You know you’ve made it when … they let you rent out the Palace of Versailles to shoot the first video from your hotly anticipated third album. #dropdead

Concur.

Much more later about what might be the most unprofessional and embarrassing opinion OLC has written in recent years (yes, worse even than the Venezuela opinion, even if the stakes aren't quite as great). For now, Chris Fonzone's analysis is a must-read. www.justsecurity.org/136242/presi...

Much more later about what might well be the most unprofessional and embarrassing opinion OLC has written in recent years (yes, worse even than the Venezuela opinion, even if the stakes aren't quite as great). For now, suffice it to flag that Chris Fonzone's analysis is a must-read.

I don't understand this decision. Congress imposed a tax on distilled spirits. Everyone agrees it's constitutional. And then, 158 years ago, it prohibited distilling them at home so that the government could more easily assess and collect the constitutional tax, i.e., to prevent tax evasion. [1]

What explains why St. Louis has such a rich and thriving coffee culture (Sump, Comet, Coffeestamp, Blueprint, and many more) as compared to, say, D.C.?

Perhaps I’m alone, but I’m confused by Wednesday’s order of a D.C. Circuit panel (Henderson, Katsas and Rao) denying Anthropic’s motion for a stay of Pete Hegseth’s March 3 “supply-chain risk” determination w/r/t its A.I. products. Can anyone shed light? [1] @alanrozenshtein.com @justsecurity.org

Perhaps I’m alone, but I’m confused by Wednesday’s order of a D.C. Circuit panel (Henderson, Katsas and Rao) denying Anthropic’s motion for a stay of Pete Hegseth’s March 3 “supply-chain risk” determination w/r/t its A.I. products. Can anyone shed light? [1] @alanrozenshtein.com @justsecurity.org

Worth repeating that this article by @sbagen.bsky.social is the best and most important scholarly piece I've seen about the ways in which Trump/Vought have radically changed the nature of the federal government (and what might be done in response). papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

This'll be a revealing test case for the integrity/professionalism of the Civil Division and OSG: Will they defend OLC's absurd view that the Constitution doesn't give Congress authority to preserve presidential records that are property of the Government?

"Some active-duty Marines are already calling Mr. Hegseth’s agency the 'Department of War Crimes.'" With good reason. At any other point in recent decades, the congressional Armed Services Committees would have put an immediate end to this madness. Now ... crickets. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/u...

Jamal's right: The story here isn't Trump; this is entirely consistent with what everyone's known about him for many years. The story is the complete degradation of a major political party. That said, committing war crimes & violating the Establishment Clause all in a single tweet is impressive.

Why would anyone ever design a legal system in which the legislature lacks the constitutional authority to require the president to preserve records for posterity? The unitary executive theorists have completely lost the plot.

Not that many seem to care about such things any more, but it would be unlawful for Trump to withdraw the U.S. from NATO.

This, on page 1, tells you all you need to know: "Congress cannot preserve presidential records merely for the sake of posterity."

It's difficult to convey just how absurd this suit is *if* Trump's (and SCOTUS') view of the "unitary executive* is correct. If Trump believes he's entitled to damages for IRS statutory violations, he can simply call Treasury and direct them to cut him a check. [1] www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/u...

Dear Yale Law students: If and when one of your professors urges you to abandon legal craft and hard work and to "change the subject" lest you legitimate the judiciary, go listen to Cecillia Wang's magnificent oral argument today. You'll realize straight off which model to follow.

The Question Presented in the SCOTUS this morning. www.youtube.com/live/2EN2kOj... #landofhopeanddreams

How you say "This is a blatantly unconstitutional war" without saying "This is a blatantly unconstitutional war." www.execfunctions.org/p/the-second...

"our"?

Stop Worrying About the Scholarship: Anne Marimow names precisely *one* scholar who's published scholarship in support of (part of) the Trump Citizenship Order. The academy hasn't given any serious credence to that scholar's argument nor has even the SG made it. [1] www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/u...

This is a very good article that should be completely uncontroversial to anyone whose profession consists primarily of writing, at least ostensibly. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/o...

