Michael Smith
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msmith750.bsky.social
Michael Smith
@msmith750.bsky.social
9K followers 2K following 1.6K posts
Associate professor of law at University of Oklahoma College of Law. Researching constitutional law, criminal law, and legal oddities.
https://law.ou.edu/node/716
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Reposted by Michael Smith
sarimazzurco.bsky.social
I am thrilled to share my Article, "Style Marks," with Christopher Buccafusco will be published in The University of Chicago Law Review! @uchilrev.bsky.social

You can find the current draft here on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:51 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
Teaching Trump v. United States tomorrow morning. Preparing slide images:
"A Serious Man" screenshot of Clive Park's father saying "Please. Accept the mystery." "In the Loop" screenshot of Simon Foster telling Toby "It'll be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy." Toby responding to Simon saying, "No, it won't. It'll be difficult-difficult-lemon-difficult." Villain from lethal weapon holding up his ID and yelling "Diplomatic immunity!" but the text is altered to say "Presidential Immunity!"
February 17, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Michael Smith
benmcjunkin.bsky.social
So excited to announce that my latest article, “Reckless Accomplices,” will be published by Northwestern University Law Review!

The article critiques a trend of expanding criminal causation and instead calls for a new statutory form of accomplice liability.

SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
February 16, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
lpcprof.bsky.social
Charles and Gelbach on Bruen's Tenth Amendment Problem /
lawlit.blogspot.com/2026/02/char...
@jacobdcharles.bsky.social @gelbach.bsky.social
Charles and Gelbach on Bruen's Tenth Amendment Problem
Jacob D. Charles, Pepperdine University School of Law, and Jonah B. Gelbach, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, have publish...
lawlit.blogspot.com
February 16, 2026 at 4:55 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
The Boston Legal series re-watch continues. Only just realized that Denny Crane is reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Screen grabs from Boston Legal, Season Two. James Spader as Alan Shore in bed in a cabin, reading "A Stain Upon the Sea" and saying "This book, A Stain Upon the Sea," it's all about these Sea lice. Shore finishes his sentence, "They call them Cling-Ons." William Shatner as Denny Crane is in a nearby bed in pajamas, reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead, replying "Did you say, 'Klingons'?"
February 15, 2026 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by Michael Smith
pantspants.bsky.social
February 14, 2026 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
profferguson.bsky.social
I fear poking the AI bear, but do you think law profs should have to disclose AI use?

I have yet to use AI (under the old school assumption that I am being paid to create original scholarship and it should be mine alone). I know others have different opinions.

But should folks have to disclose?
coreyryung.bsky.social Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 3d
Every legal academic who loathes AI will do a 180 the moment LLMs can reliably complete all our missing footnotes in Bluebook format with appropriate quotes in parentheticals.
(I'm counting myself among this group)
February 14, 2026 at 2:08 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
This will likely get lost in the shuffle of the submission season, so highlighting it for people to put on their calendars now: app.scholasticahq.com/conversation...

