Jacob Mchangama & Jeff Kosseff Guest-Blogging About "The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy's Most Essential...
Professors Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff are launching a three‑day guest‑blog series on Reason.com to promote their new book, *The Future of Free Speech*. The book argues that free expression, once a hallmark of liberal democracies, is now facing coordinated attacks from governments, tech platforms, and AI‑driven moderation. It offers a data‑driven framework for defending speech without succumbing to censorship or misinformation pressures. The authors combine historical analysis with practical, nonpartisan solutions aimed at preserving democratic dialogue worldwide.
"Punctuation Matters. At the Heart of This Case Is the Placement of a Comma"
The D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Remus Enterprises 1, LLC’s lawsuit after finding that a misplaced comma in the company’s name created a distinct legal entity, Remus Enterprises, 1 LLC, which owned the disputed 16th Street property....
Court Upholds Ban on Military Retirement Home Residents' Wearing Political Clothing in Public Spaces
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi upheld the Armed Forces Retirement Home‑Gulfport’s ban on political apparel worn by residents in common areas. The court classified the retirement home as a limited public forum, allowing viewpoint‑neutral restrictions...
"Multi-Figure Verdicts"
A lawyer’s website displayed a "Multi-Figure Verdicts" graphic that suggested massive payouts, but the only settlement cited was a low eight‑figure $11 million case. The same attorney was recently sanctioned after an AI‑generated filing contained hallucinated facts, raising questions about the...
Court Finds AI Hallucinations in Filing by Former State Senate Candidate
The Southern District of New York magistrate sanctioned former state Senate candidate‑turned‑attorney Tricia S. Lindsay $2,500 after finding that dozens of citations in her memoranda were completely fabricated, likely generated by an AI feature in LexisNexis. The court noted her...
5th Circuit Panel Blocks 2023 Mifepristone Telemedicine Approval
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay that blocks the FDA's 2023 rule allowing mifepristone to be prescribed via telemedicine. The stay reinstates the requirement that patients receive an in‑person medical evaluation before receiving the abortion pill. Louisiana,...
First Circuit Stays Court Order Commandeering New Hampshire (Though Doesn't Rely on Anti-Commandeering Arguments)
The First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on a district court injunction that would have forced New Hampshire to maintain a vehicle emissions inspection program under the Clean Air Act. The panel found New Hampshire likely to win...
The Major Questions Doctrine Constrains Presidential Power Over Elections
The article argues that the major questions doctrine (MQD) blocks President Trump’s attempt to expand executive control over federal elections via Executive Order 14399, which directs the USPS to compile voter‑mail lists and block non‑listed mail‑in ballots. It cites an...
Trump's Iran War Continues to Violate the Constitution - and Now Also the War Powers Act of 1973
President Trump’s 60‑day deadline under the War Powers Act expired today, making his ongoing Iran campaign unlawful without congressional approval. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim that the ceasefire pauses the clock is contradicted by the Act’s language on imminent hostilities....
"Gaslighting" Isn't "Abuse" For Child Custody Law Purposes
The Oregon Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s finding that a mother’s alleged gaslighting constituted abuse in a child‑custody case. The appellate panel held that Oregon statutes define abuse narrowly—requiring physical injury, threats of imminent bodily harm, or sexual...
Gov. Newsom's Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox News Over "Gavin Lied About Trump's Call" Claim Can Go Forward
A Delaware Superior Court judge ruled that Governor Gavin Newsom's defamation lawsuit against Fox News can proceed. The case centers on Fox's on‑air claim that Newsom "lied" about a phone call with President Trump, which the court says could be...
Candace Owens Sued for Defamation Over Claims of Conspiracy to Assassinate Charlie Kirk
Candace Owens has been sued for defamation by Brian Harpole, the founder of Integrity Security Solutions, over her public accusations that he conspired to assassinate Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in 2025. The complaint alleges Owens repeatedly claimed Harpole...
