Joseph Blocher
Lanty L. Smith Distinguished Professor of Law
Joseph Blocher's principal academic interests include federal and state constitutional law, the First and Second Amendments, legal history, and property. His current scholarship addresses issues of gun rights and regulation, free speech, the law of the territories, and the relationship between law and violence.
He has published articles on those and other topics in the Harvard Law Review (forthcoming), Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Yale Journal of International Law, and other leading journals. He is co-author of Free Speech Beyond Words (NYU Press, 2017) and The Positive Second Amendment: Rights, Regulation, and the Future of Heller (Cambridge University Press, 2018). He has also written for the New York Times, Vox, Quartz, The News & Observer and other public outlets, and serves as Co-Director of the Center for Firearms Law.
He returned to his hometown of Durham to join the Duke Law faculty in 2009, and received the law school's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2012. Before coming to Duke, he clerked for Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Rosemary Barkett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He also practiced law at O'Melveny & Myers LLP, where he assisted the merits briefing for the District of Columbia in District of Columbia v. Heller.
Blocher received his B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Rice University, and studied law and economic development as a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana and as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge University, where he received an M.Phil in Land Economy. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as comments editor of the Yale Law Journal, symposium editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review, notes editor of the Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal, participated in or directed several clinics, and was co-chair of the Legal Services Organization.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Lanty L. Smith Distinguished Professor of Law, Law School, Duke University 2018
- Professor of Law, Law School, Duke University 2014
Contact Information
- Duke Law School 210 Science Dr, Duke Box 90362, Durham, NC 27708
- Duke Law School Room 3174, Duke Box 90362, Durham, NC 27708-0360
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blocher@law.duke.edu
(919) 613-7018
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See the Duke Law bibliography
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See the Duke Law profile page
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View this faculty member's publications on the Duke Law web site
- Background
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Education, Training, & Certifications
- J.D., Yale University 2006
- M.Phil., University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) 2003
- B.A., Rice University 2001
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Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Associate Professor of Law, Law School, Duke University 2012 - 2014
- Assistant Professor of Law, Law School, Duke University 2009 - 2012
- Recognition
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In the News
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JAN 11, 2023 Duke Magazine -
JUL 5, 2022 -
MAY 25, 2022 -
OCT 27, 2021 Duke School of Law -
DEC 2, 2019 MSNBC -
FEB 12, 2019 Duke Law -
OCT 5, 2018 School of Law -
MAR 8, 2017 Duke Law -
JUN 14, 2016 CBC News -
JUN 14, 2016 CBC News -
JUN 13, 2016 NPR’s “All Things Considered" -
MAR 17, 2016 The Trace -
MAR 17, 2016 The Trace -
FEB 15, 2016 The Trace -
DEC 10, 2015 The New York Times -
DEC 10, 2015 the New York Times -
MAR 26, 2015 Financial Times -
FEB 6, 2015 Financial Times -
AUG 20, 2014 NBC News -
APR 7, 2014 Financial Times -
APR 7, 2014 the Financial Times
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- Expertise
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Global Scholarship
- Research
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Selected Grants
- Privatizing the Gun Debate awarded by New Venture Fund 2021 - 2022
- Duke Center for Firearms Law awarded by Harold Simmons Foundation 2019 - 2020
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External Relationships
- 7Sage
- MUSC Health, Charleston SC
- Publications & Artistic Works
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Selected Publications
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Books
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Blocher, Joseph, Jacob D. Charles, Jody Madeira, and Darrell A. H. Miller. Firearms Law and the Second Amendment (Accepted). Foundation Press, 2023.
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Blocher, J., J. Charles, and D. Miller. New Histories of Gun Rights and Regulation: Essays on the Place of Guns in American Law (Accepted). Oxford University Press, 2021.