Montana Symposium! Criminal Procedure, with room for state con law! June 30 deadline!
Scholastica: Montana Law Review Call for Submissions - Volume 88.1
Montana Law Review Call for Submissions - Volume 88.1
app.scholasticahq.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
annacarpenter.bsky.social
Professor Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social presented his article “Relativity and Constitutional Time” at the University of Arkansas School of Law (Fayetteville) as part of the junior faculty exchange between @uofoklahomalaw.bsky.social ahomalaw.bsky.social and Arkansas Law.
February 13, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
maggieblackhawk.bsky.social
New Foreword up on SSRN, previewing new projects on the history of constitutional history and what it can teach about legal frameworks at the heart of our "constitutional crisis"-federal Indian law, territorial law, expansion, immigration, and executive power. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
As constitutional interpretation becomes rooted ever more deeply into the past the Constitution seemingly has less and less to say about our present. It seems to offer little principled direction for navigating what many describe as a constitutional crisis. On questions ranging from birthright citizenship and territorial acquisition to aggressive federal immigration enforcement, executive intervention beyond U.S. borders, and the “history and tradition” of annexed territories such as Hawai’i, the Constitution’s familiar sources of authority and traditional narratives seem to falter. These domains appear to tread into empty constitutional landscapes and newly discovered territory. Scholars have increasingly traced this backward-looking orientation to conservative legal movements of the last half century. But the impulse to seek constitutional meaning in the past is not new. Long before the Supreme Court embraced originalism, and long before the modern turn to “history and tradition,” jurists and scholars assumed that the Constitution could not be understood apart from its origins and development. Constitutional meaning was thought to emerge from historical inquiry. The question, then, was not whether constitutional interpretation should engage with the past, but which past—and through what historical method. This Foreword argues that our present constitutional impasse stems, at least in part, not solely from excessive attention to the past but from fixation on a particular kind of past. Modern constitutional theory, I suggest, has been increasingly bounded by what scholars in the historical and social sciences call a methodological nationalism. By nationalism, I do not mean to invoke familiar federalism debates. Nor do I use the term nationalism as a pejorative or a critique of those whose research centers the United States and its founders. Rather, in identifying mainstream constitutional theory as operating within a nationalist frame, I seek to draw attention t…
February 13, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
professormusgrave.bsky.social
Need to stop men wasting their money on gambling and start them wasting their money on watches
February 12, 2026 at 3:51 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
Visiting the University of Arkansas School of Law for a faculty exchange talk today! Looking forward to discussing constitutional interpretation in a speculative science fiction world. Dickson Street Books is ridiculous, took a huge financial hit there.
View of Fayetteville outskirts from about ten stories up. Lovely. The law schools courtyard, photographed from inside, looking out over the tree, tables, and a few students Dickson Street Bookstore shelves and aisles. Budget at least a few hours if you visit. Arkansas gray squirrel sitting on a branch and looking down at the camera.
February 12, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
jbentonheath.bsky.social
This feels like a @msmith750.bsky.social article.
wyofile.com WyoFile @wyofile.com · 4d
A bill introduced Wednesday proposes language that would end an era of recreationally running over foxes, coyotes, wolves and other animals on public land. "We should all be able to support this," an animal rights activist said.
Fourth time’s a charm? Lawmaker tries again to ban Wyoming’s practice of chasing, striking wildlife with snowmobiles - WyoFile
Bill introduced on Wednesday proposes language that would end an era of recreationally running over foxes, coyotes, wolves and other animals on public land.
wyofile.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:18 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
A dire situation, but don't worry:

"[Corrections Dept. Director] Farris is hoping AI can help the Corrections Department better match cellmates. 'When we do that, that is going to be a game changer,' Farris said. "We're going to be first in the country to do it."

www.oklahoman.com/story/news/c...
On the rolling plains of Oklahoma, a deadly prison. 4 years, 21 homicides
"It's like gladiator academy," DA says. At Oklahoma's Allen Gamble Correctional Center, a medium security prison, inmate homicides are rampant, many preventable, investigation reveals.
www.oklahoman.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:44 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
Manifesting
Frog sitting and looking at a fish, being held up in the foreground. The frog is labeled "law reviews" and the fish is labeled "my submissions" Frog is leaping forward to devour the fish
February 11, 2026 at 6:46 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
Geese traffic
Two geese strolling in front of the faulty and staff entrance to the law school
February 11, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
lsolum.bsky.social
Denno on the Cruelty of Execution Methods

Deborah W. Denno (Fordham University School of Law) has posted Why Are Executions Becoming Crueler? on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Since the modern death penalty era, this country’s six execution methods have become crueler over time. This article details…
Denno on the Cruelty of Execution Methods
Deborah W. Denno (Fordham University School of Law) has posted Why Are Executions Becoming Crueler? on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Since the modern death penalty era, this country’s six execution methods have become crueler over time. This article details the execution procedures adopted across death penalty states up to the end of 2025, analyzing their societal and cultural underpinnings and explaining how they were implemented, including their shared flaws, unscientific origins and protocols, and reliance on untrained, unqualified, or unknown executioners.
legaltheoryblog.com
February 11, 2026 at 12:30 PM
msmith750.bsky.social
February continues
Clip from Columbo. A driver for an embassy is heading to the embassy gate. Columbo is visible through the windshield, waving at the car to stop as it heads straight toward him. The driver is labeled "law review editors," and Columbo is labeled "my submissions"
February 11, 2026 at 4:40 AM
msmith750.bsky.social
I agree with Alito only to the extent that he's flattering himself, and that Scalia might also have written a similar, nonoriginalist opinion in Dobbs.

