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Matt Steilen

@mattsteilen.bsky.social

Law professor. Legal history, constitutional law. PhD in philosophy. Forthcoming book on the origins of the English parliament, Routledge.

5,401 Followers  |  642 Following  |  709 Posts  |  Joined: 15.09.2023  |  1.9364

Latest posts by mattsteilen.bsky.social on Bluesky

Mojo dojo casa house coffee looks righteous

02.09.2025 22:17 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I mailed mine there and back again

02.09.2025 00:20 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Well Leeds certainly knew how to name its streets and yards containing working class housing. "Prosperity Street" might have been a little over the for families living in poverty. I am not sure I would have liked to live in a throughfare titled "Institution Street" either.

01.09.2025 17:22 β€” πŸ‘ 39    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Church interior with, at left, church official explaining altarpiece to visitors. How great is that? Hendrick van Steenwyck, 1608.

01.09.2025 17:22 β€” πŸ‘ 80    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

A very Buffalo image

01.09.2025 14:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Alma Mahler-Werfel (born #OTD in 1879) crossed the Pyrenees to Spain carrying a number of manuscript scores including Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and the first three movements of Bruckner’s Third Symphony. She arrived in New York on Oct 13 1940.
holocaustmusic.ort.o...

31.08.2025 08:43 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Angel

29.08.2025 05:54 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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The rebirth of the phoenix

BL Harley 4751; Bestiary; 13th century; England, S.; f.45r

30.08.2025 20:30 β€” πŸ‘ 77    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
US Air Force to offer military funeral honors to slain Capitol rioter The U.S. Air Force said on Friday it was offering military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, a supporter of President Donald Trump who was shot and killed by a police officer during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Astonishing. β€œThe U.S. Air Force said on Friday it was offering military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, a supporter of President Donald Trump who was shot and killed by a police officer during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.” www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

30.08.2025 09:43 β€” πŸ‘ 138    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 16    πŸ“Œ 8
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BREAKING: Historian Jane Manners filed a brief in Boyle v. Trump, challenging President Trump’s dismissal of three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 1/ bit.ly/4mKYlN8

29.08.2025 22:43 β€” πŸ‘ 226    πŸ” 64    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3
Old newspaper type reading "By the sudden lurch of a train Miss Lucille Champaigne, a white school teacher of Baton Rouge, was thrown between the coaches; but for the strength and presence of mind of George Mack, a Negro porter, she would have been killed. Mr Mack was not lynched.

Old newspaper type reading "By the sudden lurch of a train Miss Lucille Champaigne, a white school teacher of Baton Rouge, was thrown between the coaches; but for the strength and presence of mind of George Mack, a Negro porter, she would have been killed. Mr Mack was not lynched.

This from the good news section of a Black newspaper (1914) really puts things in perspective

29.08.2025 12:29 β€” πŸ‘ 95    πŸ” 31    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 5
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State elimination of faculty senates:

www.chronicle.com/article/a-mu...

29.08.2025 10:39 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Charcoal portrait of a woman in Flemish dress, possibly 1521.

Albrecht DΓΌrer

(British Museum)

28.08.2025 21:35 β€” πŸ‘ 38    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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Character countdown for The Radical Fund, no. 47: George Creel, the Wilson administration propagandist and foil for the Garland Fund’s efforts to think about democracy in an age of mass communications. #TheRadicalFund

28.08.2025 10:45 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Can Lisa Cook Keep Her Fed Seat? That's Actually (at Least) Five Questions A federal statute allows the president to appoint someone to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for a term of up to 14 years. President...

Lisa Cook will likely sue to retain her seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors very shortly. While we wait (and even after she files), here's my analysis of her case in five not-so-easy pieces. πŸ‘‡

27.08.2025 22:23 β€” πŸ‘ 70    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Complications and Clarity in Birthright Citizenship The conventional wisdom is right.

blog.dividedargument.com/p/complicati...

27.08.2025 11:44 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Fits with: district courts weren't given the judicial power to issue nationwide injunctions, but we were

26.08.2025 22:35 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Comp Barn, Alfriston, August 2017

26.08.2025 09:10 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Wow 300 of the DOJ civil rights division’s roughly 400 lawyers have left since the start of the Trump administration, per its head Harmeet Dhillon

25.08.2025 18:17 β€” πŸ‘ 78    πŸ” 47    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3
The homepage for the Canadian letters and images project. It shows soldiers posing for a photograph and there is a search bar in the centre. In the about section below, which cannot be seen in this image, it provides this information: 

The Canadian Letters and Images Project, created in 2000, is an online digital archive of the Canadian war experience, both home front and battlefront, from any conflict in which Canadians have participated.  The focus of the project is on the personal materials of participants, such as letters and photographs, which permit us to experience the war through their eyes and their words.  These are very often the stories of ordinary Canadians, largely forgotten and overlooked. Our mission is to digitally preserve and continue to make freely accessible this important part of Canada’s heritage for this generation and future generations.

The vision of the project is to continue to expand this repository of Canadian archival materials by collaborating with Canadians to preserve and share the individual and collective stories that have shaped our past

Accessibility to the past is key to understanding who we are as a nation.  We are committed to free access for everyone to the materials of the project.

