Jeff Baker

The Cross and Gavel, ep. 208: The Sins of Mass Incarceration Anton Sorkin and I continue our conversation on The Cross & Gavel podcast, discussing Christian Realism and mass incarceration, moral imagination, and the dignity of all people.

Anton Sorkin and I continue our conversation on the Cross & Gavel podcast. We discuss Christian Realism, mass incarceration, moral imagination, and the dignity of all people, working from my article, Christian Realism and the Sins of Mass Incarceration. open.substack.com/pub/jrbprof/...

Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place. Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: "Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?" "A republic, if you can keep it." With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED. SIGNED this 31st day of February, 2026. 7um Jing FRED BIERY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE Credit: Bystander Matthew 19:14 John 11:35 There is also the photo of the boy from the viral stories included.

Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Jeff Baker: Collected Works (@jrbprof) I'm grateful to @Anton Sorkin for welcoming me to his podcast for the Christian Legal Society, a kind invitation to discuss my article, A Sermon on the Law: The Jurisprudence of Law, and wrestling the...

Grateful to Anton Sorkin for welcoming me to the CLS podcast to discuss my article, A Sermon on the Law: The Jurisprudence of Law, the implications of love as the organizing principle for law & policy.

substack.com/@jrbprof/not...

Join us for the annual symposium of the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human & Civil Rights, March 12-13, in Montgomery. We are confirming a strong array of panelists to join conversations about justice in voting rights, election law, and democracy.

fredgrayinstitute.org/register-to-...

Opinion | The Deadly Bargain of Donald Trump's Lost Cause Trump’s Lost Cause creates its own brutal trap for those who will not acknowledge that he lost a standard, legal, legitimate election. Good losers aren't happy about losing, but because they share a d...

Jan. 6 is Epiphany, a day to witness the Magi, foreigners who met a poor family and helped them escape a tyrant.

Also, here’s an essay I wrote in Jan. 2021 about Lost Cause myths and the violence and anger they generate in fearful souls.

www.mississippifreepress.org/vengeful-nos...

Happy New Year, y'all!

Defend humanity!

Race Matters Eps 84: Conflict Transformation and Restorative Justice with Dr. Jimmy McCarty Race Matters Eps 84:

Behold this Race Matters episode with Dr. Jimmy McCarty. Carson and I talk with Jimmy about his work in conflict transformation, restorative justice, and the pernicious and dehumanizing forces of the prison-industrial complex. It's heavy but hopeful work.

on.soundcloud.com/DMlKuRJKs5TR...

Hark!

Haven, a novella (2019) Displaced by a war they do not understand, two sisters strike out into the world to find their parents.

Looking for a gift for a discerning fiction reader? Consider this lyrical novella about refugee sisters searching for their parents and surviving a war, a journey through snow, strangers, peaches, canoes, and danger, meditating on trauma, hunger, hope and love.

open.substack.com/pub/jrbprof/...

The Many Rooms of Our Common Cause Honoring the Work of Those Helping Expand My Architectural Vision

I'm grateful to Anton Sorkin for highlighting our conversation with Jennifer Koh, her work and mine, and others' about faith & law, redemption & imagination, hope & justice, policy & jurisprudence. Anton practices the ministry of convening people together in dialogue and curiosity, a vital vocation.

I don't know, Aaron. I think we need to take this seriously. In fact, after surveying hundreds of years of history in the past few days, I've written an article assessing the originalist case here:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

On the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a very good day in Florence at the first Alabama Legacy Luncheon with the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights alongside other Fellows, friends and family.

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

As you’re preparing for your Thanksgiving meal, remember the skilled work it took to get that food to your grocery store.

Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.

Part 1: My Life Is a Lie How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America

This is very smart and bleak. (It's also too long and in want of an editor.) But it rings true, and it's a tricky trap. This is about poverty, the poverty line, and the real costs of surviving in the hard economics of our moment.

open.substack.com/pub/michaelw...

Race Matters Eps 82: Professor Reggie Williams' Bonhoeffer and the Ethics of Resistance Race Matters Eps 82:

My friend, Edward Carson, has long hosted Race Matters, a radio show (WJOP 96.3!) and podcast. I recently joined him as a co-host. This episode is a rich conversation with Dr. Reggie Williams, on Bonhoeffer, ethics of resistance, and discerning true humanity.

soundcloud.com/ncmhub/race-...

Roll Tide anyway......

The lecture manuscript if you're interested:

diocesela.org/wp-content/u...

YouTube video by Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles Canon Jeff Baker | 2025 Margaret Parker Lecture | 11.8.25

Last week, I had the honor of delivering the Margaret Parker Lecture at the Episcopal Diocese of LA annual convention:

The Church of Dissent in the Imperial Republic.

youtu.be/QI9SMbim0DM?...

I've done all of them, and it's not even close, just basic GenX daily life. And I still use a dusty old dictionary.

A great day for the golden rule of political analysis: when the right wins it is a resounding ideological victory that humiliates the left and when the left wins it is a precarious fluke that will surely end up humiliating the left. Conservatives are power’s landlords and the left merely tenants

DODGERS WIN THE WORLD SERIES

Kendrick wins again

🗣️ The Montgomery Advertiser—Alabama’s oldest and best newspaper—doesn’t have a presence (yet) on #Bluesky which is too bad. ICYMI this is my most recent opinion-essay just published by The Advertiser concerning last week’s execution in Alabama. Thank you. www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/opinio...

YouTube video by PortMedia Race Matters Episode 80: American Religion with Professor Paul Harvey

In this ep of Race Matters, Carson & I talk with Dr. Paul Harvey of UC - Colorado Springs, an expert in the history of Evangelicalism and Evangelical churches, to discuss Evangelical relationships with the state and politics. We suss out some of our own histories too.

youtu.be/byrfRCqURVQ?...

Lab Monkeys Escape Overturned Truck Near Heidelberg, Mississippi Lab monkeys from Tulane University have escaped an overturned truck around mile marker 117 on Interstate 59, north of the town of Heidelberg, Mississippi, marshalling a response from numerous law…

Lab monkeys from Tulane University have escaped an overturned truck north of the town of Heidelberg, Mississippi.

Despite initial claims by local law enforcement, the monkeys are not carrying COVID-19, herpes or hepatitis C.

buff.ly/16gTRJa

Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.

A Brief History of Halloween Isn’t Fun Anymore

🧵

I don't think it's dead yet, but it's very, very sick.

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here.” My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury.

Earlier this month, @annabower.bsky.social started to receive Signal messages from the U.S. attorney who is leading the prosecution of Letitia James.

Throughout the exchange, Lindsay Halligan complained about Bower’s tweets and reporting on the indictment–but never once asked to be off the record.