Matt Steilen
@mattsteilen.bsky.social
Law professor. Legal history, constitutional law. PhD in philosophy. Forthcoming book on the origins of the English parliament, Routledge.
August 29, 2025 at 10:39 AM
"Non action" is an interesting idea. I've been thinking recently about the value of saying nothing even when you have something to say, even when the situation seems to demand it. Cultivating a feel for that value might be worth doing... Especially given our obsession w self expression and speech
August 20, 2025 at 11:58 AM
"Non action" is an interesting idea. I've been thinking recently about the value of saying nothing even when you have something to say, even when the situation seems to demand it. Cultivating a feel for that value might be worth doing... Especially given our obsession w self expression and speech
The author proposes "I hate, therefore I am" as a rule of social media, but starts with an example of hate that contains no hate at all, but is just having likes and dislikes:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
July 24, 2025 at 10:46 AM
The author proposes "I hate, therefore I am" as a rule of social media, but starts with an example of hate that contains no hate at all, but is just having likes and dislikes:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
Friends lent me this shipping-container micro-apartment on Keuka Lake for a dregs-of-July retreat.
July 21, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Friends lent me this shipping-container micro-apartment on Keuka Lake for a dregs-of-July retreat.
Has anyone ever written on the importance of flawed scholarship?
July 21, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Has anyone ever written on the importance of flawed scholarship?
The difference between these negotiations and earlier pleas from congressmen not to cut funds is that these preceded a congressional vote:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/u...
July 18, 2025 at 10:56 AM
The difference between these negotiations and earlier pleas from congressmen not to cut funds is that these preceded a congressional vote:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/u...
Love the comparison
July 12, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Love the comparison
"A New Kind of Judicial Supremacy"
Excellent post from Vladeck connecting changes in emergency relief to how the Court understands and exercises its supremacy.
open.substack.com/pub/stevevla...
@stevevladeck.bsky.social
Excellent post from Vladeck connecting changes in emergency relief to how the Court understands and exercises its supremacy.
open.substack.com/pub/stevevla...
@stevevladeck.bsky.social
June 30, 2025 at 11:45 AM
"A New Kind of Judicial Supremacy"
Excellent post from Vladeck connecting changes in emergency relief to how the Court understands and exercises its supremacy.
open.substack.com/pub/stevevla...
@stevevladeck.bsky.social
Excellent post from Vladeck connecting changes in emergency relief to how the Court understands and exercises its supremacy.
open.substack.com/pub/stevevla...
@stevevladeck.bsky.social
Dipping into The Education of Henry Adams for my porch read
June 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Dipping into The Education of Henry Adams for my porch read
Maitland the modernist and member of the Bloomsbury group. "The essence of modernism," writes Norman Cantor, "was...to concentrate on the thing itself."
June 15, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Maitland the modernist and member of the Bloomsbury group. "The essence of modernism," writes Norman Cantor, "was...to concentrate on the thing itself."
May 27, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social taught us about violence on the floor of the legislature-but what about drinking? Here's Tasting History's Max Miller, who posted about the jar of "switchel" (vinegar, ginger, molasses and rum) common in the 19th century Capitol:
www.instagram.com/reel/DJ_2sR7...
www.instagram.com/reel/DJ_2sR7...
May 23, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social taught us about violence on the floor of the legislature-but what about drinking? Here's Tasting History's Max Miller, who posted about the jar of "switchel" (vinegar, ginger, molasses and rum) common in the 19th century Capitol:
www.instagram.com/reel/DJ_2sR7...
www.instagram.com/reel/DJ_2sR7...
"Dante compares the city which is always changing its constitution with the sick man who is continually changing his posture to escape from pain"-- "the great modern fallacy that a constitution can be made, can be manufactured by a combination of existing forces and tendencies." -Burckhardt
May 21, 2025 at 1:16 AM
"Dante compares the city which is always changing its constitution with the sick man who is continually changing his posture to escape from pain"-- "the great modern fallacy that a constitution can be made, can be manufactured by a combination of existing forces and tendencies." -Burckhardt
Summer law faculty bookclub: Academic Freedom, by David Rabban
May 20, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Summer law faculty bookclub: Academic Freedom, by David Rabban
An Appropriations Clause case:
May 20, 2025 at 8:44 PM
An Appropriations Clause case:
Herve Tullet, "Gribouillage et Points." AKG Buffalo, NY
May 17, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Herve Tullet, "Gribouillage et Points." AKG Buffalo, NY
Burchfield. "Winter, East Liverpool"
May 17, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Burchfield. "Winter, East Liverpool"
May 15, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Trump is a threat to the rule of law-so I agree with the argument of the article-and the rule of law is a v important political value-so I agree with its premise-but this is a pretty sophisticated response from Trump. Not sure what to make of it:
May 14, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Trump is a threat to the rule of law-so I agree with the argument of the article-and the rule of law is a v important political value-so I agree with its premise-but this is a pretty sophisticated response from Trump. Not sure what to make of it:
“Courts must accept their own responsibility for making a just society,” Souter said in his confirmation.
Indeed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...
Indeed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...
May 9, 2025 at 4:48 PM
“Courts must accept their own responsibility for making a just society,” Souter said in his confirmation.
Indeed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...
Indeed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...