Ppl often wonder what power the gov has over drug companies. Nice to see this confirmation from DOJ (and Moderna) of our work on the “gov patent use” right. When it benefits pharma turns out they agree with us! 1/4 This brief, filed Tues, is a good primer from DOJ itself. They point out that the gov can agree w any contractor that they can use patents of anyone else, freely, to make something for the gov. freepdfhosting.com/136670a448.pdf 2/4

Great read by @JohnFabianWitt about the pending Sct Glacier case, where the Ct could dramatically undermine the right to strike. His arguments resonate w/ many LPE points about law, markets and moral economy. 1/5 onlabor.org/glacier-gets-t… In Glacier, employers are trying to make workers liable for damage - like lost cement - attributable to a strike. But Witt points out that since Holmes, we've known that "the intentional destruction of value is a central feature of competitive behavior in the marketplace." 2/5

What's the real story of the leaked draft? A Court intoxicated with its own power, imposing extreme views on the rest of the country. It’s part of a broader pattern, key to understand. Glad to have joined @karaswisher and others to discuss. Short 🧵... nytimes.com/2022/05/06/opi… The draft opinion is DARK. It uses false history. No regard for what it means to be forced to give birth. Throws women, especially poor women, under the bus. Blows up doctrines that protect LGBT rights and contraception.
reproductiverights.org/supreme-court-…

I clerked at the Supreme Court. Last night, I assumed a liberal clerk leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe. Now I think MUCH more likely it was leaked by a conservative fanatically committed to every word of Alito’s monstrous opinion. **🧵** Timing: This draft was circulated in Feb. If a liberal was mad about it, why wait until April to send it to Politico? The op will be out in June. What are the benefits of releasing it early? And a BIG downside – the focus on the leak itself instead of the opinion.

Vaccine apartheid is cleaving the world in two. How to fix it, part I. lpeproject.org/blog/how-to-va… /1 The key to solving this problem is seeing it for what it is. It is man made, a problem of private power and monopoly. Our global R&D system layers privatized control and profits atop open science and public subsidy, and reproduces colonial dynamics in new forms. /2

1/7 Big news day for COVID vaccines. It's now - I think - very unlikely that Trump could pull off a "October surprise," where he tries to overrule FDA and force a vaccine thru to impact the election. Here's why: 2/7 Start w/ what we knew before today. Many of us have been pushing for years for more transparency in clinical trials. After some great reporting, and pressure... nytimes.com/2020/09/13/sci…

What is “law and political economy” scholarship, and how might it help us build toward a more genuinely equal and democratic society? Out today in @YaleLJournal, with @JedediahSPurdy, David Singh Grewal, and @ksabeelrahman.
yalelawjournal.org/feature/buildi… /1 This one was a long time in coming. We're connecting, theorizing, and historicizing work that many of us have been doing for years. Work over @LPEblog and @APPEALResearch, but also much more - deep debts to CRT, CLS, realism, scholarship on (racial) capitalism, social repro. /2

What might lie at the end of this dark covid19 tunnel - and how do we get somewhere better than "back to normal"? @gregggonsalves and I have some ideas about non-reformist reforms in an age of COVID19. /1 bostonreview.net/politics/gregg… We've argued before in @BostonReview for a new politics of care: universal provision for human needs; countervailing power for workers, people of color, and the vulnerable; and an end to carceral approaches to social problems. How to get closer, while getting through this? /2

Next installment in the COVID chronicles from @gregggonsalves and me. On the absurdity of elevating "the economy" over society, and the dangers of a riptide pulling us backwards. bostonreview.net/science-nature… The recent outbreak of armchair epidemiology and economics threatens the wave of astonishing solidarity we have seen in recent days. And so... /2

The coronavirus shows up the extraordinary weakness of our social infrastructure & the way our hyper-carceral and profit-driven political economy make all of us more vulnerable. And leadership, organizing needs to happen fast. More from me @LPEblog: lpeblog.org/2020/03/03/cor… /1 "Slowing the spread of the disease will be extraordinarily hard without major surge of social support and a commitment to something like basic social solidarity." /2

Widespread coronavirus transmission is now inevitable. A successful response must protect the health and human rights of everyone in US - esp the most vulnerable. Guidelines in our open letter, signed by more than 450 public health and legal experts: law.yale.edu/yls-today/news… /1 The letter details a series of important legislative and policy-based recommendations and advocates for the protection of vulnerable populations, especially healthcare workers, people living with chronic health conditions, incarcerated individuals, and the elderly. /2

/1 Yes courts were never going to save us. Thats what I would have tweeted til 4pm today. Then, the question became totally diff one. How far can a radically right court set us back? What can they take that we cant win back in an election? Or 2 or 3? /2 I’m in the middle of a piece abt how free speech is being used to make UNCONST all kinds of democratically chosen regs. Not just campaign finance law. Laws that restrict marketing of drugs - and tobacco - are already being taken apart. That is poised to get so much worse.