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nikobowie.bsky.social
Niko Bowie
@nikobowie.bsky.social
10K followers 440 following 220 posts
Law professor

https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/nikolas-bowie/
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nikobowie.bsky.social
He’s treating the Bill of Rights as a bucket list
Text of bill of rights 1688 Bill of Rights [1688] 1688 CHAPTER 2 1 Will and Mar Sess 2 An Act declareing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Setleing the Succession of the Crowne. X1 Whereas the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Comons assembled at Westminster lawfully fully and freely representing all the Estates of the People of this Realme did upon the thirteenth day of February in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty eight present unto their Majesties then called and known by the Names and Stile of William and Mary Prince and Princesse of Orange being present in their proper Persons a certaine Declaration in Writeing made by the said Lords and Comons in the Words following viz The Heads of Declaration of Lords and Commons, recited. Whereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of diverse evill Councellors Judges and Ministers imployed by him did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Lawes and Liberties of this Kingdome. Dispensing and Suspending Power. By Assumeing and Exerciseing a Power of Dispensing with and Suspending of Lawes and the Execution of Lawes without Consent of Parlyament. Committing Prelates. By Committing and Prosecuting diverse Worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be excused from Concurring to the said Assumed Power. Ecclesiastical Commission. By issueing and causeing to be executed a Commission under the Great Seale for Erecting a Court called The Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiasticall Causes. Levying Money. By Levying Money for and to the Use of the Crowne by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner then the same was granted by Parlyament. Standing Army. By raising and keeping a Standing Army within this Kingdome in time of Peace without Consent of Parlyament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law. Disarming Protestants, &c. By causing severall good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and Imploved …
October 23, 2025 at 2:18 AM
nikobowie.bsky.social
No Kings in Boston
October 18, 2025 at 8:07 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Ironically, the print version of this oped switched the second column with the third column
Misprinted oped about putting phones down—have to read column one, then column three, then column two
September 6, 2025 at 1:40 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Hey Calvin accepts accountability
Hobbes makes Calvin sing the very sorry song for stealing Hobbes’s flag I BLEW IT/ ...... HE'S SORRY! I KNEW IT! ... SO SORRY! I'M VERY VERY SORRY THAT I TOOK YOUR PRECIOUS FLAAGGG! JUST DONT DO IT ANY MORE, YOU SCURVY SCALAWAAGGG!
September 4, 2025 at 2:21 AM
nikobowie.bsky.social
We also received a new addition to the Law of Calvinball
From Justice Jackson two weeks ago: This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins. From Judge Burroughs today: But this is not Calvinball and there are rules.
September 3, 2025 at 9:10 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Trump’s attacks on Harvard are flagrantly illegal. If he’s so willing to defy the restrictions of federal law, it’s beyond me why he’d respect the restrictions of a “legal settlement.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/u...
Still , proponents of a possible deal have faced fierce resistance on Harvard's campus in Cambridge, Mass. There, faculty members and students have warned that an agreement with the White House would amount to capitulation and that Mr. Trump could not be trusted to honor any arrangement over the long term. Given those concerns, Harvard's negotiators have pressed the administration in recent weeks, insisting that any resolution of their fight be structured as a legal settlement. A legal settlement would make it more difficult for the administration and Mr. Trump to change the terms after the fact.
August 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Harvard: “We’re suing you for unconstitutionally retaliating against us.”

Trump lawyers: “This demands retaliation!”

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/u...
"If Harvard wants the Brown deal, then it has to be like Brown, and I just think it's not," May Mailman, the top White House official under Stephen Miller who has served as the architect of the administration's crusade against top schools, said in an interview in the West Wing last week. Ms. Mailman, who graduated from Harvard Law School, pointed out that Brown, unlike Harvard, did not sue the administration. She challenged Harvard to reach an agreement that included terms that would allow the government to more closely scrutinize its behavior.
August 5, 2025 at 11:43 AM
nikobowie.bsky.social
"If you want peace, prepare for war."
June 18, 2025 at 9:02 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
One of the ICE agents who arrested Brad Lander was wearing a t-shirt that literally said "rogue."
Agent standing by Brad Lander has shirt that says "rogue dev co."
June 18, 2025 at 9:02 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Eg, this oped says:

“Trump overrode Gov. Gavin Newsom and federalized California's National Guard, under a rarely used law meant to deal with ‘rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.’”

