Josh Blackman
Politics
Dec 11, 2025

“Brazenly Partisan” Judges Scrutinize Trump’s Mind, But Refuse To Explain Themselves

Josh Blackman investigates how, when it comes to rooting out judicial misconduct, federal judges hide behind a veil of ignorance.

Michael Toth
Constitutionalism
Dec 10, 2025

Obamacare Should No Longer be SCOTUScare

Whatever one makes of the Supreme Court’s “why bother” attitude to its prior statutory rulings, Republican leaders in Congress should accept the invitation to provide a legal fix to Obamacare.

Gregory M. Collins
Politics
Dec 10, 2025

What Did the Godfather of Conservatism Think about the Jewish People?

Gregory M. Collins examines the origins of conservatism’s engagement with the Jewish people in Edmund Burke's political philosophy.

The Significance of “Getting Cheaper” Efficiency

The Significance of “Getting Cheaper” Efficiency

Michael Munger
Pursuit of Happiness
Dec 10, 2025
Inflation Killed The Penny

Inflation Killed The Penny

Jonathan Hartley
Politics
Dec 9, 2025
Upending American Immigration

Upending American Immigration

Richard Epstein
Politics
Dec 9, 2025
Pursuit of Happiness
November 14, 2025

The Happy Warrior Remaking Higher Education - Will Inboden

Will and Peter discuss how higher education got into a rut, how universities can lead us out of it, the point of Shakespeare, and how to build lifelong friendships.

Supreme Court showdown exposes shaky case against birthright citizenship
Supreme Court showdown exposes shaky case against birthright citizenship

Supreme Court will hear challenges to Trump's order ending birthright citizenship, testing the 14th Amendment's guarantee for babies born in America.

Constitutionalism
Dec 10, 2025
How California is failing its Latino population

The current California regime has been a disaster for minorities.

Economic Dynamism
Dec 9, 2025
Why State Courts Should Not Set National Energy Policy

Judges are improperly turning courts into bastions of climate activism.

Constitutionalism
Dec 8, 2025
Misunderstanding Originalism

Creating a constitutional morality is beyond the judicial power.

Constitutionalism
Dec 2, 2025
The Rise of Latino America

In The Rise of Latino America, Hernandez & Kotkin argue that Latinos, who are projected to become America’s largest ethnic group, are a dynamic force shaping the nation’s demographic, economic, and cultural future. Far from being a marginalized group defined by oppression, Latinos are integral to America’s story. They drive economic growth, cultural evolution, and workforce vitality. Challenges, however, including poverty, educational disparities, and restrictive policies, threaten their upward mobility. Policymakers who wish to harness Latino potential to ensure national prosperity and resilience should adopt policies that prioritize affordability, safety, and economic opportunity over ideological constraints.

Joel Kotkin, Jennifer Hernandez, Wendell Cox, Marshall Toplansky, Erika Ozuna
Pursuit of Happiness
Nov 10, 2025
The Rise of the Artisan Economy

Small businesses provide the human element necessary for the market to survive.

Economic Dynamism
Oct 29, 2025
What’s Wrong with a Military Campaign Against the Drug Trade

Trump’s boat strikes against the cartels risk crossing the line between law enforcement and war.

John Yoo
Constitutionalism
Sep 24, 2025
Ignore 'Open Letters' From Economists

Don’t be swayed by “open” letters signed by well-known and well-respected scholars, experts, professors, and businessmen.

Charity-Joy Acchiardo, Dirk Mateer & Brian O'Roark
Economic Dynamism
Sep 23, 2025
How California is failing its Latino population
How California is failing its Latino population

The current California regime has been a disaster for minorities.

Economic Dynamism
Dec 9, 2025
The Rise of the Artisan Economy

Small businesses provide the human element necessary for the market to survive.

Economic Dynamism
Oct 29, 2025
Ignore 'Open Letters' From Economists

Don’t be swayed by “open” letters signed by well-known and well-respected scholars, experts, professors, and businessmen.

Charity-Joy Acchiardo, Dirk Mateer & Brian O'Roark
Economic Dynamism
Sep 23, 2025
Demystifying the New Deal

Carola Binder reviews False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933–1947 by George Selgin

Carola Binder
Economic Dynamism
Sep 5, 2025
Why Is California Losing Good Jobs to Other States? It’s Not Rocket Science

The system that made California dynamic and prosperous for so long is now broken and backward-looking

Joel Kotkin
Economic Dynamism
Sep 4, 2025
Do We Still Really Need the Bureau of Labor Statistics?

