If you are like us, today's kind of a slow day work-wise. Relax, watch a holiday movie, take it easy.
Us, we're reading. Not totally frivolous, mind you. A couple of scholarly pieces we've been meaning to take a look at for a while. We recommend you do so also. Maybe not today (we understand if you want to take it really easy), but soon.
- First, for you takings mavens: Molly Brady's "The Domino Effect in State Takings Law: A Response to 51 Imperfect Solutions," which suggests that "takings law has often been marked by uniformity, rather than state-level variation and innovation—uniformity driven, in part, by the force of other states' rules. This domino effect is the consequence of both specific features of takings doctrine and organic borrowing." Professor Brady then offers "some tentative thoughts on why property and takings law have tended to yield homogeneity and eliminate ingenuity in this way, even in the absence of definitive federal pronouncements about some of the thorniest puzzles within takings doctrine."
- Second, for you state-and-local-government types, Richard Schragger and C. Alex Retzloff's "The Failure of Home Rule Reform in Virginia: Race, Localism, and the Constitution of 1971" - "Virginia remains one of a minority of states that does not constitutionally enshrine some form of home rule for its cities or other local governments. This Essay, written for a volume commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of Virginia’s 1971 constitution, considers why."
We hope Santa brought you all you asked for.
