Michael Froomkin

It has to be fear. The question is whether it's fear for their political future, fear for their economic options after they leave office, or fear for their life if the mob decides to come after them or their families. (In some cases I guess it could be blackmail but that seems like reaching.)

In which we demonstrate that there is no need for a horse to become a member of the Senate in order for it to become irrelevant

Looks like yet another executive order or draft rule designed to get a headline more than achieve anything other than maybe drain legal resources from people who haven't drunk the Kool-Aid.

Izabela Skoczen

Jotwell Jurisprudence:
Izabela Skoczen, What is Real Law?, JOTWELL (March 4, 2026) (reviewing Brian Flanagan & Guilherme de Almeida, Lawful, But Not Really: The Dual Character of the Concept of Law, 43 L. & Phil. 507 (2024)), juris.jotwell.com/what-is-real....

Law School Tells Students, 'You MUST Be Aligned Politically With President Trump,' For Summer Job - Above the Law 'GPA is not a strong factor.' No kidding.

Liberty U career serv job advice, "The two most important requirements are you MUST be aligned politically with President Trump and his administration and you must be willing to work hard. Don’t be scared off by the transcript requirement. GPA is not a strong factor." abovethelaw.com/2026/03/law-...

Markets being perfect yadda yadda I should be able to buy a put on my lovely South Florida home, no? Or sell with a life estate remainder?

How Stop Black Box showing for selected text in MS Word - Microsoft Q&A I performed the recommended steps covered below, and it still hasn't fixed it. SOLUTION FOR BLACK BOX APPEARING ON SELECTED TEXT Anonymous Mar 7, 2025, 5:08 PM My problem was that a solid black bar wo...

For ages MS Word has shown black bars when I select text--but only after waking from sleep. Restarting Word solves it, but if you have many docs open it is a pain. At last I think I've found the solution in a registry hack! learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answer... (See 1st response, not the complaint.)

Useful quantum computing is inevitable—and increasingly imminent AI can help discover new materials, but we’ll need quantum computers to really move the needle.

Quantum computing, like fusion power, is always a few years away. The fusion horizon only very gradually shrinks, but timelines for useful QC are shrinking a lot faster. Still can't tell if it's hype or not, but folks are talking as if it's coming soonish. Cf.
technologyreview.us11.list-manage.com

We Robot 2026 April 23 – 25, 2026

The terrific preliminary program for We Robot 2026, to be held April 23-25, in Berlin is now online! 🤖 Get your tickets now!
pretix.eu/werobot26/ti...

Mathilde Cohen

Jotwell Int'l:
Mathilde Cohen, From Shadow Cabinets to Shadow Justices: Rethinking Constitutional Lawmaking, JOTWELL (March 2, 2026) (reviewing Julie C. Suk, The Shadow Court: Rescuing Democracy from the Supreme Court (2026)), intl.jotwell.com/from-shadow-....

You’d think the fact that Trump has already gotten 3 American soldiers killed with a reckless war of choice would be getting blistering coverage and be pounced on by every Democratic politician in the country

When Biden’s Afghan withdrawal saw casualties at Abbey Gate it nearly ended his presidency

Like Trump promised, I'm so tired of winning.

So weird to watch bombings mapped in near-real time. While we sit helpless at home far away.

YouTube video by Thibault Viaene Edwin Starr - War (What Is It Good For?)

Mood today:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX7V...

In a long tweet about Anthropic, Pete Hegseth, through the offical "SecWar" Twitter account says "the Department of War must have full, unrestricted access to Anthropic’s models for every LAWFUL purpose in defense of the Republic."

Hegseth is wholeheartedly endorsing the core premise of fascism: industry, as part of the private sphere, must be subordinated to the military objectives of the state.

Sam Altman says OpenAI shares Anthropic's red lines in Pentagon fight But he still wants a Pentagon deal.

OpenAI claims it's joining Anthropic to say the DOD can't use their AI for surveillance/autonomous weapons. As DOD starts an embargo of any military contractor using their products, will they do the same to OpenAI? Wild this happens on a day a report is out about how Grok for government is awful....

I really hope someone follows up on this. The Antideficiency Act is ancient, so it has strong remedies--including sometimes personal liability for the person who authorized the illegal spending, for the full amount misspent.

Myrisha Lewis

Jotwell Health:
Myrisha Lewis, The Significant (and Unexpected) Causal Impacts of Common Health Conditions and Genetic Traits in Death Investigations, JOTWELL (Feb. 27, 2026), health.jotwell.com/the-signific...

The Conference of Catholic Bishops is... not playing around in this brief.

www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War A statement from our CEO on national security uses of AI

A BFD, folks:

www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...

I think you're having too much fun. But I'm enjoying it.

Not worse than the alternative in the general election.

So long as he caucuses right and Ds get the committee chairs that's already a lot

Is the Florida redistricting process delayed — or dead on arrival? Even Republicans aren’t sure Florida was eager to join Donald Trump's redistricting push. But will a legal challenge stop the process and leave campaigns racing?

A reason to be (very cautiously) cheerful? floridapolitics.com/archives/782...

Maybe Florida won't redistrict in a GOP-gerrymander way; then again, the Florida legislature has a track record of pulling out last-minute disasters...

Linda C. McClain

Jotwell Family:
Linda C. McClain, Meeting the Challenge of Civic Education in Hyperpolarized Times, JOTWELL (February 26, 2026) (reviewing Elizabeth Beaumont & Eric Beerbohm, eds., Civic Education in Polarized Times (2024)), family.jotwell.com/meeting-the-....

Christian church leaders accelerate their fight against the inhuman treatment of immigrants The beginning of Lent, which call for reflection and repentance, has inspired greater activism

(Bangs drum) Churches are a huge part of why Trump is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the American people. www.headsupnews.org/p/christian-... (per my brother, Dan)

30 seconds to midnight? 15? The Trump administration is literally playing with fire.

Gary Marcus is shrill. Note pix below is to an article he cites but URL is correct

garymarcus.substack.com/p/code-red-f...

How to stop a dictator I spent months studying how authoritarians like Trump lose. The answer is shockingly simple.

"democratic survival in the face of threats like Trump is determined in large part by how obvious the threat to democracy is. The more people recognize that an elected leader is trying to destroy democracy from within, the less likely it is that said leader will succeed." www.vox.com/politics/479...

Chao-Ju Chen

Jotwell Equality:
Chao-Ju Chen, Tradition versus Equality: A feminist intervention, JOTWELL (Feb. 25, 2026) (reviewing Rachel Bayefsky, Tradition and Feminism in Constitutional Rights Adjudication, _ Va. L. Rev. _ (forthcoming), available at SSRN (May 27, 2025)), equality.jotwell.com/tradition-ve...