Kellen Funk

Crowd of No Kings protestors in front of the Battle of Princeton monument in downtown Princeton, New Jersey

“Even Princeton,” as they say. #NoKings

My only other comment on the order is that it’s so vague it will mean whatever the AG wants it to mean, which is to say only blue jurisdictions can expect to be defunded, whatever their bail practices are. Basically every jurisdiction in America uses some mix of cash and cashless bail.

I guess it’s as good a time as any to say I have new writing on the history of bail. Fun fact for today: what the President’s order attacks as “cashless bail” was the only kind of bail system America had for its first hundred years.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Taking Steps to End Cashless Bail to Protect Americans By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose and

On a quick glance it would seem to me the only funds that could be readily sequestered to punish bail reform jurisdictions would be the funds that go to militarize the local police. Donald Trump: big fan of defunding the police. Put it in the papers.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

From Smithsonian description: "This ambitious chart presents U.S. political history on a single page. Moving from left to right, a timeline of parties, policies, persons, and events courses like a river through graphic space marked in four-year intervals. The analogy between politics and springs and rivulets (that jump and rejoin their banks) is the most conspicuous feature of the timeline. The parties appear in different colors. The ascendance of a party is gauged as its stream rises above the centerline, and above the streams of other parties. The thickness of a stream indicates the party’s strength. The diagram is meant to dramatize U.S. political history in a more accessible shape for educators and to offer a ready reference for scholars, statisticians, and statesmen. The chart itself, titled “Diagram of the Rise and Fall of American Political Parties, from 1789 to 1880, inclusive,” is from the Conspectus of the History of Political Parties and the Federal Government, by Walter R. Houghton, 1880"

Absolutely incredible graphic from 1880 tracing the history of political parties in the United States.

Thank you to @lukenorris.bsky.social @profk.bsky.social and others at U. Richmond Law for hosting the 10th Civ Pro workshop. Lots of great papers there, as usual, but the one thing I will highlight here, because it’s a book, is …

Basically what the Court did in Biden v. Nebraska, right? A national injunction against student loan forgiveness, but not a word from any justice about remedial authority when the merits were so “clear.”

Announcing the 2025 Guggenheim Fellows — Guggenheim Fellowships: Supporting Artists, Scholars, & Scientists Since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has given Fellowships to exceptional artists, writers, scholars, and scientists, empowering them to pursue meaningful work under the freest possible conditions.

Exciting to see so many colleagues whose work I admire on this list. Congratulations to @marthasjones.bsky.social @kbgraubart.bsky.social @annetteyreed.bsky.social @kellenfunk.bsky.social @jimdowns.bsky.social @francinejharris.bsky.social and many not on here.

Announcing the 2025 Guggenheim Fellows — Guggenheim Fellowships: Supporting Artists, Scholars, & Scientists Since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has given Fellowships to exceptional artists, writers, scholars, and scientists, empowering them to pursue meaningful work under the freest possible conditions.

Congrats to the new class of Guggenheim Fellows!

Thrilled to see @jimdowns.bsky.social, @marthasjones.bsky.social, @kellenfunk.bsky.social and so many more.

Apologies in advance for the hazing rituals.

www.gf.org/stories/anno...

Blown away by amazing presentations, mostly from early career historians and archivists, at the Archives as Data conference this morning! (before heading over to #aha25 later this afternoon...)

iserp.columbia.edu/events/archi...

I mourn the loss of my colleague Henry Paul Monaghan, a giant in federal courts and constitutional law, a phenomenal mentor to more junior scholars, and an institution at Columbia Law School. He will be greatly missed.

There is so much to say about my dear mentor, Henry Monaghan. His work was foundational. His critiques, devastating. His praise, life changing. More to say in an appropriate medium, but for now: I will miss him.

Call for Papers - 14th Annual Junior Federal Courts Workshop - Cornell Law School, 4/25/2025. Junior scholars in fields of federal courts, civil procedure, civil rights litigation, constitutional law are encouraged to apply. Abstracts due 1/15/25.

community.lawschool.cornell.edu/junior-facul...

A bit more fun with mapping 18th century London crime, via www.locatinglondon.org

Two new district judge retirement announcements: Judges Lance Africk (EDLA) and Lee Rosenthal (SDTX) will assume senior status later this year.

In the 1890s a discerning buyer could purchase a poster-size facsimile of the bail bond of Jefferson Davis from 1867. Keep in mind when you see “I’m voting for the felon” merchandise thirty years hence.

On Friday a federal district court preliminarily enjoined Georgia's unconstitutional restrictions on charitable bail funds, relying in part on "Bail at the Founding." Cool cool cool. harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...

Antisemitism, U.S.A. Antisemitism has deep roots in American history. Yet in the United States, we often talk about it as if it were something new. We’re shocked when events happen like…

Today @rrchnm.bsky.social released Antisemitism, U.S.A., our newest history podcast. www.r2studios.org/show/Antisem... The narrative podcast tells the history of U.S. antisemitism in ten episodes, featuring interviews with dozens of experts on the subject.

Bail at the Founding - Harvard Law Review Abstract How did criminal bail work in the Founding era? This question has become pressing as bail, and bail reform, have attracted increasing attention,...

Millions of people are incarcerated pre-trial because they can't make cash bail. But where did the system of cash bail come from? @kellenfunk.bsky.social and Sandra Mayson offer a history of "Bail at the Founding" in the Harvard Law Review. harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...

Thousands of ordinary Philadelphians were caught up in the system every year, as also were leading founders like William Penn and Aaron Burr. If you or your students find ways to make use of the records we found, we’d love to hear from you.

Despite the portentous title (🙄), we publish what we hope will be a first foray into this rich and complex history, and not the final word. Bail practices reveal a lot about local justice and policing as well as high constitutional theory.

We were greatly aided by the work of social and cultural historians who had worked with the ledgers before (esp. Billy G. Smith, Jen Manion, and Kristin O'Brassill-Kulfan), and we’re trying to pay it forward by posting online the records we cite in the article at bailatthefounding.net. (cont’d)

A handwritten ledgers of prisoners in the Walnut Street jail in a strong, clear clerk’s script.

Launched in 2020, this became the perfect pandemic project as the Philadelphia archives safely reopened during the summer (cf. the abominable National Archives), AND had immaculately preserved jail dockets—the best I’ve seen from anytime anywhere in America. (cont’d)

Bail at the Founding - Harvard Law Review Abstract How did criminal bail work in the Founding era? This question has become pressing as bail, and bail reform, have attracted increasing attention,...

Now out from me and Sandy Mayson in the Harvard Law Review: Bail at the Founding, our best efforts to reconstruct the theory and practice of pretrial criminal bail in the 1790s U.S. harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13... (cont’d)

Got asked today to peer review a Very Short Introduction. Will have to keep it in the smuggler’s compartment I guess.

American Society for Legal History call for digital legal history proposals for 2023 annual meeting.

Cool new thing! 🗃
The American Society for Legal History is seeking proposals for a session on Digital Legal History for the 2024 Annual Meeting. Details are here: aslh.confex.com/aslh/2024/cf...

Professors teaching in a jurisdiction they don’t reside in must surely fuel some cases…

Just like Commissioner Shea had a much less critical take on bail reform when testifying under oath in Albany than he did talking—not under oath—to the press.

One need not be directly elected to be a politician, thus earning the wariness and skepticism that comes w that.

Hey now. All Field wanted was to call it the “writ of mandate.” Blame him for the structure, not the label. 😹