Presumably this is an opinion coming out now from the same month, because it was Rao and Katsas on at least one of the motions panels
law professor. democracy. constitutional doctrine. solarpunk enthusiast. hoops. dad. my opinions are solely my own and not attributable to anyone else. ssrn: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=6381985
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Presumably this is an opinion coming out now from the same month, because it was Rao and Katsas on at least one of the motions panels
At @bencollins.bsky.social 's suggestion, my Gaming and History class is reading Jedediah Purdy's "What I Had Lost Was A Country" for class tomorrow, to start talking about contemporary fascism alongside the Spanish Civil War. www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
In NC at least, full-time professors are exempt from CLE requirements (if they're not actively practicing)
I see "John Brown was crazy" discourse, I post the poem
“Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself.” Leadership, strategy, real action, common sense. #Paris
I'm sure everyone on both sides will interpret "does 'regulate...importation' include 'levying tariffs'" consistently with how they interpreted "does 'modify [student loan] repayment terms' include 'forgiving repayment'"
This happened in a recent CA5 case; the 2D-1R panel (R dissented) amended its opinion to *significantly* curtail its holding, presumably to ward off the en banc
When I'm old enough to pull it off so that people think I'm being cantankerous in a fun way and not threatening I'm 100% gonna start carrying a bat around
A true artificial intelligence would be a bodhisattva (a story I started writing two years ago)
EU auto sales for July. Battery-electric sales are up almost 50% YoY outside of Tesla, where they're down over 40% as TSLA market share collapses. PHEV and hybrid sales are also rising rapidly while internal combustion engine sales continue to fall.
It's been nearly a week and the guilt about this post has chewed through me. When I say I "wanted to take" biz orgs, securities, etc. I should be clear that I mean to say "probably should have taken."
Relatedly: I think modern congressional investigations are mirroring some of the worst abuses of these legislative tribunals. I'm writing about it and will be presenting on it at the Loyola Con Law colloquium in November.
as a result, seditious libel prosecutions were moved to legislative tribunals—colonial legislatures asserted an inherent parliamentary privilege to punish seditious libel. This was extremely unpopular and contributed to the revolutionary fervor.
Obviously the most famous case is the Zenger trial, where the judge threatened to perjure the entire jury if they didn't convict. They deliberated 10 minutes before acquitting. James Franklin, Ben's older brother and a publisher, also had a seditious libel charge nullified.
Appropos of nothing: the American Revolution began with a popular groundswell of jury nullification against seditious libel charges
So, to be clear: this is mostly not true.
During covid a lot of newspapers made their covid coverage free in recognition that what they were providing was a necessary public service. Now they're discussing "dynamic paywalls and optimized pricing" — surge pricing for the news. Wish I could say this was surprising.
Under current doctrine, even explicit and obvious expressive intent isn't going to protect you from prosecution for smoking pot. There are good reasons for that, you start to court with pure anarchy at some point. But my point is: I think we're drawing some *extremely* fine lines with 1A doctrine!
Not everyone who violates those laws does so expressively. Probably most don't, and certainly a smaller proportion than those who burn the flag expressively versus not. But it's hard to separate "this shouldn't be illegal" from smoking weed, for example.
We haven't traditionally conceived of criminal law as government speech under the First Amendment but a significant number of criminal laws—especially victimless crimes—primarily exist as expressions of community moral disapproval of behavior.
my classic example is the Cuban blockade, justified by explicit reference to disagreement with Cuba's politics, enforced by criminal law. Prosecuting someone for violation of the law is essentially prosecuting them for not participating in a mandatory political boycott. This seems problematic!
this unquestionably doctrinally correct conclusion rests on some theoretically uncomfortable papering over of the role moral disapproval plays in essentially all criminal prosecution and what that means about the first amendment
A significant entry on my to-do list is to try to situate the Roberts Court's objectively pro-corruption decisions within a broader project that includes, e.g., the VRA decisions, the gerrymandering decisions, etc.
