Jonathan Shaub

Will SCOTUS Decide What Its “Essential Functions” Are? Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf discusses the U.S. Supreme Court case Bowe v. United States, which raises the question of whether limits on successive habeas petitions for state prisoners also a...

Oral argument today in Bowe v US presents one of the most profound constitutional questions: Just how much power does Article III's Exceptions Clause give Congress to strip SCOTUS of appellate jurisdiction? I offer some history and context in my latest column for @justiaverdict.bsky.social 👇

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.

High praise for UK Law Prof Jonathan David Shaub in a new JOTWELL review by Prof. Margaret Kwoka of his recent article: adlaw.jotwell.com/informationa... #UKLawProfResearch

Margaret Kwoka

Jotwell Adlaw:
Margaret Kwoka, Informational Accountability for the President, JOTWELL (October 7, 2025) (reviewing Jonathan David Shaub, White House Inspection, 103 Wash. U. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2026) available at SSRN (Feb. 25, 2025)), adlaw.jotwell.com/informationa....

On Lawfare Daily, @mollyereynolds.bsky.social, Zach Price, and Philip Wallach discuss pocket rescissions as an approach to cancelling funds previously approved by Congress.

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

Longer convo, but the exec branch has in the past objected to these types of provisions as unconstitutionally interfering with POTUS authority to control the disclosure of EB info to Congress (derived from its conception of executive privilege) and interpreted them to essentially be a nullity

This looks great! I always teach Chadha as one of the pivotal moments in the rise of executive power (and diminishment of congressional checks).... and now I have something new to assign!

Biden aides look to Fifth Amendment as autopen probe widens As the GOP probe into Biden’s mental acuity and use of an autopen expands, a growing number of his top aides are being swept up in a thorny legal predicament.

UK Law Prof @jshaub.bsky.social was quoted recently in both the Washington Post and Bloomberg on Trump's powers and congressional investigations. #UKLawProfResearch

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

What Happens If Trump Fires Fed Chair Jerome Powell? Donald Trump’s relentless pressure on Jerome Powell is once again roiling markets and raising questions about what would happen next if the president fired the embattled Federal Reserve chair.

Quotes from me, @jedshug.bsky.social and others in this Bloomberg piece...

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

I just published a blog post on the terrific Yale JREG Blog that draws an interesting--and potentially important--connection between Congress's power to "appropriate" and the three "Vesting" clauses in the Constitution.

www.yalejreg.com/nc/vesting-v...

Armed Conflict Foreign Relations & International Law The Law of Going to War With Iran Scott R. Anderson Friday, June 20, 2025, 1:45 PM Share On: f X in $ d B Right or wrong, the executive branch likely thinks Trump has the legal authority to do it-at least until Congress or the courts say otherwise.

Good time to read (or re-read) my colleague @sranderson.bsky.social’s piece for @lawfaremedia.org:

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Resurrecting the Trinity of Legislative Constitutionalism From 1919 to 1969, the Offices of the Legislative Counsel in the Senate and House drafted precedential opinions to advise lawmakers on constitutional and subconstitutional questions. This Article lift...

/1 Just realized that my latest article with @yalelawjournal.bsky.social just dropped! This is obviously a huge honor. I really appreciate the editors taking a chance on a young, no-name scholar with an idiosyncratic story to tell.

www.yalelawjournal.org/article/resu...

Extremely proud to be part of this amicus brief filed today to support @citizensforethics.org & transparency into DOGE. Outstanding work on the brief by @campaignlegal.org & incredible amici @ckoningisor.bsky.social, @heidikitrosser.bsky.social, Margaret Kwoka, @gshans.bsky.social, & Rebecca Wexler

Grateful to the attorneys at Campaign Legal Center (@campaignlegal.org) for their amazing work on this amicus which was just filed at SCOTUS re: DOGE and FOIA, and to @jshaub.bsky.social for convening and leading the charge. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...

looks fascinating... can't wait to read it!

Picture of a University of Kentucky library building with grass and trees in front and dark clouds above

Had a great time visiting @universityofky.bsky.social for the UK Law 2025 Developing Ideas Conference. Thanks to @joshuaadouglas.bsky.social and everyone at UK who helped out!

Seconded!