It's noteworthy, I think, that even the Trump OLC, which wrote that extremely unconvincing opinion defending the alleged legality of the Maduro operation in Venezuela, hasn't (yet) issued an opinion defending the constitutionality of the Iran War. Presumably because it's indefensible. [1]

Highly recommended. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/o...

This, many times over.

For those of you who've been clamoring for SCOTUS to be more forthright about the *actual,* subjective reasons for its decisions, it don't get much better than a simple "we are loath to expand [contributory] liability beyond those [prior] precedents"--full stop. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

They answered that right at the start of the first post: When the "liberal lawyers" at the ACLU appear next week they should begin: "Mr. Chief Justice, and whether or not it pleases the Court, I think we should 'change the subject.'" balkin.blogspot.com/2026/03/birt...

Be interesting to know how often the Post has written this about the countless male public figures featured in its stories over the years: "Spanberger, who uses saltier language in private meetings than during her carefully controlled public appearances, ..." www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Serious question: Was this actually YouTube's defense? "YouTube argued ... that its features were not designed to be addictive." (If so, did they think they might have jurors who have never visited YouTube?) www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/t...

The line between parody and real life is fading fast - www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wev...

If even half of this is descriptively accurate ...

We've gotten to the point where the Keynote speech at the annual FedSoc National Student Symposium, entitled "The Proper Judicial Role, 250 Years Later,” was delivered by ... Judge VanDyke.

SG reply brief in birthright citizenship case. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

ICYMI: The Unitary Executive: "President Trump has taken on many ancillary roles in Washington: chairman of the Kennedy Center. The de facto chief architect of the city’s landmark properties. And now, the nation’s chief intelligence analyst." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...

(Reupping) Highly recommended: Marko Milanovic on Alexei Navalny, courage, lies and human rights law. www.ejiltalk.org/on-navalny-t...

Here's the U.S.'s recent Article 51 letter to the UN, and Israel's recent letter about Iran, which doesn't even purport to justify its campaign under Art. 51. Conspicuously absent from the letters are ... [1] @justsecurity.org www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/u... www.gov.il/BlobFolder/n...

Please, please read: Marko Milanovic on Alexei Navalny, courage, lies and human rights law. www.ejiltalk.org/on-navalny-t...

The Unitary Executive: "President Trump has taken on many ancillary roles in Washington: chairman of the Kennedy Center. The de facto chief architect of the city’s landmark properties. And now, the nation’s chief intelligence analyst." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...

@nytimes.com euphemism alert: "Mr. Kent is not an ordinary war critic." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...

"For decades, David Boies has been one of the most ... impactful lawyers in America." To be sure, he represented Harvey Weinstein and Theranos, but on the other hand ... "he represented Al Gore in the legal battles over the 2000 Presidential election." add this to the "to be Chotinered" definition.

For some reason, the @nytimes.com appears not to have included a link to the opinion. So ... storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

False equivalence alert: Rest assured, professors were not "pressured" to use terms such as "menstruating persons” during the Biden Administration. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/u...

We've become inured to it because it's now the daily water in which we swim, but for almost all of U.S. history it would have been unimaginable to read a court opinion recounting even 5% of the President's statements and behavior described here. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Excellent, illuminating conversation with Dave Pozen and Jed Britton-Purdy. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/o...

It's not often that a newspaper describes its own star reporter, in his obit, as "a complicated and discursive figure."

Not a bad constitutional rule of thumb: If the SecDef suspects that the "war" in question might be "hell," then the President can't initiate it without statutory authorization.

It's now been 11 days since the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran. Neither nation has offered any argument that they aren't breaching the UN Charter. And the Trump Administration hasn't even suggested that the POTUS didn't violate the Constitution. There's not even a pretense of legality. [1]

Israel's non-Article-51 letter to the UN repeatedly refers to "ongoing" Iranian hostilities (or armed conflict), but conspicuously doesn't identify any armed attacks by/ attributable to Iran between last year's ceasefire and the recent attacks by Israel/U.S. @justsecurity.org x.com/gidonsaar/st...

Um ... Bam Adebayo has 77 points with three minutes remaining. Not a typo.

More importantly, the Trump Administration hasn't even offered any argument that this isn't a war in the constitutional sense--because there is no plausible argument to that effect, even by the standards of this administration. It's patently unconstitutional, and no one seems to care.