I have a new verse for Alanis Morissette. Mike Johnson: "I'll remind you that I'm a jealous guardian of Article I..... If I felt like the executive branch had overstepped its bounds on trade or on the tariffs or something. I would have stepped in. I mean, that's my job as the Speaker of the House."

John Roberts now faces the ultimate heartbreak: deciding whether to keep polishing Donald Trump's boots or to continue his lifelong romance with America's corporate overlords.

Today for @lpeblog.bsky.social I have a short piece on clinical academic freedom and the challenges we face in vindicating our rights as clinical faculty amid political interference. This piece stems from an Essay I have forthcoming on the topic in 2026. lpeproject.org/blog/clinics...

And again, a pattern of putting out statements accusing people of serious Federal crimes and then releasing them hours or days or weeks later with no charges. And no retraction.

"antitrust refuses to see capital as something historical and social and therefore norm-based and changeable. As a result, antitrust chooses to fight capital with one hand tied behind its back, changing some of the constitutive rules of capitalism but not others."

Week in review: @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social on the rise of OIRA 2.0, @noahzatz.bsky.social and Jerry Kang on retaliation lawsuits against DEI purges, and Veryl Pow and Mohini Mookim on prefigurative lawyering. Plus, as always, the best of LPE from around the web!

"For all their faults and failures, no Weimar politician defending a capitalist democracy could conceivably have delivered themselves of the belief recently endorsed by Kamala Harris: 'I always believed that if push came to shove, the titans of industry would be the guardians of our democracy.'"

The firms that struck deals could back out of those deals at any time! there are no consequences to doing so!

Am I reading this correctly: the firms that opposed Trump's intimidation tactics have suffered no consequences, whereas the firms that struck deals gave away $900 million while jeopardizing any work with clients who have interests at odds with the government? There's a lesson in there somewhere.

"The very existence of a contested baseline—that is, disagreement about the..extent of discrimination in the ..system—provides a vector of counter-attack, esp for individuals purged.. for their past DEI work, a group that includes a high concentration of Black women." lpeproject.org/blog/can-dei...

In case you weren't aware, the great Noah Zatz has migrated to bsky. And with Jerry Kang, he has a terrific post about using retaliation lawsuits to push back against Trump’s extortionate demands to end DEI. As they conclude, "this is a time for aggressive experimentation, not resignation."

"In sum, then, employees doing DEI work to help prevent discrimination are engaged in protected opposition conduct under Title VII. Therefore, inflicting 'adverse employment actions' upon them because of such work constitutes illegal retaliation under Title VII."

"The Administration’s extraordinary abuses of power against our core institutions have triggered widespread cowardice dressed up as pragmatic survival... But if fear is the primal driver, we must activate countervailing fears wherever we can, to raise the expected costs of anticipatory capitulation"

Today, Jerry Kang and @noahzatz.bsky.social argue that even as the Trump administration seeks to dismantle DEI in the name of “merit,” the civil rights law it distorts still harbors possibilities for resistance.

ICYMI

To be fair, the Trump Administration is known for following the letter of the law when it comes to using congressionally appropriated funds. Real sticklers about that kind of thing.

"conservatives are encountering a problem that has long been well understood by those on the Left: The rulemaking process is incredibly slow... OIRA 2.0 thus offers conservatives a convenient pathway for achieving almost immediately the functional equivalent of a full regulatory repeal."

Today, @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social explains how the Trump Administration’s use of individualized, firm-level waivers and exemptions marks a new frontier in presidential control of the administrative state — turning deregulation into a tool for distributing political favors.

A really astute post by @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social lpeproject.org/blog/the-ris...

Check out my latest for @lpeblog.bsky.social: I trace the rise of a new form of politicized regulatory relief emanating from the White House, how it departs from centralized regulatory review at OIRA, and what it means for the political economy of the modern presidency lpeproject.org/blog/the-ris...

SNAP benefits are about to lapse because of the shutdown. Reminders: 1. About 1 in 2 children will receive SNAP benefits at some point and 1 in 4 children are receiving benefits in a given month. 2. Trump is already planning to cut SNAP in other ways. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-big-be...

Week in review: @jamesftierney.bsky.social on Intel and American State Capitalism; David Abraham on Capitalism, Democracy, and Weimar Germany; and Rana Jaleel and Risa Lieberwitz on the weaponization of Title VI. Plus, as always, the best of LPE from around the web!

"Despite calls by faculty, students, and staff for collective action, college and university administrations have opted for an individualistic approach, which has led them to compromise and capitulate on principles that are fundamental to the university fulfilling its public mission."

"What we are witnessing today, however, is that even when capital is ascendant, reaping rewards previously unseen in modern times, the potential constraints posed by democracy may be too great a burden to bear."

