Rick Hills
@rickhills.bsky.social
William T Comfort III Professor of Law, NYU Law School, studying & teaching local gov’t, landuse regulation, const’l law, fed courts, admin law, legislation, and federalism. Forlorn hope: reduce stakes and polarization by decentralizing divisive decisions.
Just to give you you an idea of what sorts of cards states have to play, consider this chart — and realize that a giant % of federal spending is tied up in defense, interest on debt, and non-discretionary entitlements. taxpolicycenter.org/sites/defaul...
October 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Just to give you you an idea of what sorts of cards states have to play, consider this chart — and realize that a giant % of federal spending is tied up in defense, interest on debt, and non-discretionary entitlements. taxpolicycenter.org/sites/defaul...
Good morning, Brooklyn!
September 29, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Good morning, Brooklyn!
Having spent dozens of hours digging up a rogues’ gallery of weeds (Russian Thistle, tumble weeds the size of beach balls, globemallow, punture weed loaded with goats’ heads, etc), I am sparing this 6’ Palmer’s Pigweed growing out of a cement block out of sheer respect for its tenacity.
August 5, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Having spent dozens of hours digging up a rogues’ gallery of weeds (Russian Thistle, tumble weeds the size of beach balls, globemallow, punture weed loaded with goats’ heads, etc), I am sparing this 6’ Palmer’s Pigweed growing out of a cement block out of sheer respect for its tenacity.
Reading Skrmetti this morning, I realize how astute @jdmortenson.bsky.social and Rich Friedman were to include Geduldig in their conlaw casebook — and how much I regret not including that case in my syllabus. That opinion is really amenable to bad-faith nonsense like that found in footnote 3.
June 18, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reading Skrmetti this morning, I realize how astute @jdmortenson.bsky.social and Rich Friedman were to include Geduldig in their conlaw casebook — and how much I regret not including that case in my syllabus. That opinion is really amenable to bad-faith nonsense like that found in footnote 3.
5Boros bike tour on Sixth Avenue briefly shows us how wonderful life in midtown Manhattan would be without cars.
May 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
5Boros bike tour on Sixth Avenue briefly shows us how wonderful life in midtown Manhattan would be without cars.
April 11, 2025 at 3:04 AM
But lots of other takeout has food abutting food, no? s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/9M6t9...
April 1, 2025 at 1:39 AM
But lots of other takeout has food abutting food, no? s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/9M6t9...
Does anyone have a link explaining the origins or functions (aesthetic, socio-cultural, etc) of plastic sushi grass? Because I am at a loss as to why this stuff is inserted in my trays of sushi.
April 1, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Does anyone have a link explaining the origins or functions (aesthetic, socio-cultural, etc) of plastic sushi grass? Because I am at a loss as to why this stuff is inserted in my trays of sushi.
Springtime hit our New Mexico cottonwoods in literally a couple hours: Sticks to green haze in one morning.
March 30, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Springtime hit our New Mexico cottonwoods in literally a couple hours: Sticks to green haze in one morning.
Wait, wut? Isn’t the view that “race is not a biological reality” but instead “a human invention” a foundation principle underlying of the Color-Blind Constitution?
March 28, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Wait, wut? Isn’t the view that “race is not a biological reality” but instead “a human invention” a foundation principle underlying of the Color-Blind Constitution?
Just spent all morning digging up deep taproot weeds (a lot of alfalfa, etc) for a 40’ diameter cultivated circle of daikon radishes, etc, and I want to mount the longest roots on my wall like hunting trophies. (My shovel has got —not kidding — a Lord of the Rings-style name of “Root Slayer”)
March 26, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Just spent all morning digging up deep taproot weeds (a lot of alfalfa, etc) for a 40’ diameter cultivated circle of daikon radishes, etc, and I want to mount the longest roots on my wall like hunting trophies. (My shovel has got —not kidding — a Lord of the Rings-style name of “Root Slayer”)
DHS apparently based decisions to abduct and deport Venezuelans to El Salvador prison on guesses about the meaning of tattoos and sign language. As @ilyasomin.bsky.social and @stevevladeck.bsky.social note, procedural due process was totally absent here. Kafka couldn’t concoct such evil buffoonery
March 20, 2025 at 1:21 PM
DHS apparently based decisions to abduct and deport Venezuelans to El Salvador prison on guesses about the meaning of tattoos and sign language. As @ilyasomin.bsky.social and @stevevladeck.bsky.social note, procedural due process was totally absent here. Kafka couldn’t concoct such evil buffoonery
Woke up this morning for the first time in our new, Gowanus apartment, after a down-sizing move yesterday from Cobble Hill. I see density going up all around me despite the years of dogged neighborhood resistance, and the towers are almost as beautiful to my YIMBY eyes as the Statue of Liberty.
