Marty Lederman
@martylederman.bsky.social
Professor at Georgetown University Law Center; former DOJ/OLC attorney
Anyone have the latest filings and decision in the California case? (Note to @nytimes.com: Please include links!)
For some reason, neither Court Listener nor Bloomberg is showing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
For some reason, neither Court Listener nor Bloomberg is showing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
Appeals Court Orders End to Trump’s Command of California National Guard
www.nytimes.com
January 1, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Anyone have the latest filings and decision in the California case? (Note to @nytimes.com: Please include links!)
For some reason, neither Court Listener nor Bloomberg is showing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
For some reason, neither Court Listener nor Bloomberg is showing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
A vivid lesson for law students and young lawyers: Statutory interpretation--and, in particular, asking "What was Congress up to here?"--can make a real difference!
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
Trump Abandons Efforts to Deploy National Guard to 3 Major Cities
www.nytimes.com
January 1, 2026 at 5:12 PM
A vivid lesson for law students and young lawyers: Statutory interpretation--and, in particular, asking "What was Congress up to here?"--can make a real difference!
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...
A very important and compelling paper/proposal. Two follow-up questions for Sam:
(i) If you're right, why have schools almost invariably complied with "Dear Colleague" letters and agency settlement proposals?
(ii) Would your proposal do much to stop the Trump strategy? After all, ...
(i) If you're right, why have schools almost invariably complied with "Dear Colleague" letters and agency settlement proposals?
(ii) Would your proposal do much to stop the Trump strategy? After all, ...
While I'm watching the Michigan game, I decided to upload this paper to SSRN. Happy New Year!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Rethinking the Fund Termination Sanction
<p>Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its cognate statutes authorize the federal government to withhold funds from grantees found to have violated the
papers.ssrn.com
December 31, 2025 at 9:59 PM
A very important and compelling paper/proposal. Two follow-up questions for Sam:
(i) If you're right, why have schools almost invariably complied with "Dear Colleague" letters and agency settlement proposals?
(ii) Would your proposal do much to stop the Trump strategy? After all, ...
(i) If you're right, why have schools almost invariably complied with "Dear Colleague" letters and agency settlement proposals?
(ii) Would your proposal do much to stop the Trump strategy? After all, ...
It's noteworthy, I think, that no attorneys from the Civil Appellate Section appear on this mandamus petition in the Boasberg contempt case.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Petition Filed – #01208804906, Att. #1 in In re: Donald Trump (D.C. Cir., 25-5452) – CourtListener.com
PETITION [2150153] for writ of mandamus filed by Petitioners Pamela J. Bondi, Peter B. Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio, Madison Sheahan, Donald J. Trump, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DO...
storage.courtlistener.com
December 30, 2025 at 7:49 PM
It's noteworthy, I think, that no attorneys from the Civil Appellate Section appear on this mandamus petition in the Boasberg contempt case.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
I'll go way out on a limb here (not) and say that this won't happen.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump says he might sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell for ‘gross incompetence’
It isn’t clear what specific claims could be brought against Powell or when.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I'll go way out on a limb here (not) and say that this won't happen.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Probably one of the first judicial opinions to cite Byung-Chul Han, The Spirit of Hope (2024), to describe DOJ's litigating posture.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Memorandum and/or Opinion – #7 in RIOS PORRAS v. ONEILL (E.D. Pa., 2:25-cv-06801) – CourtListener.com
MEMORANDUM AND/OR OPINION. SIGNED BY CHIEF JUDGE WENDY BEETLESTONE ON 12/22/25. 12/22/25 ENTERED AND COPIES E-MAILED.(rf)
storage.courtlistener.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Probably one of the first judicial opinions to cite Byung-Chul Han, The Spirit of Hope (2024), to describe DOJ's litigating posture.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Hell or High Water is a helluva film--gets stronger on every rewatch. Has David Mackenzie done anything else that comes close?
December 30, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Hell or High Water is a helluva film--gets stronger on every rewatch. Has David Mackenzie done anything else that comes close?
Now I'm gonna be self-conscious about whether I swing my arms like a "regular American."
December 30, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Now I'm gonna be self-conscious about whether I swing my arms like a "regular American."