ImmigrationProf Blog Symposium on the Birthright Citizenship Oral Arguments
The ImmigrationProf Blog organized a symposium dissecting the Supreme Court’s oral arguments in the Trump v. Barbara birthright citizenship case. Prominent immigration and constitutional scholars—including Jack Chin, Ilya Somin, Ediberto Roman, Rachel Rosenbloom, and D. Carolina Núñez—contributed analyses that explore...
Court: No Rule That "a Transgender Parent Should Not Be Awarded Tiebreaking Authority over a Cisgender Parent on Matters of...
The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld a lower‑court ruling granting joint legal custody with conditional tiebreaking authority to a transgender parent, BAK, over a cisgender parent, AST. The appellate panel rejected AST's argument for a per‑se rule that a trans...
Justice John Marshall Harlan and Birth Tourism
A new Civitas Outlook essay revives Justice John Marshall Harlan’s 1898 lecture, which held that children born to tourists on temporary visas are not entitled to birthright citizenship. The author argues this historical view could support the portion of President...
"[Anti-Harassment] Injunctions Are Not a Remedy for Interpersonal Conflict"
The Florida Court of Appeal reversed a three‑year stalking injunction filed by a wife against her ex‑husband’s girlfriend, finding the alleged conduct did not meet the statutory definition of repeated harassment. The court emphasized that Florida’s anti‑stalking statute requires a...
Edited Version of Louisiana V. Callais
The Supreme Court issued a 92‑page opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, a case centered on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. An author distilled the opinion into a 16‑page edited version for the 2026 Barnett/Blackman supplement, trimming historical background and...
Journal of Free Speech Law: "A New Frontier for an International Right with No Frontiers: Freedom of Expression & Generative...
The Journal of Free Speech Law article by Evelyn Mary Aswad examines how the U.S. First Amendment and the emerging global freedom of expression standard apply to generative AI outputs. It argues that individuals have a right to seek and...
Solicitor General Asks Supreme Court to Eighty-Six Energy Conservation Rule
The U.S. Solicitor General filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to grant, vacate and remand the D.C. Circuit’s decision that upheld the Department of Energy’s 2021 energy‑efficiency rule banning non‑condensing furnaces and commercial water heaters. The brief now aligns...
Unanimous Supreme Court Affirms Standing to Challenge Subpoena for Info on Financial Supporters
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous 9‑0 opinion affirming that First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a pro‑life nonprofit, has Article III standing to contest a New Jersey Attorney General subpoena seeking its donors' identities. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the...
"Making Negative Statements" About People to Their Employers = Criminal Harassment
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the state’s criminal harassment statute applies to negative statements made about a person to a third party, such as an employer, when the communication is intended to provoke an adverse consequence. In Hernandez v....
Trump's Shameful Effort to Deport Russian Dissenters Fleeing Putin
The Trump administration has accelerated the deportation of Russian asylum seekers who fled Vladimir Putin’s war, with estimates from Russian America for Democracy in Russia indicating hundreds have been returned to Russia. Detainees include a former soldier, an opposition activist,...
Analyzing Indictment of James Comey for "86 47" Post
A federal grand jury indicted former FBI director James Comey on May 15, 2025, accusing him of making a “true threat” against President Donald Trump by posting an Instagram image of seashells spelling “86 47.” The indictment cites violations of 18...
Loper Bright and Preemption
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell, where a $1.25 million jury verdict against Bayer’s Roundup product is being challenged on the ground that the EPA’s pesticide regulations preempt state‑law claims. The justices’ questioning revealed a split...
Why AI Isn't Like a Law Clerk
The author argues that AI‑generated legal scholarship differs fundamentally from a law clerk’s work because judicial opinions are institutional messages, while scholarly articles express individual viewpoints. In courts, the judge’s name is a convention and the opinion’s authority stems from...
