Is it a good or a bad thing that no one appears to be talking about (openly) about the displacement of Donald Trump by a civilian-military junta, along the lines discussed by Ozan Varol in The Pro-Democratic Coup d’Etat?

From this week’s New Yorker: “2 stunningly petite brunettes.” Their petiteness was stunning (compare “2 stunning petite brunettes”). How, exactly? (adverb modifies adjective not noun; adjectives in sequence all modify ensuing noun)

Having been out doing errands I’m almost certainly not the first person to observe that “It’s a new world but it’s the same Constitution” is almost literally devoid of meaning because it could justify directly contradictory holdings.

More on mainstream media anti-progressive bias: (1) There will be a leading progressive candidate in Dem presidential primaries. (2) It's not going to be JB Pritzker or AOC. (3) MSM have no interest in explaining pt 2 or identifying other potential progressive candidates.

1/ Definitely not deep into the birthright citizenship flap but my fairly strong impression is that there are quite a few different "revisionist" takes on "subject to the jurisdiction" with some but not complete overlap, that none maps well on to the administration's position, ...

Starting dinner at the Library Room at Sketch in London. One of the most beautiful dining rooms I’ve been in. Food could mediocre (unlikely) & the experience would be worth it

A heterodox view here? The principled case for birthright citizenship is complicated. Have to take into account ease/difficulty of naturalization + length of time before parental removal/deportation/voluntary departure (e.g. student visa folks) occurs--& maybe other stuff.

1/ In a "Moyn mechanism" anti-Trump legal mobilization reduces anti-Trump political mobilization. its strength depends on # of people affected. Ballpark guess: actual number of people subject to the Moyn mechanism is low enough that they could--and probably did--fit into the Yale Law faculty lounge.

A book launch discussion of Mark Tushnet & Bojan Bugaric, Constitutionalism and Its Discontents (pub date 7/28, U Chicago Press): www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJw6...

My first post on Substack, about AI and legal studies, prompted by a thread about AI being used to write law review articles: substack.com/profile/6335...

New episode of Supreme Betrayal: Tariffs! (with what I think are some interesting disagreements between Seidman and me): podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s... open.spotify.com/show/2aoi66k... supreme-betrayal-how-the-supreme-court-and-constitutional.simplecast.com/episodes/tar...

I posted a very short but I think sort of interesting paper on the idea of transformative constitutionalism, including reactionary tc: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A very short primer on thinking about the tariff-refund “mess”: balkin.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-.... Short version: easy to solve if anyone really wanted to.

Is SSRN limbo worse than law review submission limbo? (Feb 5 submission, approval pending)

New episode of Supreme Betrayal, on legal limits on US military intervention abroad: supreme-betrayal-how-the-supreme-court-and-constitutional.simplecast.com/episodes/us-... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u... open.spotify.com/episode/2kUV... Next an experiment with and about AI and the Constitution.

On culture dominating politics (my view is that the 2 most important figures in late 20th century Irish political history were Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan, not any politician): www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...

Grab any chance you have to see Bill Irwin in On Beckett, now at the Shakepeare Theatre in DC. One of the greatest acting performances I’ve ever seen. The material is funny (it’s Beckett [& Irwin] after all) & thought-provoking too.

Received page proofs of my next (& last?—3 co-edited books in process) book, w/ Bojan Bugaric, Constitutionalism & Its Discontents (U Chicago Press, publishing in the fall). Bojan came up w/ the title & I said, “Sure, what are they?” & then we were off to the races.

B/c administration officials routinely lie and congressional Rs (and maybe Ds) aren’t interested in the truth, the most interesting thing about AG Bondi’s appearance today (literally, in the literal sense) is that she appears to have told her makeup person to tone things down.

New episode of Supreme Betrayal available: ICE & the Constitution begins w/ attempted murder of Stephen Field & ends w/ conversation on “the Constitution” & popular protests: supreme-betrayal-how-the-supreme-court-and-constitutional.simplecast.com/episodes/ice... podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id17...

And who—aside from the Harvard Corporation, apparently—would have predicted that the nebbish-y Alan Garber would turn out to be the best, or at least most important, Harvard President since James Conant?

Re Trump’s Harvard TACO: I restate my observation early in the series of events, “Don’t f— with the ruling class."

I may be old-fashioned but I don’t think that judicial opinions should include phrases like “perfidious lust for human power” even when they reach results I like—for prudential reasons (more likely to be reversed) and more important because being a judge means cultivating a habit of being judicious.

Don’t think I’ve seen this in my feed: Apparently the deadline for nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize is Feb 1. Who’s up for nominating Tim Walz & Jacob Frey as representatives of the people of Minneapolis? Cf Carl von Ossietzky 1936.

