Matthew Schafer

MAGA’s ongoing war on academic freedom, reflected in headlines from the last 24 hours.

Great First Amendment win in 9th Circuit for @davidloy.bsky.social and @facoalition.bsky.social. Holding: “self-censorship” is an “injury-in-fact” for injunctive relief, and observation of events is “inextricably intertwined” with recording and reporting.

cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...

Bonus book! A beautiful 1797 copy of John Almon’s Biographical, Literary, & Political Anecdotes. The liberty minded printer included an early sketch of Benjamin Franklin — “founder of American Greatness”.

Almon’s press was of singular importance in introducing the British to revolutionary thought.

This is like how he dismisses the Statute of Northampton as too early to matter in the gun rights context but then relies on the statutes of scandalum magnatum from the same period as a basis to limit First Amendment speech rights...

No... he wouldn't be... inconsistent?!?!

I've read the just-issued 11th Circuit opinion in Dershowitz v CNN, I appreciate Judge Wilson bringing to bear a thoughtful defense of Sullivan and highlighting my scholarship as well as that of others in defense of a cornerstone of press freedom...

It's very gratifying seeing scholarship at work.

So while these books have seen better days, they are literally a part of US history. Tucker's Blackstone was a key resource for understanding how Americans viewed common law in the years following ratification. Masterly, Tucker adapted Blackstone's often anti-democratic work to a young republic.

Breckenridge had already served as the floor leader for Jeffersonians in Congress. Now he was the chief law enforcement officer in the Country. But, his term was cut short when, in 1806, he contracted tuberculosis.

"Both it’s duties & it’s emoluments are too well known to you to render it necessary for me to particularize them. ... Hoping that in your patriotism, & perhaps in other circumstances you will find motives sufficient to induce you to become a part of our administration."

Breckenridge accepted.

Years later, in 1805, Jefferson asked Breckinridge to serve as his attorney general, writing: "The office of Attorney General for the US. being not yet permanently filled, I have an opportunity of proposing it for your acceptance."

Jefferson added:

In Kentucky, Breckinridge made revisions and introduced the first resolutions. Importantly, he provided a means by which the States should seek repeal and removed language about nullification. In 1799, he shepherded the second set through too.

Despite this, some insisted it was Jefferson's doing.

Breckinridge was the vehicle for the Resolutions opposing the Alien and Sedition Acts enacted by Congress to keep. He was a main character in a conspiracy hatched to keep Jefferson's involvement a secret, having agreed to get them passed and solemnly promising not to ID Jefferson.

Rare Book Friday! Don't judge a book by its cover! A remarkably scarce 1803 set of Tucker's Blackstone, which redefined law and press freedom in America.

This set is especially rare because of its owner: John Breckinridge, Jefferson's Attorney General who was key to passing the Kentucky Resolutions

Somehow class is back in session...

Also not for nothing... Originalists are in search of original meaning at the Founding, meanwhile the Founders weren't really sure whether the Bill of Rights was a thing at the Founding until Jefferson finally did some math and said so in a letter about fish.

In 1941, December 15 become BoR Day after Congress requested the FDR so recognize the day.

The first BoR Day was marked by a big production that occurred just a week after Pearl Harbor.

You can listen to the radio broadcast here: archive.org/details/Norm...

With Vermont, the number of states required went from 10 of 13 to 11 of 14.

Vermont ratified the Bill of Rights in November, becoming the 10th state. Virginia got its act together on Dec 15, 1791 and ratified, becoming the 11th.

In March 1792, TJ then sent the Fish Letter making the BoR official:

By August, only 9 states had ratified 10 of the 12 proposed amendments. Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State was keeping track with this handy chart.

He tracked the states North-to-South, and had to pencil in a "V" for Vermont, which became the 14th state while the BoR was under consideration.

When was the First Amendment ratified? Dec. 15, 1791, of course, when Virginia became the 11th of 14 states to do so (3/4ths of states)!

Well, things weren't so clear at the Founding. In this Sept. 1791 copy of the Bill of Rights, the editor said ratification occurred by August (it did not!).

There is a lovely patriotic tradition in the colonial era of very angry grand jurors using their position to assert independence from the crown by returning "ignoramus" (essentially no true bill).

History, as they say, repeats itself...

Four journalists among 15 killed in Israeli strike on hospital in Gaza, say health officials Deaths take to at least 192 the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the conflict since 7 October 2023

It's already the deadliest war for journalists on record and keeps getting worse. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Madison's report opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts. It was, 1826 edition said, a "landmark of the Constitution." Though liberty of the press had been invaded, "the Republicans did not abandon the cause of their Country" nor did they "despair."

Truly, a landmark of history, of Jefferson's death, of Lafayette, of Madison's views of press freedom, of a mutual commitment to a liberal revolution around the world.

The press in America, Madison wrote, "must be entitled to much more respect. In every State, probably, in the Union, the press has exerted a freedom in canvassing the merits and measures of public men of every description which has not been confined to the strict limits of the common law."

While revisionists say that the Report was about states' rights not press freedom, Madison's own words refute that idea. Madison's considers the question at length: "The state of the press under the common law, cannot, in this point of view, be the standard of its freedom in the United States."

Madison's report opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts. It was, 1826 edition said, a "landmark of the Constitution." Though liberty of the press had been invaded, "the Republicans did not abandon the cause of their Country" nor did they "despair."

The report he enclosed was this edition, printed in Richmond in 1826, the same year he was writing Lafayette--which makes this particular edition all the more interesting.

Madison obliged Lafayette's other request, for his report: "I inclose a Copy of the Report you ask for. I should have sent you one long ago, but a copy was not to be had. It has just been republished, with some documents annexed, relating to the same subject; and I lost no time in procuring you one"