Robert L. Tsai
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robertltsai.bsky.social
Robert L. Tsai
@robertltsai.bsky.social

Author of DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE (@WWNorton.com), amzn.to/45LFzNg | Next: BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF COAL COUNTRY (NYU) | Prof & Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston U | constitutional law & politics, legal history, democracy | https://linktr.ee/roberttsai .. more

Political science 53%
Law 24%
Pinned
Just a photo of me with my 2024 spring child

😄

Always great to catch up with old friends

Important thread
Jack writes--correctly--that the military abduction and extraction of Maduro "pretty clearly isn’t" legal. It plainly violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which is the supreme law of the United States (per Art. VI of the Constitution) and, as I've explained elsewhere, ... [1]
My quick take on the legality of the Venezuela invasion.

open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

Reposted by Robert L. Tsai

Jack writes--correctly--that the military abduction and extraction of Maduro "pretty clearly isn’t" legal. It plainly violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which is the supreme law of the United States (per Art. VI of the Constitution) and, as I've explained elsewhere, ... [1]

… Again

“Nonjusticiable political question”

Trump’s theory of inherent presidential authority is basically: I do what I want eat shit

RIP International Law
I wrote about unit self defense in this piece in a very different context. It’s always been a slippery slope. But whatever the contours, unit self defense is not an available defense to invading a country without legal cause. A state can’t use it to backfill a defense to their armed attack.
Legally Sliding into War
"We need to grapple with the legal mechanisms through which presidential administration after administration has legally justified escalating, elongating, and expanding conflicts over the last two dec...
www.justsecurity.org
Sen Mike Lee with the first account I’ve seen of the Admin’s legal theory for the strikes. On the domestic law side — something like: Art II law enforcement power to capture Maduro (by invading his own country) combined with Art II power to protect those personnel executing the warrant.

You too! Hope to catch up sooner or later

Likewise!

We wrapped some wontons to celebrate the new year

Bless you! Happy New Year
Just making sure that 2025 is definitely over

Good news for now. But…

Yes: “Amar ignores their radically different historical contexts and ends up miscasting Lincoln. He wasn’t an ‘originalist,’ faithful to their original meaning: He was creatively reinterpreting them to meet the time’s needs.”
Do Liberals Need to Practice Originalism, Too?
A new book argues that careful study of the Constitution’s history could support a liberal agenda.
newrepublic.com

How many of these crises are manufactured—legally and empirically? bit.ly/2OViemI

How many of these crises are manufactured—legally and empirically? bit.ly/2OViemI
bit.ly

“The handful of other presidents who had comparatively momentous first years were responding to a true national crisis…. The United States faced no such emergency in January, but Mr. Trump has routinely governed through emergency powers.”
Trump Promised Radical Change in His Second Term. Here’s What He’s Done So Far.
www.nytimes.com

Good point

“income inequality increased over a 33-year period ending in 2022, with the share of wealth held by families in the top 10 percent at around 69 percent, while the share held by families in the bottom 50 percent at just 3 percent.”
A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving
www.nytimes.com

Xmas morning 🎄

Appreciate it. Likewise!

Thanks! Being able to walk is something we learn early and then take for granted. I was shocked how much everything changed (including how the world looked from a wheelchair)

I learned to walk again after being hospitalized for 6 weeks

☺️
“Like Prime, but with human beings.”
NEW: By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court blocks Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago to assist immigration agents. A majority holds that he likely lacks authority to do so. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Yours is an entirely defensible position