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. The Positive Second Amendment: Rights, Regulation, and the Future of Heller. Cambridge University Press, 2018.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., M. Tushnet, and A. Chen. Free Speech Beyond Words: The Surprising Reach of the First Amendment. New York University Press, 2017.Link to Item
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Academic Articles
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Blocher, Joseph, Darrell A. H. Miller, and Jacob D. Charles. “"A Map Is Not The Territory”: The Theory and Future of the Sensitive Places Doctrine (Accepted).” New York University Law Review Online, 2023.
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Blocher, Joseph, Darrell A. H. Miller, and Jacob D. Charles. “Firearms Law and Scholarship Beyond Bodies and Bullets (Accepted).” Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2023.
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Blocher, Joseph, and Andrew Willinger. “Does the Second Amendment Make Gun Politics Obsolete? (Accepted)” Polity 55, no. 1 (2023).Link to Item
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Blocher, Joseph, and Brandon L. Garrett. “Fact Stripping (In preparation),” 2023.Link to Item
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Blocher, Joseph, and Darrell A. H. Miller. “Manufacturing Outliers (Accepted).” Supreme Court Review, 2023.
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Blocher, Joseph, and Reva B. Siegel. “The Second Amendment, Sensitive Places, and Self Government (Accepted).” New York University Law Review, 2023.
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Blocher, Joseph. “A Great American Gun Myth: Race and the Naming of the 'Saturday Night Special' (In preparation),” 2023.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Cities, Preemption, and the Statutory Second Amendment.” University of Chicago Law Review 89, no. 2 (2022): 557–80.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and E. Ruben. “"Second-Class" Rhetoric, Ideology, and Doctrinal Change.” Georgetown Law Journal 110, no. 3 (2022): 613–58.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Navassa: Property, Sovereignty, and the Law of the Territories.” Yale Law Journal 131, no. 8 (2022): 2390–2448.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and R. Siegel. “Race and Guns, Courts and Democracy.” Harvard Law Review Forum 135 (2022): 449–62.Link to Item
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Blocher, Joseph, and Maisie Wilson. “Living With Guns: Legal and Constitutional Considerations for Those Cohabiting With Temporarily Prohibited Possessors.” Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers 35, no. 1 (2022): 47–82.Link to Item
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Blocher, Joseph, and Noah Levine. “Constitutional Gun Litigation Beyond the Second Amendment.” Nyu Annual Survey of American Law 77, no. 2 (2022): 175–98.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “The Biggest Legal Obstacle to Gun Regulation: State Preemption Laws, Not the Second Amendment.” American Journal of Public Health 111, no. 7 (2021): 1192–93.
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Blocher, J., S. Buell, J. Charles, and D. Miller. “Pointing Guns.” Texas Law Review 99, no. 6 (2021): 1173–1200.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and R. Siegel. “When Guns Threaten the Public Sphere: A New Account of Public Safety Regulation Under Heller.” Northwestern University Law Review 116, no. 1 (2021): 139–201.Link to Item
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Blocher, Joseph. “Two Concepts of Gun Liberty.” Quinnipiac Law Review 39, no. 3 (2021): 363–70.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Disuniformity of Federal Constitutional Rights.” University of Illinois Law Review 2020, no. 5 (2020): 1479–99.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., J. Charles, and D. Miller. “The Geography of a Constitutional Right: Gun Rights Outside the Home.” Law and Contemporary Problems 83, no. 3 (2020): i–vii.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., K. Oosterlinck, and M. Gulati. “Why Did Belgium Pay Leopold’s Bonds?” Law and Contemporary Problems 83, no. 2 (2020): 49–70.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., M. Gulati, and K. Oosterlinck. “King Leopold's Bonds and the Odious Debts Mystery.” Virginia Journal of International Law 60, no. 3 (2020): 487–530.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and C. Carberry. “Historical Gun Laws Targeting 'Dangerous' Groups and Outsiders (In preparation),” 2020.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Transferable Sovereignty: Lessons from the History of the Congo Free State.” Duke Law Journal 69, no. 6 (2020): 1219–73.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Domestic Violence and the Home-Centric Second Amendment.” Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy 27, no. 1 (2020): 45–58.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. ““The Road I Can’t Help Travelling”: Holmes on Truth and Persuadability.” Seton Hall Law Review 51, no. 1 (2020): 105–33.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and B. Vaseghi. “True Threats, Self-Defense, and the Second Amendment.” The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 48, no. 4 (2020): 112–18.
