Emerson Wright
@profemersonwright.bsky.social
Legal research and writing prof, dog dad, amateur angler. 🏳️⚧️
I love supervising students' seminar and independent research papers. I always learn so much! Sometimes I don't love what I learn, but.
November 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
I love supervising students' seminar and independent research papers. I always learn so much! Sometimes I don't love what I learn, but.
When we teach our students how to be lawyers, we are also teaching them how to be human beings. These gloating coins reflect a problem within the profession.
Victory coins for attendees at the Federalist Society convention citing major conservatives wins at the Supreme Court:
November 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
When we teach our students how to be lawyers, we are also teaching them how to be human beings. These gloating coins reflect a problem within the profession.
One year I'll learn to give myself more time to grade. Not this year, aparrently. But one year I will.
November 4, 2025 at 5:31 PM
One year I'll learn to give myself more time to grade. Not this year, aparrently. But one year I will.
Reposted by Emerson Wright
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
From Bovino's deposition: (1) he calls protestors "violent" if they articulate views hostile to ICE, even if no violence is manifested; (2) he instructs his forces to attack and arrest protestors who express "hyperbolic comments," which is to say, criticism of ICE and Bovino.
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The Sandwich Trial is the only thing getting me through November grading right now.
November 4, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The Sandwich Trial is the only thing getting me through November grading right now.
Reposted by Emerson Wright
Big day at U.S. District Court in D.C. where Sean Dunn, the D.C. Sandwich Guy, is on trial for misdemeanor assault of a federal officer.
Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore is on the stand narrating surveillance video of the sammie toss.
'Now he’s struck me with the sandwich,' Lairmore says.
Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore is on the stand narrating surveillance video of the sammie toss.
'Now he’s struck me with the sandwich,' Lairmore says.
November 4, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Big day at U.S. District Court in D.C. where Sean Dunn, the D.C. Sandwich Guy, is on trial for misdemeanor assault of a federal officer.
Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore is on the stand narrating surveillance video of the sammie toss.
'Now he’s struck me with the sandwich,' Lairmore says.
Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore is on the stand narrating surveillance video of the sammie toss.
'Now he’s struck me with the sandwich,' Lairmore says.
Reposted by Emerson Wright
Yesterday in Shilling v. Trump (the 9th Circuit case about the military transgender ban), the government admitted that it has found no evidence to support any of the "traits" that the Secretary of Defense attributed to transgender servicemembers.
October 21, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Yesterday in Shilling v. Trump (the 9th Circuit case about the military transgender ban), the government admitted that it has found no evidence to support any of the "traits" that the Secretary of Defense attributed to transgender servicemembers.
This evening I am having dinner with the 1L professor who inspired me most and who taught me to love teaching. Such a fun full circle moment. <3
October 14, 2025 at 12:54 PM
This evening I am having dinner with the 1L professor who inspired me most and who taught me to love teaching. Such a fun full circle moment. <3
Reposted by Emerson Wright
You’ll just be minding your own business when suddenly Martha-Ann
October 11, 2025 at 9:55 PM
You’ll just be minding your own business when suddenly Martha-Ann
Reposted by Emerson Wright
Spoken to loud applause at a teacher convention...in 1932, Germany
September 24, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Spoken to loud applause at a teacher convention...in 1932, Germany
I teach at a private school that values academic freedom, but this kind of thing absolutely chills my classroom speech. This crap harms us all.
Thanks to the Texas Tribune for this comprehensive, fully reported account of the firing of the Texas A&M Instructor for teaching “gender ideology.”
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...
How a secret recording of a gender identity lecture upended Texas A&M
Officials have struggled to detail the exact reasons for the A&M professor’s termination, citing a technical issue with her course description. Faculty say the move was politically motivated.
www.texastribune.org
September 23, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I teach at a private school that values academic freedom, but this kind of thing absolutely chills my classroom speech. This crap harms us all.
Reposted by Emerson Wright
My students will recognize this use of "the reader." Number one lesson of legal writing is to remember who you are writing to.
"The reader of the complaint must labor through..."
"The reader must endure..."
"The reader must endure..."
![ranged endorsement” of President Trump’s principal opponent in the most recent
presidential election. The reader of the complaint must labor through allegations,
such as “a new journalistic low for the hopelessly compromised and tarnished ‘Gray
Lady.’” The reader must endure an allegation of “the desperate need to defame with
a partisan spear rather than report with an authentic looking glass” and an allegation
that “the false narrative about ‘The Apprentice’ was just the tip of Defendants’ melting iceberg of falsehoods.” Similarly, in one of many, often repetitive, and laudatory
(toward President Trump) but superfluous allegations, the pleader states, “‘The
Case 8:25-cv-02487-SDM-NHA Document 5 Filed 09/19/25 Page 2 of 4 PageID 166
- 3 -
Apprentice’ represented the cultural magnitude of President Trump’s singular brilliance, which captured the [Z]eitgeist of our time.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mivey63nzylfflvmmjoqcf6u/bafkreif43o5cwcp5u42s5puaonqrqk7vqvhuhqmsitrnj72dkhuebkg2qu@jpeg)
September 19, 2025 at 4:35 PM
My students will recognize this use of "the reader." Number one lesson of legal writing is to remember who you are writing to.