That sounds sort of legal. But it transparently is not.
Relevant law says: “Orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States.”
June 10, 2025 at 11:00 AM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Happy fifth anniversary to this tweet from a century ago
Tweet from Gushers saying they were working with Fruit by the Foot to amplify the Black community
June 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
“International students are essential members of the Harvard community. As teachers at Harvard, we have made a moral commitment to educate these students from the day they accepted their offer of admission to the day they receive their degrees. That commitment has not changed, and cannot change.”
aaup HARVARD FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 22 May 2025 AAUP-Harvard Faculty Chapter Executive Committee Condemns Trump Administration's Termination of Harvard's SEVP Certification The executive committee of the Harvard Faculty Chapter of the American Association of University Professors condemns in the strongest possible terms the Trump administration's unconstitutional assault on our international students. The decision to terminate Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, making it impossible for Harvard to host the thousands of international students currently admitted or about to enroll, is the latest in a string of nakedly authoritarian and retaliatory moves against America's oldest institution of higher education. It expands the Trump administration's terrorizing assault on international students and scholars in the United States, including those who have been unlawfully detained for months, without criminal charges, on the basis of their constitutionally protected speech. International students are essential members of the Harvard community. As teachers at Harvard, we have made a moral commitment to educate these students from the day they accepted their offer of admission to the day they receive their degrees. That commitment has not changed, and cannot change. In fulfillment of that commitment, we call on our university leadership and on the faculties of our university to take the following steps: • University leaders should seek immediate judicial intervention to reverse the Trump administration's unconstitutional, authoritarian, and retaliatory course of action. • All Harvard faculties and university leaders should ensure that every Harvard student who has completed the requirements for receiving a degree is awarded that degree, independent of their visa status or ability to be present in the United States. • Each of Harvard's schools should make every effort possible to ensure the continued education and uninterrupted progress toward a degree in every student's course of study, including, where possible, remote education for international students who desire such modes of instruction. In an appeal for solidarity across institutions of higher education in this moment of existential threat to academic freedom and core First Amendment rights, we also call upon our fellow institutions of higher education in the United States to declare their willingness to facilitate the immediate co-enrollment of Harvard's international students, including formal acceptance of transfer for immigration purposes. To that end, we call upon Harvard's leadership to: • Commit to helping any institution of higher education accept the co-enrollment and transfer of our international students and to defray the costs of such actions, including a commitment to help maintain all levels of scholarship, financial aid, and other financial support currently available to our affected students. • Commit to affording any affected student the privileges of enrollment at Harvard University-including issuance of student ID cards, library access, physical access to campus, and the ability to co-enroll and participate in all curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities-to the full extent permitted by the immigration laws passed by the Congress of the United States. The Trump administration is unlawfully seeking to destroy higher education in the United States. It now demands that we sacrifice our international students in the process. Universities cannot acquiesce to such extortion.
May 22, 2025 at 9:19 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
The programs at Harvard that the Trump administration is attacking includes the entire Divinity School, the Education School, and the International Human Rights Clinic. The work they do *matters*. And they are full of compelling examples!
April 14, 2025 at 9:22 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
An email from Harvard University President Alan Garber to the university community, titled "The Promise of American Higher Education," links to the DOJ's letter and Harvard's response:

www.harvard.edu/research-fun...

