Noah Chauvin
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noahchauvin.bsky.social
Noah Chauvin
@noahchauvin.bsky.social
2.6K followers 820 following 460 posts
Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Studies free speech, surveillance, and the production of legal scholarship.
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noahchauvin.bsky.social
We power through
Empty wrappers for airheads and twizzlers
October 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
I'm having my national security lawyering students do "simulations" this semester in which they get to act as national security lawyers.

I could go on at length about the pedagogical benefits, but really it's a chance for me to do some creative writing.

Anyways, congrats @msmith750.bsky.social!
A fake newspaper front page reporting that OU Law Prof Michael L. Smith has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
October 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Reflecting on how lucky I am to live in a country with such extraordinary material wealth that we just leave food products out to rot as decoration.
Pumpkins
October 4, 2025 at 8:54 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Days without an administration official threatening someone with legal consequences for protected speech: 0
September 21, 2025 at 12:12 AM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
The acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California has said that federal officials won't comply with the ban, so it may soon be tested in court. I've asked both DHS and DOJ whether they intend to challenge it, but haven't heard back yet. 9/13
September 21, 2025 at 12:07 AM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
I've posted a draft of my paper "The Rhetoric of Law in Executive Order No. 12,333" to SSRN. Comments greatly appreciated!

I'll be presenting it at next week's Belmont Law Review symposium. If you'll be in Nashville on the 19th, please join us!

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The Rhetoric of Law in Executive Order No. 12,333 Noah C. Chauvin* “[W]hen the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” – President Richard Nixon “[I] have . . . the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States.” – President Donald Trump ABSTRACT Scholars have long disputed the extent to which Congress may permissibly regulate the nation’s foreign intelligence apparatus. Positions in this debate range from the view that Congress and the President share power over intelligence to the opinion that intelligence matters fall within the President’s exclusive Article II authority. This essay examines the extent to which the text of Executive Order No. 12,333—the intelligence community’s governing charter—supports the most expansive conceptions of presidential authority over intelligence matters. It concludes that the Order is best understood as recognizing Congress’s power to pass laws governing the conduct of intelligence—laws that preclude executive refinement where Congress has occupied the field.
September 12, 2025 at 9:23 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Learned how to shake hands and now ready to go to work!
September 9, 2025 at 10:26 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Per FIRE, 42% of University of Oklahoma students think it’s acceptable to use violence to shut down a speaker in certain instances. That is bad.

rankings.thefire.org/campus/20750...
September 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Spotted in Norman.
A stop sign with a sticker reading “ICE” pasted below the word “stop.”
September 6, 2025 at 11:04 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
What a time to be drafting a paper discussing claims the President's inherent Article II authority. Anyways...
September 5, 2025 at 9:15 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Not Turkey?
September 5, 2025 at 1:59 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
I'm excited to be publishing my paper "Can States Force ICE to Take Off the Masks?" in the Southern California Law Review Postscript!

Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback so far. Additional comments are welcomed!

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
September 4, 2025 at 4:26 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Little preview for my National Security Lawyering students of what we'll be discussing in class today.
August 26, 2025 at 6:11 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
@msmith750.bsky.social isn’t the only one who can document campus wildlife.
August 25, 2025 at 10:23 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
I'm still reading through the opinions, but one initial observation: the topics of the other three Section 702 certifications are redacted in the February opinion, even though ODNI declassified those topics in 2023.

(First photo is the opinion, second is the blog post.)
August 20, 2025 at 9:33 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Can states make it a crime for ICE to wear masks while operating in their jurisdictions, as several are now attempting to do?

No, I argue in a new draft essay. But there are other tools at their disposal to discourage the practice.

Check out the full paper on SSRN!

