FINAL_FY14_Eminent-Domain-Report

Panelists’ Biographies 63PANELISTS’ BIOGRAPHIESIlya SominIlya Somin is a Professor at George Mason University School of Law. His research focuses onconstitutional law, property law, and the study of popular political participation and its implications forconstitutional democracy. Somin currently serves as co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review,one of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals. His work has appeared in numerousscholarly journals and popular press outlets, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review,Northwestern University Law Review, Los Angeles Times, National Law Journal, and Reason. Hisamicus brief on behalf of urban planning scholar Jane Jacobs was cited by the Supreme Court in itsmajority opinion in Kelo v. City of New London. In July 2009, he testified on property rights issues at theUnited States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice SoniaSotomayor. Somin writes regularly for the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog.During the Fall 2008 semester, he served as visiting professor of law at the University of PennsylvaniaLaw School. Somin has previously been a visiting professor at the University of Hamburg, Germany,and the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before joining the faculty atGeorge Mason, he was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University Law School in2002–2003. In 2001–2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appealsfor the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A., Summa Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. inPolitical Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.J. Peter ByrneJ. Peter Byrne is Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He teaches Property, LandUse, Historic Preservation, and Constitutional Law. Professor Byrne holds degrees from NorthwesternUniversity and from the University of Virginia School of Law. He was a law clerk to Chief Judge FrankCoffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. ofthe U.S. Supreme Court; he practiced law with the DC firm of Covington and Burling. Professor Byrnehas taught at Georgetown since 1985 and served as Associate Dean from 1997 until 2000. He currentlyis Faculty Director of the Georgetown Climate Center and of the Georgetown Environmental Law andPolicy Program. Professor Byrne has published numerous law journal articles on Land Use and Propertytopics and is currently writing a book on Historic Preservation Law.Hilary O. SheltonHilary O. Shelton presently serves as the Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy/Director to theNAACP’s Washington Bureau. The Washington Bureau is the Federal legislative and national publicpolicy division of the over 500,000-member, 2,200-membership unit, national civil rights organization.In this capacity, Mr. Shelton is responsible for advocating the federal public policy issue agenda of the