Kevin Cope

American Democracy Still Has a Lot Going for It A distinct set of six institutions and traditions makes the country hard to subjugate to an authoritarian’s will.

U.S. democracy faces threats, but a strong press, courts, federalism, and civic groups give hope. Let’s hope @kevinlcope.bsky.social and Mila Versteeg are right about the resilience of U.S. democracy.
#Democracy #USPol #Judiciary #USConstitution

Judge Strikes Down Trump Order Targeting WilmerHale

EOs must also conform to the Constitution. Thus, the court-ordered injunctions against many of Trump's in recent weeks, including today. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/u...

My op-ed in the Atlantic this morning with Mila Versteeg was originally called “Why American Democracy is Harder to Break.” And I really do believe that’s true. But as we say in the article, that can’t be an excuse for complacency.

For those assuming this is just attempt to summarize the holding of U.S. v. Snyder (2024) . . . that's not even what the Court held. "Bribes," as prohibited by 18 U.S.C. sec. 666, require a "quid pro quo"; at no point did the Court suggest that "corrupt" carried that same meaning.

Alexandria City Public Schools debates future policy for student journalists Alexandria City High School students who run the over 70-year-old Theogony newspaper say the school should adopt a less restrictive policy.

Prof. @kevinlcope.bsky.social discusses #SCOTUS rulings that govern students’ First Amendment rights.

Celebrating the Confederacy is despicable, but Virginia’s stripping Confederate groups of tax exemptions probably violates the 1st Amendment. I talked to @radioiq.bsky.social about the issue yesterday.

City Council's actions during public comment likely violate First Amendment, lawyers say City Council President Cynthia Newbille says the body's rules of procedure prohibit members of the public from referencing public officials when giving their remarks.

Richmond City Council prohibits any resident speaker from *mentioning* Mayor @dannyavula.bsky.social’s name during meetings!

The @richmond.com Times-Dispatch asked me whether that’s unconstitutional. Short answer: most certainly yes. richmond.com/news/local/g...

There’s Only One Real Way to Reverse Big Law’s Capitulation to Trump We are former attorneys of the law firm Skadden, Arps; one of us recently resigned a position over Skadden’s capitulation to a threatened executive order.

👉 1/3 Capitulation to Trump is not the only option ahead for Big Law, writes Rachel Cohen and Kevin Cope @kevinlcope.bsky.social, former Skadden attorneys. Here are two others:

slate.com/news-and-pol...

Good stuff from my colleague @kevinlcope.bsky.social and Rachel Cohen:

slate.com/news-and-pol...

In this op-ed with @cohen489.bsky.social just published on @slate.com, we explain how law students and junior lawyers may have a unique power to fight and end the #BigLaw firm EO crisis. slate.com/news-and-pol... @uvalaw.bsky.social

My amazing wife Mila Versteeg was quoted in the @nytimes.com today on the prospect of a Trump 3rd term: "Mila Versteeg, a law professor at [@uvalaw.bsky.social] and the study’s lead author, said such leaders try to wrap their power grabs in the veneer of legality." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/u...

I'm proud to be part of this statement released by 68 @uvalaw.bsky.social faculty colleagues, on the recent executive orders and administration actions. tinyurl.com/statementof6...

It's great to see so many law colleagues speaking up for the rule of law & the legal profession.

right after the two current vacancies are filled; ideological change in the courts is usually much more incremental,” Cope added."

"Cope said measuring a court “flipping” by active judges ignores the significant number of senior judges who decide panel cases. “[I]t’s unlikely that we’ll see a jurisprudential sea change ...

"“Unlike with recent Supreme Court appointees, circuit judge records don’t clearly break along appointing-president lines," he added. "In fact, there are some Republican-president appointees with more liberal records than some Democratic-president appointees and vice versa.”"

"Cope doesn’t expect Trump’s additions this time around to have a significant impact on case outcomes in the Third Circuit. He said shifting partisan control in circuit courts doesn’t alter case outcomes like a change in the U.S. Supreme Court’s composition does."

whereas a number of Trump appointees in other circuits are turning out to be unusually right-of-center, the Third Circuit appointees are thus far proving to be run-of-the-mill conservative judges, with Matey appearing
possibly the most moderate.”"

with -1 being liberal and +1 being conservative. The average score of Trump’s four Third Circuit appointees is slightly lower, at 0.24. “The Third Circuit appointees are actually pretty typical of the Trump circuit appointees generally,” Cope stated in an email. “That said, ...

is based on qualitative evaluations by a representative sample of thousands of lawyers and legal experts familiar with the judges’ performance on the bench."

"He said the average JuDJIS score of Trump’s 54 appellate court appointees is 0.25, ...

"Cope developed a new way to look at the ideological bent of a judge, called Jurist-Derived Judicial Ideology Scores. The score, assigned to nearly all Article III judges serving since the 1990s, ...

Trump Gets Second Shot at Flipping the 3rd Circuit. What Might its Future Look Like? Gregg Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law, said there are open questions about what the future of the court will look like, given uncertainties about Trump’s judicial selection approach.

It's paywalled, but "Kevin Cope, a University of Virginia School of Law professor, said that, according to data he has collected, Trump’s four Third Circuit judges don’t appear to be as conservative as some of his picks on other courts....

Trump Gets Second Shot at Flipping the 3rd Circuit. What Might its Future Look Like? Gregg Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law, said there are open questions about what the future of the court will look like, given uncertainties about Trump’s judicial selection approach.

The National Law Journal gives my take on Trump's coming impact on the Third Circuit. Also has some new @judjis.bsky.social data! www.judjis.org

www.law.com/nationallawj...

I grade class participation, not out of paternalism, but because the classroom experience is richer for everyone when people engage. But I know this doesn’t work as well in bigger lectures. I find it makes a big difference in attendance and engagement.

Alas, you could be right.

Compared to a media environment with a more diverse set of views?

Isn't that a bad thing?

A Closer Look at Multidimensional Online Political Incivility

Table 3

Figure 2

~20% of Twitter users authored ~80% of uncivil tweets, with political incivility showing a homophilous network structure and being more prominent in politically competitive geographic regions, finds Pendzel, @alonzoizner.bsky.social et al. aclanthology.org/2024.emnlp-m...

All medical procedures are in some way regulated by legislatures and adjudicated by judges and courts.

Slim Majority of U.S. Adults Still Say Changing Gender Is Morally Wrong A slim majority of U.S. adults say changing one's gender is morally wrong, but only about a third favor laws banning gender-affirming care for minors.

"morally wrong" (news.gallup.com/poll/645704/...) (I disagree with both, for the record.) And I infer that JS also lies to the left of those views, and is thus, moderate-to-center-left.

... Americans think that gender is determined solely by natal sex at birth (www.pewresearch.org/social-trend...), meaning a natal male can’t be a woman. A slim majority think that changing one’s gender is ...