It is time for the monthly story of the labor market to be told more clearly, and more reliably, through data from other sources.

G. Dirk Mateer
Economic Dynamism
Aug 27, 2025
The Causal Effect of News on Inflation Expectations

This paper studies the response of household inflation expectations to television news coverage of inflation.

Carola Binder, Pascal Frank, Jane M. Ryngaert
Economic Dynamism
Aug 22, 2025
Can Tariffs Replace Income Taxes?

We need to deal in reality instead of wishful thinking.

Richard M. Reinsch II
Economic Dynamism
Aug 22, 2025
Decadent Ideology, Decaying Fraternity
Decadent Ideology, Decaying Fraternity

Richard Reinsch reviews Prosperity and Torment in France by Chantal Delsol.

Richard M. Reinsch II
Politics
Sep 4, 2025
Climate Lawyers Try a New Approach

Heatstroke killed Julie Leon on a 108-degree day. A lawsuit blames oil companies.

Michael Toth
Politics
Aug 11, 2025
Reading the New Conservatives

Richard Reinsch reviews The New Conservatives by Oren Cass.

Richard M. Reinsch II
Politics
Jul 31, 2025
The Specter of Chaos in New York

Could a Mayor Mamdani keep the city safe during Luigi Mangione’s trial?

Michael Toth
Politics
Jul 30, 2025
Under Zohran Mamdani, the Jewish Exodus from New York Is Likely to Accelerate

The city is already undergoing a demographic sea-change. The Democrat’s hipster socialism is a rejection of everything that made it great

Joel Kotkin
Politics
Jul 8, 2025
Waning American Pride Threatens the Republic

Political polarisation has reached fever pitch, with each side increasingly viewing the other not as opponents but as enemies.

Joel Kotkin
Politics
Jul 7, 2025
Trump’s Iran Ceasefire Depends on American Oil

Trump has found his own formula — based largely on America’s tech savvy and energy abundance — to intimidate enemies and control friends.

Joel Kotkin
Politics
Jun 24, 2025
Getting Right with Buckley

Sam Tanenhaus’s long-awaited William F. Buckley Jr. biography will leave conservatives disappointed.

Richard M. Reinsch II
Politics
Jun 19, 2025
Supreme Court showdown exposes shaky case against birthright citizenship
Supreme Court showdown exposes shaky case against birthright citizenship

Supreme Court will hear challenges to Trump's order ending birthright citizenship, testing the 14th Amendment's guarantee for babies born in America.

Constitutionalism
Dec 10, 2025
Why State Courts Should Not Set National Energy Policy

Judges are improperly turning courts into bastions of climate activism.

Constitutionalism
Dec 8, 2025
Misunderstanding Originalism

Creating a constitutional morality is beyond the judicial power.

Constitutionalism
Dec 2, 2025
What’s Wrong with a Military Campaign Against the Drug Trade

Trump’s boat strikes against the cartels risk crossing the line between law enforcement and war.

John Yoo
Constitutionalism
Sep 24, 2025
Amicus Brief: Hon. William P. Barr and Hon. Michael B. Mukasey in Support of Petitioners

Former AGs Barr and Mukasey Cite Civitas in a SCOTUS Brief

Michael Toth
Constitutionalism
Sep 22, 2025
The Long History of Presidential Discretion

The Framers did not expect Congress to preauthorize every use of force or to manage military campaigns.

John Yoo
Constitutionalism
Sep 19, 2025
Rational Judicial Review: Constitutions as Power-sharing Agreements, Secession, and the Problem of Dred Scott

Judicial review and originalism serve as valuable commitment mechanisms to enforce future compliance with a political bargain.

John Yoo
Constitutionalism
Sep 15, 2025
Amicus Brief: Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish

Civitas Research Fellow Michael Toth's work was cited in a Supreme Court brief.‍

Michael Toth
Constitutionalism
Sep 11, 2025
The Rise of Latino America
The Rise of Latino America

In The Rise of Latino America, Hernandez & Kotkin argue that Latinos, who are projected to become America’s largest ethnic group, are a dynamic force shaping the nation’s demographic, economic, and cultural future. Far from being a marginalized group defined by oppression, Latinos are integral to America’s story. They drive economic growth, cultural evolution, and workforce vitality. Challenges, however, including poverty, educational disparities, and restrictive policies, threaten their upward mobility. Policymakers who wish to harness Latino potential to ensure national prosperity and resilience should adopt policies that prioritize affordability, safety, and economic opportunity over ideological constraints.

