Robert L. Tsai
@robertltsai.bsky.social
Author of DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE (@WWNorton.com), amzn.to/45LFzNg | Next: BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF COAL COUNTRY (NYU Press) | Prof & Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston U | constitutional law & politics, legal history, democracy | https://linktr.ee/roberttsai
Pinned
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
The publication date for my book on the history of policing American slavery has been moved up a month! Now available May 12, 2026! Thanks so much to those who have preordered! The Press is offering 30% off with the code, 01UNCP30
uncpress.org/978146969484...
uncpress.org/978146969484...
White Power
Beginning in the colonial era and growing through the American Revolution and the Southern plantation system, slaveholders’ violent police regime continued...
uncpress.org
November 20, 2025 at 11:55 AM
The publication date for my book on the history of policing American slavery has been moved up a month! Now available May 12, 2026! Thanks so much to those who have preordered! The Press is offering 30% off with the code, 01UNCP30
uncpress.org/978146969484...
uncpress.org/978146969484...
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Gordon Wood at AEI: “There has been some talk recently that we are not and should not be a credo nation, that beliefs in a creed are too permissive, too weak a basis for citizenship…. This a position that I reject as passionately as I can.”
November 19, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Gordon Wood at AEI: “There has been some talk recently that we are not and should not be a credo nation, that beliefs in a creed are too permissive, too weak a basis for citizenship…. This a position that I reject as passionately as I can.”
Gordon Wood at AEI: “There has been some talk recently that we are not and should not be a credo nation, that beliefs in a creed are too permissive, too weak a basis for citizenship…. This a position that I reject as passionately as I can.”
November 19, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Gordon Wood at AEI: “There has been some talk recently that we are not and should not be a credo nation, that beliefs in a creed are too permissive, too weak a basis for citizenship…. This a position that I reject as passionately as I can.”
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
“They described being asked to drop cases for political reasons, to find evidence for flimsy investigations and to take positions in court they thought had no legitimate basis. They also talked about the work they and their colleagues were told to abandon”
60 Attorneys on the Year of Chaos Inside Trump’s Justice Department (Gift Article)
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:23 PM
“They described being asked to drop cases for political reasons, to find evidence for flimsy investigations and to take positions in court they thought had no legitimate basis. They also talked about the work they and their colleagues were told to abandon”
“They described being asked to drop cases for political reasons, to find evidence for flimsy investigations and to take positions in court they thought had no legitimate basis. They also talked about the work they and their colleagues were told to abandon”
60 Attorneys on the Year of Chaos Inside Trump’s Justice Department (Gift Article)
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:23 PM
“They described being asked to drop cases for political reasons, to find evidence for flimsy investigations and to take positions in court they thought had no legitimate basis. They also talked about the work they and their colleagues were told to abandon”
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
“Writing across 80 pages of court filings, Judge Lin said that the government was ‘engaged in a concerted campaign to purge’ certain viewpoints from American universities”
Judge Orders Trump Not to Threaten University of California’s Funding
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:30 PM
“Writing across 80 pages of court filings, Judge Lin said that the government was ‘engaged in a concerted campaign to purge’ certain viewpoints from American universities”
“Writing across 80 pages of court filings, Judge Lin said that the government was ‘engaged in a concerted campaign to purge’ certain viewpoints from American universities”
Judge Orders Trump Not to Threaten University of California’s Funding
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:30 PM
“Writing across 80 pages of court filings, Judge Lin said that the government was ‘engaged in a concerted campaign to purge’ certain viewpoints from American universities”
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Really unnerving point from Nicole Hemmer, historian of the right: Trump's Epstein fiasco could drive MAGA to push him to go even fuller authoritarian, because the whole project is now in such serious doubt. She's so good on MAGA's future.
Check out this exchange:
newrepublic.com/article/2031...
Check out this exchange:
newrepublic.com/article/2031...
November 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Really unnerving point from Nicole Hemmer, historian of the right: Trump's Epstein fiasco could drive MAGA to push him to go even fuller authoritarian, because the whole project is now in such serious doubt. She's so good on MAGA's future.
Check out this exchange:
newrepublic.com/article/2031...
Check out this exchange:
newrepublic.com/article/2031...
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke at my law school alma mater wearing Jordans and the culture will never be the same www.bu.edu/law/record/a...
The Shapiro Lecture: In Conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor | School of Law
www.bu.edu
November 13, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke at my law school alma mater wearing Jordans and the culture will never be the same www.bu.edu/law/record/a...
