December 2, 2010 12:48PM 

# Battle of the Ilyas II: This Time It’s Personal 

By [Ilya Shapiro](https://www.cato.org/people/ilya-shapiro) 

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Last year, Cato adjunct scholar (and George Mason law professor) Ilya Somin and I [engaged in the inaugural “Battle of the Ilyas.”](https://www.cato.org/battle-of-the-ilyas-and-more-on-the-chicago-gun-case/) Tired of being confused for one another — how many D.C. libertarian legal scholars named Ilya S. can there be? — we accepted Josh Blackman’s invitation to compete in a trivia contest whose prize was the exclusive use of the Ilya name. I won, but my one-year reign expired last week, so it was time [for a rematch](http://www.gatherthejews.com/2010/11/which-jew-is-smarter/).

There were two components to this year’s competition, a written quiz based on Judge Danny Boggs’s famed clerkship applicant quiz — worth 75% — and an oral speed round — worth 25%. (Boggs is a friend of Cato, having [given a B. Kenneth Simon Memorial Lecture](https://www.cato.org/events/ccs2006/) and [contributed to our *Supreme Court Review*](https://www.cato.org/pubs/scr/2007/boggs.pdf).) Somin and I completed the written portion right before Thanksgiving and held [the oral part](http://joshblackman.com/blog/?p=5574) during a conference call with Josh last night. To listen to how it all went down, including the announcement of the overall winner, [read and listen here](http://joshblackman.com/blog/?p=5580). And if you’re dying to know without going through all that, see below.

I beat Somin 15–10 in the oral round (3 questions correct to 2), which, when added to my 58–53 lead after the written round, gave me a decisive 73–63 victory. As I said [in the podcast](http://joshblackman.com/blog/?p=5580), “it’s good to be king \[of the Ilyas\].”

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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