Jerry Edwards
@jerryedwards.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Law at West Virginia University College of Law. Formerly an ACLUFL Attorney. I enjoy writing about free expression, academic freedom, and American history.
All opinions are my own, not my employer's, and are correct, probably.
All opinions are my own, not my employer's, and are correct, probably.
Pinned
Jerry Edwards
@jerryedwards.bsky.social
· Aug 15
I am excited to announce that my article, Academic Freedom's Inflection Point, will be published in the Boston College Law Review in 2026. The SSRN link is below. I plan to make revisions to address feedback & new developments (ex. a terrible govt speech opinion). Comments are welcome & appreciated!
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
New piece on the complex history of land grant universities, revealing that the states created far more land grant institutions than is understood.
Unveiling Land-Grant Universities: A Complex History
Explore the extensive history of land-grant universities, revealing how public and private institutions accumulated vast landholdings.
wustllawreview.org
January 19, 2026 at 10:30 PM
New piece on the complex history of land grant universities, revealing that the states created far more land grant institutions than is understood.
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
I've just posted a draft essay called "Tradition Without Text?" (forthcoming in Duke Law Journal Online). It critiques Dobbs for using crude positive-law proxies to identify "historical understandings of ordered liberty."
papers.ssrn.com/abstract=609...
papers.ssrn.com/abstract=609...
Tradition Without Text?
<p><span>It is no secret that the <i>Dobbs </i>framework dooms virtually all liberty claims brought under the ambit of due process. Yet for all their devotion t
papers.ssrn.com
January 19, 2026 at 1:09 PM
I've just posted a draft essay called "Tradition Without Text?" (forthcoming in Duke Law Journal Online). It critiques Dobbs for using crude positive-law proxies to identify "historical understandings of ordered liberty."
papers.ssrn.com/abstract=609...
papers.ssrn.com/abstract=609...
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear a big gun rights case - Wolford v. Lopez. I've posted some thoughts. Given the property dynamics here, I'm not sure balancing can be avoided in reconciling the serious level-of-generality problems the history poses. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
January 19, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear a big gun rights case - Wolford v. Lopez. I've posted some thoughts. Given the property dynamics here, I'm not sure balancing can be avoided in reconciling the serious level-of-generality problems the history poses. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
“If...the gov't established by the US in any of its territories, was to be revolutionized by force...the design was unquestionably treasonable, and any assemblage of men for that purpose would amount to a levying of war."
—Chief Justice John Marshall, Ex Parte Bollman (1807)
—Chief Justice John Marshall, Ex Parte Bollman (1807)
January 20, 2026 at 4:31 AM
“If...the gov't established by the US in any of its territories, was to be revolutionized by force...the design was unquestionably treasonable, and any assemblage of men for that purpose would amount to a levying of war."
—Chief Justice John Marshall, Ex Parte Bollman (1807)
—Chief Justice John Marshall, Ex Parte Bollman (1807)
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure specifically provides for class actions seeking class-wide injunctive relief. You know why we have that rule? BECAUSE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
NOTE: After the SCOTUS decision ending "universal injunctions" in Trump v. CASA, DOJ is now trying to go much further—arguing class-action relief sought in Minnesota "violates CASA because it goes beyond providing targeted relief to the named Plaintiffs specifically." www.lawdork.com/i/184842027/...
![This conclusion is reinforced by the Supreme Court’s recent landmark holding in
CASA forbidding the use of universal (i.e., non-party specific) injunctions. In CASA, the
Supreme Court addressed “universal injunctions,” or injunctions that bar the defendant
from enforcing “a law or policy against anyone,” in contrast to injunctions limited to the
plaintiff. CASA, Inc., 145 S. Ct. at 2548. The Court found that the statutory grant of
jurisdiction over suits “in equity” “encompasses only those sorts of equitable remedies
traditionally accorded by courts of equity at our country’s inception.” Id. at 2551 (citation
modified). And “[n]either a universal injunction nor any analogous form of relief was
available … at the time of the founding.” Id. Rather, “suits in equity were brought by and
against individual parties.” Id. “Because the universal injunction lacks a historical
pedigree, it falls outside the bounds of a federal court’s equitable authority under the
Judiciary Act.” Id. at 2554. At most, a court granting equitable relief “may administer
complete relief between the parties.” Id. at 2557.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreiasyjbay54zaa2f55pia64cqlnjwtrqxhq7aam4khb5h3hyec4qqy@jpeg)
January 19, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure specifically provides for class actions seeking class-wide injunctive relief. You know why we have that rule? BECAUSE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
I know I have some IJ followers here.