I think there's largely been a laudatory change in legal academia in the last decade in recognizing that law professors are not general purpose geniuses qualified to opine as experts on any and all topics. This restraint largely disappears when it comes time to opine on "how do LLMs work"
unfortunately although the hysteria is objectively funny I think the criticism of the rebrand is more right than wrong
To the extent there's a real claim here against the fed govt, it belongs to the company, and it's the board's prerogative to pursue it or not. Shareholders have some tools to apply pressure but it's a really high bar.
I think there's a remedies/cause of action mismatch here. Shareholders can sue the board derivatively on behalf of the company but as Corey pointed out the damages case isn't rock solid (& in securities litigation it needs to be). And the remedy is? Board's insurance pays out.
so far my favorite line is: "The Entity..."—globe-spanning, unimaginably powerful AI (really broke the bank on that name)—"...is taking out satellites faster than I can hack them!" You think?
Multiple huge plot chasms are leapt using perfectly realistic human face masks; but "Ethan Hunt has a gun" would solve about 99% of his problems in this movie and at no point does he have one, for reasons unknown
I like dumb action movies as much as the next guy but I'm sorry "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning: Part 1" (insane name) is too dumb for the action to save it. It has crossed the stupidity Rubicon.
that's the thesis! And yes, b/c the combo of: "plain text" being just flatly inadequate + arguably inconsistent with the Heller "exceptions" (thus pre-Bruen precedents now in question) + Bruen being very imprecise several times = coverage is such a mess that they're all repeating the "assume" move
I'm literally just going to run out of room in my article on "will the courts ever develop a second amendment coverage doctrine"
Thrilled to share my new piece in the Columbia Law Review: “Afrofuturism in Protest: Dissent and Revolution.” papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
My experience with Duke's First Amendment clinic was invaluable, but I also didn't get to take half the doctrinal classes I wanted to take in law school: biz org, securities, antitrust, etc. I cannot *imagine* having to bump another two upper level doctrinal courses out of my transcript
BREAKING: A new experiment in Philly shows cash rental assistance slashed homelessness rates by 57–67%.
I think the vast, vast majority of folks objecting (myself included) have no problem with the 6 credit requirement. 12 is... a lot.
You're hearing it more and more!!!
I recently became acquainted with "Osanaetoki Bankokubanashi" 童絵解万国噺, a Japanese illustrated history of America from 1861. The retelling of the revolutionary era is quite something. Here, for instance, is John Adams wielding a sword in mortal combat with a gigantic serpent.
all power is solar power, it's just up to us if we want it to be converted to plant mass, eaten by an animal that then dies (recurse as necessary), crushed by rocks for several million years, then set it on fire to everyone's detriment, or if we just want magic rocks to convert it directly to power
got this ad for a solar panel cover that just unfolds from a roof rack, plugs into your car, and charges it while it's parked. a reminder that we live in the future—if we want it
you'll read all about it in "The People's Absence: Walking Out to Stand Up in the Lone Star State" (forthcoming, Penguin 2026)
First day of classes today (I teach tomorrow) so of course the baby has collaborted with daycare to invent a new kind of virus
So I guess I'm sympathetic to bringing in history and tradition insofar as such modalities are necessary to answer the question "has even one person in the history of the United States viewed their drivers license as their personal expression?" in the negative.
just skimmed this and whatever else is going here with the bizarre and unnecessary foray into history and tradition I have zero sympathy for a first amendment claim premised on "my driver's license is protected expression." Get real.
Have no business doing this right now but started writing about this tonight
Excited to see that the final version of Shamed is now out in Virginia Law Review! I'm so pleased that the finalized PDF version retained the images in full color. Check it out! virginialawreview.org/articles/sha...
I am excited to announce that my article, Academic Freedom's Inflection Point, will be published in the Boston College Law Review in 2026. The SSRN link is below. I plan to make revisions to address feedback & new developments (ex. a terrible govt speech opinion). Comments are welcome & appreciated!
