Matthew Lawrence
@mblawrence.bsky.social
Law professor at Emory Law. Admin law, health law, addictions.
Addiction and Liberty: https://www.cornelllawreview.org/2023/04/26/addiction-and-liberty/
Selected works: https://works.bepress.com/matthew-lawrence/
Addiction and Liberty: https://www.cornelllawreview.org/2023/04/26/addiction-and-liberty/
Selected works: https://works.bepress.com/matthew-lawrence/
Hot off the presses, Dave Pozen’s and my new piece in @HarvLRev on what is broken in how we regulate marijuana, kratom, opioids, and other drugs—and how to fix it. Admin law meets public health meets LPE meets drug law meets harm reduction. Check it out!
harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
Drug Scheduling as Institutional Design - Harvard Law Review
The United States makes bad choices when it comes to psychoactive drugs. Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), U.S. drug law has simultaneously fueled mass incarceration, inhibited needed access,...
harvardlawreview.org
February 11, 2026 at 1:05 AM
Hot off the presses, Dave Pozen’s and my new piece in @HarvLRev on what is broken in how we regulate marijuana, kratom, opioids, and other drugs—and how to fix it. Admin law meets public health meets LPE meets drug law meets harm reduction. Check it out!
harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
Reposted by Matthew Lawrence
Readers, today is the exciting launch day for my book!
How to Tax the Ultrarich
bit.ly/4rk6wBM
In partnership with the great economic policy team @rooseveltinstitute.org
A few threads will follow. 1st, the key takeaway: even w/ *this* Supreme Court, we can tax wealth at the federal level.
1/12
How to Tax the Ultrarich
bit.ly/4rk6wBM
In partnership with the great economic policy team @rooseveltinstitute.org
A few threads will follow. 1st, the key takeaway: even w/ *this* Supreme Court, we can tax wealth at the federal level.
1/12
How to Tax the Ultrarich
Learn about the Fair Share Tax (FAST), a practical, constitutionally sound plan to tax the ultrarich, close loopholes, and prevent dynastic wealth accumulation.
bit.ly
January 29, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Readers, today is the exciting launch day for my book!
How to Tax the Ultrarich
bit.ly/4rk6wBM
In partnership with the great economic policy team @rooseveltinstitute.org
A few threads will follow. 1st, the key takeaway: even w/ *this* Supreme Court, we can tax wealth at the federal level.
1/12
How to Tax the Ultrarich
bit.ly/4rk6wBM
In partnership with the great economic policy team @rooseveltinstitute.org
A few threads will follow. 1st, the key takeaway: even w/ *this* Supreme Court, we can tax wealth at the federal level.
1/12
Reposted by Matthew Lawrence
At this moment, the incessant & chaotic attacks on freedom can make collective action feel daunting, even impossible. While collective & sustained action is never fail-proof, it has disrupted the admin's violent takeover. A thread on how coordinated, systemic resistance blunts Trump's tyranny: 1/
January 28, 2026 at 12:41 AM
At this moment, the incessant & chaotic attacks on freedom can make collective action feel daunting, even impossible. While collective & sustained action is never fail-proof, it has disrupted the admin's violent takeover. A thread on how coordinated, systemic resistance blunts Trump's tyranny: 1/
Wow, thanks Josh for the shout out!
Hugely important piece by @mblawrence.bsky.social on the future of GAO and why you should care. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/is-t...
Is the GAO the Next Battlefield in the Fight for Separation of Powers?
The expiration of the comptroller general’s term is an opportunity for Congress to reassert itself, or retreat further.
www.lawfaremedia.org
January 23, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Wow, thanks Josh for the shout out!
I have a piece in lawfare today about a wonky but important issue—the selection of a new Comptroller General and future of both “Congress’s Watchdog” and the (badly needed) stabilizing force in federal spending it provides. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/is-t...
Is the GAO the Next Battlefield in the Fight for Separation of Powers?
The expiration of the comptroller general’s term is an opportunity for Congress to reassert itself, or retreat further.
www.lawfaremedia.org
January 23, 2026 at 2:41 PM
I have a piece in lawfare today about a wonky but important issue—the selection of a new Comptroller General and future of both “Congress’s Watchdog” and the (badly needed) stabilizing force in federal spending it provides. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/is-t...
Happy "just circling back on this" day to those who celebrate.
