Todd Phillips
@tphillips.bsky.social
Banking and administrative law. Independent policy consultant. Future Robinson College. Fellow Roosevelt Institute. Fmr CAP, FDIC, ACUS.
I know most folks on Bluesky don't follow crypto, but I put this on the Other Site and figured I'd post it here for anyone who wants to understand what's going on.
TL;DR: Community/regional banks and Coinbase are locked in a zero-sum competition. If one wins, the other loses.
TL;DR: Community/regional banks and Coinbase are locked in a zero-sum competition. If one wins, the other loses.
January 16, 2026 at 1:56 PM
I know most folks on Bluesky don't follow crypto, but I put this on the Other Site and figured I'd post it here for anyone who wants to understand what's going on.
TL;DR: Community/regional banks and Coinbase are locked in a zero-sum competition. If one wins, the other loses.
TL;DR: Community/regional banks and Coinbase are locked in a zero-sum competition. If one wins, the other loses.
Spot on
I want to talk about a dystopian world we are entering - where every moment, event, and crisis just become commodities.
Life stops being something we live, but something we sell and trade. It will breed both corruption & emptiness.
1/ A 🧵on why our politics can't ignore this.
Life stops being something we live, but something we sell and trade. It will breed both corruption & emptiness.
1/ A 🧵on why our politics can't ignore this.
January 14, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Spot on
I'll be at AALS this week. Let me know if you want to grab coffee, a meal, or just have a casual chat!
January 6, 2026 at 4:59 PM
I'll be at AALS this week. Let me know if you want to grab coffee, a meal, or just have a casual chat!
Flagging this for colleagues who study legislation, like @beaubaumann.bsky.social. Someone should write about efforts to redefine through regulation terms that Congress thought had concrete meanings. Beau and I wrote about the term "investment contract," and I've just found another one.
I found this in the Congressional Record. The term "unsafe or unsound practices" was considered to have a concrete definition, like "fraud" or "negligence. Legislators were concerned that it was too open-ended, but were ultimately convinced that the term was "sufficiently exact." 2/
December 30, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Flagging this for colleagues who study legislation, like @beaubaumann.bsky.social. Someone should write about efforts to redefine through regulation terms that Congress thought had concrete meanings. Beau and I wrote about the term "investment contract," and I've just found another one.
Inspired by others (particularly Jeremy Kress), late yesterday I submitted a short comment letter on the OCC/FDIC NPRM on unsafe or unsound practices. A lot of it was pulled from my prior scholarship, but I learned a fascinating new thing over the course of writing it. 1/
December 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Inspired by others (particularly Jeremy Kress), late yesterday I submitted a short comment letter on the OCC/FDIC NPRM on unsafe or unsound practices. A lot of it was pulled from my prior scholarship, but I learned a fascinating new thing over the course of writing it. 1/
Reposted by Todd Phillips
I just filed an amicus brief in Kalshi's lawsuit against Maryland, arguing that the sports-related contracts Kalshi lists are unlikely to be commodity derivatives, such that the CFTC does not have "exclusive jurisdiction" over them and Maryland's gaming laws are not preempted. 1/
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I just filed an amicus brief in Kalshi's lawsuit against Maryland, arguing that the sports-related contracts Kalshi lists are unlikely to be commodity derivatives, such that the CFTC does not have "exclusive jurisdiction" over them and Maryland's gaming laws are not preempted. 1/
Reposted by Todd Phillips
Shout out to @tphillips.bsky.social for this one
December 22, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Shout out to @tphillips.bsky.social for this one
I just filed an amicus brief in Kalshi's lawsuit against Maryland, arguing that the sports-related contracts Kalshi lists are unlikely to be commodity derivatives, such that the CFTC does not have "exclusive jurisdiction" over them and Maryland's gaming laws are not preempted. 1/
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I just filed an amicus brief in Kalshi's lawsuit against Maryland, arguing that the sports-related contracts Kalshi lists are unlikely to be commodity derivatives, such that the CFTC does not have "exclusive jurisdiction" over them and Maryland's gaming laws are not preempted. 1/
In my new article, "Restraining Acts," I examine the laws restricting banking in all 50 states. These laws generally prohibit nonbanks from receiving deposits and show a legislative preference that banks offer safekeeping of customer funds.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 12, 2025 at 4:57 PM
In my new article, "Restraining Acts," I examine the laws restricting banking in all 50 states. These laws generally prohibit nonbanks from receiving deposits and show a legislative preference that banks offer safekeeping of customer funds.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Gorsuch reads the clause requiring POTUS to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" as requiring POTUS to execute the laws.