Try distinguishing a conclusion from a factual allegation in a difficult, at-the-margins Twiqbal question!
Man Who Drinks 5 Diet Cokes Per Day Hoping Doctors Working On Cure For Whatever He’s Getting theonion.com/man-who...
it is incredibly bizarre that there's been next to no serious reporting about the gambling industry or the societal effects that legalizing gambling via smartphone has had
it's good imo
In CA5 opinion the violence against the dogs is described in gruesome detail. (extremely evident disapproval of the cops' actions) So what ON EARTH made the CA5 author think THIS was a good idea:
(yes he concurred with his own opinion to fit more dog jokes in)
In CA5 opinion the violence against the dogs is described in gruesome detail. (extremely evident disapproval of the cops' actions) So what ON EARTH made the CA5 author think THIS was a good idea:
In Leatherman (1993), SCOTUS strikes down CA5's judicially imposed "heightened pleading standard" for 1983 claims. Leatherman is a 4A case where police shot and killed plaintiff's dogs. Plaintiffs sue the municipality for failure to train.
losing my MIND at this:
(1) Hi y’all 👋 I’m on the academic hiring market this year!! I’m a PhD at Yale. My job talk is a timely piece of legal history exploring Myers, Humphrey’s Executor, and the future of the unitary executive (not in the news at all 😅). Happy to send a copy!
Hoo boy. Gonna keep an eye on this one. I have the sneaking suspicion it will be very important. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
![SOVEREIGN POWER CONSTITUTIONALISM Curtis A. Bradley* [University of Chicago Law Review, forthcoming 2025] The constitutional text seems to be missing a host of governmental powers that we take for granted, including powers relating to immigration, Indian affairs, acquisition of territory and resources, and the regulation and protection of U.S. citizens abroad. The Supreme Court suggested an explanation for these and other missing powers in its famous 1936 decision, United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation. Upon becoming a nation, the Court contended, the United States automatically acquired powers “equal to the right and power of the other members of the international family”—powers that inhered in the government “as necessary concomitants of nationality.” Although the Curtiss-Wright decision has been heavily criticized, this Article shows that the “concomitants of nationality” idea reflects an important and longstanding feature of U.S. constitutional law. As will be shown, many areas of constitutional law rest on a presumption that the nation acquired the full complement of sovereign powers allocated to nations under international law, and this has been the case throughout much of U.S. history. This presumption has been manifested at times through broad interpretations of the constitutional text, but on other occasions it has been manifested through invocations of inherent authority that are more structural in character. Importantly, and contrary to what many critics of Curtiss-Wright assume, the sovereign power presumption does not require either a rejection of constitutional constraints or a preference for presidential over congressional authority.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:f4d76fjna5nxqsy2fu6cgmp3/bafkreigv22brb3bvcyr5dham77feqv6lq5aqie2pfqfbghhnta5inoczv4@jpeg "Click to view full size")
I think you're probably right, butttttt that's what first amendment overbreadth claims are for
(on scope, my hot take is that if you're a business (or business law) professor and one of your students owns stock in a Texas-based company you're a proxy advisor under the law )
I'm legit worried about the effects of CASA here though. So ISS and Glass Lewis get a (default?) judgment. What's to stop Paxton from trying to enforce it against anyone else, given its insane potential scope? And do we have any reason to doubt he'll do it?
My work on constitutional change stresses political action and civic culture, which means ultimately few court rulings are truly safe from erosion over time or the potential for reversals of fortune.
For more on the hiring process, I wrote a series of posts a while ago with advice on the market from the beginning to the end: smithblawg.blogspot.com/2023/07/goin... (The initial decision to pursue an academic career) smithblawg.blogspot.com/2023/07/goin... (The FAR)
Good advice for those going on the legal academic job market! A lot of it is focused on the decision to go to academia and the preparation of initial documents, but there are points about voice and balance later in the post that those already in the mix should take to heart.
