Blake Emerson
@blakeprof.bsky.social
Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law.
Administrative law, political theory. Author: The Public’s Law. Personal views only. https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/blake-emerson
Administrative law, political theory. Author: The Public’s Law. Personal views only. https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/blake-emerson
Pinned
Time to write my book about executive power lol.
February 9, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Time to write my book about executive power lol.
As expected, the famously measured and not at all corrupt Tom Homan has really turned down the temperature in Minneapolis.
In one 30-minute stretch, three legal observers were arrested — as Trump’s Border czar Tom Homan calls on locals to “end the resistance.”
“Uptick In Abductions”: ICE Ramps Up Targeting of Minneapolis Legal Observers
In one 30-minute stretch, three Minneapolis legal observers were arrested as ICE ramped up its targeting of community volunteers.
interc.pt
February 9, 2026 at 9:20 PM
As expected, the famously measured and not at all corrupt Tom Homan has really turned down the temperature in Minneapolis.
Reposted by Blake Emerson
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Reposted by Blake Emerson
Ten years ago today, #SCOTUS issued five unsigned and unexplained 5-4 rulings granting emergency applications to block President Obama’s Clean Power Plan—a completely unprecedented move that helped to usher in the Court’s modern … (mis)adventures … with its shadow docket.
Me in today’s “One First”:
Me in today’s “One First”:
209. The Modern Emergency Docket Turns Ten
The February 2016 rulings blocking the Clean Power Plan were unprecedented; in retrospect, they were harbingers of a paradigm shift in the Supreme Court's role.
www.stevevladeck.com
February 9, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Ten years ago today, #SCOTUS issued five unsigned and unexplained 5-4 rulings granting emergency applications to block President Obama’s Clean Power Plan—a completely unprecedented move that helped to usher in the Court’s modern … (mis)adventures … with its shadow docket.
Me in today’s “One First”:
Me in today’s “One First”:
Reposted by Blake Emerson
My paper, Habeas and the 1948 Judicial Code, is forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review (@stanlrev.bsky.social).
I argue that the 1948 Judicial Code, not the 1867 Habeas Corpus Act, should be the statutory focus for inquiry into the scope of habeas review.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I argue that the 1948 Judicial Code, not the 1867 Habeas Corpus Act, should be the statutory focus for inquiry into the scope of habeas review.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
February 9, 2026 at 1:18 PM
My paper, Habeas and the 1948 Judicial Code, is forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review (@stanlrev.bsky.social).
I argue that the 1948 Judicial Code, not the 1867 Habeas Corpus Act, should be the statutory focus for inquiry into the scope of habeas review.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I argue that the 1948 Judicial Code, not the 1867 Habeas Corpus Act, should be the statutory focus for inquiry into the scope of habeas review.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Quick question, how many “libertarians” became MAGA over the past decade?
Opinion | Libertarians Tried to Warn You About Trump
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Quick question, how many “libertarians” became MAGA over the past decade?
Have you dined with us before at Meats and Ferments?
February 8, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Have you dined with us before at Meats and Ferments?
When you call an “Olympic skier” a “real loser.” 🤔
February 8, 2026 at 8:02 PM
When you call an “Olympic skier” a “real loser.” 🤔
Reposted by Blake Emerson
A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:
February 8, 2026 at 5:06 AM
A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:
Detecting the early stages of an Obama-revivalism among progressives.
February 8, 2026 at 4:46 AM
Detecting the early stages of an Obama-revivalism among progressives.
Reposted by Blake Emerson
The must-read piece on the death of the civil service. open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Trump's Schedule F Rule Finalized
A bizarro rule formally justifies politicizing public services
open.substack.com
February 7, 2026 at 6:55 PM
The must-read piece on the death of the civil service. open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Reposted by Blake Emerson
“They’re basically torturing people into signing off on their own deportation,” said one attorney.
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Concentration camps: stories of as many as 50 people to a cell — men and women in some cases — with no windows and limited airflow, a single camera-monitored toilet, aluminum blankets, no showers and poor quality food.
ICE detainees from Maine being held under ‘inhumane’ conditions in Mass. facility, attorneys say
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said the allegations of overcrowding and lack of access to lawyers are false.
www.pressherald.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:03 PM
“They’re basically torturing people into signing off on their own deportation,” said one attorney.
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Still can’t believe The Phantom Menace was what George Lucas came up with after decades of work on a new Star Wars.
February 7, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Still can’t believe The Phantom Menace was what George Lucas came up with after decades of work on a new Star Wars.
Reposted by Blake Emerson
AWFUL news tonight. This blesses the “mandatory” detention in the 5th Circuit without bond (and little chance at habeas) of every undocumented immigrant who originally entered across the border, no matter how many decades in the past.
It will fuel ICE’s push to transfer people to Texas immediately.
It will fuel ICE’s push to transfer people to Texas immediately.
