Building on a meme that originated with Bryan Caplan and Richard Hanania.
Prominent economist Bryan Caplan and political commentator Richard Hanania have launched a “Sixteen Fun Facts About Me” meme across their respective blogs/substacks. Below is my own entry (presented roughly in chronological order):
1. I was born in the Soviet Union as it existed at the time. During infancy and early childhood I spent a great deal of time in hospitals because of various illnesses. On one occasion, a nurse asked my mother whether I was her only child. She replied in the affirmative. “That’s a pity,” the nurse remarked, with the typical blunt Soviet bedside manner, “because this one probably won’t live.” In the end, the nurse’s prediction was incorrect, and I survived.
2. I did not learn to read in either English or Russian until I was eight, likely due to a combination of low motivation and possible undiagnosed dyslexia. Once I finally picked up reading, I immediately gravitated toward adult literature rather than children’s books. My daughter Lydia—likely the family member most like me—did not learn to read until age nine, a consequence of a diagnosed dyslexia. We spent countless hours drilling sight words to overcome it. When Lydia did learn to read, the first book she tackled on her own was the classic science fiction novel Ender’s Game, intended for adult readers.
3. I grew up near Boston and have been an avid supporter of Boston sports since my early teens. The first team I followed closely was the 1982-83 Boston Bruins, who had the best record in the NHL but fell short in the conference finals (I’m still irritated about that). My favorite player was Rick “Nifty” Middleton, who led the team in goals. In hindsight, the most exceptional player on the roster was Ray Bourque, who would later be regarded as one of the era’s top defensemen and arguably the second-greatest Bruin after Bobby Orr.
4. Throughout middle and high school, I frequently worked as a babysitter. I would not claim I did it to challenge gender stereotypes (back then, most babysitters were female); rather, I found babysitting less burdensome and unpleasant than mowing lawns and performing yard work. A five-year-old I looked after once told me he obeyed me more than his parents did. When I asked why, he replied, “Because when you tell me to do something, I know you really mean it.” Years later, as a parent myself, I came to understand why it can be hard to truly mean it when disciplining your own children.
5. My first official paid job was at the Lexington, Massachusetts public library when I was fifteen, where I held the rather grand-sounding title of “Assistant Librarian.” The real work, however, involved stacking and reshelving books. I often found myself reading the books instead of stacking them, which eventually wore on my supervisor. He finally told me I had to quit or be fired. I chose to resign so I could spend more time with my family.
6. My most significant extracurricular in high school was the debate team. While preparing for a tournament, we contemplated contacting Harvard philosophy professor John Rawls (who lived in Lexington) for guidance on an argument we were crafting. My teammate Anjan Mukherjee (who would later become a prominent financier) suggested that I should call Rawls, noting that I and the philosopher had a lot in common. The notion of a world-famous political thinker sharing common ground with a high school sophomore struck us as ridiculous, yet I called Rawls. He generously spent half an hour answering my questions. We didn’t gain anything useful for the tournament (Rawls hadn’t thought about our issue). Still, the tale grew into a minor legend in the debate world, and I recount it with more detail in my 2010 immigration memoir (pp. 25-26).
7. That same year, I embraced libertarianism after reading Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Nozick was Rawls’ principal critic). Unlike many young libertarians of my generation and the one before, Ayn Rand didn’t influence me much, though I do respect her achievements as one of the greatest-ever popularizers of libertarian ideas (which she didn’t see herself as representing!).
8. The first girl I fell in love with was someone I debated against in high school. Our chances were slim from the start, partly because she was two years older, a notable gap at that age. Yet we stayed in touch in the years that followed.
9. If my life had unfolded differently (notably if I had been born in the United States instead of the Soviet Union), I could see myself becoming a left-liberal or, less plausibly, even a socialist. But I doubt I could ever be a social conservative or a nationalist. I am too skeptical of authority and tradition to embrace social conservatism, and nationalism—whose irrational and anti-intellectual tendencies I find deeply repugnant—remains intolerable to me. I reject both socialism and nationalism, recognizing that socialism has a higher toll of victims, including the single greatest mass atrocity in world history. Yet the aversion to nationalism feels more immediate and visceral to me. Notably, my favorite among my nonacademic publications is probably The Case Against Nationalism (coauthored with Alex Nowrasteh).
