

Richard Schragger
Sep 27, 20214 min read
Why Doesn't Virginia Have Home Rule?
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Virginia Constitution, which replaced the Jim Crow constitution of 1902. Last week, the...
davidschleicher
Sep 17, 20215 min read
The Beginning of the End of the Progressive Era in State Constitutional Law?
For the last 100 years or so, many state constitutions have included provisions that create alternatives to representative and political...
Maureen E. Brady
Sep 15, 202110 min read
Confederate Monuments and Local Government Law
On September 8, 2021, the commonwealth of Virginia finally removed its sixty-one-foot-tall statue of Robert E. Lee. For more than 130...


Matthew Lawrence
Sep 14, 20217 min read
In Defense of Sticky Waivers: Executive Entrenchment and the “Other” Texas Case
In health policy, education, and other areas with a major federal presence, the viability of state reforms depends not just on federal...
Sarah Fox
Sep 14, 20215 min read
Planning for Climate Change? Plan for Climate Change Gentrification, Too.
The last month in the United States has offered a preview of life in a changing climate. The hurricane-induced flooding and power...

Justin Weinstein-Tull
Sep 14, 20213 min read
Should We Revive the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations?
Hello readers - I am thrilled to be a contributor to this blog, and thrilled that the blog is in the hands of such capable editors. I...


Sara Bronin
Sep 13, 20215 min read
Houston: Still Zoning’s Last Frontier?
My hometown of Houston has the dubious distinction of being the only large American city without a zoning code. Not everyone thinks this...


Nestor Davidson
Sep 13, 20217 min read
The War on Cities & Localism All the Way Up: Conversation Between Rich Schragger & Richard Briffault
Throughout their careers, my colleagues Rich Schragger and Richard Briffault have explored the many ways in which localism is not simply...
Michael Morley
Sep 11, 20214 min read
Voting for State and Local Government
The federal government is comprised of millions of officers and employees working in hundreds of departments, agencies, commissions,...


davidschleicher
Sep 10, 20214 min read
Weekend Reading
A new post full of fun things to read this weekend in the realm of state and local government law 1. City-wide effects of new housing...
davidschleicher
Sep 9, 20214 min read
Exclusionary Zoning’s Confused Defenders
I have a new paper out. Here’s the abstract (with a little more commentary below) Abstract In both economic and legal scholarship, a...


Sheila R. Foster
Sep 9, 20215 min read
Local Governments Lead on Climate Change Measures
Last week’s tropical storm Ida was another stark reminder of the realities of climate change and how vulnerable our infrastructure is to...


Sarah L. Swan
Sep 7, 20214 min read
The Many Public Disorders of Florida’s HB1
At the end of the legislative session in Florida this past spring, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law the now infamous HB1 bill. HB1,...
Kellen Zale
Sep 6, 20214 min read
Preemption by Executive Order
Although one might hope that during a global pandemic, governments would be united against the common enemy of a deadly virus, the...
Nestor Davidson
Sep 6, 20214 min read
Can People in Cities Govern Directly? Not Sure, but I’m Skeptical States Should Decide
If you live in Seattle, or have visited lately, as I did last May, it is hard to ignore the depth of the crisis of the unhoused that the...
davidschleicher
Sep 3, 20214 min read
New Paper Friday
In what I hope will be a regular feature, I want to highlight a few papers and articles in state and local government law that I’ve read...
daniel.rodriguez
Sep 1, 20214 min read
Here is where Localism meets Federalism
My comrades have written great posts celebrating the value of a renewed focus on the state and the local and have made, in their own...
Miriam Seifter
Sep 1, 20213 min read
Bringing the States Into the Spotlight
I’m excited for this launch and hope it spurs new attention to state-level governance. In my view, our collective lack of attention to...
Sheila R. Foster
Sep 1, 20214 min read
Cities Are Where Most of Us Live, But Can Mayors Really Rule the World? Why We Should Be Optimistic
I could not be more excited about helping to bring this blog to life with this amazing group of scholars. For those of us who are...

Nestor Davidson
Sep 1, 20214 min read
How about we replace first-year con law with state and local?
Recently, local-government-law maven Kathleen Morris made the case that to enhance civic engagement in our era of great city innovation...
Meryl Chertoff
Sep 1, 20211 min read
Coming up!
Next week: we will have features on the California recall election’s constitutionality, Sarah Swan on Gainesville’s lawsuit against...
davidschleicher
Sep 1, 20215 min read
What Is This Blog? Are States and Local Governments Democracies? Those and Other Animating Questions
Given the great people involved, I would be excited and proud to be a part of this new venture no matter when it started. But I am...