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Keith E. Whittington

@kewhittington.bsky.social

11K followers 130 following 330 posts

David Boies Professor of Law, Yale Law School. Founding Chair, Academic Freedom Alliance; Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution. All opinions are mine alone.

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Keith E. Whittington is an American political scientist and legal scholar. He has been the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University since 2006. In July 2024, he joined the Yale Law School faculty. Whittington's research focuses on American constitutionalism, American political and constitutional history, judicial politics, the presidency, and free speech and the law. .. more

Political science 49%

Law 25%

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 3h

The next national faculty FedSoc annual conference will be electric, as the kids say these days

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 11h

New analysis from me on the many flaws and dangers of the proposed Compact.
thedispatch.com/article/trum...

An Unconstitutional ‘Deal’ for Higher Education

The Trump administration's Plan A didn't work. Plan B is even more coercive.

thedispatch.com

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Reposted by Robert C. Richards, Eric M. Patashnik

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 11h

A joint statement from Robert George (Princeton), Jeannie Suk Gersen (Harvard), Tom Ginsburg (Chicago), Robert Post (Yale), David Rabban (Texas) & Keith Whittington (Yale) on the Compact. A politically diverse group known for writing & work on campus issues.
tomginsburg.substack.com/p/on-the-com...

On the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education

By Professors Robert P. George (Princeton), Tom Ginsburg (Chicago), Robert Post (Yale), David Rabban (Texas), Jeannie Suk Gersen (Harvard), and Keith Whittington (Yale)

tomginsburg.substack.com

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 11h

Two new items from me today on the Trump administration's new Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education
www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/u...

www.washingtonexaminer.com

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 6d

I argue that private universities should generally adopt free expression policies that mirror the 1st Amend, indicate scope & limits of that approach, identify core principles that such a commitment would require & consider the rationale for a 1st Amend regime & its primary alternatives.

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 6d

In the latest issue of the Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues, with a symposium in honor of Larry Alexander

digital.sandiego.edu/jcli/vol27/i...

The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues | Vol 27 | Iss 1

digital.sandiego.edu

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 6d

New article now available

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 13d

Plenty of those need to be cleaned up in revisions

Reposted by Lawrence B. Solum, Jacob T. Levy, Simon Lester

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 14d

For some reason the Trump cert petition did not cite my piece, but figure it might become relevant

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

By Birth Alone: The Original Meaning of Birthright Citizenship and Subject to the Jurisdiction of the United States

The citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment entrenched birthright citizenship into the Constitution. Building on a recent revisionist scholarly literatur

papers.ssrn.com

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 14d

Alas, still relevant

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/rip-...

R.I.P. Congressional War Power

President Donald Trump has ordered significant military strikes against assets of the Assad regime in Syria.

www.lawfaremedia.org

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 14d

Yet another no good, very bad day for the Constitution

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Trump ‘Determined’ the U.S. Is Now in a War With Drug Cartels, Congress Is Told

www.nytimes.com

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 14d

My conversation w/ @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social on whether Trump is a reconstructive president and what that means

open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

Is Donald Trump a Reconstructive President?

When presidents push back against the courts

open.substack.com

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 21d

If I’m ever elected president, I will work into every speech my grievances with Reviewer 2

Savchenko Volodymyr @savchenkoua.bsky.social · 23d

🇺🇸🇺🇳 Trump: Years ago, I bid $500 million to rebuild the UN complex, marble floors, mahogany walls, best of everything.

They chose another plan, cost $2–4 billion, far worse, massive overruns, no marble floors. I was right.

Reposted by Keith E. Whittington

Savchenko Volodymyr @savchenkoua.bsky.social · 23d

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · 27d

Some excellent news regarding my new center at Yale. Maybe there’ll be some work for him to do at some point

Joe Cohn Joins the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech as Executive Director law.yale.edu/yls-today/ne...

