Ryan Doerfler
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ryandoerfler.bsky.social
Ryan Doerfler
@ryandoerfler.bsky.social
5.3K followers 480 following 15 posts
Professor at Harvard Law
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Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
jamesbrandt.bsky.social
If we rejected the idea that climate change is best thought of as an externality, how would it our approach to regulation:
Text reading: in many ways, unlearning externalities-thinking is just rediscovering what we knew in 1970. The Congress that passed the Clean Air Act expressly rejected the use of economic analysis in designing air pollution regulation. The Act’s Senate Report explained that “the health of people is more important than the question of whether [the achievement of air standards] is technically feasible… therefore… existing sources of pollutants either should meet the standard of law or be closed down.” The Supreme Court concluded that the Clean Air Act was a “drastic remedy,” “expressly designed to force regulated sources to develop pollution control devices that might at the time appear to be economically or technologically infeasible.” What this statutory design recognizes is that corporations don’t just act in markets, they control them. They can bring entire technologies, entire new compounds, into being. Asking a regulator or judge to assess the costs and benefits of limiting pollution—or expecting an affected individual to bargain in this situation—makes no sense. Before the automobile industry invented the catalytic converter, the costs of reducing air pollution seemed astronomical, enough to bankrupt the entire industry. After they invented the catalytical converter, the costs were manageable. And they only invented it because they were faced with the threat of being shut down.
December 1, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
vanhollen.senate.gov
We must keep calling out those that cave to the Trump Admin, and the latest is Northwestern.

As part of their "deal," NU will pay $75 million, stop vital research, renege on agreements with its students over the war in Gaza, and more.

Throwing your students under the bus to please Trump. Shameful.
Northwestern Agrees to a Deal With Trump Administration
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
toddntucker.com
Climate change "hasn’t arrived all at once as some biblical apocalypse but as a creeping drain on rents, utility bills, and grocery prices."

@katearonoff.bsky.social with a post-mortem on the IRA and the hopes it pinned on an elusive green capital coalition.
newrepublic.com/article/2027...
The Quick and Shameful Death of Biden’s Biggest Policy
It was far too easy for Republicans to kill the Inflation Reduction Act. Where did those who crafted it go wrong?
newrepublic.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
thetroops.fightins.online
CHUR-tuhn
A screenshot of an AI Overview that insists that Charlton Heston's name is pronounced "CHUR-tuhn." The actual text reads: Charlton Heston is pronounced CHUR-tuhn HESS-tuhn. The first part, "Charlton," sounds like "CHUR-tuhn," with the emphasis on the first syllable. The last name, "Heston," sounds like "HESS-tuhn," with the "H" sound at the beginning of the first syllable. Charlton: (CHUR-tuhn): The first syllable is stressed. Heston: (HESS-tuhn): The first syllable is stressed. You can hear pronunciations of the name by visiting sites like Youglish or Forvo.com and listening to the provided audio examples
October 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
kissphoria.bsky.social
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
The University of Oklahoma takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights, certainly including religious freedoms. Upon receiving notice from the student on the grading of an assignment, the University immediately began a full review of the situation and has acted swiftly to address the matter. First, the college acted immediately to address the academic issue raised by the student. College leaders contacted her on the day her letter was received and have maintained regular communication throughout the process. As previously stated, a formal grade appeals process was conducted. The process resulted in steps to ensure no academic harm to the student from the graded assignments. Second, the student reported filing a claim of illegal discrimination based on religious beliefs to the appropriate university office. OU has a clear process for reviewing such claims and it has been activated. The graduate student instructor has been placed on administrative leave pending the finalization of this process. To ensure fairness in the process, a full-time professor is serving as the course instructor for the remainder of the semester. OU remains firmly committed to fairness, respect and protecting every student's right to express sincerely held religious beliefs. The UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA
November 30, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
veenadubal.bsky.social
“Amelia calls the term e-bike “a play on words.” If the machines were called motorbikes..they would be far less popular. “But the fact that it’s called an e-bike” — evoking such everyday stuff as email, e-books…“makes it accessible.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/m...
The Shocking Crash That Led One County to Reckon With the Dangers of E-Bikes
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
tframpton.bsky.social
Okay, so this exists now! 😬

Inside, you'll find: the IWW, Tom Mooney, the First Red Scare, labor juries, the ILD, the Gastonia Strike, Angelo Herndon, Euel Lee, Scottsboro, riots at the Supreme Court, Charles Hamilton Houston, Pauli Murray, the Worker's Defense League, FDR using a racial slur . . .
yalelawjournal.bsky.social The Yale Law Journal @yalelawjournal.bsky.social · 1d
In his Article, @tframpton.bsky.social explores the history of advocacy for juries that represent a fair cross-section of the community. He recovers the forgotten stories of the radical litigants, criminal defendants, and social movements whose decades-long work reshaped the jury.
November 30, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
madar.bsky.social
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
www.theatlantic.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
lukemcgee.bsky.social
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
jameeljaffer.bsky.social
A university called Northwestern should have a compass.
mattheweadie.bsky.social Matthew Eadie @mattheweadie.bsky.social · 3d
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university

Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
timdickinson.bsky.social
Hagueseth
washingtonpost.com The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 3d
Exclusive: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” in the first strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. After two men survived, the mission commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, according to two sources.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
donmoyn.bsky.social
The President of the United States promising a policy of mass denaturalization of citizens "who undermine domestic tranquility"
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d
Trump: “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries … denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.“
November 28, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
nkalamb.bsky.social
This is a really sick story.