Judge Reaffirms: EEOC May Subpoena Penn's Records as to "Jewish-Related Organizations" (And Others) in Investigation of Anti-Semitic Harassment at Penn
A federal judge in Philadelphia affirmed that the EEOC can enforce its subpoena demanding the University of Pennsylvania provide contact information for employees linked to Jewish‑related campus groups. The order, issued May 1, requires Penn to comply despite the university’s...
A Few Thoughts on the Chatrie Oral Argument
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in *Chatrie v. United States*, a challenge to the constitutionality of geofence warrants. The Justices appeared inclined to reject the plaintiffs' claim that such warrants are categorically unconstitutional, favoring a limited, time‑and‑space‑constrained approach....
SCOTUS Summarily Reverses Three-Judge Panel In Mandatory Jurisdiction Case Based On Earlier Shadow Docket Ruling In Same Case
The U.S. Supreme Court issued an unprecedented order reversing a three‑judge district court’s preliminary injunction against Texas’s 2026 redistricting plan. The reversal was based on an emergency stay the Court granted earlier on its shadow docket, effectively nullifying the lower...
Justice Breyer Says Not to Worry About the Shadow Docket
Retired Justice Stephen Breyer told Harvard Magazine he isn’t worried about the Supreme Court’s growing reliance on the so‑called “shadow docket.” He likened it to the Court’s historic emergency docket, which once focused on death‑penalty stays and election matters, and...
Maine Governor Vetoes Broad Criminal Records Sealing Bill
Maine Governor Janet Mills vetoed LD 1911, a bill that would have automatically sealed criminal‑history records for most Class D and E misdemeanors five years after conviction. The proposal required the judicial branch to review decades of docket files by hand...
Comedy Club Can't Get Injunction Blocking Claims of Sexual Assault, Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Sexism
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Judy Kim denied Rodney's Comedy Club's request for an injunction that would have forced defendant Chanel Omari to delete or refrain from posting social‑media accusations of sexual assault, racism, anti‑Semitism and sexism. The judge emphasized that...
Don't Care Bears and Intellectual Property Law
A Manhattan federal judge rejected a plaintiff’s request for a temporary restraining order against vendors selling "Don't Care Bears" merchandise that mixes the Care Bears brand with marijuana imagery. The court found the plaintiff had not demonstrated a likelihood of...
What Do You Do With AI-Generated Legal Scholarship?: An April 2026 Question
A law professor discovered a second, independent transcript of the 1807 Aaron Burr treason trial that contradicts portions of the widely‑cited Robertson record used in his 2021 Harvard Law Review article on the Fifth Amendment privilege. Concerned that these discrepancies could...
Today in Supreme Court History: April 26, 1995
On April 26, 1995 the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in United States v. Lopez, striking down the federal Gun‑Free School Zones Act as exceeding Congress’s Commerce Clause authority. The 5‑4 decision upheld a Texas statute that prohibited firearms...
Judge Finds Epstein-Related Plaintiff Lies, Spoliation, and Lawyer Misconduct in Rape Lawsuit Against Investor Leon Black
U.S. District Judge Jessica Clarke denied Leon Black's request for case‑terminating sanctions in a sexual‑assault lawsuit, but imposed significant penalties on the plaintiff’s former counsel and law firm for repeated lies and evidence spoliation. The court barred the plaintiff from...
Links to My Posts on Chatrie V. United States, the Geofence Warrant Case
Supreme Court will hear arguments in Chatrie v. United States, the first case to address the legality of geofence warrants. The author, a legal scholar, compiled a chronological list of his posts, briefs, and commentary spanning from 2022 to 2026...
Plaintiffs Can't Sue the Chinese Government with Largely Sealed Complaint
A federal judge in Washington rejected plaintiffs' request to seal a 300‑page complaint that underlies an eight‑page public pleading in a lawsuit against Chinese officials and entities. The suit invokes the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the Alien Tort Statute, and...