Which is just not what the plain text of the Constitution says.
Which is just not what the plain text of the Constitution says.
December 8, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Gorsuch reads the clause requiring POTUS to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" as requiring POTUS to execute the laws.
Which is just not what the plain text of the Constitution says.
Which is just not what the plain text of the Constitution says.
KJB coming in to clean up the mess. Oy.
December 8, 2025 at 4:33 PM
KJB coming in to clean up the mess. Oy.
Why are we talking about Congress "taking over" departments? Congress created them in the first place!
December 8, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Why are we talking about Congress "taking over" departments? Congress created them in the first place!
Gorsuch: Is the solution the ineligible principle doctrine?
I'm very confused here. Does Gorsuch want to strike down the FTC Act?
I'm very confused here. Does Gorsuch want to strike down the FTC Act?
December 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Gorsuch: Is the solution the ineligible principle doctrine?
I'm very confused here. Does Gorsuch want to strike down the FTC Act?
I'm very confused here. Does Gorsuch want to strike down the FTC Act?
Kagan: If we sever removal protections, you're left with a POTUS that has largely unchecked power over everything, and Congress can't get it back.
December 8, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Kagan: If we sever removal protections, you're left with a POTUS that has largely unchecked power over everything, and Congress can't get it back.
KJB: Structuring agencies in certain ways is democratic accountability.
KBJ is in support of Article I power to structure agencies.
December 8, 2025 at 3:29 PM
KJB: Structuring agencies in certain ways is democratic accountability.
KBJ is in support of Article I power to structure agencies.
December 8, 2025 at 3:28 PM
KBJ is in support of Article I power to structure agencies.
Sotomeyer asking a good question about why sever removal restrictions and not powers that run afoul of Article II.
December 8, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Sotomeyer asking a good question about why sever removal restrictions and not powers that run afoul of Article II.
Hear me out: What if we renamed the NCUA as the National Credit Union Administration of Congress?
(The President fired 2/3 of the NCUA's board members, and the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the removals to remain in place.)
(The President fired 2/3 of the NCUA's board members, and the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the removals to remain in place.)
NEWS: Supreme Court defers decision on Trump emergency appeal to boot top copyright official until after Slaughter (FTC firing) and Cook (fed firing) arguments @courthousenews.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Hear me out: What if we renamed the NCUA as the National Credit Union Administration of Congress?
(The President fired 2/3 of the NCUA's board members, and the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the removals to remain in place.)
(The President fired 2/3 of the NCUA's board members, and the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the removals to remain in place.)
Reposted by Todd Phillips
New Paper: Presidential Control of the Civil Service.
Conventional wisdom holds that the civil service sits safely beyond the president's reach. Does it? (1) Not nearly as much as legal scholars think. (2) That's a problem for the execution of the law. 1/12
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Conventional wisdom holds that the civil service sits safely beyond the president's reach. Does it? (1) Not nearly as much as legal scholars think. (2) That's a problem for the execution of the law. 1/12
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Presidential Control of the Civil Service
<p>Conventional wisdom treats the federal civil service as largely beyond the president’s reach. This Article challenges that assumption. Legal scholars too oft
papers.ssrn.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM
New Paper: Presidential Control of the Civil Service.
