Peter M. Shane
@petermshane.bsky.social
Constitutional and admin law prof. Author, Democracy's Chief Executive (U. Cal. 2022). Podcast host @DemChiefExecPod. @Monthly contributor. Corgi-obsessed.
Pinned
Peter M. Shane
@petermshane.bsky.social
· Jul 21
This Is the Presidency John Roberts Has Built
The country is witnessing the creation of an all-powerful institution, and one man is responsible.
www.theatlantic.com
“Trump’s use of executive power is not a distortion of the Roberts Court’s theory of the presidency; it is the Court’s theory of the presidency, brought to life.” My take in The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
If you think it was a Dem victory to prevent a Trump evisceration of the Government Accountability Office, a reminder: The 15-year term of the current head of GAO, the Comptroller General, ends in December. Not holding my breath for any Trump-appointed successor to hold Trump to account.
November 10, 2025 at 11:18 PM
If you think it was a Dem victory to prevent a Trump evisceration of the Government Accountability Office, a reminder: The 15-year term of the current head of GAO, the Comptroller General, ends in December. Not holding my breath for any Trump-appointed successor to hold Trump to account.
When Hakeem Jeffries was asked if Mamdani would be the face of the party, the competent answer would have been, "The Democratic Party has and will continue to have many 'faces.' Our vision for the future will be pluralist, accommodating different policy agendas in different parts of the country."
In competitive primaries around the U.S. next year, candidates will decide the Democratic Party’s direction on a host of policy issues, and ultimately whether it has a center-left or left-wing vision for the future.
Where Democrats Will Duel Next for the Party’s Future
In Michigan, Maine and many other states, primary candidates will decide the party’s direction on a host of policy issues, and ultimately whether it has a center-left or left-wing vision.
nyti.ms
November 9, 2025 at 7:44 PM
When Hakeem Jeffries was asked if Mamdani would be the face of the party, the competent answer would have been, "The Democratic Party has and will continue to have many 'faces.' Our vision for the future will be pluralist, accommodating different policy agendas in different parts of the country."
In @nytimes.com Letters to the Editot:
November 9, 2025 at 1:23 AM
In @nytimes.com Letters to the Editot:
And thus shall “tosser” in American slang mean the opposite of what it means in British slang!
November 7, 2025 at 12:06 AM
And thus shall “tosser” in American slang mean the opposite of what it means in British slang!
Love this!
Our gyro
Sandwich man leaving court
November 7, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Love this!
He suffers from Con Dementia.
If nothing else, the Trump administration is doing wonders to highlight the importance of jury trials.
November 6, 2025 at 11:33 PM
He suffers from Con Dementia.
“Sandwich Man let out his cry:
‘Lettuce stand up or tomato we die!”
‘Lettuce stand up or tomato we die!”
THE BALLAD OF SANDWICH MAN
This is the taLE of Sandwich Man,
Whose aim was straight and true,
Who fought for his home with deli meats
As any man should do.
Border Patrolman Lairmore
Wore armor thick snd strong
When he felt the sting of a whole wheat roll
He shouted, “This is wrong!!
This is the taLE of Sandwich Man,
Whose aim was straight and true,
Who fought for his home with deli meats
As any man should do.
Border Patrolman Lairmore
Wore armor thick snd strong
When he felt the sting of a whole wheat roll
He shouted, “This is wrong!!
November 6, 2025 at 11:30 PM
“Sandwich Man let out his cry:
‘Lettuce stand up or tomato we die!”
‘Lettuce stand up or tomato we die!”
Nope, it was Workday. Or maybe Frederick Taylor and the Gilbreths.
It was me. I ruined the workplace.
Did Men With No Rizz Ruin the Workplace?
November 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Nope, it was Workday. Or maybe Frederick Taylor and the Gilbreths.
Brookings has posted a paper by Bob Litan and me on tomorrow's SCOTUS tariff cases. We think challengers have the better case, long-term economic implications are limited, but that these will be important developments in shaping the trajectory of executive power. www.brookings.edu/articles/leg...
Legal and economic aspects of the Supreme Court’s upcoming tariff decisions | Brookings
Peter Shane and Robert Litan explain the legal context of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act ahead of Supreme Court hearings.
www.brookings.edu
November 4, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Brookings has posted a paper by Bob Litan and me on tomorrow's SCOTUS tariff cases. We think challengers have the better case, long-term economic implications are limited, but that these will be important developments in shaping the trajectory of executive power. www.brookings.edu/articles/leg...
The odds Trump knows the difference between Niger and Nigeria are . . .A kidnapping in Niger tests Trump promise to bring all Americans home www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
A kidnapping in Niger tests Trump promise to bring all Americans home
Kevin Rideout, a Christian missionary in Niger, was taken from outside his house in Niamey last month. U.S. officials are scrambling to track him down.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
The odds Trump knows the difference between Niger and Nigeria are . . .A kidnapping in Niger tests Trump promise to bring all Americans home www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Tip to the Senate: You have Art. I, Section 5 authority to object to any further extension of the House’s recess and get them back to D.C. Might be a good move!
November 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Tip to the Senate: You have Art. I, Section 5 authority to object to any further extension of the House’s recess and get them back to D.C. Might be a good move!
This is probably the most important, yet widely ignored story on the prospects for Trump's ongoing evasion of Congress's appropriations powers. GAO's power to declare violations of the Impoundment Control Act may be weak accountability, but it offers at least some transparency. wapo.st/47vmBfM
One agency can push back on Trump — but probably not for long
President Donald Trump has used the federal shutdown to seize control of spending from Congress and mold much of the government to his liking. Now the lone agency with the power to push back on those ...
wapo.st
October 30, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This is probably the most important, yet widely ignored story on the prospects for Trump's ongoing evasion of Congress's appropriations powers. GAO's power to declare violations of the Impoundment Control Act may be weak accountability, but it offers at least some transparency. wapo.st/47vmBfM
What if there were a political party with the imagination to create a huge billboard that showed, every day, “Republicans have closed the House of Representatives for X days so they don’t have to vote on the Epstein Files or protect your health insurance!”
