Bethany Berger

Fascinating takings clause petition granted today by the Supreme Court. No amicus briefs, no relists, counsel without any SCOTUS arguments to date, interesting issue. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

So exhausting..

🌱 Native Nations in the Energy Transition
Join us Oct 2, 2025 | 2–5 pm ET at GW Law (DC) or online
💡Engage with Tribal energy & resource experts
💡Learn how to support Tribes
Hosted by @rff.org #SMU @uarizona.bsky.social
Thanks to @sloanfoundation.bsky.social
🔗 Register: www.rff.org/events/all-e...

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-judicial-learning-curve Armed with Judge Sooknanan's restraining order, Flores arrived at the airport to search for A.R.M.D. and others. On the tarmac, she saw two ICE transport planes, their doors sealed shut. Nearby, she spotted a building and knocked on the door. Through the glass, she could see officers seated inside. Eventually, a young man answered the door. Flores explained that she had clients on one of the planes and a court order to stop it from leaving. While the young man disappeared inside the building to find his supervisor, Flores waited next to the door. She told anyone who entered or exited the building that they "were all complicit in violating a federal court order" if the plane left with her clients aboard. Eventually, when the young man returned, he told Flores that his supervisor was trying to contact ICE. But as Flores again tried to explain that she had a court order, another official stepped outside and "physically pulled the young man back into the building." Through the glass, she saw staff members "jeering and laughing." She repeated her earlier warning: If the plane carrying her clients took off, they were "all complicit in the violation of the judge's order."

As grim as this story may be, there's still much to be inspired by.

Look no further than this attorney for the children, who rushed to the airport to stop the planes. She stood near the tarmac, warning any officials she saw that they’d be complicit in violating a court order if the planes took off.

Dramatic post sunset clouds reflecting in Iowa River, with Hancher Auditorium in background

Gorgeous post-sunset walk yesterday in Iowa City. On Iowa River, with UIowa’s Hancher Auditorium in the background. #SundaySunset

Skunk running next to faculty and staff entrance sign.

Law school faculty entrance and parking lot evening wildlife thread. A single night's photos.

We begin with one of our regular visitors

o noe the tiny dinosaurs are going to eat the car!

Very obese round-tailed ground squirrel sitting on his haunches with his arms folded across his chest.

Mood.

Minimalist Coryphodon model on a pedestal with embedded replicas of skull and femur. Various illuminated mammals on the wall and a Diatryma skeleton in the background.

Tree-shaped cut-out flats and overhead canopy cast forest-y shadows on the ground in museum gallery.

Sign reads "A Thriving World" in front of green-hued museum gallery. Distant mural shows a lakeside group of animals.

Illuminated illustration of bright green Titanoboa at life size.

After the Age of Dinosaurs is open this week! Here’s a 🧵 about our weird, trippy show about the weird, trippy recovery period after the end-Cretaceous extinction.

New Pew Research Center Report on "How States and Cities Decimated Americans’ Lowest-Cost Housing Option" They have done so banning or severely restricting low-cost "single-room occupancy" (SRO) housing.

My thoughts on important new @pewresearch.org report on "How States and Cities Decimated Americans' Lowest-Cost Housing Option": reason.com/volokh/2025/...

I guess everybody['s political career] dies. thehill.com/homenews/cam...

"Plaintiff must address whether the constant filing of lawsuits to protect Grumpy Cat exceeds the value of the Grumpy Cat trademark itself, and thus whether it is a prudent use of societal resources." 👀

Sergeant John Rice in his uniform

74 years ago today, Iowa (mostly) united to fight racism against a Native veteran. I wrote about it here www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinio...

More retirement news: Conservative Wisconsin justice Rebecca Bradley will NOT seek reelection next spring.

Liberals (as you all know now) have a 4-3 majority on this high-stakes supreme court. This is their shot to go up 5-2, in April.

I am dismayed that Prof. Lash is casting our deletion of previous criticisms as withdrawing them bc we decided they were wrong. That is not the case & it is deceptive to say so.

Beautiful!

I think this is the first time I’ve heard a federal judge say “Huzzah!” during a hearing

I like it. I’m pro-“huzzah!”

But I Liked Due Process by Advanced Entropy Labs This pug misses Due Process

If anyone wants cool-funny-political shirts, my BIL made this awesome store for his designs. His actual day job is as a musician (@gangstagrass.bsky.social) & he only gets a few dollars from these but I wanted to share bc they're really nice shirts. advanced-entropy-labs.dashery.com/products/756...

Northern District for California District Court seal, featuring an eagle

COMING UP: Judge Charles Breyer is set to preside over a bench trial in Newsom v. Trump

The suit, brought by Governor Gavin Newsom, challenges Trump’s use of federal military forces to enforce immigration in California.

I plan to live-post for @lawfaremedia.org.

Follow along ⬇️🧵

3/ "A member of the public, appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the Government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at 'transparency' but at diversion—aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such."

Conservative Judges Love to Tell a Certain Story About American History. It’s Dead Wrong. The glaring omissions in originalists’ version of the country’s founding document.

This week on Amicus: A fascinating conversation about the meaning of the Constitution as understood by Native nations in 1789—and whether squeezing their perspectives into an “originalist” framework risks legitimizing the government-led atrocities that followed. slate.com/podcasts/ami...

If you were a bad foreign actor trying to destroy the long-standing institutions that make America a world leader, stirring deep racial resentment and conspiracy theories about universities be smart

Yesterday, I visited the construction site for the Teddy Roosevelt presidential library. We went hiking in the badlands of North Dakota. My five-year-old so desperately wanted to see a buffalo, and he saw a dozen of them. My eight- year-old spotted a bald eagle perched on a low cliff. And my three-year-old brought me a dandelion. Her little lungs weren't strong enough to send the dandelion seeds over the hillside, and so she asked me to do it. Watching her face light up as she watched those seeds blow over the hills, I felt a profond sense of gratitude for this country. For its natural beauty, the settlers who carved a civilization out of the wilderness.

ok one more beat on the Vance speech because this is just beyond anything.

“I visited the construction site for a presidential library dedicated to a rabid colonizer and we got lucky enough to see a buffalo and aren’t settlers great for creating civilization”

Plate with small watermelon, long red beans, three large bumpy tomatoes, lots of orange cherry tomatoes, and six cucumbers

My entry for the August law review submission cycle. #LawProf #AcademicSky

YouTube video by Business Scholarship Podcast Business Scholarship Podcast - Ep.254 – Jessica Shoemaker and James Tierney on Financializing...

Why does it matter who owns America's farms?

@jessicashoemaker.bsky.social (@unlcollegeoflaw.bsky.social) and @jamesftierney.bsky.social (@chicagokentlaw.bsky.social) join @busscholarship.bsky.social to discuss their article "Trading Acres." 1/2