Mathias Hong

Moreau on Structural Injustice

(strukturelle Diskriminierung)

ugh

Litman on the Passive Vices Leah Litman (University of Michigan Law School) has posted The Passive Vices (115 Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Alexander Bickel celebrated the Supreme Court's mechanisms for deciding not to decide a matter as the Court's "passive virtues." Using case studies on the modern Court's decisions not to decide matters during the second Trump administration, this Article revisits Bickel's influential work and develops an account of the "passive vices." The passive vices are occasions where passivity carries significant costs that Bickel either overlooked or undervalued.

Litman on the Passive Vices

Leah Litman (University of Michigan Law School) has posted The Passive Vices (115 Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Alexander Bickel celebrated the Supreme Court's mechanisms for deciding not to decide a matter as the Court's "passive…

Gegenwart: "Nicht jede politische Entscheidung begründet bereits eine eingriffsähnliche Vorwirkung...".

Sie fehlt, wo "es an einer tatsächlich weitgehend unumkehrbaren Entwicklung fehlt – typischerweise in Bereichen, die politisch korrigier- und reformierbar bleiben...".

Gastbeitrag von Timothy Snyder: Warum Trump wirklich Iran angreifen ließ Die Iraner und Atomwaffen sind dieser US-Regierung egal. Ihr Ziel ist die Zerstörung der Demokratie und persönliche Bereicherung.

Snyder (€) zum möglichen Korruptionsmotiv: Der Krieg richtet sich "gegen einen gemeinsamen Feind der Länder", die "Trump und seine Familie mit Reichtümern überschüttet haben." Das "sollte in allen Berichten über den Krieg erwähnt werden". www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/iran-...

Rechtsprofessor Kai Ambos über Irankrieg: „Das Völkerrecht ist kein Wunschkonzert von Professoren“ Der Angriff der USA und Israel ist eindeutig völkerrechtswidrig, sagt Kai Ambos. Das kann auch Merz in Schwierigkeiten bringen.

Kai Ambos mit Sätzen wie Donnerhall zur offenkundigen Völkerrechtswidrigkeit des US und israelischen Angriffs gegen Iran:
taz.de/Rechtsprofes...

Zitat aus dem Beitrag von Matthias Gegenwart: „Die intertemporale Freiheitssicherung ist auf die natürlichen Lebensgrundlagen beschränkt – nämlich dort, wo irreversible Entwicklungen die künftige Freiheit strukturell verengen.“

Der Nichtannahmebeschluss des BVerfG zum Rentenpaket 2025 kommt unscheinbar daher.

Doch MATTHIAS GEGENWART zeigt, wie Karlsruhe darin seine Dogmatik zur intertemporalen Freiheitssicherung präzisiert – und was das für den Sozialstaat bedeutet.

verfassungsblog.de/intertempora...

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zoom.us/meeting/regi...

International Law of Equals

There is an alternative to Great Power Politics. It requires getting serious about equality - domestically and globally. Why the current crisis of international law is at the rock bottom a crisis of equality. New post on @verfassungsblog.de

verfassungsblog.de/internationa...

When it comes to ending elite impunity, the US could learn from the UK | Jan-Werner Müller British institutions can keep politicians somewhat in check. But in the US, shamelessness has become contagious

Just generally an age of shamelessness? Or has the US lost the institutions that are supposed to enforce shame sanctions?

@justsecurity.org's Israel-Us-Iran collection has already developed into a mini-syllabus for the war's legal aspects. All of the pieces can be found here, and surely more will come:
www.justsecurity.org/114556/colle...

8/9: But he can only make that claim by distorting the order of events, and by igoring the fact that the applicants could have gone back to the Court of Appeals after the Appellate Division's 2/19 ruling, but *chose not to.*

Thus, the ground on which Alito rested #SCOTUS's jurisdiction is bollocks.

With nowhere else to turn, the applicants asked us to issue a stay, and we have jurisdiction to entertain their application. Title 28 U. S. C. §1257(a) gives us jurisdiction to review “[f]inal judgments or decrees” that are rendered by a State’s highest court and adjudicate federal constitutional claims, and the Court of Appeals’ February 11 order falls within that category.

7/9: Alito thus claims (in the next sentence) that the applicants had "nowhere else to turn" for relief besides #SCOTUS, entirely because he asserts that the Court of Appeals' 2/11 ruling transferring the case to the Appellate Division was *effectively* the final word of the state's highest court.

