We need a strong Supreme Court that protects democratic institutions, upholds the rule of law, and safeguards individual rights. But this Court no longer operates as the framers envisioned, nor as it should. Here are six reforms that Congress can enact now: bit.ly/4dbN1qI

Prominent appellate lawyer Kannon Shanmugam is leaving Paul Weiss for Davis Polk & Wardwell.

I'm looking forward to participating in this @cardozolaw.bsky.social symposium about @eburch.bsky.social's important new book about the darker sides of mass tort litigation.

A fixed schedule for Supreme Court appointments would reduce political manipulation and make the Court more representative. bit.ly/4bZbVIk

A federal judge said the American Bar Association can proceed with a lawsuit alleging President Donald Trump's administration adopted an unlawful policy to punish law firms over their past legal work, ​diversity policies and political ties @mikescarcella.bsky.social reut.rs/4m6F2Oz

Not spicy, but very important for lawyers. CA5 holds (again) that the failure to file Rule 50(a) and Rule 50(b) motions bars *all* appellate review of evidentiary sufficiency, including under the plain error standard. www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

Go Susman! Glad to see a great firm defying the short-sighted and harmful recent trend of pushing the hiring process for 2L summer associate positions into the 1L year. Students should respect this move, and other firms should follow Susman's lead. www.susmangodfrey.com/news/susman-...

In my other life as a songwriter, my new song "The Elephant" was just released! Collaborator Racquel Roberts and I, with a team of phenomenal musicians, created a funk rock song about a couple with something they do not talk about. Give it a listen! open.spotify.com/track/1INoU7...

The judge upheld the jury verdict holding J&J liable for $16 million in compensatory damages, but granted JNOV as to punitive damages (wiping out a staggering $950 million punitives verdict) because the evidence could not support a clear-and-convincing finding that J&J acted with malice.

I continue to be grateful for judges and lawyers from all over the political spectrum who take law and truth seriously. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/u...

Wow, this is quite a speech by Canada's Mark Carney. It saddens me that my own country is squandering whatever claim it once had to a position of principled leadership in the world, but I take some comfort in hearing voices of reason among those in power elsewhere. globalnews.ca/news/1162087...

Bill Nelson ran a seminar for people (like me) who wanted to learn how to be legal scholars. His teaching and support were key to my transition into the academic world, and I will be forever grateful. @nyulaw.bsky.social www.law.nyu.edu/news/in-memo...

BREAKING: The Justice Department again fails to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, an AP source says.

BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

US judge rejects Capital One $425 million settlement with depositors reut.rs/49MB2hY

It's good to see jurors serving their historic role as bulwarks against tyranny and prosecutorial overreach. apple.news/AmKELOTvVQua...

This editorial is well supported and well expressed. On the topics I know best--higher education and rule of law--it gets the story exactly right. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Glad to see this. American universities have flourished because of their academic freedom. Viewpoint-based government interference is antithetical to great teaching and research. Resources are essential, but so is the freedom to pursue truth fearlessly. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...

It is so exciting that @binsky18.bsky.social has joined @pamelabookman.bsky.social and the rest of our fantastic team of civil procedure scholars at @fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social!

A depressing read, but useful to get the collective wisdom of Republican & Democratic lawyers on threats to the rule of law. Particularly sad to see the devastation of DOJ's reputation. 'Bow to the Emperor’:We Asked 50 Legal Experts About the Trump Presidency www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/m...

Omg. I’ve never seen anything like this in a judicial opinion:

Wow, judge strikes Trump's NYT complaint for violating Rule 8's "short & plain" instruction. That's a rare event, but correct: "As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective—not a protected platform to rage against an adversary."

