Joel Johnson

Over the next couple days, I’ll be participating in the Vanderbilt Law Criminal Justice Roundtable. It promises to be a great event with some terrific scholars and papers.

I’m especially looking forward to hearing @richardre.bsky.social’s comments on my draft paper, “The Clemency Court.”

This is madness. Today we had to send a message to our 1L students telling them it’s not a great idea to use the first drafts of their first legal writing assignments because the new OCI timeline is so early they are wondering if they should.
#LegalWriting

@johnpelwood.bsky.social correctly notes that some of the pending cases involving 2A challenges to 922(g)(3) have been relisted. But for reasons I point out in my amicus brief, Harris v. United States is better vehicle than any of the relisted petitions.

bsky.app/profile/joel...

It was a treat for me to interview @kannonshanmugam.bsky.social a few weeks ago, as part of the William French Lecture Series at Pepperdine. For those interested, the video of the interview is now available here:

tinyurl.com/ym2ch986

This morning, I filed a cert-stage amicus brief in support of the petitioner in Harris v. United States, one of several pending petitions raising a Second Amendment challenge to 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3), which makes it a crime for an "unlawful user" of drugs to possess a firearm. 🧵

The Court has never before construed Section 922(g)(3). A sufficiently narrow construction of the statute to avoid vagueness concerns could make resolution of the 2A issue relatively straightforward. /end

Only Harris asks the Court to consider a void-for-vagueness challenge to Section 922(g)(3) in addition to the 2A challenge. That is significant because vagueness considerations will likely play a central role in how the Court construes the statute in the first instance. 3/

Full brief available here: tinyurl.com/yfdyuyv6

The govt is pushing for a grant in a different case--United States v. Hemani--which has much more government-friendly facts. The Court relisted Hemani today.

My brief argues that Harris is the best vehicle because... 2/

This morning, I filed a cert-stage amicus brief in support of the petitioner in Harris v. United States, one of several pending petitions raising a Second Amendment challenge to 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3), which makes it a crime for an "unlawful user" of drugs to possess a firearm. 🧵

Legal Theory Blog Discover our latest articles and updates. Stay informed with recent posts that cover a variety of topics you care about!

Please help me get the word out about the new websites for Legal Theory Blog and the Legal Theory Lexicon. Reposting here and on other social media sites is great. It would be especially helpful if law school faculty members could send an email to their colleagues with the new addresses.

law.pepperdine.edu/surf-report/...

Honored to win the inaugural Emerging Scholar Award from the AALS Legislation and Law of the Political Process Section — based on my article Ad Hoc Constructions of Penal Statutes in the Notre Dame Law Review.

🔗⬇️

FWIW, I read it as a nod to the requirement of presentment (in addition to bicameralism).

I’m very much looking forward to this event tomorrow at Pepperdine with my friend and mentor, @kannonshanmugam.bsky.social.

Join us tomorrow morning at 11 am!

Oral History of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Read Ruth Bader Ginsburg's oral history and her role in the landmark women’s rights cases of the 1970s, and more.

The D.C. Circuit Historical Society has published its oral history of Justice Ginsburg, which was embargoed for five years after her death. Based on a quick review, this is a must-read.

This semester, I’ve been experimenting with ways to use AI to enhance my work as a law professor. Here's a clip from a video explainer of one of my law review articles — Dealing with Dead Crimes, which was published in the Georgetown Law Journal in 2022. 🧵

Over the coming days and weeks, I plan to upload similar video explainers of my other articles.

/end

The video captures the core of the article’s argument and presents it an approachable way. I’ve created new “Prof JSJ” Instagram and TikTok accounts, so that I could post the video as a reel.

instagram.com/profjsj/

tiktok.com/@prof.jsj?_t...

5/

I used Notebook LM to generate the video. It isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty impressive given how little effort it took; I simply uploaded the article and entered a prompt with basic instructions. 4/

My hope is that this video explainer—and others like it—will allow my research to reach a broader audience of lawyers, law students, and non-lawyers (and also law profs who’d benefit from a brief synopsis). 3/

Dealing with Dead Crimes - Video Explainer Joel S. Johnson, Dealing with Dead Crimes, 111 Geo. L.J. 95 (2022)

Full video available at my substack:

joeljohnson.substack.com/p/dealing-with-dead-crimes-video-explainer

2/

This semester, I’ve been experimenting with ways to use AI to enhance my work as a law professor. Here's a clip from a video explainer of one of my law review articles — Dealing with Dead Crimes, which was published in the Georgetown Law Journal in 2022. 🧵

I used Notebook LM to generate the video. It isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty impressive given how little effort it took; I simply uploaded the article and entered a prompt with basic instructions. 4/

My hope is that this video explainer—and others like it—will allow my research to reach a broader audience of lawyers, law students, and non-lawyers (and also law profs who’d benefit from a brief synopsis). 3/

Dealing with Dead Crimes - Video Explainer Joel S. Johnson, Dealing with Dead Crimes, 111 Geo. L.J. 95 (2022)

Full video explainer available at my substack:

joeljohnson.substack.com/p/dealing-with-dead-crimes-video-explainer

2/

for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:18-CV-725 Defendants- Appellees. ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Before ELROD, Chief Judge, and HIGGINBOTHAM and SMITH, Circuit Judges. PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge: As advances of the genre of the Morse code, with its twenty-six letters and ten numerals, railroads, and flight challenged the social order and perforce its legal regime, today we repair to the horseless carriage

A reminder that winning at SCOTUS does not mean you win the case. The plaintiff in Barnes v Felix, who was shot by the police, and won in the Supreme Court a few months ago, loses his case on summary judgment.

www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

Here’s an example prompt:

I give it my own summary — usually of the key moment in the facts I want to depict. I also include some general instructions — like photo-realistic, well-lit, etc. It often takes a few tries to get something I like.

New York v. Belton (1981)

California v. Acevedo (1991)