Robert Mikos
Professor of Law Director, Program in Law and Government
Voice: 615-343-7184
Fax: 615-322-6631
Email: robert.mikos@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Room 293-A
View curriculum vitae (.pdf)
Links
Research Interest(s)
Federalism, constitutional law, federal criminal law, drug law and policy
Education
J.D. University of Michigan Law School
A.B. Princeton University
Biography
Rob Mikos specializes in federalism and criminal law. His most recent scholarship analyzes the power struggles between the state and federal governments and their implications for law and public policy, addressing issues ranging from medical marijuana to immigration. He has also written on the political safeguards of federalism, accuracy in criminal sanctions, drug law reforms, the economics of private precautions against crime, and remedies in private law. Professor Mikos earned his J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as articles editor on the Michigan Law Review and won numerous awards, including the Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship. After graduation, he clerked for Chief Judge Michael Boudin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Professor Mikos has taught at the University of California at Davis, where he was twice nominated for the school’s Distinguished Teaching Award, as well as at Notre Dame and the University of Michigan. He teaches courses in Federalism, Constitutional Law, Federal Criminal Law, and Drug Law and Policy.
Representative Publications
Articles
“Can States Keep Secrets from the Federal Government?”, 161 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (forthcoming 2012)
"A Critical Appraisal of the Department Of Justice’s New Approach to Medical Marijuana," 22 Stanford Law & Policy Review 633 (2011) (commissioned Features Article)
"Accuracy in Criminal Sanctions,” in Research Handbook of the Economics of Criminal Law (forthcoming 2011) (invited chapter) (Keith Hylton & Alon Harel, eds.)
"State Taxation of Marijuana Distribution and Other Federal Crimes,” 2010 University of Chicago Legal Forum 223 (selected for symposium on Crime, Criminal Law, and the Recession, University of Chicago)
"On the Limits of Supremacy: Medical Marijuana and the States' Overlooked Power to Legalize Federal Crime," 62 Vanderbilt Law Review 1421 (2009)
"United States v. Butler," in Encyclopedia of the United States Supreme Court (2008)
"The Populist Safeguards of Federalism," 68 Ohio State Law Journal 1669 (2007)
“Do Citizens Care about Federalism: An Experimental Test,” 4 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 589 (2007) (with Cindy D. Kam)
“’Eggshell Victims,’ Private Precautions, and the Societal Benefits of Shifting Crime,” 105 Michigan Law Review 307 (2006)
“Enforcing State Law in Congress’s Shadow,” 90 Cornell Law Review 1411 (2005)
“The (Legal) Value of Chance: Distorted Measures of Recovery in Private Law,” 7 American Law and Economics Review 484 (2005) (with Omri Ben-Shahar)
Working Papers
"Compliance in Pluralistic Legal Systems"
"Co-optive Federalism"
Some links on this page require the Adobe Acrobat Reader.