Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 7h

Cat food burglar

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 17h

But is he a former Thomas clerk???

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 21h

Some deeply threatening email inbox notifications today

Alerts that both the Heritage Guide to the Constitution and Justice Kennedy's Memoirs are expected to arrive tomorrow, throwing my life into disarray.

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 21h

What IF it made a difference though?

Imagine: The contours of executive power subject to the whims of originalist academics and their latest angle on the history or--as here--reactions to the scholarship of others: democracyproject.org/posts/must-a...

What world that would be!

The article is particularly notable, said Richard H. Pildes, who is a law professor at N.Y.U. and one of the project’s founders.

“If a highly respected originalist scholar like Professor Nelson, on whom the court relies frequently, denies that originalism supports the unitary executive theory,” Professor Pildes said, “that inevitably raises serious questions about an originalist justification for the court’s looming approach.”

Professor Nelson’s scholarship has been exceptionally influential. It has been cited in more than a dozen Supreme Court opinions, including ones by every member of the six-justice conservative majority.

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 21h

Does this mean anything? Don't be silly!

The Court will find a way to do what it wants to do. They can take an originalist approach and engage in selective citations. Or they can adopt an alternate approach, maybe structural argument, to get to the desired result.

There is little question that the court will side with the president. Its conservative majority has repeatedly signaled that it plans to adopt the “unitary executive theory,” which says the original understanding of the Constitution demands letting the president remove executive branch officials as he sees fit.

But a new article, from a leading originalist law professor, has complicated and perhaps upended the conventional wisdom. The legal academy treated the development like breaking news.

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 21h

An originalist bombshell! Unitary executive theory thrown into doubt by a prominent originalist! Critics have been calling this out for decades, but finally the call is coming from inside the house so we'll finally pay attention to it!

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/u...

Originalist ‘Bombshell’ Complicates Case on Trump’s Power to Fire Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

Fancy late night snack

A possum sitting at a tiny wooden picnic table with a red umbrella over it

Same possum, turned toward the table to eat some almonds off of it

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Reposted by Michael Smith

Mr. Joshua @pantspants.bsky.social · 1d

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

Me too! Loved your presentation!

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

Got the Jayhawk! Too busy with conference and book hauling to see any other animals. Next time! bsky.app/profile/msmi...

Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

Had a great time at the Central States Law Schools Association Annual Conference! OU Law had a strong showing!

I ranted a bunch about constitutional law and sci fi scenarios. Met new people and saw old friends. Highly recommend!

Me talking, looking awkward. Thanks Noah.

Artsy photo of an in-focus Kansas Law mug while Noah Chauvin gives a talk in the distant background

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

Lazy Sunday

The black and white neighborhood cat, laying on her (?) side on a porch.

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

Had a great time at the Central States Law Schools Association Annual Conference! OU Law had a strong showing!

I ranted a bunch about constitutional law and sci fi scenarios. Met new people and saw old friends. Highly recommend!

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

"But if a battle of law reviews were the order of the day--"

Philip Seymour Hoffman shouting "shut the fuck up" into a phone.

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

See:

www.jstor.org/stable/3108786

brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr/vol88/is...

scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scho...

ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcont...

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Clio and the Court: An Illicit Love Affair on JSTOR

Alfred H. Kelly, Clio and the Court: An Illicit Love Affair, The Supreme Court Review, Vol. 1965 (1965), pp. 119-158

www.jstor.org

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 1d

No!

Are judges good historians?

A Second Opinion is a recurring series by Haley Proctor on the Second Amendment and constitutional litigation. Three years ago in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, […]

www.scotusblog.com

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Reposted by Michael Smith

Mr. Joshua @pantspants.bsky.social · 2d

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 2d

Old friends too

The black and white neighborhood cat eating a treat from a hand

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 2d

Arrived home from Kansas just in time to meet a new friend

A possum drinking from a dish of water on a porch

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 3d

(If I don't shake your hand at this conference, it isn't because I hate you. It's because my arms dont work after carrying this stack around town.)

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 3d

For years, I'd wanted to know more about the fossil flora of the drywood formation of southwestern Missouri.

Today, that mystery ends.

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 3d

One of the many advantages of driving to the conference!

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 3d

Yes!!

(Highly recommend the library book sale going on through the weekend)

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 3d

Two hours to go until the Central States conference begins. Time to buy as many books as I can in downtown Lawrence.

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Reposted by Michael Smith

Jake Charles @jacobdcharles.bsky.social · 4d

Similar petitions keep cropping up. The Court is gonna have to confront this question sooner or later. They seem to be choosing “later,” for now. But they can’t avoid it forever (unless every circuit keeps upholding the laws, I suppose).

Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · 4d

Challengers to Connecticut's assault weapons ban are now asking SCOTUS to take up their case and declare all assault weapons bans unconstitutional.

www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 4d

How about that!

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Criticizes National Guard Deployment in Chicago

www.nytimes.com

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