October 30, 2025 at 4:39 AM
What if there were a political party with the imagination to create a huge billboard that showed, every day, “Republicans have closed the House of Representatives for X days so they don’t have to vote on the Epstein Files or protect your health insurance!”
This is the paper that thought Salvador Allende’s title was “Marxist President Allende.” They are beclowning themselves.
The #NYTimes is desperate to stop Zohran Mamdani. Here's its latest hit job.
So when can we expect the paper to expose Andrew Cuomo's college curriculum, which clearly "steeped" him in pro-billionaire "dogma?"
@fairmediawatch.bsky.social @petermshane.bsky.social
So when can we expect the paper to expose Andrew Cuomo's college curriculum, which clearly "steeped" him in pro-billionaire "dogma?"
@fairmediawatch.bsky.social @petermshane.bsky.social
October 28, 2025 at 10:32 PM
This is the paper that thought Salvador Allende’s title was “Marxist President Allende.” They are beclowning themselves.
I believe that, some years ago, a magazine — Time? — ran a poll on whether voters approved or disapproved of a fictional piece of legislation. Sentiment was split. The experiment was redone regarding its repeal and, again, folks had preferences. Easily manipulated if told POTUS’s supposed position!
More broadly: Most voters just don't have particularly stable or strongly held views on most policy questions. They'll tell a pollster something or other, which will often change if you vary the question wording slightly, which creates the illusion of hard quantifiable data about voter preferences.
there's also a conversation to be had about how "popular" and "unpopular" are largely communications problems.
October 27, 2025 at 8:41 PM
I believe that, some years ago, a magazine — Time? — ran a poll on whether voters approved or disapproved of a fictional piece of legislation. Sentiment was split. The experiment was redone regarding its repeal and, again, folks had preferences. Easily manipulated if told POTUS’s supposed position!
Article I, Section 9
October 26, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Article I, Section 9
We’ve all but gone from John Roberts’s view of the President as a “one-person branch of government” to a “one-branch government.”
October 26, 2025 at 11:16 AM
We’ve all but gone from John Roberts’s view of the President as a “one-person branch of government” to a “one-branch government.”
And Congress has passed no law appropriating the donated funds for the construction. Presidents can encourage voluntary contributions to the Treasury; they can’t unilaterally spend them on their chosen projects.
October 26, 2025 at 11:15 AM
And Congress has passed no law appropriating the donated funds for the construction. Presidents can encourage voluntary contributions to the Treasury; they can’t unilaterally spend them on their chosen projects.
I’m old enough to remember when Congress was in charge of how federal money gets spent, even voluntary taxpayer donations to the Treasury.
October 25, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I’m old enough to remember when Congress was in charge of how federal money gets spent, even voluntary taxpayer donations to the Treasury.
It's puzzling that Trump is asking for $ under the Federal Tort Claims Act for alleged wrongs from the Russia and Mar-a-Lago investigations, including punitives. Under the FTCA, the U.S. is not liable for punitives or on any claim arising from the exercise of a discretionary function of an agency.
October 23, 2025 at 5:47 PM
It's puzzling that Trump is asking for $ under the Federal Tort Claims Act for alleged wrongs from the Russia and Mar-a-Lago investigations, including punitives. Under the FTCA, the U.S. is not liable for punitives or on any claim arising from the exercise of a discretionary function of an agency.
The image also captures Trump’s undoubted belief that presidential spouses are expendable—the First Lady’s offices have been destroyed—but palatial gaudiness is essential.
Whenever you hear someone invoke the unitary executive, remember the image below.
This was an inevitable result of the unitary executive theory:
Empowering a president to tyrannically destroy institutions that ensured our government reflects the rule of law rather than his personal whim.
This was an inevitable result of the unitary executive theory:
Empowering a president to tyrannically destroy institutions that ensured our government reflects the rule of law rather than his personal whim.
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The image also captures Trump’s undoubted belief that presidential spouses are expendable—the First Lady’s offices have been destroyed—but palatial gaudiness is essential.
The “libertarian streak” is infinitely preferable to the “Nazi streak.”
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The “libertarian streak” is infinitely preferable to the “Nazi streak.”
Garrett Epps’s dissection of the 9th Circuit’s fecklessness is right on the nose. Ignoring Case Law and the Constitution, Court Greenlights Trump’s Portland Troop Surge washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/21/c...
Ignoring Case Law and the Constitution, Court Greenlights Trump’s Portland Troop Surge
An appeals court panel combines sloppy reasoning and undue deference to the executive by allowing Trump's takeover of Portland to proceed.
washingtonmonthly.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Garrett Epps’s dissection of the 9th Circuit’s fecklessness is right on the nose. Ignoring Case Law and the Constitution, Court Greenlights Trump’s Portland Troop Surge washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/21/c...
Out: “Is it the heat or the humidity?” In: “Is it the mental illness or the corruption?”
the president has destroyed the east wing of the white house without so much as a word of input from anyone else to build a royal ballroom paid for with bribes
NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.
October 21, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Out: “Is it the heat or the humidity?” In: “Is it the mental illness or the corruption?”
America First = Argentine bailout, Qatari training facility, tearing down the White House, . . .
October 21, 2025 at 11:49 AM
America First = Argentine bailout, Qatari training facility, tearing down the White House, . . .