Luke Smith Morgan
@slukemorgan.bsky.social
law professor. dad. democracy & solar power. hoops.
my opinions are solely my own & not attributable to anyone else. or even to me. thoughts arise of their own volition.
ssrn: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=6381985
my opinions are solely my own & not attributable to anyone else. or even to me. thoughts arise of their own volition.
ssrn: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=6381985
Pinned
I can’t say it enough: U.S. culture is scam culture. It pervades everything we do. We don’t notice it because it’s the water we swim in. A party would do well to remind everybody how awful this is and propose to fix it.
I think Democrats should offer voters a broadly defined anti-fraud platform. Yes, obviously, start with Trump’s influence peddling, but don’t stop there. Online fraud is massive, almost every phone call you get is a scam, and the solution has to be federal or it just won’t work.
increasingly toying with the idea that this is the root of all "rule of law" issues. A democratic theory of the rule of law should begin with the idea that the rule of law emerges from the average citizen's lived experience. And that experience today is being ruthlessly ripped off at all times.
They should make a coffee that's carbonated and tastes like diet coke
February 13, 2026 at 12:39 AM
They should make a coffee that's carbonated and tastes like diet coke
Yeah this is nuclear
February 12, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Yeah this is nuclear
Has science finally gone too far?
February 12, 2026 at 1:24 AM
Has science finally gone too far?
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
In a new paper, Professor @victorpickard.bsky.social argues for a more democratic media system:
To Save the Media, Ditch Capitalism, a New Study Says
www.asc.upenn.edu
February 11, 2026 at 8:27 PM
In a new paper, Professor @victorpickard.bsky.social argues for a more democratic media system:
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...
New Knight Institute Initiative to Focus on “Reconstructing Free Expression” After Trump
knightcolumbia.org
February 11, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
Thrilled that my article Private Governance and Originalism will be published in the Stanford Law Review @stanlrev.bsky.social! The article explains why private groups including schools, corps & other orgs create unique challenges (and opportunities) under originalist "history & tradition" tests
February 11, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Thrilled that my article Private Governance and Originalism will be published in the Stanford Law Review @stanlrev.bsky.social! The article explains why private groups including schools, corps & other orgs create unique challenges (and opportunities) under originalist "history & tradition" tests
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
ICYMI: This YLJ article on the internal Court deliberations in Younger v. Harris, and its racial context, is fascinating. ⤵️ yalelawjournal.org/article/the-...
The Forgotten Face of “Our Federalism” | Yale Law Journal
Younger v. Harris is canonical in the field of federal courts, but its origins remain largely unknown. Examining diverse sources, this Article reconstructs...
yalelawjournal.org
February 11, 2026 at 5:36 PM
ICYMI: This YLJ article on the internal Court deliberations in Younger v. Harris, and its racial context, is fascinating. ⤵️ yalelawjournal.org/article/the-...
At a descriptive level I think the casual turn in SCOTUS opinion-writing is filtering down to people who are: (a) not as good at writing, (b) have fewer clerks, who are also not as good at writing, and (c) don't have the time to dedicate to making legal writing both casual and precise.
Unless I missed an earlier one, it looks like we got Emil Bove's first published majority opinion last week. Judge for yourself. www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/251...
February 11, 2026 at 3:24 PM
At a descriptive level I think the casual turn in SCOTUS opinion-writing is filtering down to people who are: (a) not as good at writing, (b) have fewer clerks, who are also not as good at writing, and (c) don't have the time to dedicate to making legal writing both casual and precise.
Heard a great discussion about sortition by @samuel-bagg.bsky.social at ALPE this weekend. grand juries' recent performance makes a strong case for its expanded use elsewhere!
February 11, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Heard a great discussion about sortition by @samuel-bagg.bsky.social at ALPE this weekend. grand juries' recent performance makes a strong case for its expanded use elsewhere!
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
Geometry was always my worst subject, but I think even I understood the smart points @slukemorgan.bsky.social is making in this thread about Bruen’s death funnel. ⤵️
I've (unsurprisingly) been thinking about the intersection of this and Tribe's constitutional geometry all day. In that spirit:
The clash is clear--Bruen says every law today must find support in past positive law. It erases past powers simply because they went unexercised, infringing on the 10th Am's express reservation of those same powers.