Destiny has a related thing: the game itself tells relatively discrete and simple stories, but there is some incredibly rich lore hidden in item descriptions, lore cards, etc. that all inevitably gets mined and dumbed down in the worst way for the main storylines
my wife did illegal debt collection stuff frequently in the context of rent collection as a tenants' attorney so I've heard some stories
You're hearing it more and more
Delighted to share my latest, History and Fetishism in the New Separation of Powers Formalism, now live in the Penn Law Review! The piece traces the emergence of the Supreme Court’s new approach to separation of powers law and argues that it is grounded in a set of basic mistakes. (1/3)
my civ pro professor assigned this for the first day! And I'm passing it along to my class this year.
veil of ignorance is literally undefeated
Yeah 100%, my intended definition of "illegal" here includes both "violates general consumer protection statutes if they were correctly interpreted and enforced" (e.g. all kinds of scammy products and deceptive advertising etc.) and "is subject to routine enforcement"
I'm prepping like a madman right now but want to engage with this further at some point. Obviously I'm sympathetic to the idea that profit is important dynamic
The scamification of American commerce and the ruthless degradation of products you used to be able to buy into rentals or licenses with arbitrary terms almost certainly has a negative effect on civic virtue and rule of law expectations.
if lots of bad things happen to ordinary people all the time that "should" (by any reasonable moral standard) be illegal but aren't, people's perception of the relationship between morality, reason, and legality is necessarily going to be distorted. that strikes me as the *real* rule of law problem
this is not to say that, like, bogus investigations by elites into their political opponents don't matter, it's just that those kinds of violations may emerge when conditions are such that public capacity for outrage has been degraded by the feeling that we're all getting hosed all the time
increasingly toying with the idea that this is the root of all "rule of law" issues. A democratic theory of the rule of law should begin with the idea that the rule of law emerges from the average citizen's lived experience. And that experience today is being ruthlessly ripped off at all times.
I can’t say it enough: U.S. culture is scam culture. It pervades everything we do. We don’t notice it because it’s the water we swim in. A party would do well to remind everybody how awful this is and propose to fix it.
Weird paper about constitutions, cosmology, revolution, and Elden Ring is now in print in the Penn Law Review! Enjoy. scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcont...
The extra hoop to jump through that actually makes it more suspect constitutionally >
Whoa. That's getting downloaded immediately. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
hunter's ok right now, titans are the current meta and warlocks on bottom. But nothing feels as good to bop around with as a hunter with stompees!
Started "Columbo," which is so, so good. Really enjoyed S1E3 and got a huge jump scare at the end when it was directed by Steven Spielberg. He was TWENTY FOUR when he directed it.
immediate, involuntary, verbal "banger argument"
Look at what happens to male teacher salaries (blue line) v.s. female teacher salaries (red line) after collective bargaining laws expire.
Need an IP expert to tell me if Kendrick got / was entitled to a cut from the DJ Mustard MUSTAAAAAARD (which references a Kendrick lyric referencing DJ Mustard)
this is how I live my life now and it is both humbling and immeasurably actualizing
you're hearing it more and more
Finally posted this essay from fall 2024 on SSRN. It's about the legal and political dynamics of state and local measures targeting classroom speech involving race & gender; also about ensuing litigation. Even more relevant now that Trump II has joined the fray. 1/x papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
a big question i think that is increasingly relevant in almost every aspect of american life, from politics to the workplace to art to even just everyday social settings Are We Ever Going To Get Sick Of Being Bullshitted
I had a packaged tomato sandwich once on a virgin air flight back from the UK that singlehandedly stopped me from eating tomatoes for ten years
Can’t wait to introduce bird-based storage into my backup system
To whom do I speak about this
the central point that I was trying to make in The Broken Branch: the economics of journalism are *at least as crucial* to its democratic function as is the legal and political environment in which it operates