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Blocher, J., and J. Charles. “Firearms, Extreme Risk, and Legal Design: "Red Flag" Laws and Due Process.” Virginia Law Review 106, no. 6 (2020): 1285–1344.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and R. Siegel. “Why Regulate Guns?” The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 48, no. 4 (2020): 11–16.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Free Speech and Justified True Belief.” Harvard Law Review 133, no. 2 (2019): 439–96.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Bans.” Yale Law Journal 129, no. 2 (2019): 308–76.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Rights as Trumps of What?” Harvard Law Review Forum 132, no. 6 (2019): 120–33.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and E. Ruben. “Judicial Ideology and Second Amendment Doctrine (In preparation),” 2019.
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Blocher, J., and L. Morgan. “Doctrinal Dynamism, Borrowing, and the Relationship Between Rules and Rights.” William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 28, no. 2 (2019): 319–46.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. “Stevens, J., Dissenting: The Legacy of Heller.” Judicature 103, no. 3 (2019): 9–13.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Constitutional Implications of Firearm Restrictions for Veterans with Fiduciaries.” Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 45, no. 4 (2018): 684–86.
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. “The Second Amendment as Positive Law.” Charleston Law Review 13, no. 2 (2018): 103–23.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and E. Ruben. “From Theory to Doctrine: An Empirical Analysis of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms After Heller.” Duke Law Journal 67 (2018): 1433–1509.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and E. Ruben. “You Can Lead a Horse to Water: Heller and The Future of Second Amendment Scholarship.” Duke Law Journal Online 68 (2018): 1–7.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Puerto Rico and the Right of Accession.” Yale Journal of International Law 43, no. 2 (2018): 229–71.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Puerto Rico and the Right of Accession (Accepted).” Yale Journal of International Law, 2018.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “What Does Puerto Rican Citizenship Mean for Puerto Rico's Legal Status?” Duke Law Journal Online 67 (2018): 122–32.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and E. Ruben). “An Empirical Study of Second Amendment Doctrine after Heller (In preparation),” 2017.
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Blocher, J., and K. Krawiec. “Foreword: How to Think About Law and Markets.” Law & Contemporary Problems 80 (2017): 1–9.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “A Market for Sovereign Control.” Duke Law Journal 66 (2017): 797–843.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Markets and Sovereignty.” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 54 (2017): 465–90.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Forced Secessions.” Law & Contemporary Problems 80 (2017): 215–47.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “The Death Penalty and the Fifth Amendment.” Northwestern University Law Review 111 (2016): 275–93.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Scalia's Gun Rights Legacy is Likely to Stand, No Matter Who Replaces Him.” The Trace, 2016.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., M. Gulati, and L. Helfer. “Can Greece be Expelled from the Eurozone? Toward a Default Rule on Expulsion from International Organizations,” 2016, 127–50.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. “What is Gun Control? Direct Burdens, Incidental Burdens, and the Boundaries of the Second Amendment.” University of Chicago Law Review 83 (2016): 295–355.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. “Lethality, Public Carry, and Adequate Alternatives.” Harvard Journal on Legislation 53 (2016): 279–301.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Lemos. “Practice and Precedent in Historical Gloss Games.” Georgetown Law Journal Online 106 (2016): 1–15.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Competing for Refugees: A Market-Based Solution to a Humanitarian Crisis.” Columbia Human Rights Law Review 48 (2016): 54–111.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “New Problems for Subsidized Speech.” William & Mary Law Review 56, no. 4 (2015): 1083–1118.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Hunting and the Second Amendment.” Notre Dame Law Review 91 (2015): 133–76.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Good Cause Requirements for Carrying Guns in Public.” Harvard Law Review Forum 127 (2014): 218–22.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Selling State Borders.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 162 (2014): 241–305.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Gun Rights Talk.” Boston University Law Review 94 (2014): 813–33.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Ukraine and Russia: "You Break It, You Bought It".” Financial History 111 (2014): 28–32.
