If your first shot was Johnson & Johnson, your booster shot is Grant & Nixon…
My apologies to @EricColumbus for missing that he tweeted this first.
But let me make up for it:
If your first shot was Janssen, your booster is Jansssen...
Likely the most significant oral argument in years (Dobbs) is happening right now, and Mississippi's lawyer is already making patently ridiculous arguments:
Right now in Dobbs at 11:22:
You can't read too much in these tea leaves... but it sure sounds like Justice Kavanaugh is practicing, reciting many examples of overturning precedents, and sounding out an opinion (and a 5th vote) to overturn Roe and Casey.
I heard CJ Roberts's questions around 11:05 this morning the same way:
Practcing or signaling a willingness to overturn precedents (i.e., Roe).
With caveat that Justices are often trying out arguments, the tone from Roberts and Kavanaugh seemed a hint against Roe/stare decisis.
A new paper: “Removal of Context: Blackstone, Limited Monarchy, and the Limits of Unitary Originalism,” Yale J. Law & Humanities, 2022.
I found many errors in unitary executive amicus & scholarship on Blackstone & other historical sources. Thread: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
2/ I think these errors are in good-faith. This material is complicated, the 18th c. terms are obscure.
But that's the point:
Originalists claim supremacy as the most reliable & objective method, on the eve of overturning Roe/Casey. These errors should give us all pause...
3/ Most of these errors are more than small interpretative errors in a SCOTUS amicus brief.
They often get the big points backwards, such as Blackstone's work as fundamentally contrary evidence against their theory and historical claims. shugerblogcom.wordpress.com/2021/11/30/rem…
"Vesting" updated on @SSRN:
"Vested" in UVA Founding Era Collection, 1776-1789:
My database of over 1000 uses.
Bottom line: The use of "all" in Art I & its absence in Art II both may be significant, in favor of non-delegation but against unitary executive. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
Thanksgiving is a good time to thank my excellent research assistants Michael Albalah, Anne Brodsky, Xinni Cai, Chloe Rigogne, Emily Rubino, Colin Shea, and Tatum Sornborger.
Thank you!
New short paper:
Countering Gerrymandered Courts: Comment on Miriam Seifter’s "Countermajoritarian Legislatures"
(forthcoming Columbia L.Rev.Online) @MiriamSeifter's article is increasingly crucial on election law & extreme gerrymandering. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
@MiriamSeifter rightly calls out mistaken assumptions that state legislatures are the democratic branch vs. governors and courts, in an era of extreme gerrymandering vs. state-wide elections.
But the past & future of state judicial elections are also districting & gerrymandering.
3/ As my book The People's Courts showed, state judicial elections emerged in the mid-19th c. with local districts, including state supreme court districts often designed to benefit rural areas or benefit one party.
Many state courts today have the same problem & could get worse.
I'm looking forward to discussing David Driesen's outstanding new book w/ @jennmascott & @narosenblum tomorrow! @dmdriesen's subtitle: "Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power."
My comment: "The Bipartisan Enabling and En-Fabling of Presidential Power"
Michael McConnell and I are excited to announce this conference:
“Histories of Presidential Power”
Constitutional Law Center
@StanfordLaw
Across the ideological and methodological spectrum.
May 20-21: law.stanford.edu/event/spring-c…
Description and list of panels in this post.
Panel 1: How the Presidency Emerged from Colonial, English & Founding Eras @andrewkent33 (Fordham), Michael McConnell (Stanford), @jdmortenson (Michigan), Eric Nelson (Harvard), Maeve Glass (Columbia) shugerblogcom.wordpress.com/2021/11/03/his…
Panel 2: The First Congress & Executive Power: @adityabamzai (UVA), @lmchervinsky (GW, SMU, author The Cabinet: George Washington & the Creation of an American Institution), Mike Ramsey (San Diego), @ilan_wurman (Arizona St), @TheGNapp (Stanford)