From everything I know, Boston’s Logan Airport is a legitimately dangerous place to travel through.

abcnews.go.com/US/19-year-c...
A 19-year-old college student who was on her way to surprise her family for Thanksgiving break was detained at a Boston airport and later deported despite a federal judge's order blocking her removal, according to her attorney. Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, who entered the U.S. from Honduras when she was 8 years old, was about to board her flight to Texas last Friday to visit her parents and siblings when airport authorities told her to step aside, her attorney Todd Pomerleau told ABC News.
November 27, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
amandaweavernovels.com
ICE DETAINED MARILYN. Fuck these people. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
‘Northern Exposure’ actor gave ICE agents in Redmond her tribal ID. They called it ‘fake,’ she says
Indigenous actor Elaine Miles of "Northern Exposure" was detained by ICE at a Redmond bus stop. When she showed them her Tribal ID, they told her it was fake.
www.seattletimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:35 PM
ryandoerfler.bsky.social
Seems like agreeing to the Bondi memo plus a nominal fine is about to sweep the sector.
November 26, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
mwkraus.bsky.social
~A month or so ago the nu faculty assembly voted like 598 to 7 for no deal.
November 26, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
chanda.blacksky.app
www.oklahoman.com/story/news/s...
OU professor detained by ICE now released after two days of questioning
Vahid Abedini is an Iranian studies assistant professor at OU. He was detained by ICE as he headed to Washington D.C. for an academic conference.
www.oklahoman.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
pochoaespejo.bsky.social
“I had to take the baby from my crying wife’s arms.“ It hasn’t even been a year, and this is not a scandal anymore? What is wrong with us?
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
johannawinant.bsky.social
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University

www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
antlervel.vet
The real and true story of why Police Squad (the TV series Naked Gun was based on and easily the funniest tv show of its time) was canceled is legitimately insane and one of the most egregious examples of TV malpractice I’ve ever heard:
ABC announced the cancellation of Police Squad! after four of its six episodes had aired in March 1982. The final two episodes were aired that summer. In an interview for the DVD release of the series, Nielsen said ABC entertainment president Tony Thomopoulos asserted Police Squad! was canceled because viewers had to pay close attention to the show in order to get much of the humor: "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it"
November 24, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
mayasen.bsky.social
A big trend in higher ed and I absolutely hate it
larryglickman.bsky.social Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 7d
Handing the keys of governance to unqualified billionaires and allowing them to far exceed the proper role of the Executive Branch in dictating to other agencies (i.e. Musk/DOGE) or institutions of civil society (as with Rowan/ Compact) sure does not seem "populist."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Wealthy People Have Always Shaped Universities. This Time Is Different.
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
elizabethalsop.bsky.social
❤️❤️❤️
November 24, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
tressiemcphd.bsky.social
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
hbcompass.bsky.social Heather Bryant @hbcompass.bsky.social · 8d
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
corinneblalock.bsky.social
My moderating skills were a little rusty, but this event still turned out SO GREAT thanks to @sandynurse.bsky.social & @ngusdorf.bsky.social!!

If you want to learn about how NYC government works (we get deep into the city budget) you absolutely can't miss this event!!

youtu.be/kTZb8XlVJs0
Local Power
YouTube video by LPE Project
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Ryan Doerfler
mjsdc.bsky.social
5th Circuit MAGA Judge Andrew Oldham says Erie was wrongly decided, federal judges should resume "finding" law themselves rather than applying state statutes, and appeals courts should stop certifying questions about state law to state supreme courts. www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...
Andrew S. Oldham, Circuit Judge, dissenting: I am troubled by the Fifth Circuit’s standards for certifying questions to state courts. Certification barely existed at all before the Supreme Court’s decision in Clay v. Sun Insurance Office Ltd., 363 U.S. 207 (1960). But today it looms large over our diversity docket. And I worry that overuse of the certified-question procedure contravenes history and tradition, undermines federalism, diminishes the parity of state and federal courts, and patronizes our colleagues in the judicial branches of the several States. Our purported “test” for certifying questions is theoretically bankrupt. And the procedure’s much-celebrated efficiency is overstated. We should reconsider these errors, swear off the drink of overcertification, and bring our practices in line with Article III and the jurisdictional statutes enacted by Congress.
November 20, 2025 at 6:49 PM