January 5, 2026 at 8:33 PM
Happy "just circling back on this" day to those who celebrate.
I’m honored to join the @oneillinstitute.bsky.social's Center for Addiction and Public Policy, Taleed El-Sabawi, Regina LaBelle, and other colleagues for the "Winter Institute on Addiction Policy and the Law” CLE event on February 9-10, 2026.
Register (zoom or live): web.cvent.com/event/e921a3...
Register (zoom or live): web.cvent.com/event/e921a3...
January 5, 2026 at 8:31 PM
I’m honored to join the @oneillinstitute.bsky.social's Center for Addiction and Public Policy, Taleed El-Sabawi, Regina LaBelle, and other colleagues for the "Winter Institute on Addiction Policy and the Law” CLE event on February 9-10, 2026.
Register (zoom or live): web.cvent.com/event/e921a3...
Register (zoom or live): web.cvent.com/event/e921a3...
Excited to be launching and co-teaching this new course at Emory Law. If you've got ideas for articles/books/strategies/challenges to share with students to help them use law to change the world for the better, despite all that stands in the way, please do share!
law.emory.edu/news-and-eve...
law.emory.edu/news-and-eve...
Emory Law launches Public Interest Pathways course | Emory University School of Law | Atlanta, GA
law.emory.edu
January 5, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Excited to be launching and co-teaching this new course at Emory Law. If you've got ideas for articles/books/strategies/challenges to share with students to help them use law to change the world for the better, despite all that stands in the way, please do share!
law.emory.edu/news-and-eve...
law.emory.edu/news-and-eve...
Very wonky podcast with Eugene Volokh @hooverinstitution.bsky.social, Jane Bambauer, and me talking about how the first amendment does/doesn't limit states' ability to try to protect kids and adults from addictive design by tech companies. reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Free Speech Unmuted: Does the First Amendment Protect Supposedly “Addictive” Algorithms?, with Matthew Lawrence
Can the government regulate social media features because they are "addictive"? Jane Bambauer and I talk with Emory Law professor…
reason.com
December 18, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Very wonky podcast with Eugene Volokh @hooverinstitution.bsky.social, Jane Bambauer, and me talking about how the first amendment does/doesn't limit states' ability to try to protect kids and adults from addictive design by tech companies. reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Trump marijuana EO is a big deal and, like all EOs, raises questions about "what's next" and "what has actually changed"? Here are some quick bullets about my understanding of where we are and where we are going.
December 18, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Trump marijuana EO is a big deal and, like all EOs, raises questions about "what's next" and "what has actually changed"? Here are some quick bullets about my understanding of where we are and where we are going.
Now on SSRN: "Platform Polarization?" is forthcoming in Emory Law Journal--about the increasing politicization of social media platforms and what it means for political parties and constitutional law. tinyurl.com/h4ynwyua
Comments are very welcome on the draft!
Comments are very welcome on the draft!
December 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Now on SSRN: "Platform Polarization?" is forthcoming in Emory Law Journal--about the increasing politicization of social media platforms and what it means for political parties and constitutional law. tinyurl.com/h4ynwyua
Comments are very welcome on the draft!
Comments are very welcome on the draft!
Now on SSRN: "The Missing Constitutional Law of Executive Conditions" (with Nicole Huberfeld) is forthcoming in Wash U. L. Rev--about the distinctive constitutional issues presented by presidential "regulation by deal." tinyurl.com/mrytp74z
Comments very welcome on the draft!
Comments very welcome on the draft!
December 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Now on SSRN: "The Missing Constitutional Law of Executive Conditions" (with Nicole Huberfeld) is forthcoming in Wash U. L. Rev--about the distinctive constitutional issues presented by presidential "regulation by deal." tinyurl.com/mrytp74z
Comments very welcome on the draft!
Comments very welcome on the draft!
Reposted by Matthew Lawrence
Well over 150 UC law faculty have just made public this open letter to the UC Regents arguing, point by specific point, for why the Regents should not accept any of the major demands the Trump administration has made of UCLA.
We argue it's not a genuine settlement offer, but a form of extortion.
We argue it's not a genuine settlement offer, but a form of extortion.
Home
UC Law Faculty to Regents: Resist the Unlawful Demands
sites.google.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Well over 150 UC law faculty have just made public this open letter to the UC Regents arguing, point by specific point, for why the Regents should not accept any of the major demands the Trump administration has made of UCLA.
