Just read the district court order dismissing DJT's suit against the NY Times. The practice of law lives. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.447437/gov.uscourts.flmd.447437.5.0_3.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

More from me on @thedailyshow.com :  No, eating local grass-fed beef doesn’t make you an eco-hero. What matters is what you eat (beef is bad) and how efficiently it’s grown (grass-fed is not). Agriculture that makes less food per acre eats more of the earth.

Bouie is a national treasure

Last week, I sat down with Noah Feldman to discuss my new book *The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power.* Good questions from law students at the end. You can see the conversation below. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yju6...

On Advisory Opinions, Sarah Isgur and David French speak with me about enumerated powers. The segment begins 43-44 minutes in, depending on format. This was a good conversation among people with different approaches to constitutional interpretation. thedispatch.com/podcast/advi...

This is a terrific, important resource. Really, we're well past the time when the administration was anywhere close to entitled to the presumption of regularity.

“But several things can be true at the same time: (1) Political violence is never acceptable and needs to be condemned. (2) Political violence must not be the pretext for silencing political speech. (3) It’s more important than ever to push back against autocracy…” open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Watching Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M. Rooting for the school that didn’t just fire a teacher and remove a dean because elected officials disliked something the teacher said in class.

Heading into Michigan Stadium. Excited. Not planning to boo the visiting team when they come out of the tunnel. #GoBlue

Promoting their respective new books, Justices Sotomayor & Barrett sat for interviews. As I explain on @justiaverdict.bsky.social, each offered pablum about SCOTUS. Barrett also sowed confusion about fundamental rights & displayed obliviousness to the Trump administration's threat to democracy.👇

On Monday at Harvard, I'll discuss my new book The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power. This isn't the most important thing happening just now. But if you're in Cambridge and interested, feel free to come listen. Registration required. hls.harvard.edu/events/hls-b...

Today at 5:30 at @worldresources.bsky.social in DC, I’ll be talking with two of the main characters of my book (and two of the food world’s most interesting thinkers) @brucefriedrich.bsky.social and @timsearchinger.bsky.social. Come see us or watch online: www.wri.org/events/2025/...

I’m late to Ezra Klein’s big essay in Sunday’s NYT. But I think he’s right. We are undergoing an attempted regime change. It needs to be fought now, fiercely. Waiting it out is a terrible strategy.

On the blog, I critique Justice Kavanaugh's attempt to justify Monday's emergency docket ruling greenlighting racial profiling in Los Angeles. He's wrong about everything: standing; the 4th Amendment; the balance of harms; and his suggestion that damages lawsuits are available. 👇

@richardprimus.bsky.social is on my radar. When I clone myself, first thing I am gonna do is read his new book. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

President Trump’s threats toward Chicago are terrible for any number of reasons. Here’s one constitutional problem worth considering. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

I haven't been posting regularly about the stream of troubling and unexplained shadow-docket rulings from the Supreme Court. But… (1/3)

Officially, this is a chat about enumerated powers. In practice, though, it’s a deep exploration of constitutional method and meaning.

I also want to thank MDefenders Program Director Sofia Nelson and @umichlaw.bsky.social alumni Tezira Abe, Gail Engmann, and Blase Kearney for co-facilitating this weekend’s program with me. The students were lucky to learn with and from you.

And that’s a wrap on @umichlaw.bsky.social’s Public Defender Training Institute Retreat after a final day focused on bond arguments and storytelling. I feel honored to get to work with the amazing aspiring public defenders here and can’t wait for the rest of the semester.

Heading soon to Michigan Stadium to spend the evening with 110,00 of my closest friends. Let's not boo the New Mexico players when they come out of the tunnel. They're not doing anything wrong by coming out of the tunnel. And they came a long way so we could have fun. #GoBlue

I agree with the main point, though, that Democratic leadership is not acting like this is the constitutional emergency it is. It’s as if they’re waiting for him to grow a mustache and put on a military uniform.

The appropriation process is real. It’s just that Trump treats it as discretionary. The federal budget is really big, and much of it he doesn’t care to disturb and never will. This is emblematic of authoritarian systems. Much of it hums along as before, unless and until the regime decides it won’t….

The room is set for this year’s @umichlaw.bsky.social kickoff Retreat for the Public Defender Training Institute. Now we wait for the students!