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“Nonsense and the Freedom of Speech: What Meaning Means for the First Amendment.” Duke Law Journal 63 (2014): 1423–81.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “New Approaches to Old Questions in Gun Scholarship.” Tulsa Law Review 50, no. 2 (2014): 477–88.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Firearm Localism.” Yale Law Journal 123 (2013): 82–146.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Implementing First Amendment Institutionalism.” New England Law Review on Remand 47 (2013): 43–51.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “The Right Not to Keep or Bear Arms.” Stanford Law Review 64 (2012): 1–54.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Rights To and Not To.” California Law Review 99 (2012): 761–816.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “What We Fret About When We Fret About Bootstrapping.” Law & Contemporary Problems 75 (2012): 145–55.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Order Without Judges: Customary Adjudication.” Duke Law Journal 62 (2012): 579–605.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Public Discourse, Expert Knowledge, and the Press.” Washington Law Review 87 (2012): 409–43.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Second Things First: What Free Speech Can and Can't Say About Guns.” Texas Law Review 91 (2012): 37–47.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Popular Constitutionalism and the State Attorneys General.” Harvard Law Review Forum 122 (2011): 108.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “What State Constitutional Law Can Tell Us About the Federal Constitution.” Penn State Law Review 115 (2011): 1035–50.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Transforming Property Into Speech.” Legal Workshop 2011 (2011).Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and I. Graff. “Constitutionalizing Local Politics.” Harvard Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review Amicus 46 (2011).Link to Item
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“Government Property and Government Speech.” William & Mary Law Review 52 (2011): 1413–81.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Reverse Incorporation of State Constitutional Law.” Southern California Law Review 84 (2011): 323–86.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Viewpoint Neutrality and Government Speech.” Boston College Law Review 52 (2011): 695–767.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Roberts' Rules: The Assertiveness of Rules-Based Jurisprudence.” Tulsa Law Review 46 (2011): 431–48.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Schrödinger’s Cross: The Quantum Mechanics of the Establishment Clause.” Virginia Law Review in Brief 56 (2010): 51–59.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and F. Nyame. “Influence of Land Tenure Practices on Artisanal Mining Activity in Ghana.” Resources Policy 35 (2010): 47.
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Blocher, J. “Reputation as Property in Virtual Economies.” Yale Law Journal Pocket Part 119 (2009): 120–25.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Property and Speech in 'Summum'.” Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy 104 (2009): 83–94.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Heller's Problematic Second Amendment Categoricalism.” The Legal Workshop 2009 (2009).Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Categoricalism and Balancing in First and Second Amendment Analysis.” New York University Law Review 84 (2009): 375–434.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Amending the Exceptions Clause.” Minnesota Law Review 92 (2008): 971–1030.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Institutions in the Marketplace of Ideas.” Duke Law Journal 57 (2008): 821–89.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and J. Morgan. “Questions About Tax Increment Financing in North Carolina.” Community & Economic Development Bulletin 5 (2008): 1–15.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “School Naming Rights and the First Amendment's Perfect Storm.” Georgetown Law Journal 96 (2007): 1–57.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “The Guantanamo Three Step.” Yale Law Journal Pocket Part 117 (2007): 1–7.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Combatant Status Review Tribunals: Flawed Answers to the Wrong Question.” Green Bag 116 (2006): 667–74.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Building on Custom: Land Tenure Policy and Economic Development in Ghana.” Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 9 (2006): 166–202.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Selling the Name on the Schoolhouse Gate: The First Amendment and the Sale of Public School Naming Rights.” School Law Bulletin 37 (2006): 1–12.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Private Business as Public Good: Hotel Development and Kelo.” Yale Law & Policy Review 24 (2006): 363–97.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Book Note.” Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 7 (2003): 202–6.Link to Item
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Book Sections
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Blocher, J., and C. Carberry. “Beyond Felons: Other Prohibited Classes of Arms Possession (Accepted).” In New Histories of Gun Rights and Regulation: Essays on the Place of Guns in American Law and Society. Oxford University Press, 2022.
