Balzak turned 10, and this 3,000-pound birthday walrus brought full Kenough energy to the celebration! 🎉 From cool enrichment treats to a party packed with beachy birthday vibes, Balzak celebrated his big day in true walrus heartthrob style. Ken would definitely approve. 💙

Red eft spotted by my eldest on the morning hike.

Just amazing how much of right-wing discourse boils down to, “The expensive things I like are what make me a Real American Man. The expensive things you like are what make you the Effete Other.”

This is the stuff social media was made for

If what happened here isn't met with severe sanctions that you can't walk away from, it will send the worst of possible messages to every Trump lawyer in the country: you might get yelled at, but you can get away with anything

The exquisite stupidity of these people

This was the moment in @hellgatenyc.com's recap of Mamdani's Twitch stream fireside chat where I laughed aloud hellgatenyc.com/mamdanis-twi...

please stop booing I have a lot of speech to go

Your students are using AI. You can counsel otherwise, put it in the syllabus, threaten expulsion, proctor it yourself. I sat through three years of this. You look around the classroom and nobody’s taking notes in Word or OneNote. They’re all in ChatGPT.

From my law colleagues, this is the default AI policy for Berkeley Law courses, but instructors can make their own policies if they want. But good to have an unambiguous default policy and norm.

Prosecutors should not get absolute immunity for anything because they don’t represent an infallible king. But they really shouldn’t get it for their misuse of grand juries. My case challenging that just got to the Eleventh Circuit: youtu.be/Xiio00O_gPg?...

CASE DEEP-SIXED Today's @chicago.suntimes.com front page story on the dropped charges in the "Broadview Six" case, following revelations of prosecutorial misconduct before a grand jury: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

No argument on that last point, Tom.

Per my tradition, on the blog today I have posted the exam I gave my Federal Courts students at the end of the semester just concluded. By contrast with some past exams, t's not especially funny or absurd (no zombies or fake Trump tweets, for example), but it is maddeningly difficult. Enjoy! 👇

Anyone following this knew that the prosecution was hiding something, and that it was bad. Anyone who says they knew it was this bad is lying to you.

The Grogu Alwayes Rings Twice

Kat Abughazaleh carrying all that shit (because pockets for women’s dress pants are a joke) is all of us

Harvard has two campus papers: The Crimson and the New York Times.

Really pleased today to vote in the runoff elections for my colleague @adams-hurta.bsky.social, running for appellate judge here in Houston. He’s an excellent choice for the Democratic ticket.

///BREAKING/// The Broadview Six trial has been VACATED due to the grand jury developments

less A quotas and more of this! THINKING remains the sine qua non

Look at her lil hood and shoes 🥰🌼💛 #whimsical #cottagecore #frog #summervibes #cozy

This is the way. Northwestern has gone in the opposite direction, with one VERY pro-AI prof leading the charge. If professors aren’t doing something to protect the integrity of final exams (handwritten or NO internet), they should not be grading on a curve. Students: push the schools on this.

BREAKING: Federal judge finds that Presidential Records Act is likely constitutional, issues preliminary injunction requiring compliance with the law. Judge Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, opens his opinion with an Orwell quote.

Kind of feel like we especially don’t need fancy law explainers at the moment. “Can the president just take money when he wants?” A third grader could answer this. A Yale law prof is likelier to write the wrong answer so their 2L can work for Alito

Barney Frank, 1940-2026 GIFT LINK: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/u...

A few thoughts about introductions in legal briefs from a lawyer/blurry actor. www.law.com/litigationda...

everything I've seen this morning is bad except for this this is v good

Just FYI: I sometimes tag things with #LawStudentNote in case you (or your students) are looking for topics. Feel free to join me, if you'd like. My tagged topics generally relate to my own research, for obvious reasons. But I'm sure there are lots of great topics out there.

Accompanying one very unhappy satellite dish to the vet’s office.

when a store owner is like "you know what i'm gonna do for you?" you just know you're about to get the paltriest discount

Two of those three criteria are bad, actually

"Homer! For the love of God, no!" "Marge, you know that batting this light bulb is the only thing that cheers me up after giving away those million-dollar greyhounds."

On the contrary, I didn't think I looked that good!

Joke's on you, that's exactly how I want to look

NO YOU SHOULD ASK WHICH SEAT, AMONG OTHER QUESTIONS

ED

Callais is terrible, quite apart from its impact on the midterms, which, notwithstanding further red-state gerrymandering, will very likely leave Democrats in the House majority. But the relentless gerrymandering will pay dividends for Republicans in future elections. Prof Buchanan has details. 👇

One hour left to vote, Georgia! Make your voice heard in the party primary elections and non-partisan general elections! Runoffs are likely for statewide offices, but today is your ONLY DAY to vote for judges.

New draft from me: Translating "Substantive Due Process" into State Constitutional Parlance, forthcoming in the Jacksonville University Law Review. The point of the piece is pretty straightforward: when people talk about "substantive due process" in state constitutions, I don't know what that means.

The next administration should tear every one of these agreements up as corrupt from the beginning, treating them as legal nullities.

Entities can also make claims, making it possible that Trump Org could make a claim for the NY litigation. To be eligible for relief, you only have to make a "legal claim" stating that you were a victim, presumably in some kind of crayon

I assumed we would never see the "settlement agreement," or whatever you want to call it, but evidently DOJ went ahead and posted it on its website. A couple things are interesting if you can steel your mind for the outrage and horror of its general nature. www.justice.gov/opa/media/14...

From the reporter who scooped the news that Treasury's GC was quitting, IRS wrote a 25-page memo about why Trump's IRS lawsuit was dogshit. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/a...

In the year of our lord 2026, the good people at Swarovski are the only ones with a sense of whimsy left, god love ‘em. Even if their target customer is Grey Gardens Lady But Rich.

WHERE DO I VOTE

I mean, the difference between Trump’s bad polling and Biden’s is that the 37% who approve also have a cult-like devotion to him. No one was building golden statues of Biden in 2023. Obviously extremely bad, but seems like something we need to account for one way or another.

Feasting on dinner rolls and out-of-season grapes and drinking seltzer out of a wine glass like some sort of unhinged deposed king

Something about using AI in law feels very 1950's in the 'I smoke cigarettes to clear my lungs' way.

My Munsingwear tinfoil hat is always ready to go.