Euclid turns 100: Rethinking an Antiquated Case and Reimagining Euclidean Zoning for the Century Ahead

BACKGROUND

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., where the Court approved of municipalities’ use of their “police powers” to enact zoning ordinances excluding lawful activities from certain districts and segregating residential housing based on the housing’s effects on neighboring properties. The effects of Euclid have been pervasive, since virtually all American cities and towns divide themselves into land-use districts through these public-welfare zoning ordinances.

In Euclid, land that an owner had intended to sell for industrial purposes was rezoned for residential use by a Cleveland suburb, resulting in an alleged decrease in land value of approximately 75 percent. The Court’s decision provided an unqualified endorsement of the practice of land-use regulation under the government’s police powers using a creative application of nuisance principles. The Court noted that “a nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place, like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard,” and, going beyond the facts of the case, singled-out apartment buildings as “parasites” amidst neighborhoods of “private” family homes.

For the past 100 years, scholars have debated Euclid’s effect on housing in America and the resulting tension between states’ police power protection of public welfare and constitutional property rights, due process, and equal protection. The approaching 100th anniversary of the Court’s decision presents a new opportunity to take a fresh look at the decision, its significance, and legacy, and particularly what a new American land-use and zoning paradigm might look like for the next 100 years.

It’s also a fitting time to assess the economic impact of zoning, how state and federal environmental regulations have contributed to driving up the costs of building, and what the future may hold for land-use regulation. Pacific Legal Foundation, the Mercatus Center, and the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy seek papers from a variety of disciplines building on the past 100 years of research and commentary to re-evaluate the foundations of American zoning and look toward the future.

POSSIBLE TOPICS

The following are possible topics of potential research papers and are not intended to be an exclusive or exhaustive list.

1. How should Euclid be interpreted and what is its legacy in light of the pervasive racially-discriminatory use of zoning over the decades after Euclid?
2. Did the Supreme Court expand state police powers in Euclid beyond their constitutional limit? If Euclid were to be reexamined today, would the Court’s former holding stand up to review under the Court’s reinvigorated history-and-tradition analysis?
3. Writers from the 1920s optimistically imagined that zoning as it was initially conceived might suffice to carry American cities forward for 100 years. Looking past Euclid and thinking broadly, what might a new land-use paradigm for American cities look like for the next century?
4. What has been Euclid’s relationship with or contribution to America’s housing crisis and how could its effects be remediated?
5. Should Euclid, which had been initially interpreted narrowly by some state courts, have been construed differently in light of the subsequent Nectow v. City of Cambridge case and later land-use jurisprudence?
6. What should be the future of Euclid on federal and state regulatory takings jurisprudence, given the arguments presented in articles like, “The Constitutional Case Against Exclusionary Zoning” by Ilya Somin and Joshua Braver?
7. What legislative options for zoning reform could supersede the holding in Euclid, particularly in light of bills introduced and/or passed at the state and federal levels in recent years?
8. Considering examples from other countries with different zoning systems, as discussed in Sonia Hirt’s book, Zoned in the USA, should the United States consider a more limited form of zoning, and what might that look like?
9. Relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to the zoning enabling acts, which largely derived from the federal Standard State Zoning Enabling Act. What is the current status of these acts, the substance of which predates the Euclid decision, and what are some potential reforms and/or alternatives?

RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DETAILS

Please submit a brief research proposal that describes your thesis and how your research will contribute to the issues described above.

Proposals should be submitted by August 15, 2025, to Steve Davis at and Andrew Cannon at . Early proposal submission is encouraged, as proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and approvals will allow authors to begin work early.

FINAL PAPER SUBMISSION DETAILS

Papers should be around 5,000 words/20 pages. Draft submissions are due two weeks before the symposium, so that we can circulate them to participants. Authors may revise their papers following the symposium, with final submissions due by February 28, 2026, to be published in the Journal’s Spring 2026 symposium issue.

HONORARIUM & OTHER SUPPORT

Authors of accepted papers will receive a $4,000 honorarium.

Papers will be presented at a symposium at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School in early 2026. Cost of hotel accommodation and reasonable travel expenses to the symposium will be covered.

Papers will be published in the Spring 2026 issue of the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For questions regarding the call for papers, please contact Steve Davis at .