I can say with certainty that in this case, the law school is not the problem.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared to rebuke calls to target “hate speech” in an apparent swipe at Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” said Sotomayor.
“Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” said Sotomayor.
Sotomayor rebukes calls to ‘criminalize free speech’ in apparent swipe at Pam Bondi
The justice, in public remarks, didn’t name the attorney general, who has come under fire for comments to target people over “hate speech.”
www.politico.com
September 16, 2025 at 4:44 PM
I can say with certainty that in this case, the law school is not the problem.
Reposted by Emerson Wright
The brief order notes that this "is not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation," which of course, is something the court is free to say if it were to deny certain other emergency requests brought on the emergency docket.
Supreme Court allows a transgender boy to use boys' restrooms at school, rejecting an emergency request brought by the state of South Carolina. Three justices dissent.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Supreme Court allows transgender student to use boys' restrooms at South Carolina school
The decision means that a student identified as John Doe can use the restroom that corresponds with his gender identity while litigation continues.
www.nbcnews.com
September 10, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The brief order notes that this "is not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation," which of course, is something the court is free to say if it were to deny certain other emergency requests brought on the emergency docket.
So excited that my article, Gender Affirming Rhetoric, will be published in the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice this Fall.
September 8, 2025 at 7:40 PM
So excited that my article, Gender Affirming Rhetoric, will be published in the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice this Fall.
Google Chrome: Would you like to visit Scholastica? You uhh "visit it often."
September 2, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Google Chrome: Would you like to visit Scholastica? You uhh "visit it often."
I am so thankful to teach law students for a million reasons, but these days I am just overwhelmingly grateful for the hope and inspiration these young folks provide. Keeps me going during the never-ending onslaught of horrors. What a gift it is to help students find their voices and power.
September 2, 2025 at 4:24 PM
I am so thankful to teach law students for a million reasons, but these days I am just overwhelmingly grateful for the hope and inspiration these young folks provide. Keeps me going during the never-ending onslaught of horrors. What a gift it is to help students find their voices and power.
Reposted by Emerson Wright
I'm very happy to share that I will be hosting the *Second* Annual Democracy and Public Law Works-in-Progress Conference at the Michigan State University College of Law on April 3–4, 2026! Law scholars (current and aspiring), I'd love to host you!
Application:
msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Application:
msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
September 2, 2025 at 4:02 PM
I'm very happy to share that I will be hosting the *Second* Annual Democracy and Public Law Works-in-Progress Conference at the Michigan State University College of Law on April 3–4, 2026! Law scholars (current and aspiring), I'd love to host you!
Application:
msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Application:
msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Reposted by Emerson Wright
I just typed "facks" instead of "facts" on a student paper, so I'm absolutely qualified to teach first-year writing.
August 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I just typed "facks" instead of "facts" on a student paper, so I'm absolutely qualified to teach first-year writing.
Reposted by Emerson Wright
Seriously. No author likes those "[Journal] has made a decision concerning your manuscript" emails. But what we hate more is when you reject our pieces (or, what is the same thing, fill up your volume without making a formal decision on our pieces) without even telling us.
Law review editors: Did you know that authors actually really like getting rejection letters? Learn more about what authors think of the article selection process in this blog post: buff.ly/lL6h0Kq
August 21, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Seriously. No author likes those "[Journal] has made a decision concerning your manuscript" emails. But what we hate more is when you reject our pieces (or, what is the same thing, fill up your volume without making a formal decision on our pieces) without even telling us.
This semester I vowed to effectively use my TAs, and wow. They sure can update all the dates and details in my course docs and save me untold hours. They sure can. What a time!
August 13, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This semester I vowed to effectively use my TAs, and wow. They sure can update all the dates and details in my course docs and save me untold hours. They sure can. What a time!
Reposted by Emerson Wright
If you work in higher ed, you need to get your folks together and end the use of course evals or at least bar their consideration in evaluation, promotion, and hiring. This needed to happen yesterday because they don't measure learning, they measure instructor gender, but now it's a snitch pool.
July 31, 2025 at 12:41 AM
If you work in higher ed, you need to get your folks together and end the use of course evals or at least bar their consideration in evaluation, promotion, and hiring. This needed to happen yesterday because they don't measure learning, they measure instructor gender, but now it's a snitch pool.
I don't know, Dave, I can count to four without including the CJ.
Very very skeptical SCOTUS takes this up. Roberts loves protecting Republicans from unpopular consequences.
And so it begins...
Evangelical legal group asks Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage ruling [Obergefell v. Hodges]
Evangelical legal group asks Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage ruling [Obergefell v. Hodges]
July 31, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I don't know, Dave, I can count to four without including the CJ.