The Divided Argument podcast had me on to talk about my new book *The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power.* Very much enjoyed the conversation. Listen here: www.dividedargument.com/episodes/bed... @dividedargument.bsky.social @williambaude.bsky.social‬ @epps.bsky.social‬

This week, the Trump Administration (1) offered a military funeral with honors to Ashli Babbitt, a J6 rioter, and (2) hung a portrait of Robert E. Lee at the Pentagon. Makes sense. They both served the same cause: assault on the constitutional government of the United States.

Here's @williambaude.bsky.social on the birthright citizenship order. It's good to appreciate complexity. It's also good to recognize when the complexity doesn't matter for purposes of the question posed, because answering that question is simple. blog.dividedargument.com/p/complicati...

Perhaps it's silly to post (or even think) about issues in the methodology of constitutional interpretation while the rule of law strains and crumbles. But just in case it isn't: (1/2)

I'd like a Michigan t-shirt that says "Who's got it better than we?" #WolverineGrammariansUnite!

Here's a short essay about teaching constitutional law. It's for a volume edited by H.W. Perry, who was my first con law teacher. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

What if a lot of what we think we know about the constitution was spin from the then contemporary pundits? How would we know? www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

On first read, the DC Circuit panel opinion in Global Health Council looks like a big step toward letting the administration get away with impoundment. One that can be rationalized if one takes a civics-book picture of interbranch competition way too seriously but is, in a reality, a big problem.

Constitutional law's substance has changed considerably since I first taught it 33 years ago, but the challenge now is less about teaching new doctrine than about integrating traditional coverage into the current authoritarian context. On the blog, I explain my plans for the coming semester.👇

No one would have any confusion about what is happening if they saw it in another country.

I know others have said this. I know it won't persuade anyone who doesn't already get it. But (1) crime in DC is low, and (2) a president who was intent on reducing crime in DC might not, among his first official actions, pardon lots of people who were convicted of rioting violently in DC. (1/2)

Things you gotta love to see.

Here's a short new paper from my @umichlaw.bsky.social colleague Ellen Katz about the Texas redistricting. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

On today’s episode of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, Leah Litman interviews me about my new book *The Oldest Constitutional Question.* Segment begins just before 1:22. Thanks to @leahlitman.bsky.social and @strictscrutiny.bsky.social for having me on. www.crooked.com/podcast/how-...

Professor @richardprimus.bsky.social spoke with @leahlitman.bsky.social on the @strictscrutiny.bsky.social podcast about his new book, The Oldest Constitutional Question. Listen: www.crooked.com/podcast/how-...

NEW: Imani Gandy @angryblacklady.bsky.social joins Melissa to talk legal news. Then Brandon Garrett @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social on his book DEFENDING DUE PROCESS And Richard Primus @richardprimus.bsky.social joins Leah to talk his book OLDEST CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION crooked.com/podcast/how-...

On the new episode of the Nat'l Constitution Center's podcast, I discuss my new book *The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power* with host Jeffrey Rosen and Virginia's Prof. John Harrison. richardprimus.substack.com/p/national-c...

Hear Richard Primus and John Harrison discuss how the debate over congressional power has defined key moments in American constitutional history from the Founding Era to the New Deal to present day. Listen to #WeThePeoplePodcast: ow.ly/M2G250WBMnk

What it is going to take is one university after another simply saying, we will not deal. This is not a legitimate way for the executive branch to interact with universities and we will not do it. Full stop.

This is a significant development. The article talks a lot about the downside. Which is real. But the problem isn't that courts are doubting the credibility of executive-branch lawyers. It's that those lawyers are forfeiting their credibility by behaving badly. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/u...

"Every political constitution in which different bodies share the supreme power is only enabled to exist by the forbearance of those among whom this power is distributed." -- John Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1846-52 and 1865-66

"Indirect taxes...have at command a thousand successful disguises.... [T]ariffs afford them their most frequent and abundant opportunities. Most people have very short thoughts...and so do not recognize the hand of government in the high prices charged them in the shops." --Woodrow Wilson, 1885

I just want to flag something so it doesn't get lost. It looks plausible that the Hegseth brothers are trying to push military leaders further on involving military in domestic law enforcement. Two experts I spoke with read the memo that way. There may be a bigger story here to get.

"No one would desire to see the President possessed of authority . . . to treat with foreign powers, and appoint thousands of public officers, without any other than that shadowy responsibility which he owed to the people that elected him[.]" -- Woodrow Wilson, 1885

"If asked, 'Is the glass half empty or half full?' At BLS, we see an 8-ounce glass containing 4 ounces." -- from the About the BLS webpage www.bls.gov/bls/about-bl...