Nathaniel Donahue
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nwdonahue.bsky.social
Nathaniel Donahue
@nwdonahue.bsky.social
200 followers 180 following 110 posts
Golieb Fellow @ NYU. Yale legal history JD-PhD candidate. Goat aficionado. Grackle enthusiast.
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nwdonahue.bsky.social
Okay so everyone rags on the em dash as a hallmark of AI writing.

Am I the only person who uses them like all the time?
earlymodjustice.bsky.social Holly Brewer @earlymodjustice.bsky.social · 5d
To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”

www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:46 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
A lot of really amazing folks have come out of this one!
profvrmartinez.bsky.social Veronica Root Martinez @profvrmartinez.bsky.social · 5d
We’re thrilled to invite applications for the Visiting Assistant Professor position at Duke Law! This two- to three-year opportunity is designed to support aspiring legal scholars. (Think of it as the law school equivalent of a post-doc.)

Learn more and apply here: tinyurl.com/mrxccxxv
November 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
This brief responds to a few attacks on Humphrey’s Executor: 1) its reasoning makes no sense (& we should overturn it); 2) its holding is narrow (and doesn’t even apply to today’s FTC); 3) that it made up legal ideas from whole cloth to score a political win against FDR (so we should disregard it)
narosenblum.bsky.social Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · 11d
It was such a privilege to work with @nwdonahue.bsky.social and the fantastic lawyers at Patterson Belknap on this amicus brief for the Slaughter case, about whether Trump can fire the commissioners of the FTC.

The brief recovers crucial history the Court and most lawyers have missed. 1/3
Cover page of brief of Rosenblum and Donahue in Slaughter
November 15, 2025 at 3:04 AM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Great piece! I really liked section II.A, which gives a really helpful sense of how running the analysis through N&P might more helpfully structure these separation-of-powers inquiries.
jedshug.bsky.social Jed H. Shugerman @jedshug.bsky.social · 14d
A new paper from Gary Lawson & me:

"Presidential Removal as Article I, Not Article II"

Limits on congressional power to create independent agencies like the Fed & FTC don't come from Art II "Executive Power" absolutism.

See the Necessary and Proper Clause instead:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Presidential Removal as Article I, Not Article II
As a matter of original public meaning, Article I's Necessary and Proper clause is the starting point for both Congress's power to create offices and the limits
papers.ssrn.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:16 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Boy do I have some thoughts about this one…
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Oct 24
Stephen Miller on Fox threatens to arrest JB Pritzker for "seditious conspiracy" and says, "to all ICE officers: you have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties. And anybody who lays a hand on you or tries to stop or obstruct you is committing a felony."
October 25, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Nathaniel Donahue
narosenblum.bsky.social
New York Historians — come join us!

🗄️ @rauchway.bsky.social is this tag the one to flag the historians?
narosenblum.bsky.social Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · Oct 18
Excited to announce the first event of our New York Area Legal History Consortium — @johnfabianwitt.bsky.social in conversation on his new book, The Radical Fund! October 30 at NYU Law — register here:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Poster advertising John Witt book event.
October 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Fee-based governance as a response to the political difficulty of money taxes remains undefeated. We are so back (to the 19th century)!

pbs.twimg.com/media/G3i8p5...
October 18, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Nathaniel Donahue
jotwell.bsky.social
Jotwell ConLaw:
Andrea Katz, Falsifying the Unitary Executive: Popperian Empiricism and History’s Uses and Misuses, JOTWELL (October 8, 2025), conlaw.jotwell.com/falsifying-t....
Andrea Katz
October 8, 2025 at 3:21 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Anthropic settlement website is live!

Authors (including academics): look your book up and get paid!

secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/?_gl=...
Submit a Claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:49 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
I haven’t been this excited to hear about the disposition of a million dollars in prewar America since Bringing Up Baby!
October 1, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Nathaniel Donahue
williambaude.bsky.social
Bombshell! - Caleb Nelson, one of the most respected originalist scholars in the country, comes out against the unitary executive interpretation of Article II democracyproject.org/posts/must-a...
September 29, 2025 at 8:57 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Thanks Dan!
September 16, 2025 at 3:23 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Hear hear!
September 13, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Nathaniel Donahue
orentaoren.bsky.social
Call for papers for the best constitutional law conference every year is now out! Please circulate widely & consider sending us your paper/lightning round proposals. Tucson is incredible this time of the year, and we have amazing confirmed commentators already lined up 🌵🌵
September 2, 2025 at 8:12 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Hi Folks! I wanted to share a 🧵about my JMP in @yalelawjournal.bsky.social
(now on SSRN). It reconstructs the law of officeholding in early US, arguing that it is inconsistent with the unitary executive theory. (1/
September 2, 2025 at 8:22 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Just applied!
maggieblackhawk.bsky.social Maggie Blackhawk @maggieblackhawk.bsky.social · Aug 16
Junior faculty and grad students in political science, history, law, and Native American Studies, come take a class with us at the New York Historical Society (and via Zoom) on Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the U.S. Constitution.

