Dan Farbman
@danfarbman.bsky.social
Law Professor at BC Law, Historian of social movements and local government. Writing a book about Abolitionist Lawyering.
Today, like nearly every day for the past year, is a good day to read Thoreau’s “Slavery in Massachusetts.”
“It is not an era of repose. We have used up all our inherited freedom. If we would save our lives, we must fight for them.”
“It is not an era of repose. We have used up all our inherited freedom. If we would save our lives, we must fight for them.”
January 14, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Today, like nearly every day for the past year, is a good day to read Thoreau’s “Slavery in Massachusetts.”
“It is not an era of repose. We have used up all our inherited freedom. If we would save our lives, we must fight for them.”
“It is not an era of repose. We have used up all our inherited freedom. If we would save our lives, we must fight for them.”
MAKE FEDERALISM GREAT AGAIN!!!
Trump: "Starting February 1, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities"
January 13, 2026 at 8:30 PM
MAKE FEDERALISM GREAT AGAIN!!!
Since the death of Renee Good, I've been thinking a lot about the way that the pro-slavery press covered the murder of abolitionist printer Elijah Lovejoy in 1838. In short, he was blamed for "disturbing the peace" and "provoking violence" by agitating for abolition. History/tragedy/farce, etc.
January 12, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Since the death of Renee Good, I've been thinking a lot about the way that the pro-slavery press covered the murder of abolitionist printer Elijah Lovejoy in 1838. In short, he was blamed for "disturbing the peace" and "provoking violence" by agitating for abolition. History/tragedy/farce, etc.
Local government law at the heart of everything.
"The question that you're basically asking is, can our cops arrest them? From a legal perspective, yes. From a practical perspective...they have bigger guns than we do." That's where we're at.
Look out for @mayorjacobfrey.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast with @timmiller.bsky.social!
Look out for @mayorjacobfrey.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast with @timmiller.bsky.social!
January 10, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Local government law at the heart of everything.
Periodic reminder that the confederacy hoped to conquer South America and create a hemispheric slave empire.
Alexander Stephens’ ghost’s hands at the wheel of our politics.
Alexander Stephens’ ghost’s hands at the wheel of our politics.
January 4, 2026 at 3:58 AM
Periodic reminder that the confederacy hoped to conquer South America and create a hemispheric slave empire.
Alexander Stephens’ ghost’s hands at the wheel of our politics.
Alexander Stephens’ ghost’s hands at the wheel of our politics.
The One Little Thing SCOTUS Explicitly Said Was Still Lawful is Not Lawful Say the "Very Best" Lawyers Who Definitely Care About Legality Above All.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/12/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/12/m...
White House flags DEI-themed college essays as potentially unlawful - The Boston Globe
Navigating the college admissions landscape has never been easy, but for the class of 2030 it’s particularly fraught.
www.bostonglobe.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:15 PM
The One Little Thing SCOTUS Explicitly Said Was Still Lawful is Not Lawful Say the "Very Best" Lawyers Who Definitely Care About Legality Above All.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/12/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/12/m...
Tell me the best stuff you've read recently about legal realism and its application to all the stuff we're living with. Asking for a person updating a syllabus...
December 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Tell me the best stuff you've read recently about legal realism and its application to all the stuff we're living with. Asking for a person updating a syllabus...
If we’re just gonna make the constitution mean whatever we want, can we start making up “legitimate questions” about the Senate and the electoral college?
Get in folks! We’re gonna make this old parchment live a little.
Get in folks! We’re gonna make this old parchment live a little.
December 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM
If we’re just gonna make the constitution mean whatever we want, can we start making up “legitimate questions” about the Senate and the electoral college?
Get in folks! We’re gonna make this old parchment live a little.
Get in folks! We’re gonna make this old parchment live a little.
Reposted by Dan Farbman
Look, I know this weaponization of male academic interest is the oldest story in the book, but it’s just so, so pernicious. It’s awful to the women directly involved, but it’s also awful to *all* women in the academy, who have to live in its shadow all the time.
November 17, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Look, I know this weaponization of male academic interest is the oldest story in the book, but it’s just so, so pernicious. It’s awful to the women directly involved, but it’s also awful to *all* women in the academy, who have to live in its shadow all the time.
Please stop making the worst parts of American history “great” again.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 16, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Please stop making the worst parts of American history “great” again.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
In the stupidest timeline, all this is leading to FIFA staging a global coup and promulgating its worstness into every corner of our lives.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino on Donald Trump.
November 6, 2025 at 10:52 AM
In the stupidest timeline, all this is leading to FIFA staging a global coup and promulgating its worstness into every corner of our lives.
Despite a very vocal push against progressives here in Cambridge, we shored up a progressive majority on the city council and elected an amazing slate of progressive and teacher-backed candidates to the school committee. Good news around every local corner.
Keeping an eye on local elections around Boston, where NIMBYs are pushing back against moves to liberalize zoning to create more housing in Cambridge, Somerville, and where I live in Medford. Almost no coverage in local press but similar issues, including objections to bike paths.
