Orin S. Kerr | Lightnews

Orin Kerr

@orinkerr.bsky.social

31K followers 930 following 2.2K posts

Professor, Stanford Law School.
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution.

Author, The Digital 4th Amendment:
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Fourth-Amendment-Privacy-Policing/dp/0190627077/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0

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Orin Samuel Kerr is an American legal scholar known for his studies of American criminal procedure and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as computer crime law and internet surveillance. He has been a professor of law at Stanford Law School since 2025. Kerr is one of the contributors to the law-oriented blog titled The Volokh Conspiracy. .. more

Political science 35%

Law 28%

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 7h

That’s cool if you’re on a cruise, but pretty disconcerting if you’re just at home.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 7h

Granted, some reply, what fool cares about the law in a situation like this? It's just ridiculous to care about legal niceties in the face of such horror—we should do what we think is needed, not be legal technicians.

An ironic position under the circumstances, it seems to me.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 7h

FWIW, Yoo was given a tenured professorship at UC Berkeley in the 1990s, before the Bush Admin started, and long before Chemerinsky was at Berkeley. The real question is, why didn't Berkeley *fire* Yoo from his tenured professorship? In 2008, the then-Dean argued that the law prohibited that.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 8h

If Comey had standing, no; if Comey didn't have standing, yes.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 11h

I don't know of it. Any recommendations?

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 12h

Andrew Hill, "Ocho Rios (1st version)," recorded 1/16/70, with Hill on piano, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Bennie Maupin on tenor & flute, Pat Patrick on alto & flute, @RonCarterBass, and Paul Motian on drums.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqCI...

Ocho Rios (2005 Digital Remaster; First Version)

YouTube video by Andrew Hill - Topic

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Orin S. Kerr

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 14h

I'd love to try to explain to 20-year-old-me in 1993 how Snoop Doggy Dogg became a universally beloved elder statesman who'd be the centerpiece of a Super Bowl-level halftime show in 2025.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 14h

My apologies, I thought I was commenting on your post and explaining myself throughout. But I realize my view is not held by many others here, and it seems my perspective is not welcome. I will not engage any further.

Have a good holiday.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 15h

What's important, the argument runs, is that the author is taking on a really big issue; is coming up with creative and novel arguments that are fresh and innovative; is demonstrating ambition and a willingness to challenge old paradigms, etc. /2

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 15h

I think the topic is slightly different. Yes, of course shoddy work should be thought of poorly. But shoddy work that serves the correct politics is often celebrated. When the politics served are the correct ones, the sense will be, sure, it's shoddy, but that's not all that important. /1

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 18h

Within the legal academy, judgments of what is liberal vs. conservative is all about the results reached, not the methodology used.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 18h

I took us to be discussing how the legal academy responds to public law scholarship on hot button questions that is clearly designed to help support one side on a pending or soon to be pending case on that topic. In other words, we're assuming it's a response to the hot-button pending case.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 18h

As you say, that does not exclude my position; if anything, it's a political reason for what is presented as scholarly critique.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 18h

I think that helpfully explains why conservative scholarship is seen as a politically useful topic of harsh criticism. If it's likely to be influential, then the act of discrediting it, condemning its authors, endless BlueSky tweets, etc. might itself be part of the political response.

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 19h

I don't think that scholarship by right-of-center scholars can never be considered good. But if you disagree that the politics that a particular article furthers on hot button questions is considered a significant part of its merit within the academy, then we've had different experiences.