We argue it's not a genuine settlement offer, but a form of extortion.
We argue it's not a genuine settlement offer, but a form of extortion.
This is interesting!
“Given the severity of the threats social media companies pose to democracy and fundamental rights, policy responses cannot merely tinker around the edges,” writes Christine Galvagna. The EU must act now—fund decentralized, public service social media to protect democracy and digital rights.
Public Service Social Media as a Democratic Safeguard | TechPolicy.Press
Christine Galvagna proposes an EU fund to support decentralized, public service focused social media networks to protect digital rights and democracy.
www.techpolicy.press
November 7, 2025 at 8:42 PM
This is interesting!
Now that Character.AI is 18+ the pressure on other companies to age gate will grow.
Delighted to share my piece with Brett Frischmann and Avi Sholkoff, "Tort Liability for Failure to Age Gate: A Promising Regulatory Response to Digital Public Health Hazards," www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Delighted to share my piece with Brett Frischmann and Avi Sholkoff, "Tort Liability for Failure to Age Gate: A Promising Regulatory Response to Digital Public Health Hazards," www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
November 1, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Now that Character.AI is 18+ the pressure on other companies to age gate will grow.
Delighted to share my piece with Brett Frischmann and Avi Sholkoff, "Tort Liability for Failure to Age Gate: A Promising Regulatory Response to Digital Public Health Hazards," www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Delighted to share my piece with Brett Frischmann and Avi Sholkoff, "Tort Liability for Failure to Age Gate: A Promising Regulatory Response to Digital Public Health Hazards," www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Is the Trump admin going to appeal the RI court's order requiring SNAP distributions? DOJ's latest filing suggests they are considering it, asking for a written order to help them decide.
Meanwhile the MA court says funds *are legally available* and asks admin to say if they will pay by 11/3.
Meanwhile the MA court says funds *are legally available* and asks admin to say if they will pay by 11/3.
November 1, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Is the Trump admin going to appeal the RI court's order requiring SNAP distributions? DOJ's latest filing suggests they are considering it, asking for a written order to help them decide.
Meanwhile the MA court says funds *are legally available* and asks admin to say if they will pay by 11/3.
Meanwhile the MA court says funds *are legally available* and asks admin to say if they will pay by 11/3.
Two very different memos: Here is (1) the first Trump Admin's explanation that they'd made funds available to protect SNAP beneficiaries from shutdown-related disruptions, dated January 9, 2019, and (2) the second Trump Admin's explanation that they would not do so, posted by Axios last Friday.
October 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Two very different memos: Here is (1) the first Trump Admin's explanation that they'd made funds available to protect SNAP beneficiaries from shutdown-related disruptions, dated January 9, 2019, and (2) the second Trump Admin's explanation that they would not do so, posted by Axios last Friday.
Reposted by Matthew Lawrence
Can the power of the purse be protected? Professors @mblawrence.bsky.social, Eloise Pasachoff, & Zachary Price analyze the Trump Admin's dramatic shift away from Congressional power and toward unilateral executive control over spending. bit.ly/appropriatio...
October 28, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Can the power of the purse be protected? Professors @mblawrence.bsky.social, Eloise Pasachoff, & Zachary Price analyze the Trump Admin's dramatic shift away from Congressional power and toward unilateral executive control over spending. bit.ly/appropriatio...
Awesome presentation at Emory by Yale Law’s Nicholas Parrillo to discuss “Administrative Law as a Choice of Business Strategy.” If you’re in admin law (health care, energy, envt, consumer protection, etc.) you really ought to read this groundbreaking paper. tinyurl.com/3ejdm5a8
October 24, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Awesome presentation at Emory by Yale Law’s Nicholas Parrillo to discuss “Administrative Law as a Choice of Business Strategy.” If you’re in admin law (health care, energy, envt, consumer protection, etc.) you really ought to read this groundbreaking paper. tinyurl.com/3ejdm5a8
“If the President could later alter the bargain by negating provisions they disfavored, why would senators or representatives ever vote for a package including provisions they dislike?”
-Me, Pasachoff & Price last spring on how appropriations presidentialism causes shutdowns. tinyurl.com/59uwsu42
-Me, Pasachoff & Price last spring on how appropriations presidentialism causes shutdowns. tinyurl.com/59uwsu42
October 2, 2025 at 5:53 PM
“If the President could later alter the bargain by negating provisions they disfavored, why would senators or representatives ever vote for a package including provisions they dislike?”