BREAKING: A 5th Circuit panel has backed ICE's mass detention policy, a decision that clears the way for the administration to lock up people who are in immigration proceedings
It's a 2-1 ruling
Majority: Jones (Reagan), Duncan (Trump)
Minority: Douglas (Obama)
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
It's a 2-1 ruling
Majority: Jones (Reagan), Duncan (Trump)
Minority: Douglas (Obama)
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 AM
AWFUL news tonight. This blesses the “mandatory” detention in the 5th Circuit without bond (and little chance at habeas) of every undocumented immigrant who originally entered across the border, no matter how many decades in the past.
It will fuel ICE’s push to transfer people to Texas immediately.
It will fuel ICE’s push to transfer people to Texas immediately.
Reposted by Blake Emerson
This is a very, very bad decision from one of the two Reagan judges left on the Fifth Circuit, joined by one of the two most extreme Trump appointees on the court.
And, it is about the issue I walked through at Law Dork earlier this week, in the context of Minnesota: www.lawdork.com/i/186796727/...
And, it is about the issue I walked through at Law Dork earlier this week, in the context of Minnesota: www.lawdork.com/i/186796727/...
February 7, 2026 at 2:50 AM
This is a very, very bad decision from one of the two Reagan judges left on the Fifth Circuit, joined by one of the two most extreme Trump appointees on the court.
And, it is about the issue I walked through at Law Dork earlier this week, in the context of Minnesota: www.lawdork.com/i/186796727/...
And, it is about the issue I walked through at Law Dork earlier this week, in the context of Minnesota: www.lawdork.com/i/186796727/...
At least the Times is cleared-eyed about this. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
February 7, 2026 at 3:08 AM
At least the Times is cleared-eyed about this. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
Defiant compassion has a nice ring to it.
Mamdani: "I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her were, 'I'm not mad at you.' I speak of Alex Pretti who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. ICE shot him bc he did something they could never fathom ... let us offer a new path: one of defiance through compassion."
February 6, 2026 at 7:01 PM
Defiant compassion has a nice ring to it.
Reposted by Blake Emerson
Trump's FBI raid in Georgia is potential model for getting search warrant to seize 2026 ballot boxes, says @rickhasen.bsky.social.
"Once those ballots are out of control of election officials we’ve lost chain of custody."
On the pod Rick illuminatingly explains all:
newrepublic.com/article/2062...
"Once those ballots are out of control of election officials we’ve lost chain of custody."
On the pod Rick illuminatingly explains all:
newrepublic.com/article/2062...
Trump Press Sec Snaps at Media as Spin on Threat to Rig 2026 Goes Awry
After Trump called for Republicans to “nationalize” the midterms, Karoline Leavitt struggled to spin it away. We talked to an election law expert who explains the nightmare scenarios we should fear t...
newrepublic.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Trump's FBI raid in Georgia is potential model for getting search warrant to seize 2026 ballot boxes, says @rickhasen.bsky.social.
"Once those ballots are out of control of election officials we’ve lost chain of custody."
On the pod Rick illuminatingly explains all:
newrepublic.com/article/2062...
"Once those ballots are out of control of election officials we’ve lost chain of custody."
On the pod Rick illuminatingly explains all:
newrepublic.com/article/2062...
You’ve got to see the video and the “immigration enforcement” as one picture: gutter racism, running the government, symbolically and practically.
February 6, 2026 at 4:06 PM
You’ve got to see the video and the “immigration enforcement” as one picture: gutter racism, running the government, symbolically and practically.
Me, concurring
Luttig: It doesn’t matter what the Supreme Court does from this point forward. For two years, the Supreme Court has authorized the absolute lawlessness and unconstitutional activity of this president.
February 6, 2026 at 6:37 AM
Me, concurring
Reposted by Blake Emerson
OPM releases the text of the final rule for Schedule Policy/Career.
public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02375.pdf
public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02375.pdf
February 5, 2026 at 3:53 PM
OPM releases the text of the final rule for Schedule Policy/Career.
public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02375.pdf
public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02375.pdf
Good grief, no masks is not that big of an ask. Stop giving credence to right wing fever dreams about left wing terrorism.
Chuck Schumer says ICE should be allowed to wear masks in "unusual circumstances—you know, some guy's picture was put up by a terrorist group or something."
February 5, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Good grief, no masks is not that big of an ask. Stop giving credence to right wing fever dreams about left wing terrorism.
Reposted by Blake Emerson
🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.
February 5, 2026 at 2:37 PM
🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.
This is disgusting, and the explanation does *not* help. Anyone who says discussing a student’s looks is ever appropriate in a reference or letter of recommendation needs a remedial course in basic professional ethics. (And probably a Title IX investigation).
yaledailynews.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:37 PM
This is disgusting, and the explanation does *not* help. Anyone who says discussing a student’s looks is ever appropriate in a reference or letter of recommendation needs a remedial course in basic professional ethics. (And probably a Title IX investigation).
I’m still waiting on an APA lawsuit to enjoin this guidance. It’s low hanging fruit.
February 5, 2026 at 4:20 PM
I’m still waiting on an APA lawsuit to enjoin this guidance. It’s low hanging fruit.