Thought Experiment: It's 2030, and the Newsom Justice Department Indicts a Conservative Group for Paying Antifa Leaders
The article uses a 2030 thought experiment to mirror the 2026 SPLC indictment, proposing that a conservative activist group could be charged by a Newsom‑led Justice Department for donor fraud and anti‑money‑laundering violations. It alleges the group raised funds by...
Eighth Circuit Upholds Ban on Trespassing for Surveillance Purposes
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Iowa's §727.8A, a law that elevates the use of cameras during unlawful trespass to an aggravated misdemeanor for a first offense and a class‑D felony for repeat violations. The court applied intermediate scrutiny, finding the statute...
Today in Supreme Court History: April 24, 1963
On April 24, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Sherbert v. Verner, a case challenging an Alabama unemployment‑benefits denial to a Seventh‑day Adventist who refused work on Saturdays for religious reasons. The Court’s eventual decision created the “Sherbert test,” requiring...
The Difficulty of the Search Question: More Thoughts on Chatrie
The Supreme Court’s upcoming Chatrie v. United States argument spotlights the thorny question of what constitutes a “search” under the Fourth Amendment. The author argues that the Court has repeatedly sidelined the amendment’s full text—persons, houses, papers, and effects—focusing instead...
So There Was More To The Story
Law firm heavyweight Kannon Shanmugam and colleague Masha Hansford left Paul Weiss for Davis Polk, confirming rumors sparked by an odd Supreme Court filing where Shanmugam was listed as counsel of record but Elizabeth Prelogar of Cooley argued the case....
Spotting Scammers with "Verified" Dating App Profiles
Tinder introduced Face Check, a video‑selfie verification meant to curb catfishing, but investigations reveal the system only requires one matching photo to label an entire profile as verified. Scammers exploit this by pairing a single verified image with eight unrelated,...
Do the Supreme Court "Shadow Papers" Reveal Supreme Court Hypocrisy?
The piece scrutinizes internal Supreme Court memoranda on the Clean Power Plan stay to assess claims of judicial hypocrisy or misapplied review standards. Legal scholars William Baude and Richard Re counter the criticism, noting that the irreparable‑injury rule only triggers...
"Sotomayor Drops The Ball on Obamacare" And The Shadow Docket
Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an emergency stay on Dec. 31 2013 that temporarily blocked enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate against the Little Sisters of the Poor. The order, limited to a single religious nonprofit, contrasts sharply with the sweeping...
Injunction Against Publicly Identifying Pseudonymous Litigants Is Content-Based Prior Restraint,
The Fourth Circuit upheld a protective order that bars defendants from revealing the identities of pseudonymous plaintiffs and their families without a non‑disclosure agreement. The panel declared the gag order a content‑based prior restraint on speech. It clarified that courts...
Fourth Circuit Upholds Injunction Against Disclosing Names of Perceived Afghan Collaborators
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court protective order that bars the disclosure of the identities of Afghan plaintiffs—known as the Does—in Doe v. Mast. The court classified the order as a content‑based prior restraint but held it met strict‑scrutiny...
Laura Loomer Loses Defamation Suit Against Bill Maher Over "Who's Trump Fucking? … Might Be Laura Loomer" Lines
A federal judge in Miami granted summary judgment to Bill Maher, dismissing Laura Loomer's defamation lawsuit over his September 13, 2024 "Real Time" joke linking her to Donald Trump. The court found the remark was a comedic statement, not a...
Justice Thomas Assigns Himself A Majority Opinion
The Supreme Court issued a 6‑3 ruling in Hencely v. Fluor Corp, with Justice Thomas writing the majority opinion. He was joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Barrett and Jackson, while Justices Alito, Roberts and Kavanaugh dissented. The split defies...
FBI Director Kash Patel Loses Defamation Lawsuit Over Morning Joe Statements
A Texas federal judge ruled that former FBI Director Kash Patel's defamation suit over a comment on MSNBC's Morning Joe was dismissed. The comment, made by former FBI counterintelligence chief Cesare Figliuzzi, suggested Patel spent more time in nightclubs than in...