Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matthew Stiegler

@matthewstiegler.bsky.social

7K followers 1K following 4.5K posts

Appellate lawyer, president of Third Circuit Bar Association, former prosecutor, fellow of American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Boring until fascism. Views here: just mine.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · Aug 31

We lose it all if we don’t unite in time.

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · Aug 30

🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics.

The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.

10 44

Reposted by Matthew Stiegler

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 11h

As a group, District Judges (from across the ideological spectrum!) performing as well as just about anyone right now in defending democratic liberty.

210 1.5K 9.6K

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 12h

Right? Ima advertise “Absolutely NOT admitted in the Supreme Court!” on my website.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 12h

Now $55

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 13h

Guess I’m not running for office in NY.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 15h

“But the larger reason for the insufficiently pessimistic predictions from those of us who were plenty pessimistic is surely that we did not anticipate how readily the Supreme Court would roll over and give Trump's most extreme advisors running room.”

It me.

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 15h

On the blog, Prof Neil Buchanan, who has been predicting authoritarianism from Trump for nearly a decade, marvels at how even he was insufficiently pessimistic in imagining the myriad ways in which this administration could be cruel and lawless. 👇

How Could Even the Most Pessimistic Predictions Not Be Pessimistic Enough?

When writing a column like this one, it is no longer possible to provide a manageably short list of the unprecedented things that are happen...

www.dorfonlaw.org

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 16h

🏆

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 17h

Responding to a planned peaceful march by calling for deployment of the military seems to me very possibly the most un-American thing a person could say.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

2 5 23

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 17h

Vexatious as all hell, one hopes.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 17h

Along similar lines, I don't draft a brief start to finish, nor do I have any set section sequence. I draft the most important stuff whenever inspiration strikes. If I hit a block on one thing, often I can get rolling again somewhere else. My "hit 'em where they ain't" theory of brief drafting.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 18h

And whatever you do, don't post appellate tips online as an elaborate form of procrastination from drafting.

1 1 8

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 18h

In a practice world of caseloads and deadlines, you need to find ways to be productive with mush-brain, too.

1 1 7

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 18h

Even more mundane, but true: being able to keep advancing the ball on your draft even when your brain is fried is an underrated appellate skill. If you can't get big insights, draft; if you can't draft, edit; if you can't edit, research; if you can't research, clean up formatting. Etc.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 1d

Half of being a good appellate lawyer is just being stubborn enough to delete the pretty good stuff until you finally get it right.

2 3 18

Reposted by Matthew Stiegler

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 18h

And the not-yet-targeted ones should also be doing this, because loud, public, collective action is the only way to oppose this lawless authoritarian assault on higher education

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 19h

Every targeted institution (my own very much included) should cut and paste this letter onto their letterhead.

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 19h

A master class from MIT in responding to authoritarian overreach:

Your “premise … is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
… America’s leadership in science & innovation depends on independent thinking & open competition for excellence.

16 74

Reposted by Matthew Stiegler

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 20h

MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

7 200 500

Reposted by Matthew Stiegler

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 22h

JB Pritzker has also been emphatically placing Trump's mental decline squarely on the agenda. On our pod, he adds a new element: People around Trump are using his decline to manipulate him, so they're less likely to intervene. More Dems should say this. 1/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

76 1.4K 4K

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 21h

Well said

bsky.app/profile/jfal...

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

Truly excellent new piece by Lincoln Caplan in @harvardmagazine.bsky.social on John Roberts, seen in full.

Careful, meticulous, devastating case on how "institutionalist" has enabled destruction of crucial institutions. Including his now discredited court.
www.harvardmagazine.com/legal/suprem...

Quote:
Their outcomes, along with the Court’s actions in the last few years, carry the seeds of American tragedy. Roberts, often described as an institutionalist, has enabled the most hostile anti-institutionalist ever elected president. The leader of the nation’s judicial system has empowered the president who is the most disdainful in history of the decrees of judges, the provisos of the Constitution, and the workings of American democracy. The chief justice, attempting to thread the needle between principle and practicality, has opened the door to the possibility of the ultimate constitutional crisis: a president’s outright defiance of the Supreme Court.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 21h

My take on Roberts is that he’s a figure familiar to history, the credentialed and charming man who seemed so dazzling to his contemporaries, so plainly a bumbling failure to everyone else. A magnificent fool.

2 3 26

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 21h

A fair-minded, ultimately brutal profile of Roberts by Lincoln Caplan.

Roberts, often described as an institutionalist, has enabled the most hostile anti-institutionalist ever elected president. The leader of the nation’s judicial system has empowered the president who is the most disdainful in history of the decrees of judges, the provisos of the Constitution, and the workings of American democracy.

3 14 34

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 22h

And fawn they shall

bsky.app/profile/jona...

Jonah Blank @jonahblank.bsky.social · 1d

A two-minute standing ovation.

Not at a State of the Union, or other big public event. Just at a small meeting, with no cameras, for maybe a dozen (maximum two dozen) people.

Two. Minutes. Set a timer, and imagine a dozen people clapping that long.

For a boss who isn't Kim Jong Un.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Rollins: "We had an amazing cabinet meeting. President Trump walked in before the cameras were there. We all stood up & gave him a two minute standing ovation. There's so much love in that room & respect & just appreciation for him. No one could do what that man is doing today. So I was so grateful"