Some personal news I’m proud to share:

A useful CRS report for those interested in the Judgment Fund and potential ways Congress could restrict it. www.congress.gov/crs-product/...

The Judgment Fund, the Miscellaneous Receipts Act, no part of the fiscal constitution is too obscure to be corrupted.

It's an exciting day TODAY at W&M! The third hour of the NBC program featured guest co-host Patton Oswalt ’91, D.A. ’23, President Katherine A. Rowe and several members of the Class of 2026.

The claimed federal issues are: (1) interpretation of state law relied on misunderstanding of federal meaning of “election”; and (2) Moore v. Harper - departure from ordinary bounds of review.

A great and well-deserved honor for my William & Mary colleague Alli Larsen. law.wm.edu/news/stories...

Basile’s paper is a great contribution to the study of the history of statutory interpretation, especially regarding the mid-19th-century treatise literature.

Since it's Leiter-official, it feels like a good time to say I'm so excited to join the @cornelllaw.bsky.social faculty later this month! leiterreports.com/2026/05/01/l...

🚨SDRI is hiring!🚨 Learn more about our Staff Attorney and Fellowship opportunities here ➡️ statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu/get-involved...

Today seems like a good day to announce that the Kansas Law Review's symposium next year, on October 9, 2026, is entitled "Voting Rights in a Post-Callais World," and will be centered around the Callais opinion and its repercussions. Reach out if you want to attend. (I am the faculty sponsor).

How are you going to have a general law revival when the transcribers won’t even let an old omnipresence brood for a bit. Sheesh. (Excerpt from today’s oral argument in Cisco Systems v. Doe)

Three years ago today, Chief Justice Roberts refused the Senate’s request to testify about judicial ethics. See letter below. Roberts cited separation of powers and judicial independence. These notions are constructed over time, often through interbranch clashes. Interested in an early one? 1/3

Three years ago today, Chief Justice Roberts refused the Senate’s request to testify about judicial ethics. See letter below. Roberts cited separation of powers and judicial independence. These notions are constructed over time, often through interbranch clashes. Interested in an early one? 1/3

🧵 The arguments behind landmark Supreme Court rulings have never been freely available… until now. More than 125,000 #SCOTUS records & briefs (1830–2019) are now open on the Internet Archive. Full announcement ⤵️ blog.archive.org/2026/04/20/u... @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social

I see it’s “federal jurisdiction opinions” day at the Supreme Court. Enbridge - strict reading of removal deadline, no equitable tolling Hencely - doesn’t expand the Boyle federal-contractor defense www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/sli... 1/2

Chiltern Hundreds right now: “All full up on stewards at the moment, thanks.”

I have interacted with lots of judges and a few U.S. Supreme Court justices over the years, but I have never seen one of them mingle with students so warmly. Check out these pictures of Justice Sotomayor and our lucky students at William & Mary Law School!

I read page 14 and thought, “he’s going to invoke noscitur a sociis.” And I turned the page and he did! And “no elephants in mouseholes”! I should buy a lottery ticket.

I had the privilege of attending a lecture by Professor Samuel Bagenstos today. The topic was “Reconstructing the Public Health State.” Thank you for visiting William & Mary, @sbagen.bsky.social !

The debates about DHS and Iran appropriations assume the long term slush funds the OBBA gave the president for ICE and military ops are constitutional. That premise is mistaken, as @marknevitt.bsky.social and I explain in our draft, now forthcoming in GW Law Review! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Look! It's finally happening, I'm so excited! Please share with your friends, people who assign books, and pets.

Larsen & McSweeney Medieval Treatises Alli Orr Larsen (William & Mary Law School) & Thomas McSweeney (William & Mary Law School) have posted Medieval Treatises and the Judicial Search for a Useable Past on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s recent turn to history and tradition has…

Everyone knows Llewellyn’s chart showing canons and their counter canons. Compare the pages on statutory interpretation in the patriot lawyer Josiah Quincy Jr.’s law commonplace (started c. 1763). On consecutive pages, he collects venerable authorities for and against interpreting by the “spirit”:

The account says the quotations are random, but geez.

“Realigned: Standing and Substantive Due Process” This post comments on SCOTUS’s decision this week in Mirabelli v. Bonta. blog.dividedargument.com/p/realigned-...

Incredible scenes here. I guess Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey, and Perkins Coie now get to beat the government on appeal too. Government’s brief due this Friday.

