Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Ilya Somin's upcoming speaking engagements. Most are free and open to the public.

NA

I am putting up my list of upcoming speaking engagements earlier than usual, because several are upcoming even before the start of the Fall 2025 academic semester.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public—and in person. The listed times are those in the time zone where the event is being held.

I will likely add additional events and information to this post, as they are scheduled. In the meantime if your university, think tank, research institute or other similar organization would like to invite me to speak (either virtually or in person) on any topic within my expertise, I am open for business!

July 23, 12-1 PM, Society for the Rule of Law, Washington, DC (virtual event): "Trump's Tariffs and the Rule of Law." Panel on "Tariffs and the Rule of Law." Other participants are Andrew Morris (New Civil Liberties Alliance) and Gregg Nunziata (Society for the Rule of Law).  See here for link, where the event can be viewed live.

July 23, 6-7 PM, New Civil Liberties Alliance, Victims of Communism Museum and Memorial Foundation 900 15th St., NW, Washington, DC: "The Case for Nationwide Injunctions" (debate with Prof. Ronald Cass).

July 30, 1:30-2:30 PM, Pacific Legal Foundation, Arlington, VA (virtual event): "The Constitutional Case Against Trump's Trade War," panel on "Tariffs and the Constitution: Who Holds the Power?"  Other participants are Molly Nixon (Pacific Legal Foundation) and Rebecca Melsky  and Eva St. Clair (Princess Awesome). Links and registration available here.

Aug. 27, 3-4 PM, International Young Lawyers' Association Annual Conference,  Washington, DC: "Challenges to the Rule of Law in the United States," Panel on "The Rule of Law in a Changing World." The other panel participants are Meryl Chertoff (Georgetown University) and Anna Bower (Lawfare). Registration and other information on the conference, available here.

September (exact date/time TBD), Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico (virtual event): "The Constitutional Case Against Trump's Tariffs."

Sept. 5,  3:30 - 5 PM:  51st Annual Advanced Business Law Conference, Virginia State Bar, Williamsburg, VA: "The Trump Tariff Litigation," panel on "Beyond Our Borders: U.S. Business Impacts of Trade Regulation and Immigration Law Changes, Tariffs and Geopolitical Uncertainties." I believe attendance is limited to participants in the conference. Registration and other information on the conference available here.

Sept. 15, 3:10-4:30 PM, Seminar on Constitutional Crisis, University of Miami Law School, Miami, FL (virtual event): "Trump, Emergency Powers, and the Constitution." This event is only open to students enrolled in the relevant seminar.

Sept. 17, 3:15-4:45 PM, 2025 Education Law and Policy Conference, panel on "Federal Efforts to Combat Antisemitism: Restoring Campus Civil Rights or Infringing Academic Freedom?", Ritz-Carlton, 1150 22nd St NW Washington, DC: "How to Combat Anti-Semitism Without Destroying Freedom" (tentative title). Other panelists include Tyler Coward (FIRE), Kenneth Marcus (Brandeis Center), and Sarah Perry (Defending Education). Information about the conference and registration available here. Event co-sponsored by the Federalist Society and Defense of Freedom Institute.

Sept. 25, Time TBA, Institute for Policy Integrity, New York University School of Law, New York, NY: "Trump's Abuse of Emergency Powers" (tentative title), panel on emergency powers.

October 2, Time TBA, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Philadelphia, PA: "The Constitutional Case Against Trump's Tariffs." Sponsored by the UPenn Federalist Society.

October 22, 1:30-2:30 PM, Society for the Rule of Law, Washington, DC: "Constraining Emergency Powers," panel on "State of Emergency: Can Congress Still Check the Executive?" Other participants include Amanda Carpenter (Protect Democracy), former Rep. Barbara Comstock, and James Waller (Foundation for American Innovation). Schedule and other information available here.

Nov. 6, Time TBA, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis, MN: "The Case for Universal Injunctions," panel on universal injunctions and related remedies. Other participants will include Prof. Greg Sisk (Univ. of St. Thomas) and Prof. Monica Haymond (Northwestern).

Nov. 7, Time TBA, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis, MN: "The Constitutional Case Against Trump's Tariffs." This event may be limited to St. Thomas faculty and students.

Comments

[MaddogEngineer]

I remain confused (not really) why Somin blames Trump and not Congress for this. He continues to conflate policy preferences with legality.

[Sarcastr0]

Blame Congress for Trump acting like a mad king?

To make an analogy, maybe they should have locked up the China, but Trump's the one smashing everything.

Have you read his posts about these tariff's constitutionality - they're not policy arguments!
Hell, the statutory authority question is not slam dunk in Trump's favor either.

[Supremacy Claus]

It is a crying shame for a brilliant mind like Somin to be stuck in a narrow seat driivng or flying for many hours. Imagine the amicus briefs that are not getting written. Imagine the brilliant posts that we miss.

Travelling wastes the time of brilliant people. It is dangerous, expensive and irresponsible. It shoots thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing devastating storms. In addition, he may be targeted by Antifa and advocates of Hamas, being a Jew. The lawyer does not protect the victim of violence, especially in Jew hating Minneapolis. It works hard to disarm the Jews when they travel.

Somin should only participate in video conferences. These should be recorded and posted to 10 social media so the public may benefit.

Pointer for speakers on Tik Tok. We will need a zinger every minute. It is good speaker discipline to try to be clever, surprising, and gratifying every one minute. Do not drone on. Run the presentation through ChatGPT, ask it for a zinger every minute.

[MaddogEngineer]

Congress broadly delegating to the president. As I've observe here repeatedly, we have 50+ current (presidential) emergency declarations currently in force, some for years. Anybody getting the vapors about an emergency actually not being an emergency is not arguing in good faith. Orange Man Bad is an unprincipled argument. The correct response to a fear of someone like Trump is not to make such broad delegations in the first place. I did my part by also not voting for him. I didn't vote for Biden or Obama either, but they did similar things.

Which is why I said it is wrong to blame Trump and not Congress. It had 4 years to tighten up these tariff AND trade delegations. Anticipating any argument that Trump's novel use of this trade act to implement broader tariffs is the problem, I still say the correct response is to revoke it so no president can engage in such mischief.

Trying to argue that Trump is uniquely bad or wrong here, so a future Democrat president can retain such sweeping authority is exactly the belief I'm criticizing. That's probably not Somin's position here, but I suspect it yours.

[thesafesurfer]

Someday soon not one single tax dollar will fund such a political carnival.

[Kleppe]

Free? You couldn't pay me to listen to this pablum.

[Fusilier]

What surprised me is that in the hours and days after Trump's loss on tariffs at the Court of International Trade Ilya Somin was NOT INTERVIEWED on any of the major financial news networks including CNBC, MSNBC, CNN or Fox Business? I would have thought that CNBC and Fox Business would have been beating down doors to have Ilya explain the details of the case and what the loss meant going forward to Trump's tariff agenda. The fact that they didn't have Ilya on and that the legal "experts" they did have on all down played the impact of Trump’s loss means that they are happy to continue with Trump's aggressive tariff narrative, I guess!