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Timothy Sandefur Profile picture
Timothy Sandefur
@TimothySandefur
VP @GoldwaterInst, adjunct @CatoInstitute, contrib ed. @TheObjStd, “Tim the Lawyer” @AandGShow but here I speak only for myself (OBVIOUSLY). Eleutheronormative.
Nov 9, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
My friend @ojdunford gives a little preview here of today’s arguments in the case challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act fedsoc.org/commentary/fed… #ICWA
Nov 9, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
In fact, they are. That is precisely what they are constitutionally bound to do: to administer a legal system premised on & inextricable from, the classical liberal principles of individual rights.
Sep 10, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Any graduate of 8th grade civics can tell you why Chief Justice Roberts is right about this. The Congress passes statutes. It does “not tell you what the law is”—i.e., interpret & apply statutes or determine whether they’re constitutional. More abstractly, statutes are not necessarily “the law,” bc the Constn says only the statutes that are “in pursuance of” the Const
Aug 16, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
CON laws are laws that say you can’t start a business until you get permission from the existing businesses. Yes, such laws exist—& not only to they hurt consumers by barring competition, they also deprive entrepreneurs of their right to earn a living. They’re unconstitutional. That’s why we’ve filed this brief asking the Supreme Court to take up a case from Kentucky where state laws won’t let two qualified health care workers from Nepal start a new business providing services to Nepali-speaking community. goldwaterinstitute.org/the-pursuit-of…
Jul 26, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
New Historians ignore anti-capitalist arguments by southern slavers newdiscourses.com/2021/06/histor… Of course they do. It doesn’t fit the narrative, which prioritizes anti-capitalism over all other considerations & which therefore tries to blame capitalism for slavery & whatever else.
Jun 23, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
“We reiterate…When the 2d Amend’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct, the Const’n presumptively protects that conduct. The government must then justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” “We know of no other const’l right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the 1st Amend works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the 6th Amend works when it
Jun 22, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I don’t know who (other than the freaking President of the United States) needs to hear this, but: prices are INFORMATION SIGNALS. They’re a way of tracing how resources are used, or could be used. They’re a way of calculating trade offs. Exxon gets gas from ppl who charge them for it. If Exxon can’t pay off that cost, it can’t get the gas to give us. Exxon’s suppliers, in turn, have their own bills to pay. If Exxon doesn’t pay them, they have to pay those bills some other way—say, by fishing—& we don’t get gas.
Jun 22, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The real key here, though, is that Eastman’s ludicrous theory is NOT textual tho it pretends to be, bc he ignores the phrase “IN SUCH MANNER.” The Constitution says “Each State shall appoint, IN SUCH MANNER as the Legislature thereof may direct.” If his theory were right, it say “Each State shall appoint, as the Legislature thereof may direct.” The phrase “in such manner” reflects the fact that the legislature directs
Jun 22, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Why the HELL would Netflix even OFFER me the option to “Skip the Intro” of Knight Rider? Philistines.
May 9, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Fashionable contempt for the fundamental law of our society can’t be good for the next generation of those entrusted with the task of preserving and maintaining that law. Lawyers take an oath to support & defend the Constn—for good reason. For students to be indoctrinated w hatred of that document, relentlessly mistaught abt its meaning & legacy, is to sabotage American const’l democracy in ways far more destructive than any terrorist act.
May 8, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Only the title of Alan Nourse’s “The Bladerunner” (1977) was borrowed by the famous movie. But the book’s a good one & kinda eerie reading nowadays… It’s abt a pandemic of a mysterious flu-like illness that starts in China in the early 21st Century. Govt handles the matter incompetently, in part bc govt control of medicine is crippling research & innovation, & anti-science “Naturists” refuse the get vaccinated.
Apr 29, 2022 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
The abolition of debt is one of only three things that The Federalist Papers expressly calls an "improper or wicked" idea. The others are "a rage for paper money" and the "equal division of property."
Apr 28, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Which it is. Unfortunately, judges are able to block publication while they review whether they’re allowed to block publication. Shouldn’t be that way, but in practice it is. In the case I litigated last fall in VA, the govt gave my clients documents under FOIA. Then the govt changed its mind & asked the court to order my clients to remove their publication from the web & not disseminate documents. The court issued a *temporary* order to that effect,
Mar 30, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
The legal profession has an absolutely vital role to play in repairing the damage done to our society in the past 5 years. Doubling down in Marxist bullshit in law schools ain’t the way to do that. It’s not just that teaching students that “all property is theft [from X race]” isn’t gonna help them pass the bar—that’s probably a good thing, honestly—it’s that the legal profession is vital to the survival of const’l democracy & teaching them contempt for the basic principles
Mar 28, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
"Dr. Eastman argues that the plan was legally justified as it 'was grounded on a good faith interpretation of the Constn.' But 'ignorance of the law is no excuse' & believing the Electoral Count Act was unconst'l did not give President Trump license to violate it. Disagreeing w the law entitled Pres. Trump to seek a remedy in court, not to disrupt a const'ly-mandated process. & Pres. Trump knew how to pursue election claims in court—after filing & losing more than 60 suits, this plan was a last-ditch attempt to secure the Presidency by any means.
Nov 22, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Absolutely. She makes both claims: the founders’ words didn’t mean what they actually did mean / the founders didn’t actually believe those words, and we’ve changed those words over time and also (b) that their words were glorious & we vindicate them over time. This ambivalence is absolutely crucial to the #1619Project for several reasons. For one, it allows project participants to simultaneously call America evil and also claim not to be anti-American.
Nov 22, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
How dishonest is this? Almost exactly a yr ago I patiently explained to Ms. NHJ that Douglass started out thinking the Const was a pro-slavery document (as she does) & then changed his mind after studying the subject. Now she phrases it to make it sound like he was wishywashy. She should try studying the subject herself. Here she tries to downplay the significance of Douglass’s change of mind.

Which BTW was based on the Declaration, so her silly attempt to say “he wasn’t talking about the Declaration” is typically dishonest of her.
Sep 15, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Coulda been better... 1/ When Moana encounters the Kokamora, she grumbles "Coconuts" before begins whacking them.

Why?

Turns out that originally, the scene in which Moana's upset abt her father & is sitting on a tree trunk tossing sticks into the sand & grumbling to herself, 2/
Sep 15, 2021 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
This article begins with an untrue statement. It is *not* the constitutional role of politicians to “promote the general welfare.” It is the Constitution *itself* that “promotes the general welfare.” Politicians’ job is to obey the Constitution. Politicians ALWAYS say that what they’re doing—no matter how dumb, corrupt, futile, or illegal—will “promote the general welfare.” If that’s the limit on their power then there is NO limit to their power.
Jun 2, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
This is—and I mean this sincerely—the greatest masterpiece of contemporary art. newsweek.com/italian-artist… No artwork of which I am aware more perfectly embodies contemporary philosophy and the modern aesthetic sensibility.