Conventional wisdom holds that the civil service sits safely beyond the president's reach. Does it? (1) Not nearly as much as legal scholars think. (2) That's a problem for the execution of the law. 1/12
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Conventional wisdom holds that the civil service sits safely beyond the president's reach. Does it? (1) Not nearly as much as legal scholars think. (2) That's a problem for the execution of the law. 1/12
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
“The Supreme Court changed a lot of law with Jarkesy,” said Todd Phillips, a law professor at Georgia State University who’s written about the decision. “Lower court judges want to see the Supreme Court flesh it out before taking a sledgehammer to statutes.”
news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...
news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...
Agencies Avoid Disaster After High Court’s In-House Judge Ruling
Companies have lost most of their initial attempts to bar agency in-house judges from hearing a wide range of disputes based on recent US Supreme Court precedent, though one of their most significant ...
news.bloomberglaw.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
“The Supreme Court changed a lot of law with Jarkesy,” said Todd Phillips, a law professor at Georgia State University who’s written about the decision. “Lower court judges want to see the Supreme Court flesh it out before taking a sledgehammer to statutes.”
news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...
news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...
This is very cool to see up on the Supreme Court's website!
You can read @nicholasbednar.bsky.social and my brief in Trump v. Slaughter here: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...
You can read @nicholasbednar.bsky.social and my brief in Trump v. Slaughter here: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...
November 14, 2025 at 4:57 PM
This is very cool to see up on the Supreme Court's website!
You can read @nicholasbednar.bsky.social and my brief in Trump v. Slaughter here: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...
You can read @nicholasbednar.bsky.social and my brief in Trump v. Slaughter here: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...
Do I have any followers on here who'd be willing to move for me to become a member of the Fourth Circuit bar?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
November 3, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Do I have any followers on here who'd be willing to move for me to become a member of the Fourth Circuit bar?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Politico really undersells how legally bonkers this argument is.
RIFing employees is agencies' individual decisions, but is pursuant to the President's inherent constitutional authority.
RIFing employees is agencies' individual decisions, but is pursuant to the President's inherent constitutional authority.
October 2, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Politico really undersells how legally bonkers this argument is.
RIFing employees is agencies' individual decisions, but is pursuant to the President's inherent constitutional authority.
RIFing employees is agencies' individual decisions, but is pursuant to the President's inherent constitutional authority.
I argue in Democracy Journal that regulatory independence is a progressive value. It's necessary for our high standard of living and serves as a rejection of backroom dealmaking and governing on the basis of campaign donations and bribes.
Read it here: democracyjournal.org/arguments/am...
Read it here: democracyjournal.org/arguments/am...
America Needs Independent Regulators
A future Democratic President will be tempted to use power like Trump. That would be a mistake.
democracyjournal.org
September 29, 2025 at 5:04 PM
I argue in Democracy Journal that regulatory independence is a progressive value. It's necessary for our high standard of living and serves as a rejection of backroom dealmaking and governing on the basis of campaign donations and bribes.
Read it here: democracyjournal.org/arguments/am...
Read it here: democracyjournal.org/arguments/am...
@jamellebouie.net, please do a column about how the same logic applies to other independent agencies, like the Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n. Though everyone is focused on the Fed, I spoke to a former NRC chair who told me that they're scared of a Fukushima disaster on US soil b/c of the UET.
to me, the “column” is less a form than an opportunity (and a challenge). you’re telling me i have as much space as i’d like to make an argument about anything i’d like to an audience inclined to pay close attention? well let’s see if they’ll read 2000 words on democratic legitimacy. (gift link)
Opinion | This Is About So Much More Than Lisa Cook
www.nytimes.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:31 PM
@jamellebouie.net, please do a column about how the same logic applies to other independent agencies, like the Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n. Though everyone is focused on the Fed, I spoke to a former NRC chair who told me that they're scared of a Fukushima disaster on US soil b/c of the UET.