The Volokh Conspiracy

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent

Politics

Cato Institute Is Hiring A Research Fellow in the Center for Constitutional Studies

|

The Cato Institute is looking to hire a research fellow in the Center for Constitutional Studies. (I am an adjunct scholar at Cato, an unpaid position.) Here is the description:

Cato's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies is ground zero-for cutting-edge constitutional advocacy. Whether your passion is vindicating individual rights like free speech, self-defense, and occupational freedom; dumping Chevron deference; ending the immoral and ineffective war on drugs; or confining the federal government to its enumerated powers—you'll find outlets for it here. Do you hate government-empowering nonsense doctrines like qualified immunity, aggregation, and rational basis review? So do we. But don't just complain about overweening government—do something about it by joining our dedicated team of constitutional avengers. . . .

As a Research Fellow in Cato's Center for Constitutional Studies, you will work to thwart Leviathan by spending every waking minute devising creative ways to prevent government officials from exercising powers they do not lawfully possess and riding roughshod over constitutionally protected rights. (Just kidding—we sometimes break for meals and happy hours.) The bread-and-butter work of a Research Fellow in the CCS includes writing Supreme Court amicus briefs, writing amicus briefs for other courts, and writing blog posts, op-eds, and impassioned Twitter threads about those amicus briefs; devising and executing strategic plans for minimizing government, maximizing liberty, and generally making life difficult for freedom-stealing bureaucrats; and educating policymakers, the public, and whoever happens to be sitting next to you on a plane about the virtues of liberty, limited government, and a properly engaged judiciary.

Things you will not do as a Research Fellow include filling out timesheets; anything involving discovery; exchanging vituperative emails with opposing counsel over fripperies; and flying cross-country for a ten-minute status conference.

This is a perfect position for someone 5-7 years out of law school, with a commitment to constitutional law and classical liberal values. If this is you, apply!