March 2, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Woke up this morning for the first time in our new, Gowanus apartment, after a down-sizing move yesterday from Cobble Hill. I see density going up all around me despite the years of dogged neighborhood resistance, and the towers are almost as beautiful to my YIMBY eyes as the Statue of Liberty.
Sudetenland, 1938. Ukraine, 2025. Neville Chamberlain: “I believe it is peace for our time.” Donald Trump: “He's got to say 'I want to make peace.’”
March 1, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Sudetenland, 1938. Ukraine, 2025. Neville Chamberlain: “I believe it is peace for our time.” Donald Trump: “He's got to say 'I want to make peace.’”
Zelensky after that press conference with Neville Chamberlain.
February 28, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Zelensky after that press conference with Neville Chamberlain.
You can’t make this stuff up. USDOT’s letter claims that “cordon pricing”contradicts the “long-standing history” of the variable pricing program. Meanwhile take a look at USDOT’s webpage on the VPPP. Ordinarily, leaders who rewrite history work harder to scrub the past: These guys are phoning it in.
February 19, 2025 at 9:24 PM
You can’t make this stuff up. USDOT’s letter claims that “cordon pricing”contradicts the “long-standing history” of the variable pricing program. Meanwhile take a look at USDOT’s webpage on the VPPP. Ordinarily, leaders who rewrite history work harder to scrub the past: These guys are phoning it in.
Just for the record…
February 19, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Just for the record…
“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” This is tautologically true, ofc, but irrelevant to current litigation: It’s simply incorrect to say that contradicting statutes is a “legitimate” exercise of discretion a la Heckler v Chaney.
February 10, 2025 at 2:01 PM
“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” This is tautologically true, ofc, but irrelevant to current litigation: It’s simply incorrect to say that contradicting statutes is a “legitimate” exercise of discretion a la Heckler v Chaney.
Almost 20 years ago, when we first moved to Brooklyn, we’d collect takeout menus from our nabe, because that’s how you ordered food back then. 90% of these places long ago went out of business, and who now uses paper menus to order food? But I’m still a bit sentimental about throwing these out.
February 2, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Almost 20 years ago, when we first moved to Brooklyn, we’d collect takeout menus from our nabe, because that’s how you ordered food back then. 90% of these places long ago went out of business, and who now uses paper menus to order food? But I’m still a bit sentimental about throwing these out.
This 2023 Ipsos survey suggests why it might be difficult to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system: Outside the the weird hothouse of social media in which a teeny % of people make disproportionate noise, Americans seem pretty satisfied with their healthcare, compared to people in other countries.
December 13, 2024 at 4:11 AM
This 2023 Ipsos survey suggests why it might be difficult to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system: Outside the the weird hothouse of social media in which a teeny % of people make disproportionate noise, Americans seem pretty satisfied with their healthcare, compared to people in other countries.
This Denver airport billboard is an extraordinary,almost impressive, distortion of Lincoln’s quote. It turns Lincoln into Stephen Douglas who wanted to solve the division by civility, compromise, and federalism. Lincoln wanted to end the division with the very uncivil act of choosing a side.
December 4, 2024 at 4:41 PM
This Denver airport billboard is an extraordinary,almost impressive, distortion of Lincoln’s quote. It turns Lincoln into Stephen Douglas who wanted to solve the division by civility, compromise, and federalism. Lincoln wanted to end the division with the very uncivil act of choosing a side.
Finding a home for this plated-silver tea & coffee set, circa 1920s, with reptile-bird + angry river god spouts? That could be a bit of a challenge.
December 1, 2024 at 10:08 PM
Finding a home for this plated-silver tea & coffee set, circa 1920s, with reptile-bird + angry river god spouts? That could be a bit of a challenge.
Cleaning out many cubic feet of accumulated tchotchkes, books, pictures, toys, unwanted heirlooms, etc, to downsize to a much smaller Brooklyn place. Good news: Virtually anything displayed for giveaway on a Brooklyn curbside finds a home in minutes.
December 1, 2024 at 10:06 PM
Cleaning out many cubic feet of accumulated tchotchkes, books, pictures, toys, unwanted heirlooms, etc, to downsize to a much smaller Brooklyn place. Good news: Virtually anything displayed for giveaway on a Brooklyn curbside finds a home in minutes.