Anya Bernstein
@anyabernstein.bsky.social
Law prof née anthropologist. Legal language, bureaucratic culture, democratic legitimation. 安雅仁 / Анька
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
One relatively simple but important thing Congress can do to reassert Article I policymaking primacy is drastically reduce the number of presidential appointees, including both those that require Senate confirmation and those that don't
September 21, 2025 at 2:08 PM
One relatively simple but important thing Congress can do to reassert Article I policymaking primacy is drastically reduce the number of presidential appointees, including both those that require Senate confirmation and those that don't
For the tween-to-teen set: A book about volcanoes, climate shocks, bicycles, Mary Shelley, and the Frankenstein's monster we live in.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/b...
The Volcanic Eruption That Created a Monster
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 12:48 PM
For the tween-to-teen set: A book about volcanoes, climate shocks, bicycles, Mary Shelley, and the Frankenstein's monster we live in.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/b...
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
Very excited that Rejecting the Unitary Executive is forthcoming in the Utah Law Review (Fall 2025)! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Here’s a 🧵outlining key arguments in the paper:
Here’s a 🧵outlining key arguments in the paper:
Rejecting the Unitary Executive
<p>Critics have dismissed originalism as an empty methodology. They claim it is incapable of resolving our most important constitutional disputes, including the
papers.ssrn.com
March 9, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Very excited that Rejecting the Unitary Executive is forthcoming in the Utah Law Review (Fall 2025)! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Here’s a 🧵outlining key arguments in the paper:
Here’s a 🧵outlining key arguments in the paper:
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
February 28, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
Kate Andrias, “Separation of Wealth” (2015) 🔥 🔥 🔥 scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jcl/vol18/is...
February 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Kate Andrias, “Separation of Wealth” (2015) 🔥 🔥 🔥 scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jcl/vol18/is...
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
Every headline that does not say “illegal” or “unconstitutional” is a failure to convey to the public the stakes of what is going on.
February 7, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Every headline that does not say “illegal” or “unconstitutional” is a failure to convey to the public the stakes of what is going on.
If you're looking for a page turner for the 10-and-up set, this is some narrative nonfiction that will grip your kid through the gift overwhelm.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714730...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714730...
The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day: 9780593643846 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A “witty thriller” (The New York Times) for middle-grade readers about how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, how the robbery made the portrait the most famous artwork in the...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
December 20, 2024 at 6:27 PM
If you're looking for a page turner for the 10-and-up set, this is some narrative nonfiction that will grip your kid through the gift overwhelm.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714730...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714730...
This looks really important & interesting. Also sounds like herculean effort -- congrats!
December 20, 2024 at 6:18 PM
This looks really important & interesting. Also sounds like herculean effort -- congrats!
Perhaps you (or some youngish human you know) would enjoy this Nothing of beauty.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737998...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737998...
Nothing by Nicholas Day: 9780823454099 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
What does nothing sound like? An offbeat history of John Cage’s 4’33”, a musical composition of blank bars, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka. One night in 1952, master...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
December 19, 2024 at 8:09 PM
Perhaps you (or some youngish human you know) would enjoy this Nothing of beauty.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737998...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737998...
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
Wrote a thing about progressive originalism, cosmology, democracy, Elden Ring, and Jack Balkin, forthcoming in the Penn Law Review. Check it out! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 17, 2024 at 4:31 PM
Wrote a thing about progressive originalism, cosmology, democracy, Elden Ring, and Jack Balkin, forthcoming in the Penn Law Review. Check it out! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
I'm happy to announce my new book on the Supreme Court's role in fostering mass incarceration will go on sale March 4. I hope you'll check it out!
You can preorder here: www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...
And read more details here: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
You can preorder here: www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...
And read more details here: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
Justice Abandoned — Harvard University Press
An influential legal scholar argues that the Supreme Court played a pivotal role in the rise of mass incarceration in America.With less than 5 percent of the world’s population and almost a quarter of...
www.hup.harvard.edu
December 9, 2024 at 2:08 PM
I'm happy to announce my new book on the Supreme Court's role in fostering mass incarceration will go on sale March 4. I hope you'll check it out!
You can preorder here: www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...
And read more details here: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
You can preorder here: www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...
And read more details here: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
When I was doing research in newly democratized Taiwan, even activists would sometimes tell me “Taiwan is too democratic.” By which they meant they missed the sense of shared communal purpose and value that martial law instilled. Even if they didn’t miss the oppression that went along with it.
December 2, 2024 at 8:06 PM
When I was doing research in newly democratized Taiwan, even activists would sometimes tell me “Taiwan is too democratic.” By which they meant they missed the sense of shared communal purpose and value that martial law instilled. Even if they didn’t miss the oppression that went along with it.
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
Preach!
“‘The executive power’ granted at the American founding was conceptually, legally, and semantically incapable of conveying a reservoir of royal authority. The real meaning of executive power was something almost embarrassingly simple: the power to execute the law.“
What Two Crucial Words in the Constitution Actually Mean
I reviewed more than a thousand publications from the founding era, and discovered that “executive power” doesn’t imply what most scholars thought.
www.theatlantic.com
November 22, 2024 at 7:25 PM
Preach!