www.harvard.edu/research-fun...
Dear Members of the Harvard Community, For three-quarters of a century, the federal government has awarded grants and contracts to Harvard and other universities to help pay for work that, along with investments by the universities themselves, has led to groundbreaking innovations across a wide range of medical, engineering, and scientific fields. These innovations have made countless people in our country and throughout the world healthier and safer. In recent weeks, the federal government has threatened its partnerships with several universities, including Harvard, over accusations of antisemitism on our campuses. These partnerships are among the most productive and beneficial in American history. New frontiers beckon us with the prospect of life-changing advances—from treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes, to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, quantum science and engineering, and numerous other areas of possibility. For the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation. Late Friday night, the administration issued an updated and expanded list of demands, warning that Harvard must comply if we intend to “maintain [our] financial relationship with the federal government.” It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner. Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the “intellectual conditions” at Harvard. I encourage you to read the letter to gain a fuller understanding of the unprecedented demands being made by the federal government to control the Harvard community. They include requirements to “audit” the viewpoints of our student body, faculty, staff, and to “reduc[e] the power” of certain students, faculty, and …
April 14, 2025 at 5:19 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
BREAKING: On Friday, the federal government issued new demands of Harvard University. The university's lawyers just responded: back off.
April 14, 2025 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL Josh Gruenbaum Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service General Services Administration Sean R. Keveney Acting General Counsel U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Thomas E. Wheeler Acting General Counsel U.S. Department of Education Dear Messrs. Gruenbaum, Keveney, and Wheeler: We represent Harvard University. We are writing in response to your letter dated April 11, 2025, addressed to Dr. Alan Garber, Harvard’s President, and Penny Pritzker, Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation. Harvard is committed to fighting antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in its community. Antisemitism and discrimination of any kind not only are abhorrent and antithetical to Harvard’s values but also threaten its academic mission. To that end, Harvard has made, and will continue to make, lasting and robust structural, policy, and programmatic changes to ensure that the university is a welcoming and supportive learning environment for all students and continues to abide in all respects with federal law across its academic programs and operations, while fostering open inquiry in a pluralistic community free from intimidation and open to challenging orthodoxies, whatever their source. Over the past 15 months, Harvard has undertaken substantial policy and programmatic measures. It has made changes to its campus use policies; adopted new accountability procedures; imposed meaningful discipline for those who violate university policies; enhanced programs designed to address bias and promote ideological diversity and civil discourse; hired staff to support these programs and support students; changed partnerships; dedicated resources to combat hate and bias; and enhanced safety and security measures. As a result, Harvard is in a very different place today from where it was a year ago. These efforts, and additional measures the university will be taking against antisemitism, not only are the right thing to do but also are critical to strength… recognized by the Supreme Court. The government’s terms also circumvent Harvard’s statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law. No less objectionable is the condition, first made explicit in the letter of March 31, 2025, that Harvard accede to these terms or risk the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding critical to vital research and innovation that has saved and improved lives and allowed Harvard to play a central role in making our country’s scientific, medical, and other research communities the standard-bearers for the world. These demands extend not only to Harvard but to separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals engaging in life-saving work on behalf of their patients. The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle. Harvard remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community. But Harvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration. William A. Burck Robert K. Hur Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP 1300 I Street NW Suite 900 Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 King & Spalding LLP 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20006
April 14, 2025 at 5:16 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
We are rallying at noon at Cambridge Common for the leadership of the Harvard Corporation to stand up and stand with us as we defend higher education and democracy in the United States from an unprecedented attack.
April 12, 2025 at 1:34 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
BREAKING: Last night, the Harvard faculty chapter of the AAUP and the national AAUP filed a lawsuit & TRO to block the Trump administration from illegally demanding that we keep quiet and change how we teach and research at the point of a financial gun.

actionnetwork.org/user_files/u...
April 12, 2025 at 1:21 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
No kings no tyrants in Boston
Man with sign saying no kings in America Sign saying US government belongs to the people
April 5, 2025 at 9:35 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Alito’s logic train appears to be injunctive relief for grants = injunction for past-due money = damages, so such a case belongs in Claims Court. But I think you’re right that if plaintiffs can argue damages are insufficient (eg need to pay for ongoing research) Claims Court wouldn’t be appropriate
The United States Court of Federal Claims does not have general authority to issue injunctive relief. See, e.g., Richardson v. Morris, 409 U.S. 464, 465 (1973) ("[T|he [Tucker] Act has long been construed as authorizing only actions for money judgments and not suits for equitable relief against the United States."); Bowen v. Massachusetts, 487 U.S. 879, 905 (1988) ("The Claims Court does not have the general equitable powers of a district court to grant prospective relief. Indeed, we have stated categorically that 'the Court of Claims has no power to grant equitable relief.'" (quoting Richardson, 409 U.S. at 465)); United States v. Tohono O'Odham Nation, 563 U.S. 307, 313 (2011) ("Unlike the district courts, however, the [Court of Federal Claims] has no general power to provide equitable relief against the Government or its officers."); Maine Cmty. Health Options v. United States, 140 S. Ct. 1308, 1330 (2020) (noting that "the Court of Federal Claims 'does not have the general equitable powers of a district court to grant prospective relief'" (quoting Bowen, 487 U.S. at 905)); Roth v. United States, 378 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2004) ("the Court of Federal Claims does not possess general equity jurisdiction"); Alvarado Hosp., LLC v. Price, 868 F.3d 983, 999 (Fed. Cir. 2017) ("The Tucker Act does not generally confer jurisdiction for actions seeking declaratory or injunctive relief."). Instead, and as explained in more detail below, the Court may award equitable or other nonmonetary relief in Tucker Act cases in only three statutorily defined circumstances: (1) in bid protest actions brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b); (2) as "incident of and collateral to" a monetary judgment, as set out in the first two sentences of 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(2); and (3) for certain types of nonmonetary CDA claims, as described in the last sentence of § 1491(a)(2).4 SMSI's claims in its Amended Complaint fit within none of those categories.
April 5, 2025 at 2:51 AM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Nikolas Bowie, a Harvard law professor, said in a phone interview if the Trump administration follows through on the cuts, it would violate the university's legal rights. "They are illegal attempts by an authoritarian regime to usurp congressional authority and coerce universities into doing his personal bidding, " he said. Bowie was one of the hundreds of faculty members who wrote a letter to leadership urging them to resist demands from the Trump administration.
April 1, 2025 at 6:32 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
From 91 professors at Harvard Law School: a letter to our students.