I know it's frustrating when lawyers point out when something the administration is doing is not legal. But responding with "the law doesn't matter anymore" is really unhelpful and defeatist. Clarifying the law is important because it reminds us not to comply in advance and to resist and take action

In rebuke to Trump administration, judge rules for Harvard on many key issues in the funding cutoff cases. I’m glad the university held fast rather than buckling under to the bully. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Grand jury won't indict Sandwich Guy! In the very city where rioters were pardoned for brutally attacking police officers on Jan 6, it's a way for citizens to show they understand irony and they understand throwing a sandwich in frustration at this invasion. www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

Today, Judge Xinis held a status conference in Kilmer Abrego Garcia's lawsuit challenging his impending removal to Uganda. @annabower.bsky.social reported from the conference, where Xinis barred the government from removing Abrego Garcia, at least until briefing on the petition is complete.

BREAKING: Kilmar Abrego has been RELEASED from prison and is headed home to Maryland to be with his family. Judge Xinis has an order in place requiring a 72 hour notice if ICE decides to detain and deport him to a third country. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Sad to see the end of an era. I've had the privilege of teaching superb students from all over the world, which was win-win-win, especially for US students. I hope our universities will soon return to being supported (or at least not thwarted) by our own government. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/b...

Someone forgot to take down this webpage: www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/v...

As I prepare to welcome new law students, I am fighting the urge to go deep-cynic about law and courts. I think the most powerful act of resistance I can offer is to teach future lawyers how to think clearly, how to care about facts, and how to understand fundamental legal values.

Larry Summers: "This is way beyond anything Nixon ever did ... this is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers, launching assaults on universities, launching assaults on law firms. This is really scary stuff."

As someone who takes legal ethics seriously, I am glad courts see the obvious unconstitutionality of the president's outrageous attempts to punish law firms for their representation of clients and their support of causes. thehill.com/opinion/judi...

A federal judge ordered that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be released on bail while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, a legal victory for the migrant who was wrongly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration reut.rs/4kQnB2r

JUST IN: A judge has certified a nationwide class aimed at blocking the effects of Trump's birthright citizenship order. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

This is how things will proceed after Trump v. CASA's rejection of universal injunctions. Federal court certifies nationwide class action and grants preliminary injunction for the class. It's clunkier but often it can do the job and it has certain advantages. apnews.com/article/birt...

Our full-page color ad running today in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Arizona Republic, and the Dallas Morning News. These are the truth which unite us, and these are the truths which every American needs to know. weholdtruths.org #sharethetruths

Make Class Actions Great Again? w/ @benjaminweiss.bsky.social @ryanknappy.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/with-univers...

BREAKING: if the Supreme Court wants a class action to hold Trump's birthright citizenship unconstitutional nationwide, we will give them one! We @democracydefendersaction.org just filed with our wonderful partners @aclu.org, NAACP LDF, LULAC & more assets.aclu.org/live/uploads...

We've also moved for class certification and sought class-wide injunctive relief. www.law.georgetown.edu/icap/wp-cont... Procedures for enforcing rights may change but the Constitution does not.

Wow was that fast--an immigrant advocate group already filed an amended complaint seeking class action relief in its birthright citizenship case in federal court in Maryland

I'm not happy SCOTUS says judges lack full power to enjoin the executive from violating law. But on the bright side, they handed me a perfect Complex Litigation syllabus for the fall. Litigation structures to address illegal conduct that causes widespread harm? Joinder & class actions, here we come.

BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore millions of dollars in canceled grants to University of California researchers, calling the terminations flagrantly illegal and unconstitutional. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump's defunding of science boggles the mind. Universities carry out research projects to answer questions that the government wants answered because it's in our national interest to get these answers. Halting these projects is just unbelievably stupid. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

NEW: In Fuld v. PLO, a case about whether a law that says the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority have consented to personal jurisdiction in civil suits brought under the Antiterrorism Act violates the Fifth Amendment, the Supreme Court holds it does not.

The American Bar Association filed a lawsuit today to halt government intimidation of lawyers and law firms. Learn more: www.americanbar.org/news/abanews...

Judges and lawyers continue to take seriously the constitutional and statutory constraints on presidential power. The only extraordinary thing is that there is anything extraordinary about this. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Governor Newsom: "I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops ... and return them to my command. ... This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed." The letter: