Michael C. Dorf
LightNews LightNews
banner
Michael C. Dorf
@dorfonlaw.bsky.social
12K followers 320 following 960 posts

Cornell constitutional law professor and dilettante in many other fields. Vegan. Cyclist. Knicks fan. I mostly provide links to my work, especially my Verdict columns & blog posts (as well as those of my co-bloggers). I also occasionally post snark. .. more

Videos

Michael C. Dorf is an American law professor and a scholar of U.S. constitutional law. He is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. In addition to constitutional law, Professor Dorf has taught courses in civil procedure and federal courts. He has authored, co-authored, or edited six books, including Beating Hearts: Abortion and Animal Rights and On Reading the Constitution. He is also a columnist for Verdict and a regular contributor to his blog, Dorf on Law. Dorf is a former law clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. .. more

Political science 40%
Economics 21%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet, Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 18h
Most Trump administration actions have real & awful consequences, so reporters need to be more skeptical of his vaporware. In today's essay I discussion 3 Trump charades: an ersatz pardon for a state crime; the AI executive order; and Trump's "concepts of a plan" to repeal & replace Obamacare.
The Vaporware Presidency
In the tech world, the term vaporware is used to describe a product that does not yet and may never exist but that a company hypes for any ...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 2d
There are no college football games today, so feast on Prof Neil Buchanan's deep dive into the mostly amusing chaos of the sport, with a (rare) hopeful thought at the end that it all could lead to unionization of the players. 👇
A Very Public Tantrum Points to a Very Different Future for College Football
For fans of American college football, this is the almost -empty weekend that sits between the end of the conference championship games and ...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 4d
Not the point. Rubio's memo says the Biden font change was "not among the [State] Deparment's most illegal, immoral, radical, or wasteful instances of DEIA," thus implying Rubio thinks it's somewhat "illegal, immoral, radical, or wasteful" DEIA, thus endorsing the culture-war concept of DEIA.
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 4d
On the blog, Prof Neil Buchanan explains the petty spite behind L'il Marco's inane font change for the State Department, which he uses to symbolize Rubio's profound lack of gravitas. Details 👇
A Sans-Serif Font and a Sans-Serious Secretary of State
Even the straight news reporters who wrote articles in  The Guardian  and  The New York Times  failed to conceal their bemused confusion whe...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 5d
I agree that affirmance is most likely result but I’m not confident of a rebuke, and I would have preferred the certainty of a grant and summary affirmance.
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 5d
Yup

Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 5d
The govt's defense of Trump's birthright citizenship executive order is extremely weak, so why did SCOTUS grant cert? On the blog, I consider: 1) 4 or more Justices actually buy the defense 😱; 2) SCOTUS wants to appear non-partisan by striking it down; or 3) the case is just important. Details 👇
Why Did SCOTUS Grant Cert in the Birthright Citizenship Case?
Last week, the Supreme Court granted   certiorari  in   Trump v. Barbara . A federal district judge in New Hampshire preliminarily enjoined ...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 6d
Quite right. Just after oral argument in Trump v US, I wrote that the conservatives' hypothetical concerns were "like worrying about the side effects of using an epi pen in the middle of anaphylaxis."
A SCOTUS Firehose in Trump v United States
After rage-tweeting throughout the oral argument in Trump v. United States , I find myself somewhat at a loss as to what points to focus on...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 6d
Trump v Slaughter argument in bullet points: 1) Humphrey's is toast; 2) Slaughter's lawyer got caught up trying to defend the Ct's recent removal cases; 3) J. Barrett floated a questionable view of liquidation. 4) Conservatives worried about hypothetical future, ignoring Trump's current menace. 👇
What We Learned From the Trump v. Slaughter Oral Argument
Having wasted  spent two and a half hours of my day listening to yesterday's oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter , I have less time than I t...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
What happened to the history and tradition of oral arguments not lasting forever? (Yes, I know about Daniel Webster. His arguments weren’t live-streamed.)
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
I don't doubt the outcome ofTHIS case. Following Kagan's line of questioning, I'm suggesting that this won't end with agencies that exercise executive power.
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
Sauer's answer to Barrett on reliance was legerdemain. He said Congress isn't entitled to rely on its ability to violate separation of powers. But Congress also relied on Humphrey's in delegating as much power as it did to agencies it created to be independent, not controlled by the president.
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
And it seems that Sauer and based on his questions, Justice Gorsuch, want to go there.
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
Here's another implication of SG Sauer's argument: Purely legislative and purely judicial functions also can't be assigned to officers with removal protection because Articles I & III also respectively grant "all of" the legislative and judicial power to Congress and the federal courts.
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
I thought that’s what I was doing!
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
The bad news doesn't end there. SCOTUS could have summarily affirmed a ruling invalidating Trump's birthright citizenship order. That it chose to grant cert suggests at least 4 votes to take this nativist revisionism seriously. I'll have more to day about that in future essays. End 🧵
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
Today SCOTUS will hear argument in Trump v Slaughter. It will likely allow Trump to fire at will & run those agencies Congress created to be independent in the same corrupt or incompetent fashion that he uses to run those agencies headed by the lackeys & lunatics who serve at his pleasure. Details 👇
SCOTUS Oral Argument Preview: Do We Really Want More Vindictive And Incompetent Federal Agencies?
Today the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter , which presents the question whether the statutory prohibition on pre...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
ICYMI, here's @espinsegall.bsky.social: SCOTUS was wrong to reverse the district court finding that Texas engaged in a racial gerrymander but that's just the tip of the iceberg: the whole line of jurisprudence inverts the nation's long history of race-based disenfranchisement. 👇
Racial Redistricting, the GOP Court, and History for Me but not for Thee
The Republicans on the Roberts Court love to lecture us on the importance of history to constitutional interpretation. But as almost everyo...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
In my latest column for @justiaverdict.bsky.social, I explain that the "presumption of good faith" SCOTUS (falsely) said the district court failed to afford the Texas legislature wouldn't even help Texas, which needs a presumption of bad faith to avoid the racial gerrymandering finding. 👇
A Presumptuous Supreme Court Gives Texas Legislators an Unearned Presumption of Good Faith
Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to reinstate Texas’s new redistricting map, despite a lo...
verdict.justia.com

