Teddy Roosevelt and the Marquette Libel Trial

Mikel B. Classen, Teddy Roosevelt and the Marquette Libel Trial (History Press, 2015).

"On the same day Theodore Roosevelt narrowly survived an assassination attempt, his press secretary handed him a newspaper editorial from the Iron Ore, a small-town daily located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Its publisher, George Newett, had printed, Roosevelt lies and curses in a most disgusting way; he gets drunk, too, and that not infrequently, and all his intimates know about it. Tired of having his boisterous personality equated with intoxication, Roosevelt angrily shouted, Let's go at him! and the paper was formally charged with a suit of libel. As the case convened, a cadre of admirals, statesmen and fellow explorers descended on Marquette to testify to T.R.'s unimpeachable personal character in the biggest libel trial of the early twentieth century." 
—Publisher's description

The Grasping Hand: "Kelo v. City of New London" and the Limits of Eminent Domain

Ilya Somin (George Mason University School of Law). The Grasping Hand: "Kelo v. City of New London" and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015).


"In this detailed study of one of the most controversial Supreme Court cases in modern times, Ilya Somin argues that Kelo was a grave error. Economic development and 'blight' condemnations are unconstitutional under both originalist and most 'living constitution' theories of legal interpretation. They also victimize the poor and the politically weak for the benefit of powerful interest groups and often destroy more economic value than they create. Kelo itself exemplifies these patterns. The residents targeted for condemnation lacked the influence needed to combat the formidable government and corporate interests arrayed against them. Moreover, the city’s poorly conceived development plan ultimately failed: the condemned land lies empty to this day, occupied only by feral cats. The Supreme Court’s unpopular ruling triggered an unprecedented political reaction, with forty-five states passing new laws intended to limit the use of eminent domain. But many of the new laws impose few or no genuine constraints on takings. The Kelo backlash led to significant progress, but not nearly as much as it may have seemed." 
—Publisher's description 

The Death of the Income Tax: A Progressive Consumption Tax and the Path to Fiscal Reform

Daniel S. Goldberg (University of Maryland). The Death of the Income Tax: A Progressive Consumption Tax and the Path to Fiscal Reform (Oxford University Press, 2015).

"The Death of the Income Tax explains how the current income tax is needlessly complex, contains perverse incentives against saving and investment, fails to use modern technology to ease compliance and collection burdens, and is subject to micromanaging and mismanaging by Congress. Daniel Goldberg proposes that the solution to the problems of the current income tax is completely replacing it with a progressive consumption tax collected electronically at the point of sale." 
—Publisher's description