John L. Cotter | Lightnews

John Cotter

@drjohncotter.bsky.social

2K followers 1.5K following 1.1K posts

Senior Lecturer in Law at Keele University, England. Research in EU constitutional law, especially defence of democracy, and impeachment. Irishman living in Cheshire. Views are my own.

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John Lambert Cotter was an American archaeologist whose career spanned more than sixty years and included archaeological work with the Works Progress Administration, numerous posts with the National Park Service, and contributions to the development of historical archaeology in the United States. .. more

Political science 29%

Materials science 18%

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John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · Sep 8

Last mention of my most recent article on how - as a last resort - EU law can be (re-)-interpreted to protect the democratic legitimacy of its legislature in the face of Member State autocratisation.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · Aug 28

My latest article ‘Democracy Manifest? Ensuring the EU Legislature’s Democratic Legitimacy
in the Face of National-Level Autocratisation’ has just been published online and open access in European Papers: www.europeanpapers.eu/en/system/fi...

www.europeanpapers.eu

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 7h

I mean, you don’t need to be a biblical scholar to know that tax collectors feature pretty prominently in the New Testament.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 7h

She’s mixing up Holy Grail and Life of Brian. Easily done.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 21h

Has someone invented a self-flying jet that can also generate columns for the Telegraph?

Telegraph headline stating “In Praise of Private Jets”

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 1d

There will be more from me on impeachment in EU law (I am currently working on a monograph for OUP which is to be completed in mid 2027).

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 1d

This article will be published in a special edition of the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law and comes out of a conference, Law in an Age of Permacrisis, which was held at Keele University in July 2024.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 1d

In my latest article, I explore the (very) limited potential for impeachment to be utilised as an accountability mechanism to address violations of the rule of law in the EU at supranational level.

Impeachment as Constitutional Weapon: A Role for Individual Officeholder Responsibility in Upholding European Union Values in the Rule of Law Crisis?

link.springer.com

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 2d

British discourse is degenerating to the point that in a decade all criminal trials will be tried by judges and sentencing will be done by the comment section of the courts service YouTube live stream.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 4d

Yes, but I’m being serious.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 4d

Hand some civil servants one of those nostalgic jigsaw box covers of an English village and say, “there, you go boffins, make that; here’s £250m a week to do it.”

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 4d

We could just take one of the uninhabited British Overseas Territory islands (like Inaccessible Island) and convert it into some kind of Daily Mail/Spectator/Telegraph readers’ Disneyland.

Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 4d

good to see people keeping a sense of perspective

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 4d

The gravest hazard that US Americans face to the functioning and endurance of their Republic is monarchy.

The Steady State @steadystatevets.bsky.social · 5d

A federal judge didn’t “steal” the Commander-in-Chief’s powers—she ruled that DoD exceeded the limits Congress set. That is the rule of law working as designed. What threatens the Republic isn’t judicial review, but officials who insist they’re above it.

Reposted by Will Jennings, John L. Cotter, Justin Lewis

Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 4d

good to see people keeping a sense of perspective

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Steve Peers, John L. Cotter , and 1 more Joe R. Feagin, Steve Peers, John L. Cotter, W. Andy Knight

The Steady State @steadystatevets.bsky.social · 5d

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 5d

Psychologically, again being charitable, he seems to be drawn to big characters who are ratings worthy and who he perceives to be winners. So there’s an affinity with Putin (even if there isn’t something more sinister underpinning it). It’s also why his gushing over Mamdani isn’t that shocking.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 5d

As I say, that’s the most charitable view. The reality could be much more sinister than that.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 5d

Part of Trump’s problem with international relations (to be very charitable) is that he is an unsophisticated real estate man with no understanding of statecraft. He wants Ukraine out of his in-tray and doesn’t have the patience to do any real thinking about what follows.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 8d

Some people clearly think they have the luxury of electing clowns like Boris Johnson or Donald Trump. And then something serious like Covid happens which directly and undeniably affects them.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 12d

‘Racists have feelings too’ has been the mantra of ‘sensible’ politics for well over a decade now. And in making a racist omelette, sometimes you have to break the odd vulnerable minority group or fundamental international human rights norm, they remind us, as if we’re being unreasonable children.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 14d

I spent the whole afternoon listening to Celtic mysticism music (Clannad, Fainne Lasta, those kind of artistes) trying to get in touch with my ancestral voices, when a Druid appeared to me on a vision of the Cliffs of Moher and said, “Lo behold, that Dan Hannan is an awful feckin’ eejit…”

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 17d

I was kind of ahead of the curve on this, if I may say so myself.

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 26d

This is what happens when you stop reading books and published articles and are exposed only to X posts by Crusader1488 and the like.

Reposted by John L. Cotter, Laurent Pech

Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 18d

🇪🇺⚖️🇵🇱 I keep thinking about this story, how the rule of law gladiator @profpech.bsky.social pushed back against the composition of a rule of law seminar organised by AFCO and, in the end, in a very Laurent Pech fashion, withdrew entirely. What kind of "bad people" do we want to talk to? 1/

Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 23d

How is the EU Parliament selecting experts to its public hearings and seminars?

AFCO first disinvited me from a public hearing on EU electoral law, and then created the conditions for @profpech.bsky.social to step back seminar thegoodlobby.eu/how-the-eu-p...

How the EU Parliament Selects its Experts? | The Good Lobby

Recent incidents involving the EU Parliament's AFCO Committee have raised questions about the instrumentalisation of parliamentary procedures.

thegoodlobby.eu

Reposted by Steve Peers, Tobias Lock, John L. Cotter

REVEL Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence @reveljmce.bsky.social · 18d

Delighted to announce that we are the REVEL Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence @maynoothuniversity.ie. We will be organising a host of activities over the next 3 years on "Realising European Values and European Law" (REVEL). Stay tuned (follow us) for more.
www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/...

School of Law and Criminology awarded Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence

Maynooth University’s School of Law and Criminology has just opened the new Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, entitled “Realising European Values through European Law” (REVEL). Following a

www.maynoothuniversity.ie

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 19d

Scraping that tacky crap off the wall will be the most therapeutic job in the world once Trump is out of office.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 20d

Just a little more gold and it will be perfect

Trump in the Oval Office of the White House with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The walls are decorated with tacky gold bullshit

https://flic.kr/p/2rE6s9j

Reposted by Timothy Snyder, Will Jennings, Christopher Wright , and 3 more Timothy Snyder, Will Jennings, Christopher Wright, Rosemary A. Joyce, John L. Cotter, Manisha Sinha

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 20d

Just a little more gold and it will be perfect

John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 21d

In the David Frost biopic, the next part would be a cheesy montage in which Frost leafs through library books at night, skips stones across a canal, types frantically, stares at an ideas board, before bursting into a meeting out of breath and saying, “we need to rejoin the European Single Market.”