1984 and Brave New World
Utopian Dystopias, Silicon Valley, and Authoritarians
EconomicsPsychology
Cass’s Substack.
Cass Sunstein on policy, law, behavioral economics, and public reasoning.
Recent essays
30 of 31On Understatement and Restraint
Hyperbole is THE WORST!
Norms Can Be More Powerful Than Law
New Data on Kids and Social Media
Narratives Move American Constitutional Law
Restoration, Redemption, Moral Growth, and Pragmatism
A Problem With the Debate Over "Viewpoint Diversity"
On Not Politicizing Everything
Politics and Culture
On Going Electric
Viewpoint Diversity
The University of Chicago Law School, 1980s: A Love Song
The 25th Amendment's Gatekeeper
The Vice President Runs the Show (Mostly)
The 25th Amendment
Part 1: A True Story
Two Moralities of Law
People Miss Them When They're Gone
Does AI Have Rights?
Do Dolphins Have Rights?
Are We All Dworkinians Now?
1 When I was at the University of Chicago Law School, Hans Zeisel, a beloved friend and colleague, would ask: “When you law professors argue, what on earth are you arguing about?” Zeisel was a sociologist and an empiricist, with a law school appointment.
Ostracism
"That Guy? He's A -----!"
On the Death of Jurgen Habermas
A Day to Mourn, A Hero to Celebrate
A Canticle for Leibowitz
On Unrecognized Truths and Lost Traditions
The Cost-Benefit State Is Not Flourishing
Alas Alas Alas
This Is the Best Substack Ever
By A Large Margin
The Major Questions Doctrine
A Trialogue on the Supreme Court
The Lawyerly Virtues
In Praise of Justices Kagan and Barrett
A Brisk Note on the Tariffs Case
Simpler than Meets the Eye
Originalism's Remarkable Triumph
On Justice Alito's Coming Book
Writers Who Aren't Boring
1 I was at a dinner party a few years ago, and the guest of honor was a well-known Irish writer.
The Endangerment Finding
Rescinded - But the Day Is Young
"There Is No Line"
Group Polarization, Echo Chambers, and Transgression
Does Liberalism Have An Aesthetic?
Who Is Liberalism's Riefenstahl?
Six Separations of Powers, Not One
What Madison Did Not Say (But Must Have Known)
Bacon Is Shakespeare!
When All Roads Lead to Rome
Minneapolis
A Note on What People Think They Know
Tribalism
What I Am Learning from the NFL Playoffs
Will the EPA Stop Considering Lives Saved?
A Preliminary Guide for the Perplexed