New symposium on my book is out in the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities!
It features essays by an extraordinary group of scholars from across Law and History followed by my response.
yaleconnect.yale.edu/yjlh/yjlh-is...
Griffin on Peer Precedent and the Federal Appellate Courts
Amy J. Griffin (Georgetown University Law Center) has posted Peer Precedent: How Sister Circuits Shape Federal Appellate Decision-Making on SSRN. Here is the abstract: When federal appellate courts face issues of first impression, they…
juris.jotwell.com/what-is-real-law/ Check out my review of the awesome paper by @lawstuff.bsky.social & @almeida2808.bsky.social, “Lawful, But Not Really: The Dual Character of the Concept of Law”.
I am honored to be a contributing editor of JOTWELL, edited by profs. B Bix, K Himma and M Froomkin!
Beloved colleague Larry Solan died two years ago today
Thankfully we were able to hold a symposium in his honor a few months before
Check out amazing contributions from:
-B. Eskridge
-A. Gluck & L. Robbins
-A. Krishnakumar
-N. Steitz, B. Slocum, @kevintobia.bsky.social
- @lsolum.bsky.social
Link
Here's a public link. I've excerpted quickly (typos possible) for my legislation class next week, which is focused on the MQD debate.
georgetown.app.box.com/s/okywlr1s86...
What a treat to review Kevin Arlyck's new book -
The Nation at Sea: The Federal Courts and American Sovereignty, 1789–1825
for jotwell . . . ⚖️ ⚓
I have a long (37 page) excerpt. Happy to share.
"In foreign affairs cases, courts read the statute as
written and do not employ the major questions doctrine as
a thumb on the scale against the President." (Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito)
"There is no major questions exception to the major
questions doctrine." (Roberts, Gorsuch, Barrett)
"the proper way to interpret a delegation
provision is through the standard rules of statutory con-
struction." (Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson)
After the tariffs case, a 3-3-3 split on the "major questions doctrine" (MQD):
MQD has no exceptions, from Biden student loans to Trump tariffs: Roberts, Gorsuch, Barrett
The MQD isn't valid: Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson
MQD applies broadly, but not to foreign affairs: Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito
My book is available for pre-order! Get your copy here: www.cambridge.org/us/universit...
I’m thrilled, yes, & also stunned and bewildered, to announce that my job talk paper, Religion as Public Law, will be published in the Yale Law Journal next year. 1/6
Very happy to announce that The Chadha Presidency is now forthcoming in the @georgetownlj.bsky.social! ssrn.com/abstract=536...
CA3 rejects 1A challenge to NJ law that limits sharing of computer code used to make ghosts guns, per Krause. Splitting w/ other circuits: 1A regulates only expressive uses of code, and plaintiffs failed to plead sufficient facts relevant to expressive use.
www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/233...
Very excited that @gelbach.bsky.social & I will be publishing "Bruen's Tenth Amendment Problem" in the @uchilrev.bsky.social!
Our central arg is that Bruen's erasure of unexercised powers violates the 10th Am's preservation of existing State power. Comments welcome!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
In Large Language Models for Legal Interpretation? Don’t Take Their Word for It, Brandon Waldon, @complingy.bsky.social, @wegotlieb.bsky.social, Amir Zeldes & @kevintobia.bsky.social outline the dangers of using LLMs as a resource for legal interpretation & suggest how to use AI responsibly.
New experimental jurisprudence paper from Iza Skoczen on the legal concept PERJURY vs. the ordinary concept LYING
This paper introduces a surprising new view about the relationship between legal concepts and ordinary concepts
@izaskoczen.bsky.social
x.com/izaskoczen/s...
Great article from @jammacleod1.bsky.social on rules, standards, and textualism.
A review of recent SCOTUS statutory decisions finds that "today’s split decisions typically concern the interpretation of standard-like textual provisions," not rule-like ones.
michiganlawreview.org/journal/stan...
My article “The Plain-Meaning Fallacy” just published in the B.C. L. Rev.! My favorite illustration of the plain-meaning fallacy is originalist arguments regarding the President’s removal power—an issue now pending before SCOTUS. Here’s a quick explanation 🧵
bclawreview.bc.edu/articles/10....
Readers, today is the exciting launch day for my book!
How to Tax the Ultrarich
bit.ly/4rk6wBM
In partnership with the great economic policy team @rooseveltinstitute.org
A few threads will follow. 1st, the key takeaway: even w/ *this* Supreme Court, we can tax wealth at the federal level.
1/12
Fantastic piece from @stevevladeck.bsky.social & @barryfriedman1.bsky.social on how to hold federal law enforcement accountable. As they note, an even better solution would be for Congress to codify Bivens.
Apropos of the TikTok news last week, I have a piece coming out abt how the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the ban-or-sale law belongs in the First Amendment anticanon. It's not just wrong, but so wrong we should hold it up as an exceptional symbol of wrongness.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I've just uploaded a revised version of "The Chadha Presidency" to SSRN. The revisions both account for some incredibly helpful feedback I've gotten from colleagues and also bring the discussion of the Trump presidency up to date (as of today). papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
It was an honor to receive the Emerging Scholar Award from the AALS Legislation Section — especially while seated next to Bill Eskridge and Mary Ann Bernard (Phil Frickey’s widow).
Thanks @kevintobia.bsky.social for the kind words about my work.
A vivid lesson for law students and young lawyers: Statutory interpretation--and, in particular, asking "What was Congress up to here?"--can make a real difference!
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
Really fantastic new piece by my colleague Dave Rapallo. The most comprehensive treatment I've seen of minority investigative powers in Congress. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The Supreme Court’s refusal to let the Trump administration deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area was in large part the result of a friend-of-the-court brief written over a weekend and submitted by a Georgetown law professor.
Here's who he is, and why the brief proved so important.
Big ups to Marty Lederman @martylederman.bsky.social who flagged this argument that SCOTUS relied on (that regular forces refer to military forces, not federal law enforcement).
Bystranowski et al on the Empirical Turn in Statutory Interpretation
Piotr Bystranowski (Interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics; Jagiellonian University; Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltenökonomik), Ivar Hannikainen (Department of Philosophy I, University of Granada), Guilherme Almeida (Insper),…
If you want a read about the recent anti-constituonal attempt to denaturalize American children from their claim to birthright citizenship using bad history, @evanbernick.bsky.social, @gowder.io, I wrote about it in the Cornell Law Review Online. publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawreview/wp...