January 20, 2026 at 12:32 AM
I know I have some IJ followers here.
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
Cops at her front door, holding a phone to her face, asking if that's her Facebook account.
What the fuck are we doing here?
What the fuck are we doing here?
A woman left a comment on Facebook criticizing the Mayor of Miami Beach,.
The Mayor of Miami Beach then sent the cops to her home.
The Mayor of Miami Beach then sent the cops to her home.
January 19, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Cops at her front door, holding a phone to her face, asking if that's her Facebook account.
What the fuck are we doing here?
What the fuck are we doing here?
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
Not the biggest crisis, but this "Board of Peace" nonsense being constituted as an international agreement that vests control in Trump personally even if he's no longer president is a striking example of something that's so facially illegitimate that it's inherently unconstitutional.
January 19, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Not the biggest crisis, but this "Board of Peace" nonsense being constituted as an international agreement that vests control in Trump personally even if he's no longer president is a striking example of something that's so facially illegitimate that it's inherently unconstitutional.
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
i think this MLK day the thing to focus on is the strategic focus and tactical brilliance of the civil rights movement and the way it was laser focused on a set of achievable goals
January 19, 2026 at 3:05 PM
i think this MLK day the thing to focus on is the strategic focus and tactical brilliance of the civil rights movement and the way it was laser focused on a set of achievable goals
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
This alone would in a just political world bring down an entire administration
ICE ended up returning the man, Saly, after realizing he’s a fucking US citizen with no criminal record, per his sister-in-law. These fucking animals.
January 19, 2026 at 1:15 PM
This alone would in a just political world bring down an entire administration
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
ICE ended up returning the man, Saly, after realizing he’s a fucking US citizen with no criminal record, per his sister-in-law. These fucking animals.
January 19, 2026 at 5:41 AM
ICE ended up returning the man, Saly, after realizing he’s a fucking US citizen with no criminal record, per his sister-in-law. These fucking animals.
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
very good piece which confirms that weiss is both exceptionally arrogant and totally out of her depth. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Inside Bari Weiss’s Hostile Takeover of CBS News
The network’s new editor-in-chief has championed a press free from élite bias, while aligning herself with a billionaire class more willing than ever to indulge Donald Trump.
www.newyorker.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:26 PM
very good piece which confirms that weiss is both exceptionally arrogant and totally out of her depth. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
incredible stuff
January 19, 2026 at 3:45 PM
incredible stuff
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
very difficult to believe that this isn’t calculated to provoke an uprising, but I’ll concede the possibility that they’re just stupid assholes
This is what happened in our neighborhood yesterday. ICE snatched a human being off of our streets, roughed them up badly, and then pepper sprayed legal observers as they documented it all. This is a daily occurrence happening all throughout Minnesota right now.
January 19, 2026 at 6:23 PM
very difficult to believe that this isn’t calculated to provoke an uprising, but I’ll concede the possibility that they’re just stupid assholes
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
The sort of people who support ICE and the Trump Administration are fine with this because she’s black, because she’s a woman, because she‘s Somali-American, and because THEY are shitty people with shitty values from a shitty culture.
Nasra Ahmed, 23, was walking through the parking lot of her aunt’s St. Paul apartment complex when she found herself surrounded by 12 agents. Ahmed, born in the USA, says she showed them her I.D. She was forcefully detained and jailed anyway for more than 2 days. www.twincities.com/2026/01/18/s...
St. Paul woman, a U.S. citizen, recounts her two days in detention
Nasra Ahmed, 23, said she was taken to the hospital for an MRI with hands and legs shackled
www.twincities.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:33 AM
The sort of people who support ICE and the Trump Administration are fine with this because she’s black, because she’s a woman, because she‘s Somali-American, and because THEY are shitty people with shitty values from a shitty culture.
