Legal Commentary

Are Progressives Less Intelligent Than Conservatives?

By Randy Barnett

Although some have accounted for the imbalance between left-leaning and right-leaning law law professors on the bases of self-selection, others have maintained that conservatives are simply less intelligent than progressives. For this reason, it is suggested, conservatives (especially social conservatives, but also libertarians) either avoid academia in favor of less demanding positions in the business world, or are properly screened during the hiring process. However, a new empirical study by my co-blogger Jim Lindgren suggests that the opposite may be true. You can read about it here. As is my usual practice, I am keeping comments closed, but this is especially necessary for this post which is sure to provoke outrage among the commentariate.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on April 01, 2011 (boomark / email).