Looking for new and old examples of dissenting opinions that accuse a majority of acting illegitimately. Not just vitriol, but accusations of result-orientation, blatant disregard of law (as opposed to vigorous disagreement about the law), and other serious charges of coloring outside the lines.

Looking for new and old examples of dissenting opinions that accuse a majority of acting illegitimately. Not just vitriol, but accusations of result-orientation, blatant disregard of law (as opposed to vigorous disagreement about the law), and other serious charges of coloring outside the lines.

There should be norms in favor of high-profile college coaches expressing concern and outrage over cuts to the academic side of the house

Last night, elsewhere in Milwaukee, my wife & I showed up at a restaurant without a reservation. They took our number, said they’d call when a table became available. No trouble, because the only question was whether we’d have to cross a street to find a place just like these. We did not.

Shoutout to finding new music in the late 80s.

To learn more about states’ powers in this moment, check out our checks on federal overreach pieces, including on state prosecutions of federal officials and on DOJ’s efforts to access state voter rolls (which Bondi raised in her MN letter yesterday) statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu/research-exp...

Jesus Christ. Multiple goons had a man on the ground but that wasn't enough brutality for them. One had to pull his gun and shoot someone who was prone on the sidewalk. They're going to tell us the agent feared for his life and was justified.

@nytimes.com look at what a *news*paper looks like

My first year as a prof I wanted to really emphasize a point so I stood on a table in the front of the room as I made it. A couple years later an about-to-graduate student in that class told me that he didn’t remember the point I was making but he definitely remembered me standing on the table.

I think this is related to my sense that law professors spend way too much time trying to change the world and way too little time trying to understand it.

I generally agree with this, but I also wonder how much of a convention it actually is. I'd guess that maybe 30-40% of my articles have had a "Part IV" in this sense, and that most or all of my most-cited pieces don't (and to the extent they do, that's not what they're cited for).

An Originalist Case for the Hostile Takeover of Venezuela: 1. Hostile takeovers are a thing. From time immemorial. 2. Art II does not prohibit hostile takeovers of foreign countries. 3. Hostile takeovers have an "executive power" vibe. 4. Art II implies presidents have a hostile takeover power.

The entire thread is worth your time. The portion around and including this post gets at a point I tried to make in my book - the less common ground within the profession about what the rule of law entails, the less likely we are to be able to sustain the rule of law.

Yikes

I wanted to see if it had ever been used elsewhere, so I googled "insensitive to the nuances of human interaction," which a former colleague once used as a way of describing someone as kind of a dick. (It's also applicable to certain interpretive approaches, imo.) Google AI took it personally.

This all seems pretty unbecoming of a FIFA Peace Prize winner

A 2026 amuse-bouche.

Hi, I’m Chatterton Falls, Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario.

I've just started reading this transcript. I'll do a thread (below this post) of parts that stand out to me as I read. The progress will be sporadic, as we're planning to watch some movies tonight (having a wild New Years over here! 🥳)

Not as bad as it used to be, but I still absolutely hate the ABC/ESPN assumption that TV viewers really want to hear a snippet of marching band between every play.

Your mileage may vary, but for me the experience of reading Clifford Geertz is an exercise in mumbling "just spit it out, dude" over and over again.

By my friend/colleague Mike Gousha. Somehow seems relevant this morning. As described by PBS: “The victories and failures of a unique brand of socialism in Milwaukee reduced corruption, improved conditions for workers and cleaned up the environment between 1910 and 1960.”

When you get the reputation of being the guy with the encouraging words on New Year's Eve, it can start to come through as a little pressure -- what if the situation on the ground is worse than usual? what if people are more scared than they usually are, and with cause? what use are good vibes then?

Sometimes students applaud at the end of the semester. Maybe even add a “whoo!” There’s often an individual note or two of appreciation. And every now and then one of them gives a little gift that cuts to the core of it all. If you need me I’ll be over here writing footnotes to Karl, as ever.