February 10, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Geometry was always my worst subject, but I think even I understood the smart points @slukemorgan.bsky.social is making in this thread about Bruen’s death funnel. ⤵️
Interestingly it was reported that the Pentagon studied whether to open a prediction market for terrorist attacks decades before Kalshi/Polymarket, based on the idea that theoretically it would collect all available information and give us a heads up when one was coming
I'm a little curious what the "public policy case for prediction markets" ever was
a society losing the plot in real time
February 10, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Interestingly it was reported that the Pentagon studied whether to open a prediction market for terrorist attacks decades before Kalshi/Polymarket, based on the idea that theoretically it would collect all available information and give us a heads up when one was coming
I've (unsurprisingly) been thinking about the intersection of this and Tribe's constitutional geometry all day. In that spirit:
The clash is clear--Bruen says every law today must find support in past positive law. It erases past powers simply because they went unexercised, infringing on the 10th Am's express reservation of those same powers.
February 10, 2026 at 10:32 PM
I've (unsurprisingly) been thinking about the intersection of this and Tribe's constitutional geometry all day. In that spirit:
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
Encouraging everyone who is just now seeing the way that sports betting has eaten everything to stay tuned to this space
February 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Encouraging everyone who is just now seeing the way that sports betting has eaten everything to stay tuned to this space
Every day I see 4-5 posts on here that are screenshots of obvious troll posts from Twitter that people are treating as sincere. And I feel like the accounts I follow have to be at least 90th percentile in media literacy. A lesson.
February 10, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Every day I see 4-5 posts on here that are screenshots of obvious troll posts from Twitter that people are treating as sincere. And I feel like the accounts I follow have to be at least 90th percentile in media literacy. A lesson.
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
It looks simple, but consider the mathematical reasoning that went into designing -- and, most important, proving the correctness -- of this chart
The clash is clear--Bruen says every law today must find support in past positive law. It erases past powers simply because they went unexercised, infringing on the 10th Am's express reservation of those same powers.
February 9, 2026 at 6:15 PM
It looks simple, but consider the mathematical reasoning that went into designing -- and, most important, proving the correctness -- of this chart
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
Encouraging everyone who is just now seeing the way that sports betting has eaten everything to stay tuned to this space
February 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Encouraging everyone who is just now seeing the way that sports betting has eaten everything to stay tuned to this space
Michael Crichton (although the more overtly political his work was the worse it was)
Kanye is a good question—his best music came when he was nominally a liberal but his politics were always more complicated than that.
There are probably more rappers worth discussion here tbh
Kanye is a good question—his best music came when he was nominally a liberal but his politics were always more complicated than that.
There are probably more rappers worth discussion here tbh
Ok time for another round of discourse: who’s the best conservative artist of the past 75 years?
The whole controversy over Bad Bunny boils down to the simple fact that extreme social conservatism is incapable of producing interesting and compelling art of any kind, and so its adherents must use inferior artists to try to convince themselves that they aren't out of touch.
February 8, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Michael Crichton (although the more overtly political his work was the worse it was)
Kanye is a good question—his best music came when he was nominally a liberal but his politics were always more complicated than that.
There are probably more rappers worth discussion here tbh
Kanye is a good question—his best music came when he was nominally a liberal but his politics were always more complicated than that.
There are probably more rappers worth discussion here tbh
I love that we have an evil little ice skating national princeling
February 8, 2026 at 9:33 PM
I love that we have an evil little ice skating national princeling
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
We've invented a much dumber version of..... credit default swaps? I think?
On Polymarket you can now bet on how many people in a different market on Polymarket think Jesus Christ will return in this calendar year.
29% of bets say that more than 5% of bets in the Jesus Christ return market will be a "yes" 9 days from now.
Anyway everyone involved in this needs jailtime.
29% of bets say that more than 5% of bets in the Jesus Christ return market will be a "yes" 9 days from now.
Anyway everyone involved in this needs jailtime.
February 8, 2026 at 8:38 PM
We've invented a much dumber version of..... credit default swaps? I think?
Reposted by Luke Smith Morgan
I'm sorry the guy changing the rules on the fly is named what
I stand with County Executive Calvin Ball as he signs emergency legislation today prohibiting privately owned buildings from being used as ICE detention centers.
Howard County chose dignity, accountability, and its people. Tune into our event now:
bit.ly/4a2VtHw
Howard County chose dignity, accountability, and its people. Tune into our event now:
bit.ly/4a2VtHw
Redirecting...
bit.ly
February 7, 2026 at 2:34 PM
I'm sorry the guy changing the rules on the fly is named what
God bless America
February 7, 2026 at 12:38 AM
God bless America
It turns out none of us knew actually
February 6, 2026 at 11:46 PM
It turns out none of us knew actually
what does this even mean
February 6, 2026 at 10:04 PM
what does this even mean