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Philip Hamburger

Philip Hamburger

Chief Executive Officer


Philip Hamburger is a scholar of constitutional law and its history at Columbia Law School. He received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Before coming to Columbia, he was the John P. Wilson Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. He also taught at George Washington University Law School, Northwestern Law School, University of Virginia Law School, and the University of Connecticut Law School. Professor Hamburger’s contributions are unrivaled by any U.S. legal scholar in driving the national conversations on the First Amendment and the separation of church and state and on administrative power. His work on administrative power has been celebrated by organizations like the Manhattan Institute and the Bradley Foundation, among others.

The Stakes for Speech of Trump’s Civil Verdict

By: Philip Hamburger December 12, 2024
New York state bluntly informed President-elect Trump’s lawyers this week that it won’t agree to vacate the massive civil fraud judgment against him and his family. Although the state’s intransigence surely disappoints Mr. Trump and his family, it isn’t altogether regrettable. The case can now proceed, which means it will clarify our freedom of speech.…
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Big Government’s License to Kill Space Travel

By: Philip Hamburger October 4, 2024
Something strange is intercepting our trajectory into space. The obstacle isn’t space debris, old satellites, or meteors. Rather, it’s licensing. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet granted a license for the launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship, and even the Fish and Wildlife Service is still evaluating whether to permit it. Licensing is thus…
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Overturning Chevron Is a Major Victory

By: Philip Hamburger September 19, 2024
How important is the decision issued in June by the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and its companion case, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce? The Claremont Institute’s Theo Wold observes that this victory against the administrative state is merely “incremental.” Although valuable, “it will not remake the administrative state or solve the post-New Deal power imbalance in the federal government.”…
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