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Can States Force ICE to Take Off the Masks? No. But that does not mean they are powerless to confront the practice.
August 14, 2025 at 8:35 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Just spent an hour searching for an authoritative source to support the proposition that USPS drivers are required to have a driver's license, just so I could add the parenthetical at the end of this paragraph.
A century later, the Court further refined these rules in Johnson v. Maryland. That case involved a postal worker who challenged the state’s ability to fine him for driving without a license. The Court clarified that federal employees acting in their official capacity were not immune from “general rules that might affect incidentally the mode of carrying out employment—as, for instance, a statute or ordinance regulating the mode of turning at the corners of streets.” But what states could not do was “require[] qualifications in addition to those that the [federal] Government . . . pronounced sufficient.” In other words, it was for the federal government, not the states, to determine if its employees had the necessary skills to perform their duties, such as the ability to drive a postal truck. (Today, the USPS does require postal workers to have a driver’s license.)
August 13, 2025 at 6:39 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Got lost on my way to my library orientation. Worth it!
The OU law library
August 11, 2025 at 7:29 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
New from me on SSRN: a review of Eric Kasper and Troy Kozma's excellent book "The Supreme Court and the Philosopher."

I think Kasper and Kozma make a compelling case, but have some thoughts on how their thesis could be applied with greater specificity.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The abstract for "Understanding Free Speech Values at the Supreme Court," by Noah Chauvin. This essay is a book review of The Supreme Court and the Philosopher: How John Stuart Mill Shaped US Free Speech Protections, by Professors Eric Kasper and Troy Kozma. The book argues that John Stuart Mill had an indelible impact on the Supreme Court's free speech jurisprudence, and that through the power of precedent, we have come to have a "Millian" First Amendment. As I explain in the review, Kasper and Kozma have made a compelling case. However, because Mill offered an expansive defense of freedom of expression, it is not enough to say that the Court's free speech jurisprudence is "Millian," because that could mean many different things. Understanding with greater precision what motivates the justices in free speech cases is crucial for attorneys, advocates, and scholars.
August 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Home office officially unpacked!
A picture of an empty bookshelf with only a George Foreman cookbook on it.
August 3, 2025 at 11:22 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
I’m ambivalent about some aspects of generative AI. But the power to bring horrible puns to life is a great joy.
A dramatic movie poster for "Water for Olyphants" featuring Timothy Olyphant as the central figure, dressed in a dark vintage suit against a sepia-toned background. Behind him, the silhouette of an elephant adds symbolic depth. Below him are portraits of co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, and Hal Holbrook. A classic red-and-gold circus tent appears in the background, tying into the film’s historical circus theme. The title "WATER FOR OLYPHANTS" is prominently displayed in bold, golden serif lettering.
July 2, 2025 at 6:42 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
The right response to this from Dartmouth University president Sian Leah Beilock: We don’t judge the quality of an idea based on the worst people who happen to believe in it.
Beilock said her university already has the policy, but “we shouldn’t have the government telling us what to do.” However, she added, “It’s really a problem to say just because the administration, with many things that we all object to, is suggesting something inherently means it’s wrong.”
June 26, 2025 at 1:08 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
I love my wife for many reasons, not the least of which is that she called me from the grocery store to tell me to go outside because the Goodyear blimp was flying around Harrisburg. It went right over our house!
The Goodyear blimp The Goodyear blimp is silhouetted against a blue sky with a chimney in the foreground
June 25, 2025 at 8:02 PM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Senators Marsha Blackburn and Lindsey Graham want to make it a felony to publish the names of ICE agents. The First Amendment prevents them from doing that, I explain in a short new essay.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The SSRN abstract for Noah Chauvin’s essay “The Unconstitutional Attempt to Criminalize Naming ICE Agents.”
June 23, 2025 at 11:00 AM
noahchauvin.bsky.social
Kristi Noem calls on Congress to investigate the TSA's "Clear Skies" program, which Sec'y Noem has ended.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/u...
Ms. Noem cited Ms. Gabbard’s experience in a video message accompanying her social media post, in which she said her department would investigate the application of the Quiet Skies program. She also called on Congress to conduct its own investigation “to uncover further corruption.” The latter sentence is highlighted in yellow.
June 5, 2025 at 11:06 PM