Despite this, the New York courts refused to stay the trial court’s order. After that highly questionable injunction was issued, the applicants filed appeals in both the Appellate Division (the State’s intermediate appellate court) and the Court of Appeals (its highest court) challenging the trial court’s order on federal constitutional grounds. At the same time, applicants asked both courts to stay the trial court’s order. The Appellate Division refused to issue a stay, and by order issued on February 11, the Court of Appeals sent the appeal filed in that court to the Appellate Division and dismissed applicants’ motions for a stay.

6/9: Now come back to what Justice Alito wrote about all of this.

Read the last sentence here closely:

Alito makes it seem as if the Court of Appeals' February 11 transfer to the Appellate Division came *after* the Appellate Division had already denied a stay. But it came *eight days beforehand.*

The Supreme Court's eagerness - and willingness - to just do what they want (especially on the shadow docket), notwithstanding normal legal processes & their own jurisdiction continues to be revealing.

(As does Sam Alito's manipulation/misrepresentation of the facts.)

Baude on Youngstown William Baude (University of Chicago - Law School) has posted Youngstown on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court addressed a critical constitutional issue: When can the President act in ways that have not been authorized by Congress? The Court's answer has enduring importance for executive power, as well as for judicial power, under the Constitution. Highly recommended.

Baude on Youngstown

William Baude (University of Chicago - Law School) has posted Youngstown on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court addressed a critical constitutional issue: When can the President act in ways that have not been authorized by…

Quote from the piece by Jacob Rowbottom: “Given the breadth of the restriction, the court came to the right conclusion and provided an important safeguard for free speech and protest rights.”

The High Court of England and Wales ruled that the UK government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action was unlawful.

JACOB ROWBOTTOM on the chilling effects of proscription, organisations as vehicles of expression, and the wider effects of the decision.

verfassungsblog.de/proscription...

The Boomerang Effect: How Disrespect for International Law Threatens Democracy The allegiance of governments in the Global North to international law (sometimes endorsed in reductionist form as “the rules-based international order”) is currently experiencing an abrupt collapse. ...

Violations of international law are not just a moral wrong. They are ultimately threats to democracy. Violence and illegality at the international level will impact the constitutional order.

www.ejiltalk.org/the-boomeran...

(extended English version of my TAZ piece from last July)

#Schmerzgriffe

It's clearly established in the CA6 that "pain compliance techniques like a half nelson and twisting of a wrist to a handcuffed individual who offered no voluntary physical resistance" was excessive force, and no QI here b/c it's disputed if that happened. www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf...

Slavery and Birthright Citizenship All the Trump Administration's arguments for denying birthright ctizenshing to children of undocumented immigrants are at odds with the main purpose of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendme...

Every argument for Trump claim that children of illegal migrants can be denied birthright citizenship would also have denied it to numerous freed slaves and their children, thus going against main purpose of 14th Amendment Citizenship Clause. See my post for reasons why: reason.com/volokh/2026/...

In Plunging Into a Mideast Conflict, Trump Gambles His Presidency

“In just over a year since taking office, Mr. Trump has authorized military action in seven nations, even after he repeatedly promised American voters that he would end, not start, wars.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

Titel NVwZ

In der neuen NVwZ ist unser Beitrag zum Einsatz von #Gewalt durch die #Polizei gegen Menschen in psychischen Krisen erschienen. Wir untersuchen darin insbesondere, welche Anforderungen sich für den polizeilichen Gewalteinsatz aus der Rechtsprechung des #EGMR ergeben. @espingrau.bsky.social

Völkerrecht in die Tonne oder mal eben so ändern?

Der Versuch, in eine über die letzten Tage zunehmend absurder werdenden Debatte etwas Ordnung zu bringen.
#iran

@sophieduroy.bsky.social and I have a new piece out in @verfassungsblog.de reflecting on the moribund state of the international norm against assassination. Decades of routisination and legitimation have made assassination an available tool of foreign policy, even against heads of state.

Duroy & Trenta with a reminder on how law works: "[S]hould international responses remain muted, the norm will continue to hollow out. Conversely, sustained contestation, coordinated sanctions, and renewed insistence on legal justification could restore its constraining force."

Honored to join @strictscrutiny.bsky.social (again) to talk about the latest unlawful Trump war — and why the law is important

Super important publication by @asheinze.bsky.social and @gefjonoff.bsky.social! 🔥

- "Medienaufseher Brandon Carr ist hinter den öffentlichen Kanälen NPR und PBS her ..."

- und "sorgte wohl maßgeblich dafür, dass Disney" Jimmy Kimmels Talkshow auf ABC "absetzte, ehe Abonnenten und Prominente rebellierten".

Und jetzt Warner Bros. mit CNN? 10/10