Lori Ringhand
@loriringhand.bsky.social
Law professor. Knows things about the Constitution, elections, and knitting.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
I’m judging the Rights in Reel Time Challenge! Law students: your 90-second video could win $3,000.
Details: L4GG.org/ReelTime @lawyers4goodgov.bsky.social
#RightsinReelTime
Details: L4GG.org/ReelTime @lawyers4goodgov.bsky.social
#RightsinReelTime
November 26, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I’m judging the Rights in Reel Time Challenge! Law students: your 90-second video could win $3,000.
Details: L4GG.org/ReelTime @lawyers4goodgov.bsky.social
#RightsinReelTime
Details: L4GG.org/ReelTime @lawyers4goodgov.bsky.social
#RightsinReelTime
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
The U.S. is the only democracy in the world with:
- Lifetime terms for high court judges
- An electoral college for choosing an executive
- A legislative chamber where legislative minorities routinely and permanently thwart legislative majorities
- 75% requirements for constitutional amendments
- Lifetime terms for high court judges
- An electoral college for choosing an executive
- A legislative chamber where legislative minorities routinely and permanently thwart legislative majorities
- 75% requirements for constitutional amendments
December 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The U.S. is the only democracy in the world with:
- Lifetime terms for high court judges
- An electoral college for choosing an executive
- A legislative chamber where legislative minorities routinely and permanently thwart legislative majorities
- 75% requirements for constitutional amendments
- Lifetime terms for high court judges
- An electoral college for choosing an executive
- A legislative chamber where legislative minorities routinely and permanently thwart legislative majorities
- 75% requirements for constitutional amendments
A key element of making the federal government work is eliminating the filibuster, so Congress can once again become a meaningful lawmaking body.
There is such a thirst in some progressive centrist circles that they will look at the Trump administration as a model to get things done. I think its worth addressing the argument. This is from Mark Dunkelman, author of the widely praised "Why Nothing Works."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
Opinion | What the Left Could Learn From Trump’s Brutal Efficiency
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:26 PM
A key element of making the federal government work is eliminating the filibuster, so Congress can once again become a meaningful lawmaking body.
Eliminating winner-take-all states in the electoral college is appealing, but unless combined with ranked choice voting the most likely result is throwing elections into the House and its one state/one vote election, bc a spoiler can deprive any candidate of a majority of the EC vote needed to win.
December 1, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Eliminating winner-take-all states in the electoral college is appealing, but unless combined with ranked choice voting the most likely result is throwing elections into the House and its one state/one vote election, bc a spoiler can deprive any candidate of a majority of the EC vote needed to win.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
Please help me get the word out about the new websites for Legal Theory Blog and the Legal Theory Lexicon. Reposting here and on other social media sites is great. It would be especially helpful if law school faculty members could send an email to their colleagues with the new addresses.
Legal Theory Blog
Discover our latest articles and updates. Stay informed with recent posts that cover a variety of topics you care about!
legaltheoryblog.com
October 9, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Please help me get the word out about the new websites for Legal Theory Blog and the Legal Theory Lexicon. Reposting here and on other social media sites is great. It would be especially helpful if law school faculty members could send an email to their colleagues with the new addresses.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
I haven’t weighed in on AI much yet, but…for a professor who really believes in the value of teaching, it’s soul-crushing.
November 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I haven’t weighed in on AI much yet, but…for a professor who really believes in the value of teaching, it’s soul-crushing.
From those of us who lived through the “Marco”/“Polo” era, let me assure you, you will survive.
“Six seven” wouldn’t exist without marketing, virality, and brain rot—but it’s not reducible to those things, Joshua Rothman writes. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/is-six-seven-really-brain-rot
Is “Six Seven” Really Brain Rot?
The viral phrase is easy to dismiss, but its ubiquity suggests something crucial about human nature.
www.newyorker.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:54 PM
From those of us who lived through the “Marco”/“Polo” era, let me assure you, you will survive.
