Kavanaugh's opinion in Barbara strikes me as... weird. First, for originalists, presumably some constitutional provisions are flexible in the way Kavanaugh embraces because their content is in some ways underdeterminate (searches must be "reasonable"). 1/

Would it be student abuse to have three days on non-Article III courts in Fed Courts?? I used to teach the full arc through Stern/Oil States/Sharif, in part as a kind of case study on doctrinal evolution. And now there's Jarkesy, etc.

My final report to the Administrative Conference of the United States on drafting regulatory preambles in light of recent developments in judicial review of agency action is now available papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Daniel Deacon @dtdeacon.bsky.social & my paper "Legalistic Noncompliance" is out now in the Duke Law Journal! It describes how the second Trump administration is saying they're complying with lower court orders even though they're not in fact doing so: scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol75/is...

@dtdeacon.bsky.social has a nice write up of Wildermuth and Baker's recent piece on Perkins and the future of the civil service at the Court. www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

You know I’m doing history because I actually have some books on my desk

For the past year or so, I've been working on a project for the Administrative Conference of the United States on best practices for drafting regulatory preambles in light of recent developments in judicial review. The draft report is now available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 1/

Thanks to Adam Liptak for highlighting Daniel Deacon @dtdeacon.bsky.social & my forthcoming Duke Law Journal piece "Legalistic Noncompliance"! Adam's piece: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/u... Our article: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Justice Gorsuch:

This isn't what SCOTUS *said* (they said nothing) BUT the Court's "passivity"-deciding not to decide or say anything - helps the executive branch aggressively characterize & implement the Court's orders. My draft paper "Passive Vices" goes into this (Law Review editors- it's looking for a home!)

I’ve done peer reviews this cycle for Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Columbia. I think it’s only right that next cycle I get to choose which one publishes my piece 😇

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Valuing Administrative Democracy," by @briandfeinstein.bsky.social and @profdanwalters.bsky.social. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

I don't think the Roberts Court majority understands the limits of that category (or lack thereof) either harvardlawreview.org/blog/2025/04...

I think I'd rather the Court overrule Humphrey's than have the Court go around invalidating parts of statutes involving "conclusive and preclusive" presidential powers

Justice Barrett is asking SG Sauer, do we really have to decide today which clause of the Constitution is the basis for our unitary executive theory? Can't we just continue "not being very specific about it," as we've been doing? Question captures something v. important about originalism and text.

Sauer's argument is substantively quite weak, but his understanding of the assignment may be the correct one: Just assure the justices they can do the thing, stipulate that they aren't deciding matters not before them, and move on.

All of these questions have been about the Fed, right?

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Immigration Venue Exceptionalism," by Stacy Caplow and Maryellen Fullerton. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is “How Not to Design Expert Bureaucracy: Lessons from Administrative Law,” forthcoming in the North Carolina Law Review, by Wendy Wagner. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Remedies in the Officer Removal Cases," by Sam Bray. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

My article, "Statutory Liquidation," is now in final form. Check it out on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Or at the Administrative Law Review website: administrativelawreview.org/volume-77-is... Thank you to the many who helped improve it!

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Officers at Common Law," forthcoming in the @yalelawjournal.bsky.social, by @nwdonahue.bsky.social. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Rubber Stamps" by Adam Samaha. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

My opening day Leg Reg video reminded me of this amazing tweet

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Loper Bright's Disingenuity," by @cary-coglianese.bsky.social and @dfroomkin.bsky.social. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Excited that "Legalistic Noncompliance," with @leahlitman.bsky.social, is now forthcoming in the Duke Law Journal. Check it out here! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room covers two pieces: "Presidential Brokering in the Regulatory State" by @jennifernou.bsky.social and "The Chadha Presidency" by @joshchafetz.bsky.social. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Dan Deacon @dtdeacon.bsky.social & I just uploaded a new/revised version of our paper “Legalistic Noncompliance.” It’s about the Trump admin’s noncompliance with court orders - and how they’re using legal arguments to paper that over and conceal their defiance papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is “The Gray Area: Finding Implicit Delegation to Agencies after Loper Bright,” by Matthew Stephenson. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "New Challenges for Federal Regulations: Executive Branch Responses," by Richard Revesz. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

I'm editing a treatise chapter right now, and it's interestingly fulfilling in a different kind of way than other academic work. Don't tell the people voting on my tenure (wait, you say they're on here?), but I sort of envy the generations who could make a name this way.

Nodded at Alan Colmes while checking out behind him at Gristedes

Leah’s Lawless book party was a stream of hilarious jokes and insightful commentary, just like the book itself. So fun. @leahlitman.bsky.social @dtdeacon.bsky.social @profmmurray.bsky.social @kateshaw.bsky.social

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is “Designing Policymaking Mechanisms for Regulatory Dynamism,” by Julie E. Cohen, Nina-Simone Edwards, Meg Leta Jones, and @paulohm.bsky.social. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

It's been a marathon week of conferences for me, but it was great to meet and engage with a lot of new folks at the HYS JFF!

Professors @dtdeacon.bsky.social and Daniel Fryer, ’18, will present their research at the 2025 Harvard/Yale/Stanford Junior Faculty Forum, which will be held June 2–3. They are two of just 15 legal scholars selected from law schools across the country. michigan.law.umich.edu/news/profess...

ICYMI: Dan Deacon @dtdeacon.bsky.social & I wrote a piece in The Atlantic about how the Trump admin uses the language of the law as cover to claim it is complying with court orders - when in fact it's not. And how courts respond. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The Trump administration uses the language of the law as cover to claim that it is complying with court orders when in fact it is not, Leah Litman and Daniel Deacon write. “We call this ‘legalistic noncompliance.’”

Over at @theatlantic.com, @leahlitman.bsky.social and I summarize our study of the Trump administration's practice regarding judicial orders, which we term "legalistic noncompliance" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is “The Lost English Roots of Notice-and-Comment Rulemaking,” by Rephael Stern. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Thanks to @lsolum.bsky.social for highly recommending “Legalistic Noncompliance” by me and @leahlitman.bsky.social! lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/...

New paper from me and @leahlitman.bsky.social, entitled "Legalistic Noncompliance," taking stock of the second Trump administration's emerging practice with respect to judicial orders. It's on the "draft-y" side -- comments welcomed! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I feel like NBA teams shouldn't wear their gimmick uniforms in game 7s. Undignified.

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Appropriations Presidentialism," by @mblawrence.bsky.social, Eloise Pasachoff, and Zachary Price. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Excited to have the opportunity to present Statutory Liquidation at the Harvard/Yale/Stanford Junior Faculty Forum in June! Check the paper out here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Today's Ad Law Reading Room features two recently posted articles: "Presidential Administration After Arthrex," by @narosenblum.bsky.social & @rickhills.bsky.social and "Science and Politics in Public Health Regulation," by @sbagen.bsky.social. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Congrats to @chrisjwalker.bsky.social and @nbagley.bsky.social for being cited in today's big arbitrary-and-capricious opinion (alongside some guy named "H. Friendly")!

Similarly proud to be a WilmerHale* alum (if they fight this). *As Leah should know, it’s WilmerHale (marketing name, with camel case) or Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. I don’t think Lloyd Cutler would back down from this.

Thanks to @lsolum.bsky.social for the "Download it while it's hot!" recommendation for "Statutory Liquidation." Do as the man says! lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/...

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Rethinking the Administrative-Remand Rule," by Matthew J. Sanders. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...