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
I could be wrong, but I haven't found any group for scholars of comparative/global legal studies/history (indeed, even for legal scholars/historians). This has been a big part of my research interest, so I have added one more choice if there is any other starter pack already. go.bsky.app/3UAVSRu
November 16, 2024 at 2:24 AM
I could be wrong, but I haven't found any group for scholars of comparative/global legal studies/history (indeed, even for legal scholars/historians). This has been a big part of my research interest, so I have added one more choice if there is any other starter pack already. go.bsky.app/3UAVSRu
Reposted by Anya Bernstein
I am working on a book "A Faithful President: The Founders vs. the Originalists" on presidential power, the mythology of the "unitary executive theory," and an alternative history emphasizing checks & balances.
I've put together a Presidential Power Pack (#POTUS Scholars):
go.bsky.app/5VHVDa9
I've put together a Presidential Power Pack (#POTUS Scholars):
go.bsky.app/5VHVDa9
November 17, 2024 at 2:30 PM
I am working on a book "A Faithful President: The Founders vs. the Originalists" on presidential power, the mythology of the "unitary executive theory," and an alternative history emphasizing checks & balances.
I've put together a Presidential Power Pack (#POTUS Scholars):
go.bsky.app/5VHVDa9
I've put together a Presidential Power Pack (#POTUS Scholars):
go.bsky.app/5VHVDa9
But what would be my value added in teaching these rules, @eczoldan.bsky.social? This proposal is way too sensible and efficient. I rely on arbitrary complexity for my livelihood.
This is from a few months back, but my article, Issues, on the interpretation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure was published by the Wm. & Mary L Rev.
November 15, 2024 at 2:17 AM
But what would be my value added in teaching these rules, @eczoldan.bsky.social? This proposal is way too sensible and efficient. I rely on arbitrary complexity for my livelihood.
So true. Dictatorships have the best elections. So clear. So decisive. The single ringing tone voicing the one true People.
Democracy is more about how you govern in the face of cacophony.
Democracy is more about how you govern in the face of cacophony.
Democracy is more than just elections. Putin has elections. Bashar al-Assad has elections. Electoral authoritarianism is a thing.
We’ve been explaining this for a long time now but it appears some folks need it repeated at them: when people have assessed trump is a threat to democracy, they generally do not mean “no election ever again,” they mean he clearly is openly intending to shred the democratic order as we know it…
November 14, 2024 at 4:04 AM
So true. Dictatorships have the best elections. So clear. So decisive. The single ringing tone voicing the one true People.
Democracy is more about how you govern in the face of cacophony.
Democracy is more about how you govern in the face of cacophony.
Enough with tragedy. Bring on the farce!
November 13, 2024 at 11:02 PM
Enough with tragedy. Bring on the farce!
#AcademicSky #LawSky Quote this & tell me: 1) a project you're working on, 2) an odd idea/theory you aren't working on but keep thinking about
1) government institutions' capacities for accountable action: compare & contrast
2) quantitative analysis depends on qualitative choices
1) government institutions' capacities for accountable action: compare & contrast
2) quantitative analysis depends on qualitative choices
Where to start?? I suppose:
1) Interpreting state constitutional punishment provisions in the context of other state provisions
2) Whether and how enhanced pretrial procedural hurdles could impact assembly-line style prosecution (especially of misdemeanors) (see e.g. greenbag.org/v18n4/v18n4_...)
1) Interpreting state constitutional punishment provisions in the context of other state provisions
2) Whether and how enhanced pretrial procedural hurdles could impact assembly-line style prosecution (especially of misdemeanors) (see e.g. greenbag.org/v18n4/v18n4_...)
November 13, 2024 at 3:03 PM
#AcademicSky #LawSky Quote this & tell me: 1) a project you're working on, 2) an odd idea/theory you aren't working on but keep thinking about
1) government institutions' capacities for accountable action: compare & contrast
2) quantitative analysis depends on qualitative choices
1) government institutions' capacities for accountable action: compare & contrast
2) quantitative analysis depends on qualitative choices
Let's make this the Project for 2025.
I wrote about the concept of “public care” back in 2021, drawing on @gregggonsalves.bsky.social and @akapczynski.bsky.social amazing work on “the politics of care.”
November 5, 2024 at 4:28 PM
Let's make this the Project for 2025.
"Judicial Accountability," soon in Georgetown LJ. Recent judicial doctrines move ever more authority from "unaccountable" agencies to courts. That raises the question: are courts more accountable? The doctrine doesn't address that question. So I do. 1/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 4, 2024 at 9:26 PM
"Judicial Accountability," soon in Georgetown LJ. Recent judicial doctrines move ever more authority from "unaccountable" agencies to courts. That raises the question: are courts more accountable? The doctrine doesn't address that question. So I do. 1/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