"For all their faults and failures, no Weimar politician defending a capitalist democracy could conceivably have delivered themselves of the belief recently endorsed by Kamala Harris: 'I always believed that if push came to shove, the titans of industry would be the guardians of our democracy.'"

From me in @lpeblog.bsky.social today: The lesson of the US investment in Intel is "public capital without accountability. The result is not sovereign wealth but corporate capture—an arrangement that entrenches incumbent power while eroding the state’s ability to direct economic development."

"the Intel episode underscores the poverty of our institutional imagination. We know how to write checks to corporations... But we have forgotten how to build institutions that exercise democratic control over investment, production, and innovation."

Today, @jamesftierney.bsky.social argues that the government's recent $8.9 billion equity investment in Intel represents a new model of American state capitalism: one that entrenches corporate power while foreclosing more democratic and effective alternatives.

The week in review: @econmarshall.bsky.social on anti-monopolism as an ideology of the left, and Amna Akbar, @sameer-ashar.bsky.social, and @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social on movement law under fascism. Plus, the best of LPE from around the web 🧵👇

Today is my birthday and look what came in the mail... my first-ever copies of my new book! Thank you to @hcrichardson.bsky.social Theda Skocpol @jacobhacker.bsky.social @gabrielzucman.bsky.social and Robin Einhorn for their kind words!

"As with prior episodes of viral popular disobedience, students were met with incredible repression from police, as well as administrators and even Congress... What became quickly undeniable was that the academy is a core site of conflict: not separate and apart from society but embedded within it."

“The flag was placed so that it would touch me. When it fluttered and touched me, they shouted ‘Don’t touch the flag’ and kicked me in the side. After a while, my hands were tied with cable ties, very tightly. A bunch of guards lined up to take selfies with me while I was sitting like that.”

Appreciate thinking with @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social & Amna Akbar again, inspired by resistance movements confronting incipient fascism across terrains of struggle lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...

Today I wrote in @lpeblog.bsky.social with Amna Akbar & @sameer-ashar.bsky.social about how legal scholars & teachers might act in solidarity with movements in this moment, in the face of fascism: lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...

Drop everything and read it lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...

Everyone should read the excellent debate between @gabrielwinant.bsky.social and @econmarshall.bsky.social on the politics of anti-monopoly. Worth adding here Charles Maier's acute observation about the history of anti-monopoly pol. in the US as a replacement for a broader critique of capitalism

"collective action by small producers and consumers has been a crucial weapon in the anti-monopolist’s arsenal since the Luddites sought to protect their home production prerogative from the capitalists forcing them to deliver themselves and their children up on the factory floor."

Now on @ssrn.bsky.social, forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review. “Alas,” I think Akhil Amar’s new book, “Born Equal,” is not a success and I explain why at great length. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I have a new piece in @lpeblog.bsky.social “Anti-monopolism as an Ideology of the Left” responding to @gabrielwinant.bsky.social’s “provocation.” lpeproject.org/blog/anti-mo...

Week in review: @lookheron.bsky.social on neoliberalism and authoritarianism in higher ed, Beau Baumann on losing and regaining administrative legitimacy, and Matthew Dimick on the dreaded double distortion argument against predistribution. Plus, the best of LPE from around the web! 🧵👇

By engaging with "legal areas where distribution matters most, such as the minimum wage, collective bargaining, antitrust, intellectual property, and housing regulation.... we discover unique, even idiosyncratic, reasons why legal rules can redistribute more cheaply than the tax system."

Today, Matthew Dimick explains why one of the most famous arguments against addressing inequality through predistribution fails on its own terms.

"Opponents of MAGA have faltered, chanting 'expertise' like a spell that’s lost its magic. Knowledge-based authority was a historically contingent mode of governing authority that no longer resonates. This is evident in figures like RFK Jr., whose anti-vaccine stance rejects science outright."

ICYMI, I did a blog post today at @lpeproject.bsky.social that’s really about the death of a 20 c mode of liberal/progressive politics. It’s about the need, as a first-order objective, to relegitimize the state around a representational legitimacy.

This piece by @beaubaumann.bsky.social is really good and focusing on all the right questions. lpeproject.org/blog/rebuild...

I’m back up in @lpeblog.bsky.social today … as an antagonist to @beaubaumann.bsky.social in this generative post about thinking bigger in our rebuilding ambitions lpeproject.org/blog/rebuild...

My shelter buddy Nico has been waiting for someone to adopt him for 219 days. I made a short video to help advertise him to New Mexico residents. If you want to do a small kindness today, consider liking or sharing the Reddit post, so that it reaches more people.

I refuse to read either of these articles, but I really, really hope they are related to one another:

OMG I'M SOBBING 😭 SOMEONE ADOPT NICO!