Joe Cohn Joins the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech as Executive Director

Cohn joins the center after a legal career dedicated to defending free speech rights and campus civil liberties.

law.yale.edu

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Reposted by Keith E. Whittington

Chronicle of Higher Education @chronicle.com · Sep 16

Opinion | The academic-freedom expert Keith Whittington weighs in on the rash of recent firings.

Opinion | The Assassination That Broke Campus Free Speech

Professors are allowed to say hateful things. That doesn’t mean they should.

www.chronicle.com

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Reposted by Keith E. Whittington

Chronicle of Higher Education @chronicle.com · Sep 12

Opinion | Academic freedom expert Keith Whittington weighs in on recent events in Texas.

Opinion | What the Texas A&M Firing Portends for Faculty Speech

On its face, this looks like a textbook violation of academic freedom.

www.chronicle.com

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Sep 5

Rosie O’Donnell discourse leads me to Robert Dahl and his critics and how constitutional constraints are shed

Volokh Conspiracy @volokhc.bsky.social · Sep 5

[Keith E. Whittington] Donald Trump, Constitutionalism, and the Third Face of Power

How to speak a new constitution into being

dlvr.it

Reposted by Anthony Burke

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 30

Nearly half off for Kindle edition

“Written with a commendably cool head, Whittington’s book will be a key guide for legal experts as well as lay readers.”

The Impeachment Power: The Law, Politics, and Purpose of an Extraordinary Constitutional Tool a.co/d/aQl4iXs

The Impeachment Power: The Law, Politics, and Purpose of an Extraordinary Constitutional Tool

The Impeachment Power: The Law, Politics, and Purpose of an Extraordinary Constitutional Tool - Kindle edition by Whittington, Keith E.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Impeachment Power: The Law, Politics, and Purpose of an Extraordinary Constitutional Tool.

a.co

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Oren Samet @osamet.bsky.social · Aug 28

I know there's a lot happening today, but this is sneaking in under the radar. This proposed new rule would absolutely crush foreign PhD students, potentially making it impossible for them to enroll with any certainty of their ability to finish www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

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Reposted by Tom Clark

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 26

I’d say the appropriate reaction in a constitutional democracy is to keep someone with that attitude the hell away from the White House, but here we are

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Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Keith E. Whittington, William Myers

Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

Ok, let’s take a look at this flag burning executive order. As usual, much less than meets the eye, but great for culture war fodder on both sides 1/

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 25

Trump signs an executive order: "If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail."

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

As predicted, the flag-burning EO is a nothing burger from a legal or policy perspective, but I’m sure it will help everyone with their small-dollar donors. But I would advise criminals to avoid desecrating American flags while they do their criming. 12/12

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

Foreign nationals might have more to worry about, but again not because there’s now a new legal constraint but because burning flags will be a good way to prioritize your deportation on other grounds. 11/

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

Let’s litigate to “clarify the scope of the First Amendment exceptions in this area”! Sure, good luck with that. And for those saying “But the Roberts Court!” The Roberts Court is extremely 1A friendly and even Alito has favorably cited the flag burning opinions. Loser. 10/

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

There is already evidence that cops arrest people in such cases that prosecutors refuse to prosecute. EO might encourage cops to be more aggressive in making such arrests, even if arrestees continue to get immediately kicked by prosecutors and magistrates. 9/

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

Same with the referral to local officials for local crimes, but one can easily imagine some overreach in prosecutions that courts will predictably bat down. 8/

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

The actual directive to the AG here is festooned with legal limitations. Maybe this changes prosecutorial priorities, but that’s it. If you are going to beat someone up, you might not want to do it at the same time you desecrate the American flag. 7/

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

Administration will prosecute lawless actions that also involve flag-burning? Ok, whatever. The prosecuting criminal behavior is doing all the work here. The flag add-on is boob bait. 6/

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Keith E. Whittington @kewhittington.bsky.social · Aug 25

The EO wants to pretend that there are unanswered legal questions regarding flag burning that opens a door to greater enforcement action. This is a frequent Trump EO tactic, but it is a mirage in this case as in others. 5/

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