Cool but nerdy legal tech development: @free.law launched natural-language search in its vast and powerful case law API! Can’t wait to dig in and see what it can do. Full announcement here: free.law/2025/11/05/s...

Here's a little preview of something I've been working on: a dashboard of the new Supreme Court petitions and applications filed each day. s2.smu.edu/~tbbennett/d...

Jeffrey Kessler has filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court to overrule baseball's "antitrust exemption." The case arises in the somewhat unusual context of Puerto Rico's professional baseball league. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

Fascinating takings clause petition granted today by the Supreme Court. No amicus briefs, no relists, counsel without any SCOTUS arguments to date, interesting issue. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

Most law schools have substantially increased the median LSAT and UGPA scores of their incoming classes in the last decade. s2.smu.edu/~tbbennett/a...

Listening to the tariff oral argument from last week and my main reaction is that we need to deploy the nation’s strategic podcast-producer reserve to the Federal Circuit

Interesting cert petition filed by Lehotsky Keller and First Liberty Institute asks the Supreme Court to overrule Employment Division v. Smith www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

On the one hand, nice. On the other hand, 🤬.

RIP to Hulk Hogan, whom I learned a good bit about for “Breaking Kayfabe.” Here’s my favorite bit

A good bit of commentary on the exercise of equitable power has the flavor of, “ugh, isn’t it lawless how this whole area lacks hard rules and focuses on difficult judgments of fairness?”

Thanks to the Legal Theory Blog for "highly recommend[ing]" my latest article, "Breaking Kayfabe"! lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/...

Hi, friends. I'd like to share a new-ish paper that I'm delighted to have in print. It's called "Breaking Kayfabe," and it's about what professional wrestling can teach us about Supreme Court opinions. I'd be grateful if you gave it some time!

"What two or three suggestions would you make to improve this course in the future?" 🦅

Oh god! It's happening!!! THE HECK BAR RECKONING IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!!

Today from the Supreme Court: two new cases about trans athletes, a new case about the scope of the Heck v. Humphrey bar, and a case about sovereign immunity and Hyatt v. FTB. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

For reasons I'll make public soon, I have been tracking newly filed petitions for certiorari at the Supreme Court. Yesterday—July 1—the Court began assigning docket numbers beginning "25-" instead of "24-" Look who filed (first one is with the Stanford Clinic). What do they know?

Today, July 1, is the official beginning of the Supreme Court's 2025 term. Beginning today, docket numbers of new cases begin "25-" or "25A." Here is auspicious 25-1: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

The executive branch has asked the Supreme Court to answer this question: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...

There's a compelling version of a course in Federal Courts that teaches the opinions in CASA on day 1, focusing on dispute resolution vs. law declaration, the Judiciary Act, and the role of Congress.

The CASA majority (per Justice Barrett) had some strong words for Justice Jackson:

Pretty psyched for a badly fractured Supreme Court to say four different confusing and unworkable things about universal injunctions today!

For those who appreciate such things, last Friday's NYT xword puzzle—one of the most aesthetically pleasing grids I've ever seen—was a _debut effort_ constructed by a rising junior at Harvey Mudd. Brava! www.nytimes.com/crosswords/g...

When e-filing goes wrong www.nytimes.com/athletic/641...

Hypercard is one of my ten favorite pieces of software ever. RIP. arstechnica.com/apple/2025/0...

To paraphrase Justice Kennedy in U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton, the Framers built the split-level of sovereignty.

#rstats package `congress` to study #polisky is updated to account for congress api changes over the last 18 months! Install with `pak::pak(‘christopherkenny/congress’)` to get the current version. I’ll submit to CRAN next week when outstanding questions are concluded and vignettes are added.

Just a reminder that nearly every federal court injunction is presumed to have nationwide effect. If a federal court enjoined Walmart from doing something, Walmart couldn’t and wouldn’t go do it in another district or circuit. Please do not use the term “nationwide injunction.”

The loss of Justice Souter is a moment to celebrate what a tremendous public servant he was. And I’ve always loved what a quirky Yankee he was. Like how he had to move out his phoneless farmhouse because it was collapsing under the weight of his books. 👑

My computer is very supportive during this trying period of grading

Here's a half-way interesting fact I learned today. The best single-game NBA performances each season are getting better over time. The biggest outliers are getting bigger. #rstats

Ask yourself why your state’s judiciary’s swag bags for kids aren’t as good as Maryland. Call your representative today.

I wish that open APIs had the same kind of rabid boosters that the blockchain has.

Reading about the common law in the early Oregon Territory. Obviously it's wild that they had a big fight about which book had the right law. But if both books were blue, why did they refer to them by their color at all??

Of course US News rankings are a malign force in the world. But the real crime is their website. Use this instead: s2.smu.edu/~tbbennett/r...

So nice of the communications team to compile the definitive set of images of me gesticulating wildly

There are many good providers of NCAA tournament bracket competitions: ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, etc. But none holds a candle to "person who has been maintaining the same Excel spreadsheet for decades and sends out colorful updates after each round." That person is goated.

As expected, Judge Furman has ordered Khalil's habeas petition transferred to the District of New Jersey and denied the government's motion to dismiss or to transfer to the Western District of Louisiana: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

New lawsuit by the Phillies over an analytics platform called Titan Intelligence. Phillies allege they paid millions of dollars for an exclusive right _in their division_ to use this platform, and seek an injunction blocking the platform from being sold to other NL East teams

The solicitor general has asked the Supreme Court to address the propriety of "nationwide" injunctions. This is a hard problem with lots of nuance. But of all possible rules, one limiting injunctions to the geographic "boundaries" of the district/circuit is the worst.

I think I've found it. Roger Ebert's worst film review. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fast...

An old tension in con law is between seeing rights as 1) side constraints preventing government from relying on certain impermissible reasons for action, and 2) individual privileges held to varying extents by different individuals. The Khalil case makes this dynamic very clear.

An old tension in con law is between seeing rights as 1) side constraints preventing government from relying on certain impermissible reasons for action, and 2) individual privileges held to varying extents by different individuals. The Khalil case makes this dynamic very clear.

Not the most important thing in the world, obviously, but I think we should go back to calling people Goody/Goodman as a form of address instead of Ms./Mr.

Civ pro folks: I would like to rejoin the civ pro listserv with my new work email address. But I can't remember how to join, and I can't find the information online. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Breaking: settlement reached in Jarndyce v. Jarndyce www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/orio...

It's hard to overstate how surprising this is. The thicket of rules preventing someone like Mr. Glossip from reclaiming the presumption of innocence is among the most snarled and convoluted in all of federal law. It's an inspiration to lawyers whose clients' causes seem lost.

I don't understand why people are so worried about eggs. The organic egg farm right behind my house hasn't raised prices in a year and lets you buy 5 dozen per day! But no, I won't tell you where it is.

Oh yeah. That's the good stuff right there. Pure, uncut arcana. Not for casuals.

Georgia v. McCollum

International Shoe (for civ pro folks) @tommybennett.com