When and if sane and honest people ever again control the U.S. government, one of the first things they should do is enact a tax on large accumulations of wealth. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/if-the-market-were-working-well-we

“Part of the town myth has held that the town-bred boy was somehow purer in body and spirit, more protected from dark knowledge than his city counterpart. The opposite was true. The city probably knows no vice that was not invented by the country.”

It has been a bracing moment for American federalism, with both unprecedented efforts to extend executive control over state and local govts, novel forms of subnational resistance. Where is federalism going? Paul Nolette and I have edited a new issue of Publius on that question. Short thread:

Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”

"Some of you have mentioned the massive bunker I’m building beneath the ballroom. Don’t worry about that, it’s there just in case of an emergency, like if I wanted to be Santa forever and someone lied and said I couldn’t be."

Ok well first of all the LEAST important thing about making art is being good at it so write that down

The always-brilliant Elizabeth Nelson on one of my favorite albums of all time. (My one attempt to see the original Bash & Pop lineup was thwarted by the fact that a guy I was with-despite him being 30 and prematurely gray-couldn’t get into First Ave because he forgot his ID. Maybe kinda fitting?)

I go back and forth on this.

Along the same lines, I have a very clear memory of first pulling this beauty off the shelf in the UVA law library:

It is newsworthy that the president of the United States is increasingly verbally abusive of women reporters and he should be asked about it.

Thank you @lsolum.bsky.social and Mike Ramsey for noting my post. As noted below, I don’t think Mike’s suggested approach squares with text, history, or an independent Fed.

I've saved (most of) my annoyingness on here recently for my Judging book. But before I wrote that I wrote a different, memoir-y sort of book about being a horse dad. And just now came across this very nice review of it. So sharing 'cuz maybe you need a gift idea for the horse person in your life.

Very much worth a read.

I've saved (most of) my annoyingness on here recently for my Judging book. But before I wrote that I wrote a different, memoir-y sort of book about being a horse dad. And just now came across this very nice review of it. So sharing 'cuz maybe you need a gift idea for the horse person in your life.

Today I spoke to a judge I'd never met who read my book and said it "scratched an itch" that he and a lot of other judges are feeling. It also ties together a lot of ideas in ways that legal academics should find interesting. And it made for a fine primary text this semester. Maybe worth a look?

Not to disagree, but just to offer a small counterexample. I had one of the most engaged classes I've ever taught. Second- and third-year law students at 3:30 is often a recipe for a slog. This group was lively, engaged, and eager to think - in a "perspectives" class intended to foster just that.

Hello! @adamsopko.bsky.social and I have been working on a proposal to charter an AALS Section on State Constitutional Law. We believe that such a section is long overdue and that it is urgent to foster scholarly community and support in a growing discipline. Links to support this effort below: ⬇️

This is a super interesting observation. I’m not sure there are many places left like the one I grew up in, where it was rare to encounter a stranger at all. But most non-city stranger interactions are very structured & the friendliness built into them doesn’t often extend into other interactions.

It was a crap shoot after this, but the top three were never in doubt. Give ‘em each a listen if you never have.

Five most recent: James McMurtry Dry Cleaning Japanese Breakfast The Silos Dehd

Absolutely this. Goes for any kind of creative person.

I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.

Todd Snider's death got me reflecting on the thread connecting my favorite songwriters. Elizabeth Nelson (as usual) captures it pretty well in this tremendous piece on the 'Mats. Call it an empathetic sensibility, a concern for the outcasts and marginalized, expressed with a poet's feel for words.

Flashback to that couple-year period where the sign at a local Burger King just said “Ew.”

This is solid and relatable marketing.

What a photograph. “Nearly two dozen arrested as faith leaders protested outside a federal immigration facility near Chicago…” Arrested large amounts of peaceful clergy face first on pavement is a pretty good sign you’re not the good guys in the story. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...