16
September 2011
Past Event
The Courts and Liberal Democracy

The Courts and Liberal Democracy

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
September 16, 2011
Default Event Image
16
September 2011
Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Speakers:
Harold Furchtgott-Roth

Hudson Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Economics of the Internet

Stephen Williams

Senior Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit

According to Senior Circuit Judge Stephen Williams, a society can be expected to evolve into liberal democracy, including private property and the rule of law, only if producer groups can organize and exert enough influence to prevent government predation. But groups strong enough to resist government predation are likely to be strong enough to mobilize government for predation against others. The resultant rent-seeking society may hollow out liberal democracy to a barely recognizable shell. Could courts at all offset this tendency, either by a tilt against rent-seeking in review of agency decisions, or by a revival of the rule against "partial legislation?"

Related Events
24
August 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Twenty Times I Almost Died: Lessons on Life and War
Featured Speakers:
John Spencer
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
A US soldier pulls security at the al-Faw intermediate school in the Sadr City area of Baghdad on August 15, 2008. (US Army)
24
August 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Twenty Times I Almost Died: Lessons on Life and War

Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat with Senior Fellow and Keystone Defense Initiative Director Rebeccah Heinrichs and John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and co-director of the Urban Warfare Project. 

A US soldier pulls security at the al-Faw intermediate school in the Sadr City area of Baghdad on August 15, 2008. (US Army)
Featured Speakers:
John Spencer
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
28
August 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Nigeria’s Crisis: Islamist Terrorists, Violent Nomadic Herders, “Bandit” Gangs, and the US Foreign Policy Response
Featured Speakers:
Matthew Boyse
The Rev. Fr. Remigius Ihyula
Joshua Meservey
Ambassador Tibor Nagy
Emmanuel Ogebe
Judd Saul
Greg Simpkins
Nina Shea
Worship in Nigeria
28
August 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Nigeria’s Crisis: Islamist Terrorists, Violent Nomadic Herders, “Bandit” Gangs, and the US Foreign Policy Response

Join Hudson Institute and the Ben Franklin Fellowship for a two-panel discussion examining US policy as it confronts the crisis of terror in Nigeria.

Worship in Nigeria
Featured Speakers:
Matthew Boyse
The Rev. Fr. Remigius Ihyula
Joshua Meservey
Ambassador Tibor Nagy
Emmanuel Ogebe
Judd Saul
Greg Simpkins
Nina Shea
09
September 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Transferring Spectrum from the Federal to the Non-federal Domain: The View from NTIA
Featured Speakers:
Tricia J. Paoletta
Thomas Hazlett
J. Gregory Sikak
Harold Furchtgott-Roth
Tower
09
September 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Transferring Spectrum from the Federal to the Non-federal Domain: The View from NTIA

Join Hudson Institute's Center for the Economics of the Internet for a keynote address  given by Tricia Paoletta on the Trump administration's progress in managing and reallocating the electromagnetic radio frequency spectrum from the federal domain.

Tower
Featured Speakers:
Tricia J. Paoletta
Thomas Hazlett
J. Gregory Sikak
Harold Furchtgott-Roth
14
September 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Anticompetitive and Deceptive Conduct in Healthcare with FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson
Featured Speakers:
Andrew Ferguson
Harold Furchtgott-Roth
Andrew Ferguson Headshot
14
September 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Anticompetitive and Deceptive Conduct in Healthcare with FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson

Join Hudson Institute for a discussion with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth.

Andrew Ferguson Headshot
Featured Speakers:
Andrew Ferguson
Harold Furchtgott-Roth