At @FedSoc National Student Convention, @NoahRFeldman is telling this audience that the formalist separation of powers & Scalia’s Morrison dissent are anti-originalist and dangerous…
And he’s crushing it. He is quoting Madison Federalist 47-51 and the audience is uncomfortable.
@FedSoc @Harvard_Law 3/ @NoahRFeldman says the Constitution’s original structure is functionalism and “checks and balance,” not formal “separation of powers.”
I haven’t put the point this strongly, but my research shows he’s more right than wrong.
And more historically correct than Scalia.
Thank you @NotreDameLRev (Vol. 100) for accepting "Venality and Functionality: A Strangely Practical History of Selling Offices, Administrative Independence, and Limited Presidential Power."
I'm deeply honored & excited to work with you!
#newlawrevarticles papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
3/ My @SSRN draft "Freehold Offices v. Despotic Displacement" has more detail on:
The Opinions Clause;
The Ratification Debates;
Common law default rules for "good cause" removal; Charts on the Founders' Bookshelf & 18th C. English dictionaries: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
My good friend Jeff Cohen (@BCLAW prof. former prosecutor) persuaded me that I was wrong about a criticism of the @ManhattanDA case against Trump:
These purely internal records like paystubs could count for intent to defraud.
1/
2/ Last April, I wrote in @nytimes:
"What, in practice, is the meaning of 'intent to defraud'? If a business record is internal, it is not obvious how a false filing could play a role in defrauding if other entities likely would not rely upon it and be deceived by it."
See below:
@nytimes 3/ The statutes 175.05 & .10 require:
"falsifying business records...with intent to defraud."
A false tax return or FEC filing would defraud the govt, but I asked how a pay stub would defraud anyone if no one ever relies on it or even looks at it: nytimes.com/2023/04/05/opi…
I know legal commentators are saying "Judge Merchan denied Trump's motions and has scheduled a trial for March 25, and this is now real and happening."
Hang on. There is a real chance that Trump's lawyers win a stay in federal court. (This gets technical about abstention). 1/
2/ I'm not revealing anything the lawyers don't already know.
They've sought these kinds of stays and injunctions in fed court before against NY prosecutors.
See Trump v. Vance on Manhattan DA subpoena for tax records. Trump lost every stage but won a 1-year delay, 2019-2020.
3/ Trump's lawyers can seek an injunction in fed district court (and a stay) on grounds of 1) no state jurisdiction 2) federal preemption 3) selective prosecution, partisan bias, violation of 14th A.
I’ll live-tweet the 14th A. Disqualification oral arguments this morning. 🧵
I think there are 5 issues. One is easy (“officers” includes presidents), 1 is a mild problem, and I have strong concerns about 3 others, especially whether Jan 6 or speech count as “insurrection”
I’m flagging this article on 1st Amendment concerns about Colorado’s specific ruling by @Thomas_A_Berry
It raises 1 of several problems specific to Colorado’s trial court basis.
@ARozenshtein & I have published a solution in future cases.
@Thomas_A_Berry @ARozenshtein 3/ I agree w/ @Thomas_A_Berry’s 1st A. analysis.
@ARozenshtein & I had similar concerns in 2022 and argued that Trump engaged in overt acts, not just speech.