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Blocher, J. “Should Applicants Provide Reasons for Wanting a Concealed Weapon?” In Guns: Conceal and Carry, 81–86. Greenhaven Publishing, 2018.
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Blocher, J. “District of Columbia v. Heller.” In Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History, 219–20, 2012.
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Other Articles
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. “A Supreme Court Head-Scratcher: Is a Colonial Musket ‘Analogous’ to an AR-15?” New York Times, 2022.
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Blocher, J., and J. Charles. “No, Red-Flag Gun Laws Don’t Violate Due Process Rights.” Washington Post, 2022.
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Blocher, Joseph. “Appraising Sandy’s Call to “Arms”: Success in the Academy … Not So Much in the Courts.” Balkinization, 2022.
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Blocher, J. “American Cities Have Always Regulated Guns. Now, Most Can’t.” Washington Post, 2021.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and A. Chen. “Why Do States Ban “Electioneering” but Allow Guns at Polling Places?” Slate, 2021.
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Blocher, J., and R. Siegel. “Guns Are a Threat to the Body Politic:.” The Atlantic, 2021.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “Why Is the Gun Debate So Difficult?” Duke Magazine, 2021.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. “SCOTUS Taking up 2nd Amendment Case Could Mean Cuts to Broad Swaths of Gun Regulation.” Tpm Cafe, 2021.
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Blocher, J., and E. Ruben. “No, Courts Don’t Treat the Second Amendment as a ‘Second-Class Right’.” Washington Post, 2021.Link to Item
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “The U.S. Stole Billions From Haiti. It’s Time to Give It Back.” Slate, 2021.Link to Item
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Blocher, J. “The “Handgun Article” in Justice Powell’s Papers.” Second Thoughts, 2019.
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Blocher, J., and E. Ruben. “Symposium: Disrupting the Consensus on Second Amendment Doctrine Would be a Mistake.” Scotusblog, 2019.
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Sure, Trump Can Buy Greenland. But Why Does He Think It’s up to Denmark?” Politico Magazine, 2019.
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Blocher, J., and D. Miller. “What Firearms Law and Regulatory Scholarship Can Learn from Each Other.” The Regulatory Review, 2018.
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “If Countries Won’t Take Refugees for Moral Reasons, Let’s Give Them Financial Incentives.” Quartz, 2018.
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Blocher, J. “The Fourth Circuit's "Assault Weapons" Ruling: Alternative Holdings and Alternative Weapons.” Acsblog, 2017.
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Blocher, J. “Speech, Guns and Docs v. Glocks.” Acsblog, 2017.
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Blocher, J., and N. Seigel. “Court-hacking Comes to North Carolina.” News & Observer, 2016.
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Blocher, J. “We Can Regulate Guns at the Local Level, Too.” New York Times, 2015.
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Guest Post: Ukraine and Russia-You Break It, You Bought It.” Ericposner.Com, 2015.
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Blocher, J., and M. Gulati. “Ukraine and Russia: "You Break It, You Bought It".” Financial History, 2014.
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Reports
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Blocher, J., and R. Siegel. “Guns and Democracy.” Brennan Center for Justice, 2021.Link to Item
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- Teaching & Mentoring
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Recent Courses
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