Cambridge City Council Election Guide 2025 - Cambridge Day
Guide to the City of Cambridge's 2025 election for city council.
www.cambridgeday.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Despite a very vocal push against progressives here in Cambridge, we shored up a progressive majority on the city council and elected an amazing slate of progressive and teacher-backed candidates to the school committee. Good news around every local corner.
This account is undefeated.
Abduction of Proserpina, by Giambologna, 1579 (from the @NortonSimon Museum in Pasadena), 📸 by @nturchiarophoto
November 3, 2025 at 3:40 PM
This account is undefeated.
It really looks like this guy is trying to turn the White House into mid-1990s McMansion in a “nice” Jersey suburb.
Hey folks, an update on the battle to bring down prices!
October 31, 2025 at 7:28 PM
It really looks like this guy is trying to turn the White House into mid-1990s McMansion in a “nice” Jersey suburb.
Unsolicited semi-random restaurant review #18:
Rajdhani in Artesia. All-you-can-eat vegetarian Gujarathi thali. Eat whatever they are serving--and make sure you get bread. You will be delighted.
www.rajdhaniofartesia.com
Rajdhani in Artesia. All-you-can-eat vegetarian Gujarathi thali. Eat whatever they are serving--and make sure you get bread. You will be delighted.
www.rajdhaniofartesia.com
Rajdhani Restaurant – Thali Indian Food
www.rajdhaniofartesia.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Unsolicited semi-random restaurant review #18:
Rajdhani in Artesia. All-you-can-eat vegetarian Gujarathi thali. Eat whatever they are serving--and make sure you get bread. You will be delighted.
www.rajdhaniofartesia.com
Rajdhani in Artesia. All-you-can-eat vegetarian Gujarathi thali. Eat whatever they are serving--and make sure you get bread. You will be delighted.
www.rajdhaniofartesia.com
We are so far off the map of "how any of this works" that it seems like just about anything is possible. That's very bad when it's all about grift and nativism and trolling. But it's also as close as we're ever going to come to building a liberatory politics of possibility.
President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him.
Whether he gets paid will ultimately be up to DOJ's second-in-command, who was recently his personal lawyer.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
Whether he gets paid will ultimately be up to DOJ's second-in-command, who was recently his personal lawyer.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
October 21, 2025 at 8:29 PM
We are so far off the map of "how any of this works" that it seems like just about anything is possible. That's very bad when it's all about grift and nativism and trolling. But it's also as close as we're ever going to come to building a liberatory politics of possibility.
At some point the rank incompetence and self-regarding blindness has to have some consequences? Or are we really at the end of narrative?
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
October 21, 2025 at 9:48 AM
At some point the rank incompetence and self-regarding blindness has to have some consequences? Or are we really at the end of narrative?
Glass half full—lots of folks getting psyched to be part of this founding moment.
open.substack.com/pub/postcard...
open.substack.com/pub/postcard...
October 19, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Glass half full—lots of folks getting psyched to be part of this founding moment.
open.substack.com/pub/postcard...
open.substack.com/pub/postcard...
This billboard is straight out of the 1840s. (Personal Liberty laws passed to prevent the kidnapping of black northerners). We are making the worst parts of our history great again.
October 18, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This billboard is straight out of the 1840s. (Personal Liberty laws passed to prevent the kidnapping of black northerners). We are making the worst parts of our history great again.
MAKE THE DEPLORABLES GREAT AGAIN!!!
Leavitt: "The Democrat Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals."
October 16, 2025 at 9:13 PM
MAKE THE DEPLORABLES GREAT AGAIN!!!
Every year in Con Law we talk about how hard it is these days to find hard evidence of intentional discrimination behind government actions that have disparate racial impact. But they are just...texting and lolz-ing it all out there?
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
www.politico.com
October 14, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Every year in Con Law we talk about how hard it is these days to find hard evidence of intentional discrimination behind government actions that have disparate racial impact. But they are just...texting and lolz-ing it all out there?
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Among other things, this is so bizarrely formalist. All these orders “resolve” the issues before them in that they dissolve injunctions, allow for racial profiling, allow for impoundment, etc.
You don’t have to be a legal realist to see this…though it doesn’t hurt.
You don’t have to be a legal realist to see this…though it doesn’t hurt.
Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue."
October 13, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Among other things, this is so bizarrely formalist. All these orders “resolve” the issues before them in that they dissolve injunctions, allow for racial profiling, allow for impoundment, etc.
You don’t have to be a legal realist to see this…though it doesn’t hurt.
You don’t have to be a legal realist to see this…though it doesn’t hurt.
Shards of light in a dark time.
October 9, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Shards of light in a dark time.
During the 1850s there were cities in the north where the Fugitive Slave Law was unenforceable because nobody could be found who was willing to serve as a federal commissioner to hear and decide the cases.
Jury Refuses To Indict Chicago ICE Protesters In Latest Revolt Against Trump Overreach talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things...
Jury Refuses To Indict Chicago ICE Protesters In Latest Revolt Against Trump Overreach
A grand jury Tuesday night declined to indict two protesters in the...
talkingpointsmemo.com
October 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
During the 1850s there were cities in the north where the Fugitive Slave Law was unenforceable because nobody could be found who was willing to serve as a federal commissioner to hear and decide the cases.