This is excellent. The filibuster is not in the Constitution, almost certainly would’ve horrified the founders, doesn’t facilitate compromise, and instead encourages obstructionism and cedes power to the executive by creating perpetual congressional gridlock.
made a video on the filibuster — its history and why it's bad — for my youtube channel. check it out!
What's the deal with the filibuster?
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:01 PM
This is excellent. The filibuster is not in the Constitution, almost certainly would’ve horrified the founders, doesn’t facilitate compromise, and instead encourages obstructionism and cedes power to the executive by creating perpetual congressional gridlock.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
The book is real! To celebrate, I will give out five copies to interested early career folks. DM if you’d like one.
November 8, 2025 at 2:04 AM
The book is real! To celebrate, I will give out five copies to interested early career folks. DM if you’d like one.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
Graber also believes law matters, but not that only law matters. We need more sophisticated analysis that detail the place between blind faith and pure cynicism.
November 4, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Graber also believes law matters, but not that only law matters. We need more sophisticated analysis that detail the place between blind faith and pure cynicism.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
Excited that "Constitutional Structure and Election Law" was listed on SSRN's Top 10 Downloads list today for: Law & Society: Public Law - Courts eJournal Recent Papers @ssrn.bsky.social
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/topten/...
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/topten/...
SSRN Top Downloads
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
October 30, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Excited that "Constitutional Structure and Election Law" was listed on SSRN's Top 10 Downloads list today for: Law & Society: Public Law - Courts eJournal Recent Papers @ssrn.bsky.social
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/topten/...
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/topten/...
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
My article, "Pluralism in State Constitutional Law," is now published with the Georgia Law Review! It explores different ways state courts interpret state constitutions and variations in how explicit courts are regarding this interpretive pluralism!
georgialawreview.org/wp-content/u...
georgialawreview.org/wp-content/u...
October 17, 2025 at 6:34 PM
My article, "Pluralism in State Constitutional Law," is now published with the Georgia Law Review! It explores different ways state courts interpret state constitutions and variations in how explicit courts are regarding this interpretive pluralism!
georgialawreview.org/wp-content/u...
georgialawreview.org/wp-content/u...
Justice Barrett in #callais asks if congruence and proportionality is the right test of congressional power to enforce the Voting Rights Act. We looked at that question through an originalist lens. It isn’t! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Congruence and Proportionality as a Constitutional Construction
The constitutionality of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is one of the most hotly debated issues in U.S. election law. Congress enacted the VRA in 1965 under
papers.ssrn.com
October 15, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Justice Barrett in #callais asks if congruence and proportionality is the right test of congressional power to enforce the Voting Rights Act. We looked at that question through an originalist lens. It isn’t! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
The first post addresses the limits and importance of Section 2 of the VRA. Those who are not familiar with this area of law may find this real-world example particularly illuminating:
electionlawblog.org?p=152512
electionlawblog.org?p=152512
Section 2's Limits #ELB
Sparked by Nick Stephanopolous’s amicus brief, there’s been discussion on this blog about Section 2’s limits and how that might impact tomorrow’s re-argument in Callais. To help readers understand the...
electionlawblog.org
October 14, 2025 at 6:37 PM
The first post addresses the limits and importance of Section 2 of the VRA. Those who are not familiar with this area of law may find this real-world example particularly illuminating:
electionlawblog.org?p=152512
electionlawblog.org?p=152512
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:
Supreme Court granted cert
Supreme Court granted cert
October 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:
Supreme Court granted cert
Supreme Court granted cert
Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall have power to … make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces."
September 30, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall have power to … make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces."
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
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
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...
Yes, Hurley’s is the critical point for those following this.
A key part of the analysis was that the plaintiffs lacked evidence the Biden administration's actions directly contributed to the decisions made by social media companies. In other words, no sign (unlawful) jawboning occurred.
Contrast NRA case, where court said NRA had plausibly alleged coercion.
