Writing

A newsletter aggregating legal scholarship on Abundance: changes to law or policy to enable building, growth, and innovation. Each issue curates recent academic articles and policy papers on topics like housing, permitting, energy, infrastructure, procurement, and administrative capacity.

As part of my ongoing research into AI governance, this article proposes a novel regulatory framework for artificial intelligence. Modeled after FINRA and other finance self-regulatory organizations, the labs would be required to join a single body that sets binding safety standards. A government agency would retain oversight and override authority. This approach aims to allow for agile, industry-informed oversight capable of keeping pace with rapid advancements in AI models while maintaining strict legal accountability.

The US strategy for winning the technology race with China is premised on the false assumption that we are and always will be further out on the frontier than China. The US must admit that China is ahead in some domains and will outpace us in others, and adjust our tactics accordingly.

Both sides of the impoundment debate miss important points. Those who think impoundment is the President’s constitutional prerogative overrely on shaky historical evidence. Those who think impoundment is prohibited by the Impoundment Control Act underappreciate the Act’s failure in both enforcement and enabling beneficial delays or cancellation of wasteful spending.

Other Transactions (OTs) represent an underutilized alternative to traditional federal procurement. Although a dozen major executive agencies have OT authority and it has been used for high-impact inititatives like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Operation Warp Speed, OTs account for a mere 2% of total federal contract spending. Three barriers constrain further adoption: bureaucratic sclerosis, legal uncertainty, and the specter of corruption. This paper addresses each in turn, focusing on legal analysis that demonstrates how agencies can navigate administrative and fiscal laws to foster innovation without sacrificing accountability.

Except for the last forty years, the US has always had a powerful Comptroller with direct control over spending and a high degree of independence from political branches. Its power and independence was eroded through reforms seeking efficiency and by the Supreme Court’s decision in Bowsher v. Synar. We should revitalize this office by restoring its authorities and insulating it from interference, returning to a powerful check on abuses of spending.

The Trump administration has been purchasing equity stakes in private companies, prompting questions about what statutes authorize such deals. This article proposes the question might be backwards: under the Supreme Court's 1831 Tingey decision, agencies possess inherent authority to enter transactions unless Congress has affirmatively prohibited them—and no statute directly prohibits equity investments.

In this ongoing research on AI and geopolitical competition, I explore the legality of US government-sponsored espionage for commercial benefit. If a foreign adversary achieves Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) first, could the government acquire and utilize the technical secrets through espionage? Effective utilization would probably require private sector implementation, which raises a host of tricky legal issues around government property and trade secrets. Both the domestic and international politics of such a strategy also have complicated dynamcis.