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Professor Ilya Somin from George Mason University emigrated as a refugee from the former Soviet Union to the United States with his parents in 1979. The family was assisted in this move by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and were resettled in Westport, Connecticut. The Somin family eventually settled in Lexington, Massachusetts. After some difficulty with assimilation to the United States, Professor Somin found an appreciation for debate and eventually attended Amherst College, Harvard University (M.A. in political science) and Yale University (law).

Professor Somin is now one of the preeminent scholars in constitutional law. He also focuses his research on property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. Professor Somin is published in numerous scholarly journals, consistently interviewed by major media and his writings have been widely cited to by numerous courts including the U.S. Supreme Court.

He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, revised and expanded second edition, 2016), and The Grasping Hand: “Kelo v. City of New London” and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015, rev. paperback ed., 2016). Professor Somin is the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute.

In this episode he discusses his childhood as a new immigrant and the opportunities provided to him and his family in their new country. He talks about journey from not being able to speak or read English to becoming one of the top constitutional law experts in the country. The discussion also delves into some of the constitutional crises the U.S. currently faces.