10. The summer after my first year at Amherst College, I interned at the Cato Institute, where I served as a research assistant to the legendary economist Julian Simon, renowned for The Ultimate Resource. Simon’s brilliance was extraordinary, but the internship itself was rocky—he wasn’t always clear about what he wanted, and I hadn’t done enough to clarify matters. There’s plenty of blame to share! In later years I vowed to be clearer with my own RAs. Cato graciously tolerated the rough start, elevating me to adjunct scholar in 2008 and eventually naming me the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies in 2022, in addition to my ongoing role as a law professor at George Mason University.
11. If I enjoyed math and were proficient at it, I might have become an economist. Unfortunately, I’m not skilled at math and I detest doing it. Consequently, I enrolled in political science graduate school at Harvard. I ultimately chose to pursue a joint degree with Yale Law School, aiming to become a law professor. I selected this path because 1) the market for law professors seemed somewhat less competitive than for political science, and 2) the gender balance in poli sci grad programs skewed toward men, which I thought would improve my chances of finding a partner in law school. When students ask about my career choices, I tell them that the second consideration was not a sound criterion for selecting a graduate program—and that dates can be found outside the classroom if necessary.
12. After my first year of law school, I worked as a student law clerk at the Institute for Justice, a major public-interest law firm. One case I worked on was CRDA v. Banin, in which Donald Trump exercised eminent domain to force an elderly woman from her home to make way for a casino parking lot. The court ultimately invalidated the taking because it did not satisfy the constitution’s requirement of a “public use.” This experience sparked an interest in constitutional property rights, which later became a central focus of my scholarly research agenda.
13. In fall 1998 I interviewed for summer associate positions at several New York and Washington, DC law firms. One interviewer who came to Yale that year was future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He recommended inviting me for a “call back” interview in DC. Yet I did not receive the summer offer. Typically, candidates who got a callback were virtually assured of a summer slot. I emailed Kavanaugh to ask what went wrong. He replied that he would have liked to hire me, but the partners at the firm said “no” because they believed I was too likely to leave for academia. The partners weren’t wrong!
14. I met my future wife, Alison, at an Institute for Humane Studies event in 2008 (we had both previously been IHS fellows). Our courtship benefited from the fact that she was a regular reader of the Volokh Conspiracy blog and already knew who I was. Her favorite among my blog posts was The Case for Paying Dead Farmers Not to Farm Instead of Living Ones. I still oppose farm subsidies, especially those designed to cut output rather than support actual farmers. But supporters can argue they help bloggers find spouses and thus boost birth rates!
15. I have long been a fan of science fiction and fantasy, and I maintain a substantial body of publications and blog posts exploring the politics of those genres. This passion has not significantly advanced my academic career, but it did earn me a speaking invitation to Australia. This year I will serve as the presenter and keynote speaker at the Libertarian Futurist Society’s annual Prometheus Award ceremony.
16. After establishing a career in academia, I did not anticipate engaging in major litigation. The old saying—that those who cannot do, teach—seemed to apply. Yet the legal challenge that overturned Trump’s expansive IEEPA tariffs began with a February 2025 blog post I wrote. Jeff Schwab of the Liberty Justice Center contacted me, and we ultimately agreed I would collaborate on a case built around the ideas I laid out. I followed up with a second post seeking clients. One of my former students read the post and showed it to his uncle, Victor Schwartz, a wine importer whose business suffered under the tariffs. Victor’s firm, V.O.S. Selections, became our lead plaintiff. After nearly a year of litigation and two favorable lower-court rulings, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in our favor. We were joined by renowned Supreme Court litigators Michael McConnell and Neal Katyal, with Katyal delivering the oral argument. Yet the process started with that initial blog post.
