Last week, in an article for the Huffington Post, titled Commencement 2.0, I discussed the need for higher education officials to begin substantive planning for digital disruption. The article argued that low-cost high quality online courses combined with sophisticated exam tools and online teaching assistance would inevitably lead...

Last week, Yale University released details associated with its forthcoming 312th commencement. For this upcoming event, Yale will, for the first time, provide a dedicated mobile-friendly commencement website. This smartphone-friendly website, together with social media activities, will add to the enjoyment and community aspects of the commencement experience,...

John Adams famously sought to create "a government of laws and not of men." Sadly, I suspect John Adams would be disappointed in the nation today. Increasingly, the application of the law reflects what Adams feared: It depends on who the men or women are rather than what...

For me, the recent death of Robert Bork -- judge, professor, and former Solicitor General --represents a personal moment of sadness. Judge Bork and I disagreed on most issues of constitutional interpretation. But, it was Professor Bork who taught me how to disagree with him, and exerted a...

Ann Romney, presumably acting as a surrogate for Mitt, is now announcing that no additional tax returns will be released to the public before the election.

As friends and foes have dissected the Ryan choice, one question has received little serious attention: Why did Mitt Romney destroy any...

Here's a $10,000 bet: Mitt Romney will stall and stall before opening his tax returns. His strategy is to open the returns after he is officially nominated at the Republican National Convention in August.

Earlier in my career, I negotiated large, complex contracts. The first rule of every negotiator is...

As reports that the JPMorgan Chase trading debacle may lead to losses of $9 billion, it's critical that our nation understand what is, and is not, acceptable behavior for a bank in our capitalist economy.

In his testimony before a congressional panel on the debacle, Jamie Dimon, CEO...

The U.S. housing market and any economic recovery are confronting a brick wall, and no one is discussing it. Like a speeding train, the housing market and our economy are heading over a cliff with no bridge. Yet no one in Washington wants to discuss this very real and approaching...

The economic crisis began with the housing crisis, and it will only end when the housing crisis also ends. Unfortunately, the evidence of the past five years suggests that the Obama administration and Congress have never actually understood this connection. Despite massive numbers of foreclosures, the loss of almost...

Capitalism is not an abstract idea. It is an economic system with a distinct set of underlying principles that must exist in order for the system to work. One of these principles is equal justice. In its absence, parties will stop entering into transactions that create overall wealth for our...

It’s now a near certainty that Wall Street executives committed felonies.

The recently released audits of robo-mortgage activities by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) details shocking behavior at the five banks constituting the Federal Housing Administration’s largest...

The phrase "Wall Street" is evocative in American culture. For generations, it has referred to the showcase of American capitalism: our financial services system that ensured the efficient use of funds by channeling capital to its most productive use. Indeed, the governing ethos in America is that Wall Street is...

Extreme economic inequality is among the most destructive forces in a society. As inequality grows, it undermines the effective functioning of the economy, the basic tenets of capitalism, and the foundations of democracy.

Unfortunately, the housing crisis and now the housing settlement increasingly look like an example of...

Banks agreed to change their behavior as part of the robo-mortgage settlement announced last week. The announcement, however, left open critical questions: How will the new settlement be enforced? Does the settlement include new, pre-defined penalties for banks that fail to uphold their new promises?

Since changes in...

The terms for the settlement of the robo-mortgage scandal and the states participating in the settlement are expected to be resolved soon. Unfortunately, as this settlement approaches, new and grave questions have emerged. These questions raise the possibility that the government may be turning a blind eye to tax evasion...

Tomorrow is the deadline for state attorneys general to sign on to a joint federal and multi-state $25 billion settlement of the robo-mortgage scandal. The settlement will involve Ally Financial Inc. (formerly GMAC), Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo...

In early December, the Justice Department confirmed that it was investigating the pricing of e-books and the related activities of major publishers and online retailers, such as Amazon.com and Apple. As a print and digital author, participant in the publishing industry, and graduate of the Yale Law School,...

These days it's hard to be surprised by anything: Each new day seems to bring news of additional bank malfeasance, a foreclosure scandal, another indicator that our politicians lack a sense of moral decency, and further evidence that no one in the public eye suffers from an old fashioned sense...

As we start the New Year, the executive branch and Congress continue to pretend the gravest risk to our economy and social stability does not exist: the ongoing foreclosure crisis. The financial crisis began with the housing crisis and it will not end until we resolve housing. Government policymakers...

In an earlier column, I wrote about the intersection of equal justice under the law and capitalism. The idea of fair bargain is central to a capitalist economy: Both the buyer and seller in any transaction must believe they fully understand the nature of the good being bought or...