Maybe good character is both an ethical and a practical plus among political figures.

After years of workshops and hiring committees, we can all spot basic problems like straw men, failures of logic, failures to confront obvious counter-arguments, etc. But you're whipping up fury about different readings of legal historical evidence, in an area you don't write in (or close to).

I'm not saying I agree (or disagree) with the scholarship cited by Barbara dissents. Just making a culture/norms/civility point

Any right of center law prof can point to plenty of "trash" scholarship (your term, John, which I'm not endorsing), of a left wing variety. Advocating "costs" including shunning until people "recant" is not a scholar's approach. (Also I note con law/history isn't your field)

Deeply saddened to learn of Gordon Wood's passing. Few have had an equal impact on the study of the American Founding, or on my own intellectual development. No book is more responsible for making me a historian of early constitutional history than Wood's *The Creation of the American Republic*.

Last night

Agree. Impeachment/removal are warranted here

I know it's quaint to believe such things matter, but under 26 USC 7217 it's a crime for POTUS "to request, directly or indirectly, any [IRS] officer . . . to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer." www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...

Ross Barkan's plagiarism mini scandal has barely been discussed on Bluesky. We should be taking note of it. Especially since, now that he has responded on Twitter, his explanations are ridiculous.

a Kennedy coasting on his name while privately checked out? sounds like he's already revived it www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/n...

Totally concur with the "highly recommended." @donibloomfield.bsky.social and @jeffgordon.bsky.social's sophisticated analysis of the the value of export controls is a must-read for anyone in the national security and innovation space.

Happy 204th birthday!

I appreciate the endorsement, @lsolum.bsky.social

Fordham Law Prof. Harlan Cohen (@harlangcohen.bsky.social) appeared on the Michigan Journal of International Law podcast's first episode, discussing how shifts in global power lead to shifts in the international order—potentially reopening interpretative fights over the meaning of security & more.

Trump and RFK, Jr., continue to suppress information showing that COVID shots work. wapo.st/41JhAhb

Just read the Yale report on higher education (linked in the letter below). I think it's commendable. I hope Yale implements many of the recommended reforms and that other universities follow suit. president.yale.edu/posts/2026-0...

Asking New Yorkers if they’ve been personally victimized by Santacon is very funny actually www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-h...

This article is only persuasive, I think, if one believes that most professors being on the left or far left is right and natural. Viewpoint diversity is in part a "political project" of external actors. But maybe necessarily so, since the left super majority self-replicates by controlling hiring

Good piece

I assume the Hungarian opposition beat Orban by being uncompromisingly progressive across the whole set of policy issues. Well done.

Great point! Stay classy, my friend

I assume the same critique applies to the Warren Court and tons of scholarship inspired by it arguing that the Constitution in fact protects all kinds of newly imagined rights?

I've come to my negative view bc not just bad faith actors but also normal OLC has, I think, a grossly inflated view of presidential power. But I hear you that there might be a lot of small bore, out of sight work that is valuable.

Whoever leads the Justice Department after Pam Bondi “will be confronted with exactly the same problem" as she was, @qjurecic.bsky.social argues: “Trump is asking his attorney general to do the impossible.” theatln.tc/d6DKeRUC 📸: Anna Moneymaker / Getty

Impossible to measure, hard to estimate with confidence, but my gut is that OLC is net pernicious, has been for a long time, and is getting worse

For those unaware, hiring now starts around October in 1L. It's one of the worst things to have happened to legal education, and I'm not convinced that there are any labor market benefits to the firms. I have students getting post-grad offers with firms paying them to find other summer work.

Liberal Patriot shutting down, losing Ruy Teixeira's voice on Substack -this sucks. Apparently no funding for a liberal who shows how Dems have lost their way on immigration, patriotism, public order, merit/equality over identity/equity, econ growth etc open.substack.com/pub/theliber...

Thomas H. Lee: The Citizenship Clause’s Residence Requirement Michael Ramsey – The Originalism Blog originalismblog.com/thomas-h-lee...

In this post, I discuss @fordham.edu Prof. Andrew Kent's important work on the Alien Enemies Act and why Trump's invocation of it is illegal: reason.com/volokh/2026/...

Based on historical research of the Alien Enemies Act’s background, historical context, and legislative purposes, Fordham Law Prof. Andrew Kent (@andrewkent.bsky.social) argues the president’s AEA invocation to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members should be declared illegal. via @lawfaremedia.org

Based on historical research of the Alien Enemies Act's background, historical context, and legislative purposes, @andrewkent.bsky.social argues that Trump’s AEA invocation nearly a year ago to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members should be declared illegal.

An outstanding book by @richardprimus.bsky.social -- learned, curious, humble, elegantly written, deeply important topic.

Judges and leading constitutional scholars shared their views on the Constitution’s enumeration of congressional powers at a recent conference at the Law School that centered on Professor @richardprimus.bsky.social's book, The Oldest Constitutional Question. michigan.law.umich.edu/news/five-ta...

New symposium on my book is out in the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities! It features essays by an extraordinary group of scholars from across Law and History followed by my response. yaleconnect.yale.edu/yjlh/yjlh-is...

A Democratic president in 2029 needs to willing to reduce the size of the presidency, which presidents are loath to do. In 2022 @qjurecic.bsky.social and @andrewkent.bsky.social wrote a great piece in @lawfaremedia.org on Biden's failure to get that job done. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...

My colleague Adam Orford has a great new article -"The Destruction of the Clinate Spending State." journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/cj...

RIP Dan Howe, a great historian of the antebellum United States 🗃️

Downloads of the Year 2025 Here are ten papers that I found particularly interesting, innovative, or valuable in 2025. Originalism, the Administrative State, and the Clash of Political Theories by J. Joel Alicea The Supreme Court Under Threat: Early Lessons in Judicial Self-Protection by Curtis…

An excerpt on the violence of the protest movement's aims: 4/

William E. Nelson, one of the giants of U.S. legal history has passed. I have fond memories of spending a year as a Golieb Fellow at NYU under his tutelage -- as do many others. Sending love and comfort to his family and to all those who who counted him as a friend.

In this co-authored article for Lawfare (@lawfaremedia.org), Fordham Law Professor Doni Bloomfield (@donibloomfield.bsky.social) argues that the regulations intended to prevent bioweapons proliferation may actually be increasing bioweapon risks.

The story of how Xiao Wang was treated sounds really bad.

Well said

Describing this growing group of Jan 6 pardonees as 'facing new legal trouble' seems to miss what I fear is the most plausible explanation for why so many are back: they understood the pardon they received as an official license to resume doing exactly what they had been doing on Trump's behalf.

Join us Thursday morning for a discussion on immigration and migration policies in the second Trump administration with Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Ingrid Brunk, and @monicahakimi.bsky.social Register here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Drawing on a draft article, I filed an amicus brief in the 5th Cir. en banc Alien Enemies Act litigation, with great representation by Covington & Burling. The brief shows that Pres Trump's use of the statute is inconsistent with its meaning when enacted in 1798. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Neal Katyal says he's working on a TV show that he describes as "The West Wing for the Supreme Court," and my question is, have We As A Society not suffered enough