President Trump in the Era of Exclusive Powers - Harvard Law Review The defining doctrinal innovation of the second Trump administration has been to take the Supreme Court at its word. In recent years, the Court...

I have an essay out in the @HarvLRev blog on "President Trump in the Era of Exclusive Powers."

The basic claim is that we can understand Trump 2.0 as an exercise in taking the Supreme Court's recent separation of powers jurisprudence at its word.

harvardlawreview.org/blog/2025/04...

Excited to share my latest manuscript, Ghostwriting the Government, on SSRN (comments welcome!): papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A 🧵:

@brianlfrye.bsky.social wrote a short and great essay about FASORP’s hypocrisy in keeping themselves hidden in connection to their suit against Northwestern Law. Read it here! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

we @lawfare.bsky.social ran an article by amanda tyler earlier this week explaining the complexities of habeas relief here. tl;dr there may be real limits to the usefulness of habeas in getting abrego garcia out of this prison. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/juri...

Screenshot of lawfaremedia.org article Title: “Jurisdiction and Remedy in J.G.G. v. Trump” By: Amanda L. Tyler “There is ample support for the D.C. Circuit's jurisdiction in the case. But can it order the return of individuals no longer in the country?”

“The power of the district court to reach habeas petitioners, even overseas, turns on whether the court has the power to reach their custodian…Can U.S. government officials still be deemed to have constructive custody of the individuals removed under the AEA..?”

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/juri...

on these kinds of questions, my rule is pretty simple... always read Pfander

well, there *is* some ambiguity here that might support Gemini... as a matter of original public meaning I would argue that some understand "end of" to mean "August"

Flier provides info about upcoming Developing Ideas Conference in May at the University of Kentucky Law School

For anyone in the region who is interested:

Associate Counsel, Strategic Legal Advocacy Earthjustice is looking for an early-career attorney to join the Strategic Legal Advocacy team as an Associate Counsel.

In re: absolutely nothing going on in the world: The SLA team at Earthjustice is looking for an early-career attorney to join us as an Associate Counsel. DC preferred. 1-5 years of experience including any clerkships. Salary is based on experience; range is $106,400-$125,300 in DC.

congrats, Daniel! UNC is lucky to have you!

For a summary, see my post on @lawfare.bsky.social discussing the issue and describing my proposal www.lawfaremedia.org/article/whit...

Attempting to hold the president and White House officials accountable necessarily presents a fundamental conundrum—how to balance essential characteristics such as independence and neutrality with electoral accountability and investigative enforcement authority. Since Watergate, our country has relied on two primary methods for White House investigation—either a criminal prosecutor with some independence or congressional investigation. These mechanisms, as well as past approaches, have largely proven inadequate and lately been the subject of extensive criticism. And these problems largely arise out of two overarching characteristics of all past accountability systems: (1) the power to investigate has always been combined with a power to sanction and (2) sufficient power to compel the production of relevant information has been provided only to a criminal prosecutor. This Article challenges the wisdom of these two characteristics and proposes a new paradigm for addressing accountability holistically. Crucially, this proposal would sever the pure investigatory function—what I call inspection—from any power to sanction and it would empower—for the first time—an independent entity that is not a criminal prosecutor with the authority to compel the production of information and protect its confidentiality. The proposal fits comfortably within the constitutional framework, even under a robust unitary executive view of Article II. And numerous past and existing accountability models, such as independent commissions, judicial misconduct panels, and inspectors general, further support the wisdom and constitutionality of such a proposal.

A Table of Contents of the Article

Very excited that my article "White House Inspection," proposing a new approach to investigations of POTUS & the White House is now forthcoming in Wash U Law Review (& I didn't use autopen, so it's legit)

abstract, TOC, & SSRN link below & *comments welcomed!*
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Screenshot of Lawfare Trump litigation tracker, available at https://www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-series/trumps-first-100-days/tracking-trump-administration-litigation The post says that Lawfare is now tracking 125 cases

Our incredible editorial team (@annahickey.bsky.social et al.) have been diligently tracking the lawsuits brought against the Trump administration.

The @lawfare.bsky.social litigation tracker now includes 125 cases and counting.

🫡 🫡 🫡

www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-ser...