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Ilya Shapiro

Ilya Shapiro is the director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute. Shapiro has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Series

3 Whisky Happy Hour1 episodeFederalist Radio Hour2 episodesHubwonk5 episodesThe Ricochet Podcast1 episode

Recent Episodes

The Ricochet Podcast
The Ricochet Podcast

Lawless Education

The pitiful state of university sociology departments is an unfortunate thing, but to see tantrums at elite law schools over "controversial" speakers portends danger — or so says Ilya Shapiro, author of Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites. He and the fellas discuss the illiberal takeover of higher education, most troublingly in the institutions that train the gatekeepers of our legal system. Plus, James, Charles, and Steve speculate on the midterms; see the potential for backfire from Virginia's redistricting referendum; smell controversy over the latest victory for the reefer movement; and begrudgingly admit the Americanness of gambling with top secrets.
Hosts:
Charles C. W. CookeJames LileksSteve Hayward
Organization
Ricochet

January 2024

Hubwonk
Hubwonk

Challenging Government Prerogatives: SCOTUS Reconsiders Deference to Executive Agencies

Joe Selvaggi engages in a conversation with legal scholar Ilya Shapiro from the Manhattan Institute regarding the Loper Bright Enterprises Supreme Court case that questions the Chevron Doctrine. This doctrine instructs judges to defer to government agencies in situations where laws are silent or unclear. Guest: Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. Previously he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and before that a vice president of the Cato Institute and director of Cato’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies. Shapiro is the author of Canceling Justice: The Illiberal Takeover of Legal Education (forthcoming 2024) and Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and Newsweek. Shapiro has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures and has filed more than 500 amicus curiae “friend of the court” briefs in the Supreme Court.
Host:
Joe Selvaggi

December 2022

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Ilya Shapiro on the Supreme Court

With the new Supreme Court term under way, and with several potential landmark oral arguments already in the can, I decided to catch up with Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, and author of Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court. It turns out that the kind of confirmation battles that have become famous ever since Robert Bork in 1987 are not entirely new. In addition to reviewing the main themes of his book, we talk about the recent controversy involving Ilya at Georgetown University's law school, which, to put it mildly, did not cover itself with glory in caving instantly to the woke mob. And we also review the most recent Supreme Court term and preview the new one just under way. In addition to Ilya's fine book, you can keep up with him regularly on his Substack channel, "Shapiro's Gavel." (In light of his ordeal at Georgetown, the fitting exit music this week is "After the Ordeal.")
Host:
Steve Hayward
Organization
Ricochet

July 2022

Hubwonk
Hubwonk

Supreme Court Shift: Interpreting Changes in Justices, Majorities, and Philosophies

This week on Hubwonk, host Joe Selvaggi talks with Ilya Shapiro, constitutional scholar, author, and senior fellow of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute, about the changing makeup of the court, and how this term’s most high-profile decisions reveal the judicial philosophies that comprise the current bench. Guest Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. Previously he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and before that a vice president of the Cato Institute, director of Cato’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Shapiro is the author of Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? Hobby Lobby, the Affordable Care Act, and the Constitution (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18).
Host:
Joe Selvaggi

April 2022

Hubwonk
Hubwonk

Ascending Justice: Where Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Will Fit in New Court

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with constitutional scholar Ilya Shapiro about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination hearings and what her background and responses reveal about her views on the Constitution, the role of the Supreme Court, and her likely judicial positions relative to her fellow justices. Guest: Ilya Shapiro is the Executive Director and lecturer of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Before coming to Georgetown, he was a vice president of the Cato Institute, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Before joining Cato, he was a special assistant/​adviser to the Multi‐​National Force in Iraq on rule‐​of‐​law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Shapiro is the author of Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? Hobby Lobby, the Affordable Care Act, and the Constitution (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008–18).
Host:
Joe Selvaggi

January 2022

Hubwonk
Hubwonk

Mandate’s Constitutional Collision: Court Offers Civics Lesson with Vaccine Rulings

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with Cato Institute Vice President Ilya Shapiro about the recent Supreme Court vaccine mandate rulings and what they tell us about the limits of executive branch power and the sitting justices’ views on the guidance of the U.S. Constitution. Guest: Ilya Shapiro is a vice president of the Cato Institute, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Before joining Cato, he was a special assistant/adviser to the MultiNational Force in Iraq on rule of law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Shapiro is the author of Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? Hobby Lobby, the Affordable Care Act, and the Constitution (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008–18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, regularly provides commentary for various media outlets, is a legal consultant to CBS News. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School (where he became a Tony Patiño Fellow).
Host:
Joe Selvaggi

September 2020

Federalist Radio Hour
Federalist Radio Hour

The History Of Contentious SCOTUS Fights And How A New Justice Transforms The Court

Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, and author of the timely new book, "Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court." With host Ben Domenech, Shapiro explains the history of contentious court fights and how they transitioned from an insulted political conflict into the public square. They also discuss Trump's potential nominees and how a new justice may cause specific areas of law to undergo a significant shift.
Host:
Ben Domenech
Organization
The Federalist

July 2020

Federalist Radio Hour
Federalist Radio Hour

Ilya Shapiro: Should Supreme Court Justices Rule Along Party Lines?

Ilya Shapiro joined host Ben Domenech to discuss the meaning and impact of recent Supreme Court decisions. Shapiro serves as the Director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, and he recently wrote a new book, "Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court." Shapiro observed that Chief Justice John Roberts is trying to push back against the idea that all Supreme Court justices must vote along their own party lines. Roberts thinks that by acting strategically, he is legitimizing the court in many people's eyes. Shapiro argued, however, this tactic has garnered little respect for Roberts.
Host:
Ben Domenech
Organization
The Federalist