To apply, Institute for Constitutional History: 1/2
Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the US Constitution Fall 2025 Session Presented in person at The New York Historical and via Zoom* Meeting Dates & Times: Fridays, November 7 and 21, December 5 and 12, 2025 | 11 am–2 pm ET Instructors: Maggie Blackhawk, Ned Blackhawk SEMINAR DESCRIPTION: As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this seminar invites a critical examination of a central paradox in American constitutional history: how can a nation celebrate a founding document and constitutional tradition built, in part, on the dispossession of Indigenous homelands? From the Founders’ long-standing relationships with Native nations to the grievances lodged regarding ‘merciless Indian savages’ into the Declaration, Indian affairs and westward expansion were foundational to the creation and evolution of the US Constitution. The Northwest Ordinance laid the “blueprint for empire” for federal imperial expansion from thirteen states clinging to the Eastern seaboard to a nation that stretched “from sea to shining sea,” while the United States Constitution excluded “Indians not taxed” from American polity—in so doing, also codifying the specific subordination of a people by name within constitutional text. Despite this deep entanglement, Native history remains marginalized within the fields of constitutional history and mainstream constitutional scholarship. This seminar explores emerging historical and legal literature that re-centers Native peoples and American colonialism in the narrative of US constitutional development. Topics include the role of Native peoples and “Indian affairs” in the Constitution’s initial drafting and ratification and the legal architecture of colonial expansion. The seminar will also explore how centering Native peoples allows for a rethinking of United States constitutional history and American public law more broadly.
August 25, 2025 at 10:48 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
I 💰NY
narosenblum.bsky.social Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · Aug 21
God I love New York
thecity.nyc THE CITY @thecity.nyc · Aug 20
BREAKING: Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips

www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...
August 21, 2025 at 2:51 AM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Come for the great institutional history of McCarthyism, stay for the insight that the rule of law is about more than empowering Congress to oversee the presidency, but about creating buy in to neutral principles and reason-giving requirements.
nicholashandler.bsky.social Nicholas Handler @nicholashandler.bsky.social · Aug 13
I've posted a draft of my next article, "The Administrative Law of McCarthyism," forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review, on SSRN. Comments and feedback are very welcome!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
August 18, 2025 at 2:23 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
This is going to be a fun new viewpoint to have in the conversation!
August 18, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by Nathaniel Donahue
henry-ishitani.bsky.social
My article on history-based briefing was featured by Adam Liptak in the NY Times! www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/u...
As the Supreme Court Focuses on the Past, Historians Turn to Advocacy
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2025 at 12:19 AM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
The Jefferson Commonplace book is a criminally underrated source for early American legal understandings!
June 28, 2025 at 5:55 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
A really underrated experience, especially for anyone interested in common law, local government law, state constitutions, etc!
aliciabannon.bsky.social Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · May 13
Law students and recent grads! Thinking about clerking? Don’t overlook state courts. State Court Report has a new resource w/ info and deadlines for 95 state supreme court justices. Check it out! @statecourtreport.bsky.social
statecourtreport.org/state-judici...
State Judicial Clerkship Resource
statecourtreport.org
May 13, 2025 at 11:38 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
This paper is a delightfully provocative response to those who want to rationalize statutory interpretation using social science and formal doctrine!
hkpmw.bsky.social Hannah Walser @hkpmw.bsky.social · Mar 15
It feels absurd to post about this, but—since the good people of #lawsky patiently encouraged me when I was freaking out about placing my paper, I wanted to share that it has found a home in the Indiana Law Journal. “Interpretive Facts,” coming 2026! (Two images below to fit the full alt text) 1/3
INTERPRETIVE FACTS: TEXTUALISM, EMPIRICISM, AND THE LAW-FACT DIVIDE Hannah Walser ABSTRACT What a word means may seem to be a paradigmatic question of law. We reach conclusions about the meaning of a word or a sentence through interpretation; interpretation is one of judges’ core tasks in the United States court system; meaning is therefore a matter of law to be determined by judges. Yet thanks to technological advances in corpus linguistics permitting the quantitative analysis of large numbers of texts, as well as methodological shifts that frame ordinary meaning as an empirical question, courts and legal scholars are increasingly apt to frame interpretive inquiries as factual ones. This Article offers the first systematic examination of where linguistic evidence used in statutory and constitutional interpretation should fit in the federal court system’s division of labor based on law and fact. First, I identify and label “interpretive facts”: generalized empirical evidence about how a particular word or phrase has been used by a population of speakers, understood by a population of listeners, or both. Then, I explain the complications that interpretive facts create for two specific aspects of the law-fact division of labor: the default expectation that questions of fact be submitted to a jury, and the more deferential standard of appellate review that applies to a trial court’s findings of fact. Applying either presumption to interpretive facts would seem to threaten the judiciary’s authority over questions of law and to undermine interpretive consistency. Yet failing to apply these presumptions risks flooding the courts with inaccurate empirical claims about language use—no small problem when the “ordinary meaning” of a legal term, as established through quantitative evidence, may be outcome-determinative. [Alt text continued in next image] [continued from previous image] Although interpretive facts are relatively new to constitutional and statutory interpretation, courts have long used them to make sense of other types of legal texts. In particular, contract and patent law have developed techniques of interpretive fact-finding to evaluate claims of idiosyncratic or technical meaning. If courts continue to rely on corpus linguistics, I suggest they should avoid procedural and conceptual incoherence by drawing upon these existing techniques. Linguists offering evidence that bears upon questions of statutory or constitutional interpretation should present their arguments to a jury or to the judge as fact-finder. District courts should be required to make explicit findings of interpretive fact, and those findings should be reviewed for clear error by appellate courts. In closing, I situate interpretive facts in the context of scholarly conversations about the increasingly dispositive role of historical facts in the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence, offering a legal realist account of the turn to corpus linguistics.
May 13, 2025 at 9:04 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
Wonky new blog post at JReg blog Humphrey’s Executor, the 1935 case that will decide whether much of the administrative state can stay independent from Trump.

It is often dismissed as incoherent, inventing strange terms that make it unworkable. I argue it’s misunderstood. 🧵
May 10, 2025 at 4:53 PM
nwdonahue.bsky.social
What are they trying to hide from us about the Kennedy assassination?
April 30, 2025 at 11:29 PM