Three days after reading the 170 pages of opinions in the tariffs case, I can’t help wondering whether (and how long) the Court delayed giving hugely important information to the world so that Justices could more extensively carp at each other, in dicta, about principles of statutory interpretation.

University of Michigan: On Friday, come participate in a day-long conference discussing/criticizing my new book *The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power.* With Profs. Jack Balkin (Yale), Maggie Blackhawk (NYU), Sam Erman (Michigan), Jonathan Gienapp (Stanford)… (1/4)

From the rabbi who presided at my wedding: The Bible Tells Us to Love Immigrants www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/o...

On tariffs: would I have liked 7-2? Yes, I would have. Will I take 6-3? Yes. Yes, I will.

On a domestic airline flight. Lots of people (25-30%?) watching the women’s hockey gold medal game on their separate screens. When the winning shot went through, the plane burst into cheers and applause (to the surprise, of course, of passengers doing other things). It was nice.

“It’s like saying, ‘We’re going to play baseball and only I get to bat.'” Professor @richardprimus.bsky.social quoted in @reuters.com www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

Looking forward to the Texas A&M Law Review symposium on federalism this Fri., Feb. 20! Featuring discussions of recent books by Neil Siegel, Alison LaCroix & @richardprimus.bsky.social with an awesome group of scholars. Plus a keynote talk by SCOTX Justice Evan Young.

Just realizing that I have never heard the word “interstice” used in the singular. #ImportantObservations

The “Please!” was in fact my favorite moment of the opinion. Good for Judge Leon. And if he can speak this candidly about the over-the-top unlawfulness of this administration’s conduct, so can everyone else. @mikegrunwald.bsky.social

It turns out that lay juries can be useful and important in blocking the weaponization of law by tyrants. Who knew? #PalladiumOfLiberty www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/u...

Just became aware of this article about my grandfather: saportareport.com/remembering-... He was a good man.

Spot on, from @petridishes.bsky.social: "For a while...we, as a nation, thought to ourselves: Life is too short for everyone to inspect their own food. Let the government handle this. But then along came the Trump administration to wonder: What if we didn’t?" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

At a conference on originalism. Smart people here, serious about what they do. At the moment, I count 47 participants around the seminar tables. 44 white, and 43 men. Not a criticism of the organizers. An observation about whom the subject engages. #AnnualPost

No one should be opposed to this.

All the President’s Men, indeed.

So the President is suing the IRS, which is part of the branch over which he presides, for ten billion dollars. Will the IRS settle with him? For how much? Why not just direct the Treasury Secretary to write DJT a check for $10B? Or $20B? (1/2)

I have the terrible feeling that this is not satire. Unthinkable in any previous administration. Nakedly rapacious.

Listen to what she says. Not just about the wars. If at any time in the last 100 years a Democratic administration had a First Lady who, in a Central/Eastern European accent, said on national TV that Americans should not oppose/disagree with the President...

Judge Patrick Schiltz--a GW Bush appointee, a Scalia clerk in his youth, and a solid conservative--is telling use that federal "law enforcement" is behaving full-out lawlessly. Which is true.

They're *trying* to provoke an Olympic boycott? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/w...

Not the most important thing happening right now. But perhaps of interest for the constitutional-interpretation crowd. Thanks to a great group of students.

“A ‘universal constitutional remedies act’…would allow victims to bring damages claims for past wrongs against federal officers.” Read how states can protect residents against violations of their constitutional rights, amid rising tensions & deadly encounters between demonstrators and ICE agents.

In a victory for law, and for creative and historically aware lawyering, a federal court in Virginia has ruled that various voter disqualification rules there are invalid under the 1870 act readmitting VA to the Union. Kudos to @protectdemocracy.org. protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...

The Trump administration's immediate rush to vilify ICE's victims and fully exculpate the federal officer perpetrators, regardless of contrary irrefutable video evidence, bespeaks a NO-bad-apples mentality. Or, more directly, ICE brutality is never an aberration. It's the policy. 3/ End of 🧵

The Substack One First by @stevevladeck.bsky.social is generally worth reading, but I particularly recommend reading his most recent post, which is about extraordinary (and bad) behavior by DOJ in Minneapolis in the last couple of days. substack.com/home/post/p-...