Joel Kotkin, Jennifer Hernandez, Wendell Cox, Marshall Toplansky, Erika Ozuna
Pursuit of Happiness
Nov 10, 2025
Revival: Americans Heading Back to the Hinterlands

Smaller communities throughout the country are poised to play an outsize role in forging our future.

Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox
Pursuit of Happiness
Sep 19, 2025
Exodus: Affordability Crisis Sends Americans Packing From Big Cities

The first in a two-part series about the Great Dispersion of Americans across the country.

Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox
Pursuit of Happiness
Sep 9, 2025
Stanford’s Graduate Student Union Tries to Stifle Dissent

The university may fire me because I won’t pay dues to a labor organization whose views I find repugnant.

Jonathan Hartley
Pursuit of Happiness
Aug 29, 2025
The 529 Education Revolution Is Here

Tax-free accounts have become more powerful, but some states are resisting.

Michael Toth, Dan Lips
Pursuit of Happiness
Aug 28, 2025
The Next Californias

Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have adopted many of the policies contributing to the Golden State’s decline.

Joel Kotkin
Pursuit of Happiness
Aug 25, 2025
The Moral Collapse on Campus Is a Result of the Hollowing Out of the Humanities

Mending a civic and intellectual catastrophe.

Alexander Duff
Pursuit of Happiness
Aug 18, 2025
YIMBYs Are Killing off the Family Home

Forcing everyone to live in high rise apartments isn’t solving the housing crisis. Quite the opposite.

Joel Kotkin
Pursuit of Happiness
Aug 6, 2025
No items found.
No items found.
Who we are

We are a community of scholars exploring the ideas and institutions that create flourishing societies.

The Civitas Institute is part of the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin.

Independent thought, civil discourse, reasoned deliberation and intellectual curiosity are central to our ethos.

Learn more
Join the newsletter

Get the Civitas Outlook daily digest, plus new research and events.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
The latest from

Civitas Outlook

View all

“Brazenly Partisan” Judges Scrutinize Trump’s Mind, But Refuse To Explain Themselves

Josh Blackman investigates how, when it comes to rooting out judicial misconduct, federal judges hide behind a veil of ignorance.

Josh Blackman
Politics
Dec 11, 2025

Obamacare Should No Longer be SCOTUScare

Whatever one makes of the Supreme Court’s “why bother” attitude to its prior statutory rulings, Republican leaders in Congress should accept the invitation to provide a legal fix to Obamacare.

Michael Toth
Constitutionalism
Dec 10, 2025

What Did the Godfather of Conservatism Think about the Jewish People?

Gregory M. Collins examines the origins of conservatism’s engagement with the Jewish people in Edmund Burke's political philosophy.

Gregory M. Collins
Politics
Dec 10, 2025

The Significance of “Getting Cheaper” Efficiency

Potter seeks to answer the following question that microeconomists and academics alike reject: How do processes get more efficient?

Michael Munger
Pursuit of Happiness
Dec 10, 2025

Inflation Killed The Penny

The penny's loss demonstrates that America has tolerated half a century of inflation while excusing it as mere supply disruption.

Jonathan Hartley
Politics
Dec 9, 2025

Epstein: Executive Power & Authoritarianism

Constitutionalism
Sep 17, 2025
44:10

Epstein: Tim Kaine’s Misunderstanding of Natural Rights

Constitutionalism
Sep 15, 2025
15:49

Does America Have a Balance of Power Problem?

Constitutionalism
53:57

Kotkin: Non-Aligned Nations Navigating a Multipolar World

Politics
Aug 19, 2025
47:01

Why Postliberalism Is Gaining Ground: Phillip Muñoz on America’s Founding Values

Constitutionalism
Aug 7, 2025
1:23:20

The Libertarian

The inimitable Richard Epstein offers his unique perspective on national developments in public policy and the law.

View all
** items

Law Talk

Welcome to Law Talk with Richard Epstein and John Yoo. Our show is hosted by Charles C. W. Cooke.

View all
** items

Peter Robinson Unbridled

A new show and podcast bringing the energy of Austin to wide-ranging conversations on politics, economics, education, and culture.

View all
** items

The Three Whiskey Happy Hour

Steven Hayward brings you the Power Line Blog's perspective on the week's big headlines.

View all
** items
Upcoming events

Powering the Future: Climate, Innovation, and the AI Energy Surge

In-person Event
Feb 5, 2026
View all
No items found.