Ilya Somin is a Professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. Professor Somin joins Geoff to discuss the newly published paper, The Constitutional Case Against Exclusionary Zoning, that he co-authored with Joshua Braver.
Links:
Zoning paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4728312
What’s the big deal about exclusionary zoning and what does it have to do with the overarching Yeoman theme? Glad you asked! Geoff answered that question in this thread: https://x.com/geoffreydgraham/status/1758588734323241217
Ilya’s complete bio: https://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/fulltime/somin_ilya
Ilya on X: https://x.com/IlyaSomin
Other things that came up:
The Anti-oligarchy Constitution: https://anti-oligarchy.com/
Emily Hamilton’s work on Houston: https://www.mercatus.org/research/policy-briefs/learning-houstons-townhouse-reforms
Edward Glazer’s work on zoning and affordability: https://www.nber.org/papers/w8835
Pacific Legal Foundation: https://pacificlegal.org/
Institute for Justice: https://ij.org/
Timestamps
0:00 – intro
0:56 – exclusionary zoning and its unconstitutionality, effects of zoning, the 5A takings clause, restrictions on private property
5:51 – quantifying the burden of zoning
8:51 – direct infrastructure cost of spreading out people
10:54 – different perspectives converging: living constitutionalism, originalism, and the anti-oligarchy tradition
16:02 – small property owners vs large developers
18:16 – Euclid case’s intentions to prevent poor people from moving to better areas
20:10 – exclusionary zoning and keeping out “undesirables”
23:02 – private property and zoning
30:02 – “Wouldn’t it be great if our children could live here?”
31:41 – Houston case study and how it relates to zoning, how its worked with respect to housing prices
39:34 – when does something become a “taking”? Building codes, permits, inspections?
47:23 – who would be the ideal plaintiff for this?
50:04 – what organizations would support this litigation?
53:59 – deference, Penn Central test, per se takings
1:02:52 – zoning that pre-existed your acquisition of the property
1:04:53 – would Euclid be settled the same today?
1:07:25 – conclusion
Yeoman 