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Michael C. Dorf
@dorfonlaw.bsky.social
11K followers 300 following 890 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

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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%
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 19h
Amidst all the subsequent outrages perpetrated by the Trump admin, Prof Neil Buchanan lingers over the seemingly deliberately cinematic uses of excessive force by ICE in a Chicago apartment building--which exceed even the movie versions on which they're modeled in their indecency and callousness.👇
The Cosplay Is No Longer Play: Terrorizing Americans in Their Homes
One of the laments that I have seen more and more in the Trump II era is some variation on this rhetorical question: "How is  this  not the ...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 2d
Sure, but the other problem is that a majority of SCOTUS Justices believes there is sufficient uncertainty about gender-affirming care that they would--indeed already did--uphold a law banning it for minors.
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 2d
Yesterday's oral argument in Chiles v Salazar indicated that SCOTUS will invalidate Colorado's conversion therapy ban and provided some assurance that SCOTUS would also invalidate a "mirror image" red-state ban on gender-affirming care via talk therapy. Details on the blog.👇
The Chiles v. Salazar Oral Argument in the Mirror
Monday on this blog I previewed the oral argument in Chiles v. Salazar , highlighting my ambivalence about the case: although I am in sympat...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 2d
Should have—of course. But it didn’t. My worry is what this Court will do, not what it should do.
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 3d
Besides its merits arguments, Colorado defends its conversion therapy ban before SCOTUS by contesting the plaintiff's standing. On the blog, @espinsegall.bsky.social worries the argument will fall on deaf ears, given this Court's tendency to manipulate jurisdiction in cases involving religion.👇
Law Has Nothing to do With It: Jurisdiction and Religion in the Roberts Court
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Chiles v. Salazar , a difficult case involving “conversion therapy.” Colorado, like...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 4d
Happy First Monday in October! On the blog, I preview tomorrow's SCOTUS oral argument on whether Colorado's conversion therapy ban infringes free speech. I explain why the ideological stakes are mixed by pointing to implications for hypothetical red-state bans on gender-affirming talk therapy.
Colorado's Conversion Therapy Ban Comes to SCOTUS Tomorrow: Are There Implications for Gender-Affirming Talk Therapy?
The Supreme Court officially begins its new Term today with two relatively small-ball cases. The real action begins tomorrow, when the Court...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 7d
In Part 3 of Prof Neil Buchanan's series on Trump's incredible ability to destroy wealth, he suggests that it's not all unintentional. He likens the moves of Trump and other power-crazed plutocrats to tech firms engaging in enshittification of their products: a symptom of late-stage capitalism.👇
Capitalists Kill Capitalism (Who Knew That Trump's Superpower Would Be Destroying Wealth? Part 3)
Why are Trump and the Republicans doing so many things that harm the US and global economies?  More accurately, given that the economy has a...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 9d
BTW, I'm hardly the first person to notice that Chotiner's usual style is to ask challenging questions that trap his interviewees with their own words. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/why-do-peo...
Why Do People Talk to Isaac Chotiner?
Some speculations after the latest intellectual self-immolation.
danieldrezner.substack.com
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 9d
A fair point, but Chotiner was very uncharacteristically non-confrontational in that interview.
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 10d
Cass Sunstein sat for an interview with Isaac Chotiner of the New Yorker. Unsurprisingly, given Chotiner's track record, it did not go well for Sunstein--and not only because the best he could do to defend his friendship with Henry Kissinger was to say Kissinger wasn't as bad as Stalin. Details👇
Why Did Cass Sunstein Think Sitting for an Interview with Isaac Chotiner Was a Good Idea?
The most famous classic blunder is getting involved in a land war in Asia, but there are other classic blunders, including the only slightly...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 11d
Who could have prevented Trump's political prosecution of Comey? Trump; his advisors; & the grand jury. Who can prevent conviction and imprisonment? Judges & jurors. Who's ultimately responsible? Trump, Congressional Republicans & the 40% of Americans who support the authoritarian regime. Details👇
Wait, Can He Actually Do That? Part 21: The Comey Indictment
It has been over a month since my last entry in this series , but that is hardly because there has been any shortage of legally dubious act...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 13d
On the blog, Prof Neil Buchanan calls out otherwise liberal/progressive pundits and politicians for reflexively accepting what was once just the conservative view that government deficit spending and debt is inherently bad.
Clever, (Economically) Ignorant Liberals
One of my pet peeves is the reflexive self-flagellation that we see so often among US liberals, with all of their "to be fair" overcompensat...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 14d
Lest there be any doubt, I disapprove of the underlying executive orders. My bottom line in the column: "the law firms are not the ones breaking the law, and the law that has been broken is not the Antideficiency Act. The law breaker is the president, and the law he violated is the Constitution."
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 14d
Democrats wrote law firms providing free legal services to the govt after capitulating to Trump's executive orders that they may be breaking the law. In my column for @justiaverdict.bsky.social, I explain that the Antideficiency Act applies only to "voluntary" services, but the firms were coerced. 👇
Are the Law Firm Settlements with the Trump Administration Illegal?
Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf explores whether law firms that settled with the Trump administration by agreeing to provide free services to the government violated the Antideficiency Act, whic...
verdict.justia.com
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 14d
Directing his attention at Ezra Klein's analysis and JD Vance's rhetoric, Prof Neil Buchanan observes that while of course "words are better than violence, that does not mean that everyone's words are offered in good faith or even add up to a coherent argument." Details on the blog.👇
Wrong Ways to Disagree Politically
The rhetorical battle over political violence in the United States shows no signs of abating, or even leveling off.  The latest high-profile...
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 15d
Prof Jacob Hamburger suggests that state labor law could provide some protection against ICE raids: "As federal immigration enforcement ramps up while federal labor enforcement winds down, states have an opportunity to devise new labor law tools to protect and empower immigrants at work." Details 👇
A Labor-Based Approach to ICE's Worksite Raids
Workplace raids have become an important part of the Trump administration's mass deportations agenda. The recent ICE raid  at a Hyundai faci...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 16d
That's pretty much every news story and the topic of the first few paragraphs of my blog post today.
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 16d
The conclusion is the perhaps most (would-be) hilarious part. Having announced military support for Ukraine's full territorial integrity, Trump signs off the same way he might end a welcome message at a tournament at one of his golf courses, wishing good luck to all the players in the tourney/war.
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 17d
There was some easy-to-miss amusing news last week. A federal judge struck what he called Trump's "tedious and burdensome" complaint against the NY Times. As I explain on the blog, the lawyers packed the pleading with hyperbole for no tactical legal purpose but to please the narcissistic client. 👇
Who Was the Audience for Trump's "Tedious and Burdensome" Allegations Stated in "Abundant, Florid, and Enervating Detail?"
Perhaps one of the most disorienting aspects of living through our current times is the mix of menace and buffoonery that emanates from Pres...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 18d
On the blog, @espinsegall.bsky.social, who is a faculty member of a public university in a blue city in a purple state run by a Republican statewide government, wonders what is and is no longer permissible for him to say. 👇
The Big Chill: What Can a Law Professor Say and not Say These Days?
The air has turned chilly for university academics and administrators. Just a few blocks from my house, an Emory University professor was "t...
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 21d
Trump said the quiet part out loud: his critics must be silenced. But FCC Chair Brendan Carr has suggested he would restore the so-called "fairness doctrine" that conservatives despised and Reagan ended. Carr would apply it unfairly, but even if applied fairly, is it still constitutional? Details👇
Wait! <i>That's</i> What Got Jimmy Kimmel Canceled? ABC Does it the Easy Way
ABC has "pre-empted indefinitely" late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! in response to network affiliate and official backlash against host Jim...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 21d
I was asked to speak about the Bill of Rights by my friends at
@tcplny.bsky.social, Ithaca's great public library. I agreed-- because apparently now I'm a legal historian. 🙄 The audience kept me on my toes and up at the front of the room for nearly 2 hours, so watch/listen at your own risk.
TCPL Presents The Constitution: Rights to Know. Program 1: The Bill of Rights
YouTube video by Tompkins County Public Library
www.youtube.com
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 21d
Prof Neil Buchanan--who had defended Sen Schumer's actions on the last budget bill--has reached the breaking point. On the blog, he explains that "Schumer, Jeffries, and everyone like them somehow manage to kill any outbreak of enthusiasm among the people who should be energized right now." 👇
I Honestly Have Tried to Avoid Piling On When It Comes to Democratic Party Leaders, But OMG
After a party loses an election, it is both necessary and healthy for everyone involved to ask what happened.  After the 2024 election, howe...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 22d
I doubt that any serious historian would agree with that claim.
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 22d
If Kennedy v Bremerton eliminates play in the joints, it means that in many contexts an accommodation of religion is required (given Tandon) unless it violates the Establishment Clause, which is determined by "reference to historical practices and understandings." He thinks that's clear. It isn't.
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Reposted by Eric J. Segall

Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 23d
The Trump/RFK Jr. CDC has reverted to calling mpox "monkeypox." There's no scientific or other policy basis for the change. Expressing and encouraging racism and homophobia are, for the Trump administration, a feature, not a bug. Details on the blog. 👇
For Trump, Racism and Homophobia are Features, Not Bugs: "Monkeypox" Edition
Donald Trump has a penchant for bestowing and changing names--from "Little Marco" to the "Gulf of America." Some of Trump's statements and a...
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 23d
Your argument depends on rules being clear in all of their applications, which is nearly impossible, unless the rules are arbitrary w/r/t edge cases. A wide buffer zone will almost always provide greater reassurance of an action's legality than purportedly clear lines with little or no buffer zone.
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 23d
Prof Neil Buchanan--who was virtually alone among progressives in thinking Chuck Schumer rightly chose the less awful of two awful paths by funding the govt in March--argues that now that Trump's lawlessness is inarguable, Democrats should not cooperate in trying to avoid a government shutdown. 👇
www.dorfonlaw.org
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 24d
A magnificently snarky review by my colleague @gshans.bsky.social of Justice Barrett’s new book vindicates my decision to review her CBS interview without reading it by confirming that it is a platitudinous brief for naive formalism. See also my column below.
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Michael C. Dorf @dorfonlaw.bsky.social · 25d
Below is the full essay, which applies the play-in-the joints concept to clashes between free expression and antidiscrimination laws, competing conceptions of equality in education, and the debt-ceiling dilemma I've addressed in other work.
lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu
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