John Q. Barrett

"From Controversy to Conversation" Talking the Hard History of Baltimore's "Confederate Monuments," March 5

A great success story: @marthasjones.bsky.social on Baltimoreans putting what once was a block that elevated Chief Justice Roger B. Taney to much higher uses.
#DredScott #slavery #equality #liberty
open.substack.com/pub/hardhist...

March 4, 1933: Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes administering the presidential oath to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

March 4, 1933, United States greatness:
Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes administers the presidential oath to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
@scotushistory.bsky.social
@rooseveltinstitute.org

Bad: Lawyers who still work law firms that capitulated to Trump administration threats.

Worse: U.S. Department of Justice lawyers who are following political orders—on/off/on again—to defend illegal attacks on non-capitulating law firms.

(And great: Those stand-up law firms/lawyers.)

I recall 1976, dimly, as “Here we are/aren’t we great to be this old?!/look at all this red, white, and blue.”
It would be better this time, 2026, to study, teach, and debate 1776 and U.S. history since—what have “we” been to what are we now. Use this anniversary as an opportunity to become smarter.

I worked in a SCIF for seven years—locks, guards, walls, no windows, very controlled access,… real national security.

214. The Court's (Selective) Impatience is a Vice The only theme uniting Monday night's twin grants of emergency relief is the Republican appointees' willingness to upend long-settled limits on the Court's power when, but only when, they *want* to.

As I explain via the latest “One First,” the only theme that unites the Supreme Court’s (unrelated) grants of emergency relief Monday night in the California transgender student and New York redistricting cases is what might be called “selective judicial impatience.”

And that’s *not* a good thing:

And ugly.

Super, factual, important brief.

Yesterday I filed an #AmicusCuriae brief at #SCOTUS in the birthright citizenship case. It presents stories of 3 families of Japanese ancestry--w/o legal allegiance to the USA--to show citizenship derives from birth on US soil, not parental loyalties.
#lawsky #skystorians
tinyurl.com/3hy76638

POOR-im

In 1945-1946, the United States & allied nations, prosecuting Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, established that military aggression was an international crime.

This evening, the 2025 U.S. film "Nuremberg" was to be shown at Arasbaran Cultural Center in Tehran, Iran.

Now canceled?--websites down.

Under U.S. law plus historical practice, this is basis for a serious national security crimes investigation. It appears to be probable cause for arrest.

But now it’s just Friday night.

At least “This part of my job is painful.”

No creature, including a person or a dog, should be hanged. But cameras do sometimes capture something that looks to be an ashamed, “hangdog look.”

Bang up job by the DOJ lawyer here

Court: So you can drop them off wherever and as long as you don't know someone is literally standing there waiting to shoot, that's fine?

Defense counsel: "In short, yes."

Epstein Files Are Missing Records About Woman Who Made Claim Against Trump

We seem to be nearing the heart of the story, and a lot will depend on the nerve of the journalists--NPR, the NYT, etc--to stay on this story relentlessly. Will they give it the same kind of coverage they gave Biden's age--i.e., full bore, around the clock, 50 opeds?
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

Deep condolences to you and to all who had her in their lives.

The 22nd Annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States — Michael Dreeben - Chautauqua Institution Welcome to Chautauqua Institution! We are a community of artists, educators, thinkers, faith leaders and friends dedicated to exploring the best in humanity.

Monday, July 27, 2026:
Michael Dreeben, superb U.S. lawyer and U.S. Supreme Court advocate, will give Chautauqua Institution's 22nd annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Click below for details and ticket info.
@chq1874.bsky.social
www.chq.org/event/the-22...

Who can forget FBI Director William Webster doing this in Lake Placid in 1980 after the “miracle on ice?”

This vandalism — all of it — must not stand. Learn, speak, teach, resist, vote, win, serve, repair.

Racist talk. Another racist moment. Seems to be a high racism person.

Thanks, CUNY @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social.

This will be a great conference. Please do join us!

King Charles the impressive:
I am not the head of a crime family.

A Pause to Refresh And a few notes on the state of the stack

Amidst all of his great work as economist & public commentator (and non-golfer, pfew), Prof. Paul Krugman mentioned a major norm/rule/best practice in academia:
Our writing (papers, articles, books) should include attribution.
@paulkrugman.substack.com.web.brid.gy
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Then-Prince Andrew gave zero cooperation to U.S. law enforcement investigating Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maybe now ex-prince Andrew, under arrest, will reassess and talk fully to U.K. law enforcement. It looks like it still is, unlike U.S. DOJ, on the case(s).

“No person should be above the law” is a value judgment, a belief in human equality. It was made in Magna Carta, by a King. It was made in North America, in the Declaration of Independence, & then in the U.S. Constitution. It’s part of U.K. self-governance—see the arrest of the former Prince Andrew.

Holding the Line by Geoffrey Berman: 9780593300299 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books "Throughout my tenure as US attorney, Trump's Justice Department kept demanding that I use my office to aid them politically, and I kept declining - in ways just tactful enough to keep me from being f...

I’ve just reread former SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman’s memoir two chapters on his office’s work to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell.

Kudos & thanks again to those attorneys & FBI agents, who did right in federal law enforcement.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690280...

The 51st is expanding D.C. needs more local journalists. You can help us hire them.

3/ Less than 3 days after the layoffs, we had 700+ new paying members — with more joining every day to say loudly and clearly: D.C. needs local news.

🥳 To those who’ve helped us spread the word about The 51st: Thank you!

🤗 To our new members and followers: Welcome!

🫵 You can join us today:

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Jo Bondi, a lawyer, with other lawyers on her staff

Blush.
And more.

As in emulating U.S. chief prosecutor—and former U.S. Attorney General—Justice Robert H. Jackson, who said this in his opening statement at Nuremberg: “the defendant Hans Frank, a lawyer by profession, I blush to say,….”