Reposted by Eric J. Segall, Kate Jackson

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
🧵on the latest SCOTUS horrors: Below are links to two highly critical pieces on the Texas redistricting decision (one by me from @justiaverdict.bsky.social and one by @espinsegall.bsky.social on the blog over the weekend) as well as my preview on the blog of today's removal power oral argument.

Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 9d
SCOTUS was wrong to reverse the district court finding that Texas engaged in a racial gerrymander but, as @espinsegall.bsky.social argues on the blog, that's just the tip of the iceberg: the whole line of jurisprudence inverts the nation's long history of race-based disenfranchisement. 👇
Racial Redistricting, the GOP Court, and History for Me but not for Thee
The Republicans on the Roberts Court love to lecture us on the importance of history to constitutional interpretation. But as almost everyo...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 10d
On the blog, Prof Buchanan asks whether the survival of universities matters (or is just something we academics care about for parochial reasons). Answer: Yes, and part of how we know universities are important is by the intensity and focus the Trump admin brings to its efforts to destroy them.
How Do We Know that Universities Are Worth Defending?
In this relatively short week-ending column, I return once again today to the doom loop destroying US higher education.  Rather than analyzi...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 11d
SCOTUS greenlit Texas's political gerrymander despite careful district court findings that it was impermissibly race-based. Apparently, the way to discriminate based on race in electoral redistricting is to stop district courts from stopping discrimination based on race in electoral redistricting.
Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 11d
Last week, Costco sued the Trump admin in the Court of Int'l Trade, arguing that it is entitled to a refund of the tariffs being challenged by other parties in SCOTUS. The new suit raises the remedial stakes, but, as I argue on the blog, should not lead the Court to issue a merely partial remedy. 👇
Costco's Lawsuit Raises the Remedial Stakes in the SCOTUS Tariffs Cases
Last week, Costco filed a lawsuit  in the Court of International Trade (CIT) against U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), its Commissione...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans, Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 12d
For years, I've begun each day of Constitutional Law with "Con Law in the News." It has been a semester like no other. Trump's transformation of the US into a racist and lawless authoritarian regime has provided a cornucopia of material for my class. I'll almost miss him if he ever leaves office. 👇
Teaching Constitutional Law During the Second (and Hopefully Final) Trump Administration
For many years now, I have started just about every day of my first-semester-first-year Constitutional Law class with 5-10 minutes of "Con L...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 13d
Prof Neil Buchanan explains further why foreign universities haven't snatched up fleeing U.S. scholars in large numbers: doing so would be unpopular with key constituencies. He also announces his appointment as Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Austrian & International Tax Law in Vienna.👇
The Global Migration (or not) of Scholars and Researchers
In this column, although I will first make an announcement that is all about me, I will quickly explain the potential broader significance o...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 14d
It exists. My seminar hosted the authors as guest speakers.
global.oup.com

Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 14d
Missouri Republicans' defense of mid-cycle redistricting has been likened to Air Bud: no rule forbids dogs from playing basketball, so Buddy can play. But that's too generous. State constitutional text indicates that redistricting occurs only once per decennial census. Details on the blog. 👇
Air Bud 15: Pawtisan Redistricting
In a well-known scene in the well-known (but not very good) 1997 movie Air Bud , the protagonist golden retriever is permitted to play in a...
www.dorfonlaw.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 17d
This semester I taught a seminar called Animals & the Constitution. I discussed how it went with @marisul.bsky.social on the Animal Law Podcast. Listen below, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Animals and the Constitution with Michael Dorf
In this intellectually stimulating episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann Sullivan speaks with constitutional law expert Michael Dorf about his innovative course "Animals and the Constitution." Do...
www.ourhenhouse.org

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 18d
ICYMI: On the blog, Prof Neil Buchanan speculates about why the mass exodus of US academics to intellectually freer countries hasn't happened (yet). Main reasons: inertia; we're paid better for lighter teaching loads; denial about what's happening here in Gilead.👇
Where is the Higher Education Gold Rush?
With a major holiday in the US only two days away, this column will be uncharacteristically brief (slightly more than half the usual length ...
www.dorfonlaw.org