Contrast NRA case, where court said NRA had plausibly alleged coercion.
The WaPo’s law and politics columnist doesn’t understand that Murthy was a standing ruling— a decision fundamentally about states trying to intervene on behalf of alleged jawboning victims with a handful of individual plaintiffs thrown in as an afterthought— and ignores Vullo entirely.
Yikes.
Yikes.
September 18, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Yes, Hurley’s is the critical point for those following this.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
For today's bonus "One First," I wrote about the increasingly noisy claim that legal constraints don't really matter in the current moment—why it's utterly belied by what's actually happening on the ground (and by what law can actually *do*); and why, in many respects, it's affirmatively dangerous:
Bonus 176: Law, Lawlessness, and Doomerism
Law is not—and never will be—a perfect constraint on government action. But claims that legal limits have become wholly irrelevant to the current administration are not just wrong; they're dangerous.
www.stevevladeck.com
September 4, 2025 at 11:54 AM
For today's bonus "One First," I wrote about the increasingly noisy claim that legal constraints don't really matter in the current moment—why it's utterly belied by what's actually happening on the ground (and by what law can actually *do*); and why, in many respects, it's affirmatively dangerous:
I am a light packer, but I’m 100% on team checked-bag, at least on direct flights. It just makes transiting through the airport so much easier.
Our travel experts love to check bags. They might go as far as to say that the hype for carrying on is kind of overrated. Here are their reasons (and some advice for when to carry on instead).
Wirecutter’s Travel Experts Grant You Permission to Check a Bag
Our travel team’s surprisingly hot take: Just check your bag.
nyti.ms
September 3, 2025 at 10:08 PM
I am a light packer, but I’m 100% on team checked-bag, at least on direct flights. It just makes transiting through the airport so much easier.
“Centuries-old” takes almost exactly the same amount of type-space as “constitutional”.
I’ll be discussing Trump’s effort to ignore the Constitution and federal laws — without this stenography framing — at 4p ET. open.substack.com/live-stream/...
September 3, 2025 at 9:25 PM
“Centuries-old” takes almost exactly the same amount of type-space as “constitutional”.
What a great book. It vividly contextualizes Sumner in his time and place without turning into a trivial listing of everything he did and everyone he met over the course of his complicated life. Just fantastic.
I’m so excited to announce that my book was published today! The book retells the life of Charles Sumner, an abolitionist senator who co-framed the Reconstruction Amendments. I wrote this book with my blood, sweat & tears as a student at Yale Law School. (1/x)
September 3, 2025 at 10:31 AM
What a great book. It vividly contextualizes Sumner in his time and place without turning into a trivial listing of everything he did and everyone he met over the course of his complicated life. Just fantastic.
Worth it.
I let out several different audible “NO”s during this video
incredible stuff, you gotta watch the whole thing
incredible stuff, you gotta watch the whole thing
it should be at least 400 times harder to get a driver's license
September 1, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Worth it.
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
I'm pleased to introduce a full set of Congressional *and* legislative report cards, courtesy of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. An enormous amount of work, the culmination of several years of development. Check it out!
samwang.substack.com/p/redistrict...
samwang.substack.com/p/redistrict...
Redistricting plans in 50 states, graded (correctly)
...but first, we have to kill the proportionality myth.
samwang.substack.com
August 25, 2025 at 10:17 PM
I'm pleased to introduce a full set of Congressional *and* legislative report cards, courtesy of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. An enormous amount of work, the culmination of several years of development. Check it out!
samwang.substack.com/p/redistrict...
samwang.substack.com/p/redistrict...
Reposted by Lori Ringhand
“You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”
― Octavia E. Butler
#WritingSky #AcademicSky
― Octavia E. Butler
#WritingSky #AcademicSky
August 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
“You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”
― Octavia E. Butler
#WritingSky #AcademicSky
― Octavia E. Butler
#WritingSky #AcademicSky