“Rather than dismantling the excesses of the woke era, the new Trump-friendly programs and policies simply repurposed them to serve a different ideological agenda. The result is a new orthodoxy even more stifling than the last.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/o...
Opinion | Harvard’s New Campus Orthodoxy Is Even More Stifling Than the Old
www.nytimes.com
December 29, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Wholly apart from the fact that this is a form of "Original Privately Expressed Intent of One Sponsor of an Earlier Statute with Different Language" Originalism, the more fundamental problem with Lash's effort (and the SG's) to rely upon the Trumbull letter ... [1]
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
"Lyman Trumbull's Letter to Andrew Johnson": Authorship, Transcript and Artificial Intelligence
<p><span>Somewhere in the Library of Congress, in a box of papers donated by the estate of President Andrew Johnson, is an unsigned and undated document titled
papers.ssrn.com
December 29, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Wholly apart from the fact that this is a form of "Original Privately Expressed Intent of One Sponsor of an Earlier Statute with Different Language" Originalism, the more fundamental problem with Lash's effort (and the SG's) to rely upon the Trumbull letter ... [1]
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I'm not quite sure what this says about me (or him), but I've only listened to one of Thurston Moore's 352 best records of 2025--and it's a single that I found somewhat disappointing.
72558.substack.com/p/350-best-r...
72558.substack.com/p/350-best-r...
350 Best Records of 2025 by Thurston Moore
Best Records of 2025 – Thurston Moore
72558.substack.com
December 29, 2025 at 7:23 AM
I'm not quite sure what this says about me (or him), but I've only listened to one of Thurston Moore's 352 best records of 2025--and it's a single that I found somewhat disappointing.
72558.substack.com/p/350-best-r...
72558.substack.com/p/350-best-r...
ICYMI:
Nuggets score 27 points in final 2:53 of OT.
Jokic with 56/16/15, 18 points in 2:46 in OT.
Ho hum.
Nuggets score 27 points in final 2:53 of OT.
Jokic with 56/16/15, 18 points in 2:46 in OT.
Ho hum.
December 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
ICYMI:
Nuggets score 27 points in final 2:53 of OT.
Jokic with 56/16/15, 18 points in 2:46 in OT.
Ho hum.
Nuggets score 27 points in final 2:53 of OT.
Jokic with 56/16/15, 18 points in 2:46 in OT.
Ho hum.
I don't think there's any understanding of the First Amendment under which this ("our Savior") is constitutional. Yet they don't care, and they've eliminated all the attorneys who would've objected.
Kudos to the Goldwater and Cato Institutes for condemning it.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/a...
Kudos to the Goldwater and Cato Institutes for condemning it.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/a...
Trump Administration Emphasizes Religion in Official Christmas Messages
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I don't think there's any understanding of the First Amendment under which this ("our Savior") is constitutional. Yet they don't care, and they've eliminated all the attorneys who would've objected.
Kudos to the Goldwater and Cato Institutes for condemning it.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/a...
Kudos to the Goldwater and Cato Institutes for condemning it.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/a...
Nuggets score 27 points in final 2:53 of OT.
Jokic with 56/16/15.
Ho hum.
Jokic with 56/16/15.
Ho hum.
December 26, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Nuggets score 27 points in final 2:53 of OT.
Jokic with 56/16/15.
Ho hum.
Jokic with 56/16/15.
Ho hum.
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
YouTube video by niceandeasy
www.youtube.com
December 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
There's every reason in the world why the Trump administration chose not to comment on the 60 Minutes segment--namely, that there's little or nothing in it that they'd try to (or could reasonably) dispute: indeed, they've boasted about virtually all of it.
I just penned this piece with Tom Joscelyn
Fact Checking Bari Weiss: The Stated Reasons for Spiking 60 Minutes “Inside CECOT”
"If 60 Minutes had 'explained this' as Weiss described they should, the segment would have included false or highly misleading information."
Fact Checking Bari Weiss: The Stated Reasons for Spiking 60 Minutes “Inside CECOT”
"If 60 Minutes had 'explained this' as Weiss described they should, the segment would have included false or highly misleading information."
