Robert L. Tsai

@robertltsai.bsky.social

15K followers 600 following 2.6K posts

Author of DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE (@WWNorton.com), amzn.to/45LFzNg | Next: BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF COAL COUNTRY (NYU) | Prof & Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston U | constitutional law & politics, legal history, democracy | https://linktr.ee/roberttsai .. more

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Political science 53%

Law 24%

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Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · Dec 15

Just a photo of me with my 2024 spring child

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 6h

I was honored to be able to interview him for my book on legal and citizen advocacy in Appalachia. #BattleForTheSoulOfCoalCountry

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 6h

R.I.P. Steve Sanders, a relentless advocate for coal mining families.

Reposted by Robert L. Tsai

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 10h

We already knew that Trump had completely reshaped the federal courts, but these stats are incredible. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/u...

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 21h

“An image posted on New Year’s Eve shows a classic car on an idyllic beach with the slogan, ‘America after 100 million deportations.’ Homeland Security has added the words, ‘The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world.’”

Opinion | By Killing Renee Good, ICE Sent a Message to Us All

www.nytimes.com

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 1d

Status-based theory of property rights?

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Robert C. Richards, Andrew Jacobs , and 4 more Anna O. Law, Robert C. Richards, Andrew Jacobs, Jacob T. Levy, Margot C. Finn, Ann Bartow, Robert L. Tsai

Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 2d

“He reads it. He cites it. And he makes it accessible to a national audience.” Very cool moment @historians.org #AHA26 recognizing @jamellebouie.net’s exceptional engagement w history and historians in his brilliant opinion writing.

Aha awards citation for Jamelle Bouie for “promoting public historical literacy.”

Reposted by David S. Cohen, Jacob T. Levy, Eric J. Segall , and 2 more David S. Cohen, Jacob T. Levy, Eric J. Segall, Daxton R. Stewart, Robert L. Tsai

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 4d

On the blog, I argue that Trump is a literal law breaker: He does not merely violate the law; he and his administration seek to render it inoperative, broken. Examples: might-makes-right military actions; J6 pardons; censure of Sen Kelly; and firing members of independent agencies w/o cause. 👇

Trump Doesn't Merely Violate the Law. He Aims to Destroy it.

In yet another example of how each of Donald Trump's outrageous acts distracts attention from the previous outrageous act, yesterday, which ...

www.dorfonlaw.org

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

Right to “healthcare”

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

State constitutional claim successful in a red state

NPR @npr.org · 5d

Abortions will remain legal in Wyoming. The state’s supreme court ruled Jan. 6 that two near-total abortion bans are unconstitutional. (via @wyomingpublicmedia.bsky.social)

Wyoming Supreme Court protects abortion access

The state’s highest court ruled that two near-total state abortion bans violate the constitution.

n.pr

Reposted by Ameet Sarpatwari, Robert L. Tsai

NPR @npr.org · 5d

Abortions will remain legal in Wyoming. The state’s supreme court ruled Jan. 6 that two near-total abortion bans are unconstitutional. (via @wyomingpublicmedia.bsky.social)

Wyoming Supreme Court protects abortion access

The state’s highest court ruled that two near-total state abortion bans violate the constitution.

n.pr

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

January 6, 2021. #neverforget

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

adbl.co/3Vx5PbQ

Demand the Impossible

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. In Demand the Impossible, Robert L. Tsai traces lawyer Stephen Bright's remarkable career to explore the legal ideas that were central to his relentless pur...

adbl.co

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

🙏 “This is the type of book that should be on school curriculums and adult read lists” @demandtimpossible.bsky.social

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 6d

😄

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 7d

Always great to catch up with old friends

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 7d

Important thread

Marty Lederman @martylederman.bsky.social · 7d

Jack writes--correctly--that the military abduction and extraction of Maduro "pretty clearly isn’t" legal. It plainly violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which is the supreme law of the United States (per Art. VI of the Constitution) and, as I've explained elsewhere, ... [1]

Jack Goldsmith @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social · 8d

My quick take on the legality of the Venezuela invasion.

open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

Reposted by Robert L. Tsai

Marty Lederman @martylederman.bsky.social · 7d

Jack Goldsmith @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social · 8d

My quick take on the legality of the Venezuela invasion.

open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

On the Legality of the Venezuela Invasion

Executive branch precedents can be garnered to support the action—which does not, of course, mean that it is lawful.

open.substack.com

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 8d

… Again

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 8d

“Nonjusticiable political question”

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 8d

Trump’s theory of inherent presidential authority is basically: I do what I want eat shit

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 8d

RIP International Law

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, Robert L. Tsai

Rebecca Ingber @becingber.bsky.social · 8d

I wrote about unit self defense in this piece in a very different context. It’s always been a slippery slope. But whatever the contours, unit self defense is not an available defense to invading a country without legal cause. A state can’t use it to backfill a defense to their armed attack.

Legally Sliding into War

"We need to grapple with the legal mechanisms through which presidential administration after administration has legally justified escalating, elongating, and expanding conflicts over the last two dec...

www.justsecurity.org

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Melanie O’Brien, Robert L. Tsai

Rebecca Ingber @becingber.bsky.social · 8d

Sen Mike Lee with the first account I’ve seen of the Admin’s legal theory for the strikes. On the domestic law side — something like: Art II law enforcement power to capture Maduro (by invading his own country) combined with Art II power to protect those personnel executing the warrant.