Richard A. Epstein, a Fellow of the American Academy since 1985, is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and the Peter and Kirsten Senior Bedford Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has written numerous books, including “Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain” (1985), “Simple Rules for a Complex World” (1995), “Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good” (1998), and “Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism” (2003).