Robert L. Tsai
@robertltsai.bsky.social
15K followers 600 following 2.5K posts

DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE: ONE LAWYER’S PURSUIT OF EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL (2024) amzn.to/45LFzNg & other books | Professor & Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston U. | constitutional law & politics, legal history, democracy | https://linktr.ee/roberttsai .. more

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Law 24%
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robertltsai.bsky.social
Just a photo of me with my 2024 spring child

robertltsai.bsky.social
“The reasons for white nationalists’ renewed hope in mainstream politics are more complicated than the caricature of jackbooted youths saluting one of their own.”
What Aryans See in Donald Trump
In recent years, white supremacists have tended to avoid taking part in national politics in the belief that both parties have been conquered by...
slate.com

robertltsai.bsky.social
True. They lost about 200,000 digital subscribers overnight in response to Bezos’s earlier moves. They stopped reporting digital subs so unclear how many they’ve bled or added since.

robertltsai.bsky.social
Wow I guess all of us who canceled our @washingtonpost.com subscriptions had an effect.

Reposted by Robert L. Tsai

johnfabianwitt.bsky.social
Pub day character! Charles Garland: Handsome heir to Wall Street fortune, critic of inheritance, and founder of utopian farming communes. His money incubated social movements during liberalism's lean years, even as his own life spiraled out of control. @SimonandSchuster.bsky.social #TheRadicalFund

robertltsai.bsky.social
Is this recent statement by Justice Kennedy reassuring?
iansociologo.bsky.social
Du Bois basically did a version of this in his bibliography in Black Reconstruction
BIB L I OGRAPH Y 
STAN DARD - A N TI-NEGRO 
(These authors believe the Negro to be sub-human and congenitally un-
fitted for citizenship and the suffrage.) 
Burgess, John W., Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1 866-1 876. 
Coulter, E. Merton, Civil War and Reconstruction in Kentucky. 
Davis, William W ., The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida. 
Dunning, William A., Reconstruction, Political and Economic . 
Eckenrode, F. Hamilton, Political History of Virginia During Reconstruc· 
tion. 
Fertig, James Walter, The Secession and Reconstruction of Tennessee. 
Ficklen, John R., History of Reconstruction in Louisiana. 
Fleming, Walter F., Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama. 
--, Documentary History of Reconstruction, 1 906, 1907. 
Hamilton, Joseph G. de R., Reconstruction in North Carolina. 
Hollis, John Porter, The Early Period of Reconstruction in South Carolina. 
Lonn, Ella, Reconstruction in Louisiana after 1 868 . 
Ramsdell, Charles W., Reconstruction in Texas . 
Rhodes, James F., History of United States from the Compromise of 1 850. 
Scott, Eben G., Reconstruction During the Civil War. 
Staples, Thomas S ., Reconstruction in Arkansas . 
Studies in Southern History and Politics . Inscribed to William Archibald 
Dunning. 
Carpet-Baggers in the United States Senate. By C. Mildred Thompson. 
The Literary Movement for Secession. By Ulrich B. Phillips. 
Negro Suffrage in the South. By W. Roy Smith. 
Some Phases of Educational History in the South Since 1 865. By Wil-
liam K. Boyd. 
Southern Legislation in Respect to Freedmen, 1 865- 1 866. By J. G. de 
Roulhac Hamilton. 
The Federal Enforcement Acts . By William Watson Davis. 
The New South, Economic and Social . By Holland Thompson. 
Grant's Southern Policy. By Edwin C. Woolley. 
Taylor, Richard, Destruction and Reconstruction. 
Thompson, Clara M., Reconstruction in Georgia, Economic, Social, Po-
litical, l 805-1 872. 
Wooley, Edwin C., The Reconstruction of Georgia.

robertltsai.bsky.social
A little at a time! 🥹

robertltsai.bsky.social
“The coal miners have supplied this country with electricity, and now they’re just cast aside to die,” said a resident of Wyco, a once-thriving coal community.
Coal Miners With Black Lung Say They Are ‘Cast Aside to Die’ Under Trump
www.nytimes.com

robertltsai.bsky.social
“silica dust can cause inflammation and scarring…It is considered about 20 times more toxic to the lungs than coal dust & can also cause lung cancer and kidney disease…Once considered a disease of older miners, black lung is now being diagnosed in workers in their 30s and 40s”
laprofmme.bsky.social
Courtesy of colleagues at Penn
A variation on Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 engraving in the Pennsylvania Gazette, published in Philadelphia, in an effort to foster cooperation among the various colonies against the tyrant king of Britain, with the American colonies replaced by the nine universities selected for special collaboration opportunities

robertltsai.bsky.social
That little voice to every academic:

robertltsai.bsky.social
“Pedagogical” is interesting; I prefer “deliberative” because it decenters the prominence of judges, who after all are elites. It’s also more than just what judges think law can do, but about leaving space for citizens to figure out what to do to preserve democracy—if they indeed wish to do so.
samklug.bsky.social
This whole piece is very astute. To me the key point is that judges' role should be *pedagogical* much more than political. Juristocracy is bad; explaining how law works in a democracy to non-lawyers is good.
robertltsai.bsky.social
Judges can’t save democracy. So what are they good for? bit.ly/46CzS73

Reposted by Robert L. Tsai

samklug.bsky.social
This whole piece is very astute. To me the key point is that judges' role should be *pedagogical* much more than political. Juristocracy is bad; explaining how law works in a democracy to non-lawyers is good.
robertltsai.bsky.social
Judges can’t save democracy. So what are they good for? bit.ly/46CzS73

robertltsai.bsky.social
“Time is a precious resource in a democracy: It affords the opportunity for reflection, the chance to recognize danger and react appropriately by building bridges and defenses. Judges can buy time in a multiplicity of ways” bit.ly/46CzS73
Can Judicial Resistance Last?
The law can protect democracy—but only up to a certain point. After that, it’s up to the people. And there’s the challenge.
bit.ly

robertltsai.bsky.social
Judges can’t save democracy. So what are they good for? bit.ly/46CzS73

robertltsai.bsky.social
MIT Engineers’ Drinking Song: “we don't give a damn for any old man who don't give a damn for us!”
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com

robertltsai.bsky.social
“if the public can't believe what law enforcement is saying then law enforcement probably can't depend on the cooperation of citizens to report information to them accurately”
lsolum.bsky.social
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

robertltsai.bsky.social
“A macabre joke circulated among staffers: certain elderly justices had gotten fed up with being awakened in the middle of the night by prisoners trying to halt their execution.”

robertltsai.bsky.social
“In 1989, [Justice] Powell's committee produced a set of recommendations [to restrict habeas corpus], which Senator Strom Thurmond introduced as legislation … Aides on Capitol Hill had a nickname for the project: ‘Fry Them Faster.’” amzn.to/45LFzNg
Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer's Pursuit of Equal Justice for All
amzn.to

robertltsai.bsky.social
don’t you just love anonymous cop pouts

robertltsai.bsky.social
Deep in the Fairy Pools of Scotland

robertltsai.bsky.social
Once you accept that the Supreme Court behaves as a constitutional policymaking body, you won’t be surprised that originalism is used situationally and strategically—just like every other interpretive approach.

robertltsai.bsky.social
What is the point of the Trump compact? @fishkin.bsky.social: “It is about control. Specifically it is about turning existing federal law, over which the administration has limited control, into terms of a ‘deal’ that offers the government much more control.”
fishkin.bsky.social
I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com