-Me, Pasachoff & Price last spring on how appropriations presidentialism causes shutdowns. tinyurl.com/59uwsu42
-Me, Pasachoff & Price last spring on how appropriations presidentialism causes shutdowns. tinyurl.com/59uwsu42
For anyone trying to understand how government shutdowns work, I will post a couple pieces I've done on them in the reply. But first I'd read @joshchafetz.bsky.social on "Congress's Constitution." yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
Congress's Constitution
A leading scholar of Congress and the Constitution analyzes Congress’s surprisingly potent set of tools in the system of checks and balances. Congress is w...
yalebooks.yale.edu
September 30, 2025 at 2:57 PM
For anyone trying to understand how government shutdowns work, I will post a couple pieces I've done on them in the reply. But first I'd read @joshchafetz.bsky.social on "Congress's Constitution." yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
Now, there have been arguments in the past that section 687 empowering GAO to sue is itself unconstitutional.
But at this point, if the courts are going to say that, we need them to actually do so—and then, if 687 is unconstitutional, they should sever any preclusion and let APA suits in.
But at this point, if the courts are going to say that, we need them to actually do so—and then, if 687 is unconstitutional, they should sever any preclusion and let APA suits in.
On this: One reason the Supreme Court just said others can’t sue is *because Congress gave the power to GAO*. But GAO hasn’t sued.
Right or wrong, yesterday’s ruling is SCOTUS’s invitation for GAO to go to court. GAO works for Congress, so it will be interesting to see if members call for this.
Right or wrong, yesterday’s ruling is SCOTUS’s invitation for GAO to go to court. GAO works for Congress, so it will be interesting to see if members call for this.
September 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Now, there have been arguments in the past that section 687 empowering GAO to sue is itself unconstitutional.
But at this point, if the courts are going to say that, we need them to actually do so—and then, if 687 is unconstitutional, they should sever any preclusion and let APA suits in.
But at this point, if the courts are going to say that, we need them to actually do so—and then, if 687 is unconstitutional, they should sever any preclusion and let APA suits in.
On this: One reason the Supreme Court just said others can’t sue is *because Congress gave the power to GAO*. But GAO hasn’t sued.
Right or wrong, yesterday’s ruling is SCOTUS’s invitation for GAO to go to court. GAO works for Congress, so it will be interesting to see if members call for this.
Right or wrong, yesterday’s ruling is SCOTUS’s invitation for GAO to go to court. GAO works for Congress, so it will be interesting to see if members call for this.
September 27, 2025 at 3:38 PM
On this: One reason the Supreme Court just said others can’t sue is *because Congress gave the power to GAO*. But GAO hasn’t sued.
Right or wrong, yesterday’s ruling is SCOTUS’s invitation for GAO to go to court. GAO works for Congress, so it will be interesting to see if members call for this.
Right or wrong, yesterday’s ruling is SCOTUS’s invitation for GAO to go to court. GAO works for Congress, so it will be interesting to see if members call for this.
Delighted to share that “Platform Politicization and the Constitution” is forthcoming in Emory Law Journal. The paper explores what open integration b/w social media platforms and political parties would/will mean for freedoms of speech and association.
Sharing abstract, dm for draft!
Sharing abstract, dm for draft!
September 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Delighted to share that “Platform Politicization and the Constitution” is forthcoming in Emory Law Journal. The paper explores what open integration b/w social media platforms and political parties would/will mean for freedoms of speech and association.
Sharing abstract, dm for draft!
Sharing abstract, dm for draft!
Reposted by Matthew Lawrence
Fascinating(yet depressing) plenary session at the Health Law Professors Conference ft. @ninakohn.bsky.social @mayamanian.bsky.social @mblawrence.bsky.social Medha Makhlouf Joan Krause Aaron Kessleheim: Updates on healthcare law & policy in tumultuous times. #HLP2025
June 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Fascinating(yet depressing) plenary session at the Health Law Professors Conference ft. @ninakohn.bsky.social @mayamanian.bsky.social @mblawrence.bsky.social Medha Makhlouf Joan Krause Aaron Kessleheim: Updates on healthcare law & policy in tumultuous times. #HLP2025