I just participated in a press briefing on aspects of ICE and Minneapolis. My comments come near the end (don’t count on the courts, go to the streets and maybe the courts will follow): www.youtube.com/live/yVhFIvy...

As a graduate of Yale Law School I think I’m entitled to say that every time JD Vance says something about the state of the law he shows that he went to Yale Law School. (The federal officer removal statute exists so that federal officers won’t be tried in kangaroo courts.)

Wait, isn’t this sort of thing supposed to happen on TACO Tuesday? www.cnn.com/politics/liv...

1/ A thought provoked by another post: Given the 1st Am’s 1st word, does the Am impose any limits on presidential action pursuant to Art II powers (not delegated to Pres by statutes)? A 1985 article by Mark Denbaux asks parallel question re judicial orders pursuant to inherent judicial authority.

What’s next after the Minneapolis general strike (if that’s what it is—not clear from the reports I’ve seen)? The Battleship Potemkin?

1/ Walz & Frey have obstructed the enforcement of federal law by their statements in almost exactly the same way that Charles Schenck obstructed the draft in the leaflet he distributed. SCOTUS upheld Schenck’s conviction in 1919. Though the decision has been repudiated I wouldn’t be too confident...

2026’s 1st episode of Supreme Betrayal, on sedition and the Democrats’ video on refusing to obey unlawful orders. supreme-betrayal-how-the-supreme-court-and-constitutional.simplecast.com/episodes/sed... open.spotify.com/episode/5ztl... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Well, technically I suppose that Trump did receive the Nobel Peace prize.

“Suffered internal bleeding” = “was bruised “?

Nerdy legal reminder: “It’s a crime to interfere with federal officers performing their jobs” isn’t the same as “Federal officers performing their jobs are immune from liability for actions they take in the course of performing their jobs.” Remove & arrest the people interfering, don’t shoot them.

I think I might have been the first to note publicly (Dec. 26) what’s reported here (don’t know how to link to my initial post—I’m an old): www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/u...

Defining Heritage Americans: My daughter’s mother (i.e., my wife) is eligible for membership in the Colonial Dames. My grandparents came to the US in the early 1900s. Is my daughter a Heritage American? (Don’t ask about her maternal grandfather.) Why not just say “white” and have done with it?

No signed opinions in argued cases before Jan 1 this Term and in the 2022 Term. Used to get at least 1 in Dec & not infrequently a few in Dec and a few in Nov. Conditions on the Court appear to be such that JR can’t even be a good manager. Pretty clearly an effect of the shadow/emergency docket.

End-of-the-year episode of Sureme Betrayal—a conversation with David Luban about the law and morals of soldiers’ disobeying orders, getting us into questions about the tension between law and hierarchical order and tipping our toes in some jurisprudential waters: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Anyone who posts something from Trump should accompany it with a quote from a Rob Reiner movie. “As you wish” & “You can’t handle the truth” are the obvious candidates, but there are many others: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

To quote Joseph Welch, speaking to Sen McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” (In fact,Welch’s statement was something of a set-up whereas Trump was disgusting all on his own.)

Endorsing a sentiment I read here (in my own words): I’m a Jew to my bones but not a very observant one, but if I could (we just moved to an apartment whose windows overlook a parking garage) I would put the fucking menorah in the window tonight.

1/ Mike Dorf has the useful term hyperopia for excessively worrying about what might hypothetically happen in the distant future: www.dorfonlaw.org/2025/12/what.... In the Slaughter argument the worry came up w/r/t the D of Ed & EPA—what about long-terms, multiple members...

I seem to recall some classic sci fi story where the eve lasted eleven months. Turned out that dawn wasn’t pretty. (Asimov or Clarke)

New Supreme Betrayal episode: a conversation about the First Amendment with Genevieve Lakier: supreme-betrayal-how-the-supreme-court-and-constitutional.simplecast.com/episodes/a-c... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a... open.spotify.com/episode/0waO...

For those interested in sortition as a governance matter. There’s a stronger example in Belgium of binding law made by randomly selected citizens—not merely advice to legislators. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/w...

The title of the new episode of Supreme Betrayal says it all: supreme-betrayal-how-the-supreme-court-and-constitutional.simplecast.com/episodes/the... open.spotify.com/episode/0khs... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

1/ People dumping on Scott Bessent for saying SCt doesn’t overturn signature programs: N is small b/c most presidents don’t have signature programs of the relevant type but as a descriptive matter Bessent’s in the ballpark of being right. (Obvious—only?—examples are FDR/NLRB and Obamacare.) ...

New Supreme Betrayal: Constitutionalism After Trump & multiculturalism, trans issues, religion—choose between me and Seidman on strategies: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c... open.spotify.com/episode/0Ah0... supreme-betrayal-how-the-supreme-court-and-constitutional.simplecast.com/episodes/con...

“Exulting in Epstein Files” is today’s “Wallowing in Watergate."