Dan Epps

I just did want to get some clarification out before we dive in, which is the reason for our delay is not shame for not giving sufficient credit to Benjamin Franklin on the last episode. I think I may have suggested, you know, you were praising him and we talked about, you know, Thomas Jefferson as an inventor. And we got multiple emails from Ted Frank and Dan Simon about that.

Ben Franklin's inventions, the full extent of which I was not familiar.

Ben Franklin's inventions, the full extent of which I was not familiar.

Lightning rod, bifocals, daylight savings time, the Franklin stove, reaching device, I don't know what that is, some kind of musical instrument popular enough in the late 18th century that Mozart and Beethoven composed for it, improvements to urinary catheters and odometers, arguably the first American political cartoon, swim fins.

Lightning rod, bifocals, daylight savings time, the Franklin stove, reaching device, I don't know what that is, some kind of musical instrument popular enough in the late 18th century that Mozart and Beethoven composed for it, improvements to urinary catheters and odometers, arguably the first American political cartoon, swim fins.

Okay. All right. Well, you didn't tell me you didn't list those things.

Okay. All right. Well, you didn't tell me you didn't list those things.

Yeah. Did I mention that he was like super sexually depraved?

Yeah. Did I mention that he was like super sexually depraved?

Yeah. Which is fine. So a complicated guy. But that's not what we're here to talk about today. We are doing something somewhat unusual.

Yeah. Which is fine. So a complicated guy. But that's not what we're here to talk about today. We are doing something somewhat unusual.

For those of you familiar with the format of the show, we're not primarily a guest show, but we do have a guest today, Daryl Levinson, who is the David Boies Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and my former constitutional law professor when he was teaching at Harvard. And we've asked him to come on the show to talk about his recent book of constitutional theory,

For those of you familiar with the format of the show, we're not primarily a guest show, but we do have a guest today, Daryl Levinson, who is the David Boies Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and my former constitutional law professor when he was teaching at Harvard. And we've asked him to come on the show to talk about his recent book of constitutional theory,

One of the most important books of constitutional theory published in quite some time called Law for Leviathan, Constitutional Law, International Law, and the State. So, Daryl, thanks for joining us.

One of the most important books of constitutional theory published in quite some time called Law for Leviathan, Constitutional Law, International Law, and the State. So, Daryl, thanks for joining us.

I think you were the first former professor of mine to be on the podcast, unless I'm forgetting somebody. I think Will kind of thinks of himself as my professor, but I try to push back on that. So this is really exciting and fun for me. for me.

I think you were the first former professor of mine to be on the podcast, unless I'm forgetting somebody. I think Will kind of thinks of himself as my professor, but I try to push back on that. So this is really exciting and fun for me. for me.

Also, a great serving court hook for our listeners, you are now a noted Second Amendment expert, because as we mentioned on the show several episodes ago, your article, Collective Sanctions, was relied upon by the court in the Rahimi case. Were you surprised to see that?

Also, a great serving court hook for our listeners, you are now a noted Second Amendment expert, because as we mentioned on the show several episodes ago, your article, Collective Sanctions, was relied upon by the court in the Rahimi case. Were you surprised to see that?

Yeah. So two decades later, apparently that article was relevant to figuring out whether domestic abusers can have guns. Yeah. So I thought maybe you might just tell our listeners the general thrust of the book. Obviously, it's a really big and important book, and there's more than can be summarized in a pithy few minutes.