All collections are of equal importance.  Every letter, photograph, or other artifact has an important story to tell.

The collections and their contents are not edited or censored.  Our role as historians is not to judge the past in light of the present, but to present everything in its entirety at the time of its creation.

The homepage for the Canadian letters and images project. It shows soldiers posing for a photograph and there is a search bar in the centre. In the about section below, which cannot be seen in this image, it provides this information: The Canadian Letters and Images Project, created in 2000, is an online digital archive of the Canadian war experience, both home front and battlefront, from any conflict in which Canadians have participated. The focus of the project is on the personal materials of participants, such as letters and photographs, which permit us to experience the war through their eyes and their words. These are very often the stories of ordinary Canadians, largely forgotten and overlooked. Our mission is to digitally preserve and continue to make freely accessible this important part of Canada’s heritage for this generation and future generations. The vision of the project is to continue to expand this repository of Canadian archival materials by collaborating with Canadians to preserve and share the individual and collective stories that have shaped our past Accessibility to the past is key to understanding who we are as a nation. We are committed to free access for everyone to the materials of the project. All collections are of equal importance. Every letter, photograph, or other artifact has an important story to tell. The collections and their contents are not edited or censored. Our role as historians is not to judge the past in light of the present, but to present everything in its entirety at the time of its creation.

PLEASE REPOST πŸ₯ΊπŸ™

The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...

23.08.2025 17:02 β€” πŸ‘ 247    πŸ” 161    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 12
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Philosophy gazes calmly into the distance, unmoved by present troubles. Good night all! 😴

BL Royal MS 6 E IX; Convenevole da Prato, Carmina regia; c 1335 CE; Italy (Tuscany); f.27r

23.08.2025 21:55 β€” πŸ‘ 34    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Knows what she wants: unusually assertive young woman, her portrait painted by Thomas de Keyser of Amsterdam. Today is his day.

23.08.2025 19:22 β€” πŸ‘ 126    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

I’ll be sharing this and Orin’s β€œHow to Read a Legal Opinion” with my prelaw students.

23.08.2025 20:41 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
The abstract for "Understanding Free Speech Values at the Supreme Court," by Noah Chauvin.

This essay is a book review of The Supreme Court and the Philosopher: How John Stuart Mill Shaped US Free Speech Protections, by Professors Eric Kasper and Troy Kozma. The book argues that John Stuart Mill had an indelible impact on the Supreme Court's free speech jurisprudence, and that through the power of precedent, we have come to have a "Millian" First Amendment.



As I explain in the review, Kasper and Kozma have made a compelling case. However, because Mill offered an expansive defense of freedom of expression, it is not enough to say that the Court's free speech jurisprudence is "Millian," because that could mean many different things. Understanding with greater precision what motivates the justices in free speech cases is crucial for attorneys, advocates, and scholars.

The abstract for "Understanding Free Speech Values at the Supreme Court," by Noah Chauvin. This essay is a book review of The Supreme Court and the Philosopher: How John Stuart Mill Shaped US Free Speech Protections, by Professors Eric Kasper and Troy Kozma. The book argues that John Stuart Mill had an indelible impact on the Supreme Court's free speech jurisprudence, and that through the power of precedent, we have come to have a "Millian" First Amendment. As I explain in the review, Kasper and Kozma have made a compelling case. However, because Mill offered an expansive defense of freedom of expression, it is not enough to say that the Court's free speech jurisprudence is "Millian," because that could mean many different things. Understanding with greater precision what motivates the justices in free speech cases is crucial for attorneys, advocates, and scholars.

New from me on SSRN: a review of Eric Kasper and Troy Kozma's excellent book "The Supreme Court and the Philosopher."

I think Kasper and Kozma make a compelling case, but have some thoughts on how their thesis could be applied with greater specificity.

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

11.08.2025 16:48 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Luttig is communicating vastly more clearly and honestly about Roberts and Scotus than most Democratic officials are. It’s absolutely flabbergasting.

21.08.2025 20:58 β€” πŸ‘ 6506    πŸ” 2588    πŸ’¬ 174    πŸ“Œ 96

1. Earlier, I said SCOTUS was ducking confrontations with Trump by "channeling" them to less effective places. Maybe better words are "fragmenting" them. Curbing nationwide injunctions. Scattering Alien Enemy Act cases to all 94 districts. Dividing funding challenges... bsky.app/profile/stev...

21.08.2025 22:00 β€” πŸ‘ 103    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3

Another read is not that SCOTUS is shy about confronting Trump but that they're basically on board with his project but would be embarrassed about the legal arguments they'd have to make if they upheld his actions on the merits, so they find procedural means to let him get his way.

21.08.2025 22:03 β€” πŸ‘ 1331    πŸ” 376    πŸ’¬ 32    πŸ“Œ 12

AMHERST

21.08.2025 01:27 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Charles Burchfield, "Untitled", 1916, Watercolor and graphite on paper, 13 5/8" x 19 3/8"

20.08.2025 23:51 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Fine. Port. As in seaport

21.08.2025 00:57 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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