tinyurl.com/letter-to-ou...
A LETTER TO HARVARD LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS March 29, 2025 To our students: We are privileged to teach and learn the law with you. We write to you today—in our individual capacities-because we believe that American legal precepts and the institutions designed to uphold them are being severely tested, and many of you have expressed to us your concerns and fears about the present moment. Each of us brings different, sometimes irreconcilable, perspectives to what the law is and should be. Diverse viewpoints are a credit to our school. But we share, and take seriously, a commitment to the rule of law: for people to be equal before it, and for its administration to be impartial. That commitment is foundational to the whole legal profession, and to the special role that lawyers play in our society. As the Model Rules of Professional Conduct provide: "A lawyer is ... an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice." The rule of law is imperiled when government leaders: • single out lawyers and law firms for retribution based on their lawful and ethical representation of clients disfavored by the government, undermining the Sixth Amendment; • threaten law firms and legal clinics for their lawyers' pro bono work or prior government service; • relent on those arbitrary threats based on public acts of submission and outlays of funds for favored causes; and • punish people for lawfully speaking out on matters of public concern. While reasonable people can disagree about the characterization of particular incidents, we are all acutely concerned that severe challenges to the rule of law are taking place, and we strongly condemn any effort to undermine the basic norms we have described. On our own campus and at many other universities, international students have reported fear of imprisonment or deportation for lawful speech and political activism. Whatever we might each think about particular conduct under particular facts,…
March 30, 2025 at 12:32 AM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Today, the AAUP–AFT is filing the lawsuits Columbia administrators were afraid to: one against Trump’s illegal funding cuts, the other his arrests of political opponents.

AAUP is also showing why faculty need to collectively organize to defend higher ed.

protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...
This action challenges the Trump administration's unlawful and unprecedented effort to overpower a university's academic autonomy and control the thought, association, scholarship, and expression of its faculty and students. The Trump administration is coercing Columbia University to do its bidding and regulate speech and expression on campus by holding hostage billions of dollars in congressionally authorized federal funding-funding that is responsible for positioning the American university system as a global leader in scientific, medical, and technological research and is crucial to ensuring it remains so. The Trump administration claims it is enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, but neither Title VI nor any other law authorizes the Trump administration's coercive tactics, which are in plain violation of statutory requirements.
March 25, 2025 at 2:30 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
These university presidents claim to speak on behalf of “our community of thoughtful faculty” even as they disenfranchise the faculty from university decisions and ignore the faculty’s demands not to feed them all to the wolves
March 22, 2025 at 2:26 AM
nikobowie.bsky.social
lol when even the Civil War is too woke
Excerpt from Wikipedia entry on Arlington National Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery was established on 13 May 1864, during the American Civil War after Arlington Estate, the land on which the cemetery was built, was confiscated by the U.S. federal government from the private ownership of Confederate States Army general Robert E. Lee's family following a tax dispute over the property. The cemetery is managed by the U.S. Department of the Army. As of 2024, it conducts approximately 27 to 30 funerals each weekday and between six and eight services on Saturday. 2]
March 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
nikobowie.bsky.social
Poster from the 1850s protesting the Fugitive Slave Act
March 14, 2025 at 1:17 AM