There was a time when constitutional theory's main concern was whether government may oblige people eat broccoli. But then again there was a time whose Taylor Swift was called the Beatles

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....

There's something deeply rotten with Greece's judiciary. Talk to me about "institutions" saving "(il?)liberal democracy" from evil anti-institutional populists #AuthoritarianLiberalism #Greece

I'd go for Kate Bush's version any day youtu.be/-1pMMIe4hb4?...

Quite the contrary. The man *should* become a king. The only way the UK government would, probably, consider abolishing monarchy

Preorder for parents (or self)

Bad idea top to bottom. We need a move against juristocracy, not for better judges. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/o...

One aspect of the Epstein "saga" is about rich people from the ruling classes showing off, even bragging, they are above the law. People from the working classes should not fall in the trap. The rich are already criminals for being rich. Even more so when they abuse their privilege on top of that

Oh my dog

Judging from the Greek government spokesperson's colossal legal illiteracy, I genuinely believe that law schools should be granted the power to revoke law degrees

Imagine a deeply corrupt "3rd world" failed state whose coast guard is its most corrupt service, and is effectively owned by the very persons the service is supposed to monitor, ie shipowners. Now imagine how unhinged and above the law that service would feel and act. Pure imagination, of course

Al (as in Bundy, Gore, or Pacino) looks exactly the same as AI (as in artificial intelligence) in social media printed English. I have no clue whatsoever why's that, and what to do with that

There's nothing *social* in the apex of late capitalism individualism that is called social media (which are actually neither social nor media)

Law (of any kind) loses its legitimacy, and hence its effectivity, incrementally. Do not react to a breach of law, and you'll get another one next. And then another one. Until you got no law any more

Much of constitutional law scholarship rests on the assumption that the judiciary are, by definition, the good guys that will help the people confront the bad guys, the enemies of democracy and rule of law. Am I absurd to think this is an absurd and unfounded assumption?

Eat the rich

Reasons academics should contest universities’ AI campaigns: a manifesto - chatbots are being trained to replace your teaching - you are wasting time grading chatbot papers - you are wasting time peer reviewing chatbot papers - you are wasting time submitting papers reviewed by chatbots

Whoever came up with the term homo "sapiens" clearly didn't have twitter

I consume. Therefore I am

For the Guardian, @bjoernbremer.bsky.social, @siljahausermann.bsky.social and I write about how building new homes is not enough to tackle the housing crisis. Housing is a redistributive issue and progressive policy solutions need to acknowledge that. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

As part of my Parliamentary Fellowship, I've co-authored with David Torrance a short research briefing on parliamentary sovereignty. I'm working on a (much) longer piece, which will be out in 2026! @policyleeds.bsky.social @lawatleeds.bsky.social commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

Hugh Grant would be a better PM still applies. And has been for several years now. Makes you wonder about the state of liberal democracy when peoples tend to consider their political leaders as grossly inadequate or even plainly clowns

Let's hope Chileans are not as self-destructive as US Americans are

Excellent article on the role of the president in a parliamentary republic. While it refers to the Republic of Ireland, students of other parliamentary republics would find it most interesting

Americans are so bad at making movies it took two Italians to learn them how to make the quintessentially American film genre, western

For starters. But that's not enough. They can always buy other people to do the work for them. The only reasonable thing to do is to make their money illegal in politics

It is the French that chopped off their king's head. It is the French that put corrupt PMs in jail. Peoples in other nations, take notes

#RepresentativeDemocracy is when our representatives make decisions on favor of the millions of people, not of the millionaires. So why don't we call our current system of representatives making decisions in favor of the millionaires, themselves included, by its name? Representative #plutocracy

Five-year-old asked how was the *first* human born without parents, and that's the hardest question I've ever been asked

Corruption is not a bug; it's a feature of contemporary representative democracy. It's how the rich make the people vote against their own interests. The rich pour loads of money to their preferred candidates. Once elected, they pour public money to the rich. Repeat endlessly. There you have it

Disenfranchise the rich. Make their money illegal in politics. That's the way if you want the plutocratic system know (and disguised) as "representative democracy" to become even minimally democratic and representative

I'm pretty sure there must be some "legal" way to overturn the New York election that SCOTUS would be willing to at least seriously consider. If you're reading, Andrew, contact me; I've got some ideas 😉

Legal theorists and friends should come clean and admit that the suspension of the rule of law is *not* a matter of law but of an authoritative political decision - it cannot, therefore, be reversed by relying on ... the rule of law. Schmitt articulated it first but everyone knows it.

Reverse originalism and neoliberalism The 🇬🇷 Council of State said in a recent opinion that the 🇬🇷 Constitution contains clauses that we should not take literally because they were shaped by the special circumstances of democratic transition after the military dictatorship that no longer apply. > 1/2

Apparently, the Republic of #Ireland will continue to spare (comparative) constitutional lawyers the embarassement of not knowing something meaningful to answer to the dreadful question: What does a president of the republic *actually* do in a parliamentary democracy? Well done, folks!

Constitutionalists keep saying that the constitution *protects*, *guarantes*, *prohibits* this or that. No it doesn't. It's but a piece of paper. It cannot act. It is always a person or body of persons or, ultimately, the people that act in the name of it. It's useful to bear the distinction in mind

“Increasing numbers of political leaders and citizens are now willing to tolerate authoritarian practices in exchange for better protection of their security, social benefits, and political status. It’s this support for creeping autocracy … that must be addressed.”

No kings! (OK, maybe one exception)

#HousingCrisis affects an unprecedented number (& percentage) of people. Governments doing close to nothing about it --when they don't actively promote it-- is one of the reasons why people are turning to right-wing populists, the far right, or whatever liberal centrists deem as "irrational". >

No kings (OK, with one exception)

Centrists have a disproportionate influence on public opinion making. Problem is not they totally miss the point about the causes of democratic decline -after all, that's just my opinion- but that they're so sure about being right that they become fanatic. Liberal fanatic: oxymoron but, sadly, true

It says something about the state of representative democracy when a party membership of 100,000 is considered massive in countries the size of UK (or England)

While I consider myself a (left-)populist, I have to admit this is a valid and most thought-provoking critique. It's super difficult (not impossible, though, I hope) to forego one's own privilege (class, race, gender, education etc.) even when talking against those very privileges. Well said.

Seriously, now: How different is the US from Venezuela? And is it a difference in kind or in degree?

Extreme cases of autocratization or democratic backsliding should not distract us from relatively "lighter" ones. Same with judicial politicization and usurpation of political power. #Juristocracy *is* a global trend. That the US pose a grotesque extreme doesn't mean it's not happening elsewhere

My own private Idaho. Qatari style

For us non-native speakers, the association between con artists and con law begins to become apparent

🌹 "Democratic socialism and the law" is the topic of my inaugural lecture - next Wednesday 6.30pm, Great Hall, King's College, London. ➡️ Come along! There's even a reception afterwards. Check out the abstract, and register free here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inaugural-...

For context: www.academia.edu/22225287/Dem...