I need to read this book! Link to review by @marinklevy.bsky.social :

Personal jurisdiction in the 7th Circuit: In Liu v. Monthly, No. 25-02074, which will be argued today, the appellant argues that they were not subject to personal jurisdiction in the NDIL because they "did not sell or ship a single accused product to Illinois." #CivProMatters

Remedies / Civ Pro Valentines: Roses are red Violets are blue Moot my demand By saying, “I do” Roses are red Violets are blue Tho’ equity act in personam It can’t restrain my love for you Roses are red Violets are blue A constructive trust Couldn’t account for you Workshopping these, obvs.

Remedies / Civ Pro Valentines: Roses are red Violets are blue Moot my demand By saying, “I do” Roses are red Violets are blue Tho’ equity act in personam It can’t restrain my love for you Roses are red Violets are blue A constructive trust Couldn’t account for you Workshopping these, obvs.

Working on Administrative Law valentines. 💘 ⚖️ Roses are red Violets are blue If you take my heart What process is due?

I hope this will be of interest to people who care about statutory interpretation, federalism, and the “general law revival.” Comments welcome. The abstract:

Judge Leon continues to wear out the exclamation point on his keyboard. “Please! That is not the law.”

NEW PAPER Did 19th c. courts all use the same methods of statutory interpretation? Or did different states differ? How did methods change, and who changed them? And how did federal courts respond to state variations? Was this stuff a “law of interpretation”? If so, general law or state law? Link:

TIL that although my students know about Ronald McDonald, they are not as familiar with the rest of the McDonaldland cinematic universe, namely Mayor McCheese. 😢

We at William & Mary were privileged to host @stevevladeck.bsky.social yesterday for the annual Cutler Lecture on the Constitution. His talk previewed his forthcoming book, “The Court We Need: Why the Supreme Court is Worth Saving—Especially from Itself.” Thanks, Steve!

Today I competed in the law school’s pie eating contest to benefit the National Marrow Donor Program. How’d it go? Dear reader, I slayed it.

A few notes on this proposal by Goldman & Swalwell, based on the bill text: 1. Codifies Bivens cause of action for suits against federal officers. 2. Abolishes QI only in the limited circumstance in which ICE/CBP agents (not other feds) are sued for excessive force (not other wrongs). (1/2)

My article “The Plain-Meaning Fallacy” just published in the B.C. L. Rev.! My favorite illustration of the plain-meaning fallacy is originalist arguments regarding the President’s removal power—an issue now pending before SCOTUS. Here’s a quick explanation 🧵 bclawreview.bc.edu/articles/10....

Update on Berk v. Choy: Today SCOTUS indeed says the Delaware med-mal certification doesn’t apply in federal court. Majority says the conflict is with FRCP 8. Jackson concurrence says it’s FRCP 3 and 12. Opinion: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Interpreting the law in light of the “Aloha Spirit” is part of the positive law of Hawaii. (See Haw. Rev. Stat. s. 5-7.5.) I mention this because tomorrow SCOTUS will hear a gun rights case involving Hawaii, and some of the amici (and many commentators) mock Hawaii’s view. Wolford v. Lopez docket:

I can’t find the bill text yet. Setting aside the part of the proposal that is about defenses to criminal liability, the discussion about civil liability makes it sound like qualified immunity is main barrier to liability. The main problem is instead the lack of a cause of action (i.e. Bivens). 1/2

This week I will be presenting a paper on “statutory backup rights” at the AALS annual meeting. A statutory backup right is a statute that codifies a constitutional right that is believed to be at risk of judicial abrogation. 1/2

I'm thrilled to share that the low-cost print copy of v2 of our open-access patent law casebook is now available. Check it out! The teal will be so pretty on your shelves-and the insides are pretty great, too, if you are interested in patent law. Aw, who am I kidding? It's objectively interesting!

Basque cheesecake is supposed to look burnt, but is it supposed to look possessed?

I’m pleased to report that Law & History Review’s The Docket has posted my short article, “Judge Platt Potter: Politics and Principle in Interbranch Conflict.” @lawandhistrev.bsky.social Short 🧵

We’re now more than half way through the 60-day deadline the 11th Circuit imposed on the district court after declaring “undue delay” in ruling on the Smith report.

Got to be a first for the shadow docket: an article on a GVR is the third item from the top on the NY Times website and app (as it currently displays to me, anyway). www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/n...

This line of questioning about, “Could Congress make EPA or Dept. Ed into an indep multimember commission?” is really striking, on the questioners’ side. Imperial Prez is no big deal; Congress exercising some authority over the shape of gov’t is beyond the pale, the ultimate reductio ad absurdum.

I like nonmutual defensive collateral estoppel and the LA Dodgers. I recognize that not all agree, so can someone who is good at the economy help me do an initial coin offering so I can make money off of counterparties to these opinions.