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Jamal Greene

@jamalgreene.bsky.social

21K followers 440 following 1.4K posts

Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School. Ex-DOJ/OLC. Becoming familiar with your game. How Rights Went Wrong available at Bookshop.org (https://tinyurl.com/se32my4r), Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/3vbcfwa4), or a decent public library.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · Jun 10

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Deborah Pearlstein @debpearlstein.bsky.social · Jun 10

Zaitsev, a 36-yr-old Russian citizen w/a pending asylum case, said he was beaten by ICE agents...Photos in court filings show Zaitsev with bruises and scabs on his face. “We came to the US for protection because of what we encountered in Russia. It seems that we are encountering here what we fled.”

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 14h

I don't think one needs to invoke "public authority" for a due process defense to be sensitive to whether the advice comes from someone upon whom reliance would be reasonable.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 14h

I hadn't meant exactly this. I had understood "public authority" to work for things public authorities can do, to excuse the behavior of a non-public actor who thinks they're clothed with that authority, but I had thought it doesn't work for things they can't lawfully do, whether OLC says so or not.

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 15h

Yes, this has been my assumption, ie, that the government can’t authorize someone to do something the government itself can’t lawfully do, but if it subsequently tries to prosecute, there’s a due process defense based on unfairness. But I defer to others more expert.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 15h

I am not a criminal law expert so was asking if that is relevant to a distinctly “public authorities” defense. I have long found public authorities a bit mystifying in the context of government defendants.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 15h

I am asking about the label for that defense (itself a pedantic question!), and the distinction between doing something public authorities themselves have the power to do under some circumstances (run red lights, possess drugs, etc.) versus doing something they don’t.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 16h

Is public authority the right rubric for an act that would be illegal no matter who committed or authorized it? Is due process not the right rubric to apply, if anything?

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 22h

Yup, @weedenkim.bsky.social seems to get the sequence right. More details in this story, including that his lawsuit also, and appropriately, raised a First Amendment claim (a detail omitted from the OP's linked article).

universitystar.com/33285/news/t...

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

*Almost* rescheduling a talk.

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, I said that before I saw the Fisk video!

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, that's right -- missed that. And I'd guess that has happened, though obviously rare.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

I'm OK with reminding people to show courage even in defense of those they disagree with. I do not find it plausible that NYU moved the talk because they disagreed with Shapiro personally. But even if they did, these examples are so wildly incongruent that the point gets lost in the execution.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

I would amend to "any other outside speaker event likely to generate protest." I don't think it serves free expression to ignore that possibility. The broader point for me is that administrators make mistakes, and maybe this was one--I don't know enough--but this is not evidence of a crisis.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

And being so, is in fact not a model of "civil dialogue"?

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

Do you disagree that the line from <<dropping a criminal case to coerce the mayor into assisting with deportations>> to <<almost holding Ilya Shapiro's talk on a day other than Oct. 7, but then holding it then anyway>> is a bizarre non sequitur that misunderstands the stakes of the issues?

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

If she wanted to avoid that impression, she might mention any other problem involving academic freedom on university campuses. I can think of a few.

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Reposted by Jamal Greene

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

One reason the Empire tumbled was because the Oracles in Robes decided that ambiguous writings from centuries earlier predicted the need for a dictator, precisely during the reign of the least ethical leader in it's history.
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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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

Which is what makes it wild that she relies on *appearances*. Gah!

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

Also, despite the headline, only one law school is mentioned in the piece. This is a classic misinformation tactic.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

This framing is a bit of a choice:
What happened: Ilya Shapiro and the Federal Society wanted an event on anti-semitism at NYU. Campus officials proposed another day, worried about the anniversary on Oct 7. After pushback, they relented. Is this a cancelation?
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/o...

Opinion | I Resigned as Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney. Law Schools Are Missing the Point of My Story.

www.nytimes.com

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

"There is no deference due to a president who refuses to operate in good faith."

Richard Primus @richardprimus.bsky.social · 1d

This by @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social is right.

How a Trump Judge Exposed the Trump Con www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/o...

Opinion | How a Trump Judge Exposed the Trump Con

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Jamal Greene

Fix the Court @fixthecourt.com · 2d

Even when you’re on the Supreme Court, it’s super easy to just not go on Fox News.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 2d

Please provide explanatory parentheticals.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

Archives banned making copies.

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 2d

Of the many reasons I think you are right not to comment on people’s appearance, one is that you may be observing the style choices of a Fox News makeup artist at least as much as the subject’s.

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 2d

I wonder if ruling for an authoritarian president of your own party 18 straight times (or whatever it is now), often without any reasoning at all, gives any impressions that a Supreme Court justice should wish not to give.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue."

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 3d

I... do not believe this was a "procedural lapse."

Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 3d

The Trump administration on Saturday scrambled to rescind layoffs of hundreds of CDC scientists who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error

www.nytimes.com

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 3d

I can’t help but think of this classic. Like, Kelly Clarkson and Linda Ronstadt are great (as is Father of the Bride!), but bruh. www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/reme...

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