This is simple gangster government. Stay strong, Minnesota. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Why are federal officers murdering citizens, and why is the government lying shamelessly to protect them? Because we elected a president with a known propensity to behave lawlessly, support violence, and lie and lie and lie. It's not complicated.

Now this is hard-headed journalism, really meeting the moment. Bravo, CBS and ‪@60minutes.bsky.social‬!

Worse than Kent State, really than any episode I can think of probably dating back to Reconstruc & earlier b/c 1. continuing, not 1 off. 2. organized, not individual ofcrs losing it 3. literally at hand of federal government, which is 4. immediately lying & circling the wagons to prevent inves.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. After Trump is gone, one of things I’m going to remember is the cowardice of the people who knew better but went along.

During my morning workout, I watched a cop show made in a previous decade. At the end of the episode, the captain tells the squad that the remaining investigation is being turned over to DOJ. In the story, that signifies satisfactory resolution: all will be well. I winced a little.

As I read the Greenland news, I'm reminded of the last paragraph of Lincoln's first inaugural address. Mutatis mutandis. "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.... (1)

Who knows what it is that moves any one of us, on any given day, to decide that today is the day when, in our digital reality, the shelves must be decluttered of more than two decades’ worth of reprints?

I'm not saying I know that Canadian PM Carney's speech today will be as epoch-defining as Churchill's Iron Curtain speech. But every American who cares about this country's place in the world should read it. This is what we've done--and are doing. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

If you’ve called me a shill for factory farms (and even if you haven’t) you might be interested in my new @nytimes.com column about how factory farms get away with disgusting pollution. They shouldn’t be banned. They should be regulated like factories! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/o...

I endorsed the Principles for the Independence of the Legal Profession, explained and linked in this article. If you're in the legal profession, I hope you will, too. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

If only this weren’t so dangerous and destructive, we could focus on how embarrassing it is.

I just saw DJT's Saturday Truth Social post saying that he was going to forbid the broadcast of any college football game other than Army-Navy while the Army-Navy game is going on. Why can anyone say "presumption of regularity" with a straight face? He just announces unconstitutional intentions.

Each time you hear DJT, an administration official, or a DJT supporter suggest invoking the Insurrection Act, ask yourself (or them, or anyone else who is listening) whether, if the situation they're describing as an insurrection comes within the definition, January 6 must have been one, too.

There should be an organization that sends certificates of appreciation to every American whom this Administration investigates/targets/disparages in retaliation for resistance/free speech/just plain decency. Gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accused they do not have one.

This, by @cshaplaw.bsky.social, is a good explainer of the legal issues around the potential for Minnesota to prosecute the ICE agent who killed Renee Good.

If I bully the winner of the science fair into giving me her first-place certificate, it doesn’t mean I won the science fair. If I’m delighted to get the certificate, I’m even more pathetic than the average bully. #PeacePrize

The fallout from the attempted prosecution of Jerome Powell suggests that Trump *can* be stopped. It’s just that people (mostly meaning Republicans) have to want to stand up to him. When he isn’t stopped, it’s because those people aren’t motivated to stop him.

Not the biggest thing happening right now, but: I’m optimistic about the newly named next President of the University of Michigan, Kent Syverud. I don't know him well, but… (1/3)

Really good historical perspective. If you don’t read @liberalcurrents.com , you should. www.liberalcurrents.com/return-of-th...

They burned Torah scrolls. And the library.

As someone who grew up in Indiana, I have this question: What is happening? What kind of alternative universe is this?

When the federal government violates constitutional rights, it can be hard for citizens to get recourse, even through litigation. Here’s how Minnesota and other states can close the loophole, hold future ICE agents accountable and ensure this never happens again.

There are, at this moment, three kinds of Members of Congress, with respect to the ICE killing in Minneapolis: (1) those publicly saying the President and Sec'y Noem are lying; (2) cowards; (3) worse than cowards.

This analysis is incredibly well done.