www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Rosen: Is Dobbs indebted to Antonin Scalia in any meaningful respect? Alito: Yes, absolutely, because that was my effort to write an originalist’s opinion. … I think I learned from the model of [District of Columbia v.] Heller [the landmark court ruling, authored by Scalia in 2008, that upheld the Second Amendment right to own a handgun]. I don’t know that Nino would have written [Dobbs] any differently. I flatter myself to think that he wouldn’t have written it very differently. And the language, to a degree, may be influenced by him.
February 10, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
lucienferguson.bsky.social
I've posted my new paper, "Mapping Malfeasance," on SSRN. I survey all fifty state constitutions to develop a general standard for distinguishing legal from illegal maps. Comments and criticisms are very welcome. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
February 9, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
williambaude.bsky.social
Call for papers!

www.law.uchicago.edu/form/uchicag...
February 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
chrishampsonlaw.bsky.social
One of two (!) papers I'm submitting this cycle analyzes bankruptcy abstention. Would love any comments! And for law review editors out there, the piece is looking for a good home. [1/8]

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
February 10, 2026 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by Michael Smith
edithbeerdsen.bsky.social
NOT a recent acceptance but last Feb's paper now on SSRN, w/ many thanks to the excellent editors at Georgia L. Rev. Full paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

(Newer paper still in the cycle & on a very different topic! Sci. ev., skeptics, democracy. On SSRN soon, but lmk if you want to read.)
In civil litigation, strategy is everywhere. Some of it is explicitly envisioned by rules of procedure, but other forms of strategy rely more on clever exploitation of gaps in the rules, sometimes through trickery, surprise, or psychological mind games. The role strategy plays in civil litigation is underexamined, which raises two concerns: first, this lack of attention entrenches strategy by default as a procedural value in competition with accuracy, efficiency, and other procedural values. Second, it amplifies the disadvantages experienced by unrepresented litigants. This Article builds on earlier work to examine how courts shape the space that litigants have for strategic behavior, in service of an inquiry into how that space ought to be shaped. Battles over the meaning and rightful place of strategy in civil litigation tend to play out in the arena of “gamesmanship,” a term courts use with increasing frequency to refer to behavior in the gray zone between the clearly allowed and the clearly disallowed. Strategic behavior in this realm is often unregulated by rules, only weakly governed by norms, and subject to significant judicial discretion. Judicial decisions in cases involving gamesmanship frequently expose tensions between respect for zealous advocacy and concerns about fairness and accuracy. This Article makes two contributions to our understanding of the role of strategic behavior in civil litigation. First, it examines the meaning of “gamesmanship” in a litigation context and proposes a categorization of gamesmanlike litigation behavior. Second, it applies this categorization in describing how courts use the term “gamesmanship” and surveys and theorizes how they treat behavior they have thus labeled. I argue that the concept functions as three distinct analytical tools: (1) as an aspect of purposive statutory analysis; (2) as a canon of construction; and (3) as an implied mental-state element. The Article concludes by imagining a different approach.
February 9, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
beaubaumann.bsky.social
This paper has placed with Columbia. Its little sibling article is still up for grabs for the enterprising law journal! They are deeply intertwined and recast the history of American admin law.
February 9, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Michael Smith
beaubaumann.bsky.social
1/x Really delighted to say that my coauthored piece with @jedshug.bsky.social, “Quasi-Judicial: A History and Tradition” just landed with the Columbia Law Review. We really appreciate the editors’ hard work! This is a piece that retells the story of American admin law and Humphrey’s Executor.
February 9, 2026 at 2:54 PM