Director of Policy Studies & Senior Fellow, The Free State Foundation
Seth L. Cooper is Director of Policy Studies & Senior Fellow at The Free State Foundation. His work on federal communications and technology policy at the Free State Foundation began in 2009.
With Randolph May, Mr. Cooper is the co-author of Modernizing Copyright Law for the Digital Age: Constitutional Foundations for Reform (2020) and Constitutional Foundations of Intellectual Property: A Natural Rights Perspective (2015), both published by Carolina Academic Press. Along with Mr. May, Mr. Cooper also co-authored A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom (2018) and #CommActUpdate: A Communications Law Fit for the Digital Age (2017), both published by Free State Foundation Press. He previously contributed to two chapters in Communications Law and Policy in the Digital Age (2012), published by Carolina Academic Press. Mr. Cooper's work has also appeared in such publications as CommLaw Conspectus, the San Jose Mercury News, Forbes.com, the Des Moines Register, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Examiner, and the Washington Times.
Mr. Cooper previously served as Director to the Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Mr. Cooper served as judicial clerk to the Honorable James Johnson at the Washington State Supreme Court. His co-writings about the Washington Supreme Court have appeared in the Gonzaga Law Review and in Federalist Society publications. He has worked in law and policy staff positions at the Washington State Senate and at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture. Mr. Cooper is a 2009 Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute. He also has worked in private practice in the State of Washington, handling civil legal matters involving personal injuries, small business, contracts, and wills, trusts, and estates.
Mr. Cooper earned his B.A. degree in Political Science from Pacific Lutheran University and received his J.D. from Seattle University School of Law.
President, The Free State Foundation
Randolph J. May is Founder and President of The Free State Foundation. The Free State Foundation is an independent, non-profit free market-oriented think tank founded in 2006.
From October 1999-May 2006, May was a Senior Fellow and Director of Communications Policy Studies at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank. Prior to joining PFF, he practiced communications, administrative, and regulatory law as a partner at major national law firms. From 1978 to 1981, May served as Assistant General Counsel and Associate General Counsel at the Federal Communication Commission.
May has held numerous leadership positions in bar associations. He is a past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Mr. May also has served as a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and currently is a Senior Fellow at ACUS.
Mr. May has published more than two hundred articles and essays on communications, administrative and constitutional law topics. He is author of A Call for a Radical New Communications Policy: Proposals for Free Market Reform, and co-author of #CommActUpdate: A Communications Law Fit for the Digital Age and The Constitutional Foundations of Intellectual Property. Mr. May is editor of two books, Communications Law and Policy in the Digital Age: The Next Five Years and New Directions in Communications Policy. In addition, he is the co-editor of two other books, Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated? and Communications Deregulation and FCC Reform. In the past, Mr. May has written regular columns on legal and regulatory affairs for Legal Times and the National Law Journal, leading national legal periodicals.
He received his A.B. from Duke University and his J.D. from Duke Law School, where he serves as a member of the Board of Visitors.
Topics
FCC Enforcement and Merger Review Actions Violate Rule of Law Principles
The rule of law depends upon adherence to a system of binding rules of certain...
The FCC Threatens the Rule of Law: A Focus on Agency Enforcement and Merger Review Abuses
Seth L. Cooper, Randolph May
Federalist Society Review, Volume 17, Issue 2
Note from the Editor: This article discusses enforcement and merger review activities of the Federal...
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The Public Contract Basis of Intellectual Property Rights
The Constitution’s Article I, Section 8 Intellectual Property Clause grants to Congress the power “To...
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The Administrative State: An Examination of Federal Rulemaking
I was privileged to testify yesterday at a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and...
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The FCC's Flawed Understanding of Competition
That the Federal Communications Commission has been on a pronounced regulatory binge over the last...
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FCC's Cognitive Dissonance Leads to Regulatory Policy Run Amok
You’ve probably already heard that on February 18, the FCC voted to initiate a new...
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The Indispensable Man's Indispensable Role in Securing IP Rights
In our recent book, The Constitutional Foundations of Intellectual Property – A Natural Rights Perspective,...
Here's an 18.2% Tax You May Not Even Know About!
The FCC has just announced that the so-called surcharge that feeds the agency's Universal Service Fund...
Article: The FCC, Still Lawless
Today The Hill published my op-ed, “The FCC, Still Lawless.” The piece is all about the FCC’s abuse of...
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The Copyright Alliance That Shaped Our Constitution
Congress is considering reforms to our copyright laws, including some that involve compensation for copyrighted...