"I can't believe the leopards would eat *my* face", sobs Justice who created the leopards-have-immunity-when-eating-people's-faces doctrine.

There's plenty of grist for schadenfreude in this transcript, but here's the most important thing Judge Quraishi said, and it makes me very sad. Because the rule of law requires legal institutions we can trust. That trust is fragile, and the damage done by poor stewards isn't always reversible.

Legal writers: I've posted to SSRN a short user's guide about how to use the Zotero citation manager and its Word plugin to automatically generate Bluebook citations that are 95%* compliant. The paper explains which fields to use for which type of source, and examples of generated citations.

Stares in Roger B. Taney

Thrilled to be co-hosting with Barton Beebe the 16th Annual Tri-State Region IP Workshop at @nyuengelberg.org Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at @nyulaw.bsky.social www.nyuengelberg.org/events/tri-s...

New @nberpubs: "The Economic Legacy of Racial Trauma in the American South" www.nber.org/papers/w3452...

Here's the crux of the PTO's new official guidance, out today, on AI and inventorship. It seems...fairly innocuous. 1/2 public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-21457.p...

Evidence against the (mistaken) interpretation of Coase which holds that allocation of entitlements doesn’t matter so long as parties can bargain: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/b... (gift link)

Below the line of the 1st page of Professor Dan Burk's last article, just published posthumously by the UC Irvine Law Review.

Four cheers for MIT. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

"Attacks on academia are fundamentally about remaking the labor practices that define higher education." Deepa Das Acevedo, author of The War on Tenure (out now), in Time Magazine https://cup.org/4hahkid #HigherEd #AcademicSky #PoliSci 🗺️ 🗃️

They could have done something like this in the Trump immunity case and given a chance for the special counsel to take Trump's federal election subversion charges to trial. Expediting cases is a choice

Looking forward to talking about the patent law side of the current disruptions in the federal executive branch at this event this evening. www.connerinn.org/event-6240328

SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool

Thrilled that my article with @markpmckenna.bsky.social on "Amazon's Quiet Overhaul of the Trademark System" is now out in the California Law Review @califlrev.bsky.social

Donna Adelson's trial for Dan Markel's murder begins. #JusticeforDan

Just a reminder of my favorite idea for a law student note: Pick an important Supreme Court case from 5-10 years ago, and see how lower courts are interpreting it. It's helpful for practitioners and courts, and something law students can research and present effectively.

Maybe 5 people out there will appreciate this, but I am trying to parse a huge database dump of a foreign government's trademark registration data. I've just discovered that one of the trademarks is recorded as "<<<<Intelligence\\<<<<for<<<<<<\\<<<<Life<<<<<<". (Cf. xkcd.com/327/)

What's going on in the world of dupes, & how do these rapid-fire copies interact with the law? Fascinating @theverge.com piece with great quotes & analysis from two top experts: @lexlanham.bsky.social & @design-law.bsky.social www.theverge.com/cs/features/... #dupes #academia #fashion

Coming to America is a strange experience for someone with a complex racial, religious, ethnic and national background. These many identities get subsumed under a racial or national identity that is then hyphenated with America.

Of possible interest to law students studying intellectual property. www.uspto.gov/jobs/become-...

Closing public spaces rather than sharing them is a classic segregationist move

Last month there were allegations that some of my students may have used generative AI on my final exam. The incident led me to give some serious thought to how we are dealing with these tools in the professional education context. Here’s what I wrote to my students: jeremysheff.com/2025/06/02/g...

Sundar Pichai does not know how to live.

This is what the current federal administration is trying to destroy. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...

This is what the current federal administration is trying to destroy. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...

1. A must-read thread. I'll highlight three more problems with this opinion, which is the only case to prevent people from using a class action to challenge US government renditions to El Salvador. I often write about complex litigation, with a focus on class actions involving government bodies.

A thoroughly depressing article about AI, cheating, and learning archive.ph/6kq0P

my buddy @resnikoff.bsky.social off the top rope with some actual class analysis www.thenation.com/article/soci...

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Check out how the anchors of CBS Evening News ended their broadcast tonight:

I choked up a bit wrapping up my last 1L class of the semester this morning. At all times, but in these times particularly, I find myself powerfully moved by young people committing themselves to the work of maintaining a society governed by law, and grateful that I get to help prepare them for it.

One point that's going to get lost in the discussion of #SCOTUS's intervention in the Alien Enemy Act case: This is the *value* of nationwide injunctions. Without them, you have to go district by district, and the government can try to play games by moving people to districts without relief (yet).

If you happen to have a Harvard degree or know someone who does, here is advice about candidates for their Board of Overseers, which it turns out can be an important position for preserving democracy. Reminders to vote just went out in email in all alums.

Graduates of Columbia University who disapprove of the current university administration's responses to the federal government's attacks on academic freedom may wish to consider signing this statement. www.columbiaalumniforacademicfreedom.org

I've been presenting my most recent article, "Dividing Trademark Use," at various law schools this spring, and the final version is now in print at the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts. jeremysheff.com/2025/04/16/d...

Narrator: "It's not."

BREAKING: On Friday, the federal government issued new demands of Harvard University. The university's lawyers just responded: back off.

My new book, Personhood, is out a week from tomorrow. Thanks to Margaret Talbot for this generous @newyorker.com review. Hope you enjoy the book! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

BREAKING: Last night, the Harvard faculty chapter of the AAUP and the national AAUP filed a lawsuit & TRO to block the Trump administration from illegally demanding that we keep quiet and change how we teach and research at the point of a financial gun. actionnetwork.org/user_files/u...

to all who celebrate...

'Bluesky has overtaken its flailing rival X in hosting posts related to new academic research, indicating the platform is fast becoming the go-to place for scholars to share their work.'

Harvard alumni may want to add their names to this letter. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Everything is terrible. But, for the students out there, the Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law are now open access: opil.ouplaw.com/home/MPIL

james surowiecki has discovered where the completely fabricated trump tariff rate has come from for each country "...for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country's exports to us."