High Yield Markets
  • World News
  • Politics
  • Investing
  • Stock
  • Editor’s Pick
Editor's PickInvesting

James L. Swanson, R.I.P.

by April 22, 2025
April 22, 2025

Roger Pilon

james l. swanson

I am saddened to report that my good friend James L. Swanson died of a rare form of brain cancer yesterday in his hometown of Chicago. He was 66. In 2001, James came on board Cato to create and serve as the first editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review, which we released on September 17, 2002, at Cato’s inaugural Constitution Day Symposium, which he organized. From the start, when Constitution Day was barely known, both the annual review and the symposium have been highly regarded in Washington’s legal community. Credit goes to James for securing everything from the cases to be covered to the authors to do so, the editing, the initial publication arrangements—even the federal colors of the review’s cover—and the distinguished speakers for the symposium.

After two rounds of the review and symposium, we lost James to the larger publishing world as he was under intense pressure to complete the manuscript that would become a New York Times best-seller: “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer.” More recently, an Apple TV + series, on which James worked closely, was based on the book. 

With an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Chicago and a law degree from UCLA, James went on to become a Lincoln scholar of the first order and a collector of Lincoln memorabilia. Indeed, he was born on February 12, 1959, exactly 150 years after Lincoln’s birth. And his death has come exactly 160 years after the day that the train carrying Lincoln’s body left Washington for Illinois.

A simple search will show the many well-reviewed books James has written over the years and the extraordinary range of his interests—quite apart from his work in the 1990s as the editor of the First Amendment Law Handbook. And all of that was accomplished while he served two terms as a senior official in the Justice Department and served also as a clerk for Judge Douglas Ginsburg during the judge’s first year on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

For those of us at Cato old enough, however, it is not only James’ prodigious knowledge or his dedication to the work before him that we will remember, but his little chuckle after uttering a bon mot and the warm smile that followed that we will most cherish. Rest in peace, good friend.

previous post
Activist Democrat Judge Temporarily Blocks Mayor Adams from Granting ICE Access to Rikers Island in Blow to Immigration Enforcement
next post
Secretary of State Marco Rubio Announces Reorganization at State Department to Put “America and Americans First”

You may also like

The Senate’s Big Beautiful Blunder Could Increase the...

July 2, 2025

Licensing Cartelists Say the Quiet Part Out Loud...

July 1, 2025

Restructure or Repeal? What’s the Best Way to...

July 1, 2025

Ruling Against Ohio Scholarship Program Puts System Above...

July 1, 2025

Emergency Powers Are for Emergencies

July 1, 2025

CAFE Standards

June 30, 2025

Ellingburg v. United States Brief: Criminal Restitution Counts...

June 30, 2025

This Harm Reduction Innovation Is Already Saving Lives

June 30, 2025

Fifteen Minutes on ICE’s Mass Deportation Agenda

June 30, 2025

Senate Big Beautiful Bill: More Growth, More Subsidies,...

June 30, 2025
Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get Premium Articles For Free


Your information is secure and your privacy is protected. By opting in you agree to receive emails from us. Remember that you can opt-out any time, we hate spam too!

Recent Posts

  • The Senate’s Big Beautiful Blunder Could Increase the Debt by $6 Trillion

    July 2, 2025
  • Licensing Cartelists Say the Quiet Part Out Loud in Puerto Rico

    July 1, 2025
  • Restructure or Repeal? What’s the Best Way to Fix the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

    July 1, 2025
  • Ruling Against Ohio Scholarship Program Puts System Above Students

    July 1, 2025
  • Emergency Powers Are for Emergencies

    July 1, 2025
  • About Us
  • Contacts
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Email Whitelisting

Copyright © 2025 highyieldmarkets.com | All Rights Reserved

High Yield Markets
  • World News
  • Politics
  • Investing
  • Stock
  • Editor’s Pick