh: One case in particular may wind its way up to One First Street, but probably not next year. The City of Chicago, after McDonald, imposed a regulation that says in order to obtain a license to keep a firearm at home (forget about carrying outside the home), a person must obtain a certain number of hours of firearm training at a firing range. The only problem is that Chicago does not permit the construction of any firearm ranges in city limits. I listened to oral arguments at the 7th Circuit for that case, and it looks like the Court will reverse the lower court, which denied a preliminary injunction. Though, the District Court will have to hear the case on the merits, so that case is likely a couple years away from Supreme Court review. Even then, until a circuit split develops, I’m not sure how willing the Court will be to wade into the Second Amendment again.
Shon: Moving back to your work, is there any particular legal topic that you are planning to cover with your next law review piece?
Josh: I just placed my 9th published law review article in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. The Constitutionality of Social Cost compares the social costs of exercising the 2nd Amendment with other rights, such as Miranda, the exclusionary rule, and others. I also recently co-authored a piece on the accuracy of FantasySCOTUS, titled FantasySCOTUS: Crowdsourcing a Prediction Market for the Supreme Court. This essay explores the wisdom of the crowds, and compares FantasySCOTUS accuracy to the Supreme Court Forecasting Project. I have a number of other pieces in various stages of development.
Shon: Thanks Josh
Thanks Shon, and good luck to you in law school next year. Congrats on all the success for the CockleBur. It is really an up-and-coming blog.