Fact Checking Bari Weiss: The Stated Reasons for Spiking 60 Minutes "Inside CECOT"
Analysis of Bari Weiss's stated justifications to 60 Minutes staff for not airing segment on CECOT prison.
www.justsecurity.org
December 23, 2025 at 6:40 PM
There's every reason in the world why the Trump administration chose not to comment on the 60 Minutes segment--namely, that there's little or nothing in it that they'd try to (or could reasonably) dispute: indeed, they've boasted about virtually all of it.
Alex Abramovich did a beautiful job on this profile of Willie Nelson--and then had the good wisdom and humility to defer to Dylan to capture it far better than any longform writer could (or, more to the point, convey why it can't be captured), in a single paragraph.
Glimmers of light in dark times.
Glimmers of light in dark times.
Bob Dylan attempts to explain Willie Nelson in The New Yorker's profile of Willie: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
December 23, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Alex Abramovich did a beautiful job on this profile of Willie Nelson--and then had the good wisdom and humility to defer to Dylan to capture it far better than any longform writer could (or, more to the point, convey why it can't be captured), in a single paragraph.
Glimmers of light in dark times.
Glimmers of light in dark times.
I wonder whether Bari Weiss tried to deep-six this opinion on the ground that it doesn't "advance the ball" given what we already know about the CECOT detentions.
BREAKING: Judge James Boasberg rules for those deported under the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 — certifying a class, finding the U.S. maintained constructive custody over them at CECOT, finding they were not given due process, and ordering return or that such process be given by Jan. 5, 2026.
![ORDER
For the reasons stated in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, the Court ORDERS
that:
1. Plaintiffs' [177] Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED;
2. Plaintiffs' [178] Motion for Class Certification is GRANTED;
3. Defendants' [182] Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED; and
4. The Government shall submit its proposal either to facilitate the return
of Plaintiffs to the United States or to otherwise provide them with
hearings that satisfy the requirements of due process by January 5,
2026.
1
Case 1:25-cv-00766-JEB
Document 214
Filed 12/22/25
Page 2 of 2
/s/ James E. Boasberg
JAMES E. BOASBERG
United States District Judge](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreieca4ukx2h54wbcpvlobarhijo2py237ojy3y7q7pgdpbffmalsoy@jpeg)
December 22, 2025 at 11:47 PM
I wonder whether Bari Weiss tried to deep-six this opinion on the ground that it doesn't "advance the ball" given what we already know about the CECOT detentions.
I have a sneaking suspicion that no one involved in this farce, especially Trump, has the foggiest idea what "Memorial" means.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
A Memorial to Kennedy? It’s Trump’s Now, Too.
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I have a sneaking suspicion that no one involved in this farce, especially Trump, has the foggiest idea what "Memorial" means.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
If this is the first appearance ever in the @nytimes.com of both the term "karmic comeuppance" and the phrase "the entire premise became ludicrous," well, ...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
Elise Stefanik Tried Everything to Please Trump. He Still Jilted Her.
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 11:09 AM
If this is the first appearance ever in the @nytimes.com of both the term "karmic comeuppance" and the phrase "the entire premise became ludicrous," well, ...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
By this point, the elimination/circumvention of attorneys throughout national security agencies has predictably resulted in open boasting of illegality: Reprisal for "vengeance" is never a legitimate basis for the use of force. That's been well-established ... [1]
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
U.S. Strikes Islamic State Targets in Syria
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 10:30 AM
By this point, the elimination/circumvention of attorneys throughout national security agencies has predictably resulted in open boasting of illegality: Reprisal for "vengeance" is never a legitimate basis for the use of force. That's been well-established ... [1]
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
Reposted by Marty Lederman
Great piece.
Greene on Supreme Court Expansion
Jamal Greene (Columbia University - Law School) has posted The Nonpartisan Case for Supreme Court Expansion (Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: It should be a shared premise across the ideological spectrum that…
Jamal Greene (Columbia University - Law School) has posted The Nonpartisan Case for Supreme Court Expansion (Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: It should be a shared premise across the ideological spectrum that…
Greene on Supreme Court Expansion
Jamal Greene (Columbia University - Law School) has posted The Nonpartisan Case for Supreme Court Expansion (Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: It should be a shared premise across the ideological spectrum that individual Supreme Court justices hold too much power. The only other public officials in the world with a justice’s degree of power and influence over the affairs of their country for as long as justices exercise it are dictators and monarchs.
legaltheoryblog.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Great piece.