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
You can‘t understand Trump if you don’t understand he HATES Black people. Always has
January 19, 2026 at 1:11 AM
You can‘t understand Trump if you don’t understand he HATES Black people. Always has
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
I just posted the published version of my essay "Hipster Antiplagiarism." Only five years after I posted the final draft to SSRN! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Hipster Antiplagiarism
This essay observes that plagiarism norms might be an antitrust problem, and asks what the Chicago School and New Brandeis School theories of antitrust ought to
papers.ssrn.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:21 AM
I just posted the published version of my essay "Hipster Antiplagiarism." Only five years after I posted the final draft to SSRN! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
I just want to reiterate what other people have already said, white people have to let go of white supremacy for all this to happen. At least most.
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
January 19, 2026 at 12:08 AM
I just want to reiterate what other people have already said, white people have to let go of white supremacy for all this to happen. At least most.
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
So … over 8,000 acts of ppl invoking their 1A rights to mouth off to law enforcement?
Cops have no rights to their feelings. We do, however, have the 1A right—attested to by SCOTUS—to insult the guys w guns.
This is quintessential police-as-baronial class whining: “how dare you not kneel to us?”
Cops have no rights to their feelings. We do, however, have the 1A right—attested to by SCOTUS—to insult the guys w guns.
This is quintessential police-as-baronial class whining: “how dare you not kneel to us?”
"We've seen over a thousand percent increase in assaults on ICE officers, 8,000 verbal assaults on them...."
January 19, 2026 at 2:04 AM
So … over 8,000 acts of ppl invoking their 1A rights to mouth off to law enforcement?
Cops have no rights to their feelings. We do, however, have the 1A right—attested to by SCOTUS—to insult the guys w guns.
This is quintessential police-as-baronial class whining: “how dare you not kneel to us?”
Cops have no rights to their feelings. We do, however, have the 1A right—attested to by SCOTUS—to insult the guys w guns.
This is quintessential police-as-baronial class whining: “how dare you not kneel to us?”
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
When MLK practices of strategy of nonviolence, it was not merely a concern about what white people think, but a pragmatic understanding of what can be done when I minority group is literally outgunned. That consideration matters and it was debated throughout that practice.
January 19, 2026 at 1:55 AM
When MLK practices of strategy of nonviolence, it was not merely a concern about what white people think, but a pragmatic understanding of what can be done when I minority group is literally outgunned. That consideration matters and it was debated throughout that practice.
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
😳😳😳
January 19, 2026 at 2:49 AM
😳😳😳
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
A Kavanaugh month.
This is Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales
She is 22 years old and has a U.S. birth certificate
ICE detained her for -25 days- and now is being forced to wear an ankle monitor by ICE because they question her citizenship status
She is 22 years old and has a U.S. birth certificate
ICE detained her for -25 days- and now is being forced to wear an ankle monitor by ICE because they question her citizenship status
January 19, 2026 at 4:22 AM
A Kavanaugh month.
I'm glad I don't have to teach tomorrow. I think my voice is gone. (Yes, I am sports posting.)
January 19, 2026 at 3:20 AM
I'm glad I don't have to teach tomorrow. I think my voice is gone. (Yes, I am sports posting.)
Reposted by Jerry Edwards
It really is frustrating how flat out lying in Trump’s administration has been met with few consequences from Congress. Multiple appointees need to be removed and face charges.
BRENNAN: What percentage of those you have in custody have committed crimes?
NOEM: 70% of them
B: It's not 70%
N: Yes it is. You guys pick and choose numbers
B: Your agency says 47% have criminal convictions
N: Wrong again. We'll get you the correct numbers
B: Well, that's from your agency
NOEM: 70% of them
B: It's not 70%
N: Yes it is. You guys pick and choose numbers
B: Your agency says 47% have criminal convictions
N: Wrong again. We'll get you the correct numbers
B: Well, that's from your agency
January 18, 2026 at 4:23 PM
It really is frustrating how flat out lying in Trump’s administration has been met with few consequences from Congress. Multiple appointees need to be removed and face charges.