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Students demand immediate halt to strip mining in Kentucky, circa Nov. 1970
October 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Students demand immediate halt to strip mining in Kentucky, circa Nov. 1970
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Out today in HLR, my piece Skrmetti Beyond Scrutiny. What happened, what it means for trans rights and sex equality more broadly: harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
Skrmetti Beyond Scrutiny - Harvard Law Review
In United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), a state law that prohibits transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care.
harvardlawreview.org
November 11, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Out today in HLR, my piece Skrmetti Beyond Scrutiny. What happened, what it means for trans rights and sex equality more broadly: harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
“Don’t Know” and “Nobody” doing better than Schumer or Jeffries
November 8, 2025 at 3:23 AM
“Don’t Know” and “Nobody” doing better than Schumer or Jeffries
“Don’t Know” and “Nobody” doing better than Schumer or Jeffries
November 8, 2025 at 3:23 AM
“Don’t Know” and “Nobody” doing better than Schumer or Jeffries
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Sad to see a mighty cultural institution reduced to this: “Audiences are staying away. Internal sales figures obtained by The New York Times showed ticket sales down by about 50 percent from same period last year…..Dozens of employees, many with decades of experience, have been fired or quit.”
The Kennedy Center Crackup
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Sad to see a mighty cultural institution reduced to this: “Audiences are staying away. Internal sales figures obtained by The New York Times showed ticket sales down by about 50 percent from same period last year…..Dozens of employees, many with decades of experience, have been fired or quit.”
Sad to see a mighty cultural institution reduced to this: “Audiences are staying away. Internal sales figures obtained by The New York Times showed ticket sales down by about 50 percent from same period last year…..Dozens of employees, many with decades of experience, have been fired or quit.”
The Kennedy Center Crackup
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Sad to see a mighty cultural institution reduced to this: “Audiences are staying away. Internal sales figures obtained by The New York Times showed ticket sales down by about 50 percent from same period last year…..Dozens of employees, many with decades of experience, have been fired or quit.”
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Hero jury saves democracy gone a-rye
Jury nullification is good and it's a good sign for America's path out of authoritarianism that juries are recognizing their power to nullify.
November 6, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Hero jury saves democracy gone a-rye
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
“Do you know that I consider it immoral to teach in the schools that the Constitution of the United states is too sacred to change, almost to touch? Why, what are we, a lot of degenerates?"
- Charles Beard, 1915
- Charles Beard, 1915
November 6, 2025 at 12:24 PM
“Do you know that I consider it immoral to teach in the schools that the Constitution of the United states is too sacred to change, almost to touch? Why, what are we, a lot of degenerates?"
- Charles Beard, 1915
- Charles Beard, 1915
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Catch-all
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
November 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Catch-all
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
Catch-all
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
November 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Catch-all
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
Cat-y’al
Catty-all
Katyal
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
@mgraber1.bsky.social reviews Justice Barrett’s book:
“By presenting judging as a realm of pure law, insulated from politics, the justices offer a picture so implausible that it makes the opposite claim—that judging is nothing but politics—more credible.”
“By presenting judging as a realm of pure law, insulated from politics, the justices offer a picture so implausible that it makes the opposite claim—that judging is nothing but politics—more credible.”
Justice Barrett’s Campaign Biography
Amy Coney Barrett’s book, "Listening to the Law," claims the Supreme Court is above politics. Its very existence proves otherwise.
washingtonmonthly.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:27 PM
@mgraber1.bsky.social reviews Justice Barrett’s book:
“By presenting judging as a realm of pure law, insulated from politics, the justices offer a picture so implausible that it makes the opposite claim—that judging is nothing but politics—more credible.”
“By presenting judging as a realm of pure law, insulated from politics, the justices offer a picture so implausible that it makes the opposite claim—that judging is nothing but politics—more credible.”
Reposted by Robert L. Tsai
This is a great review by @mgraber1.bsky.social. I love the description of Barrett’s book (and others like it) as “campaign biography.”
@mgraber1.bsky.social reviews Justice Barrett’s book:
“By presenting judging as a realm of pure law, insulated from politics, the justices offer a picture so implausible that it makes the opposite claim—that judging is nothing but politics—more credible.”
“By presenting judging as a realm of pure law, insulated from politics, the justices offer a picture so implausible that it makes the opposite claim—that judging is nothing but politics—more credible.”
Justice Barrett’s Campaign Biography
Amy Coney Barrett’s book, "Listening to the Law," claims the Supreme Court is above politics. Its very existence proves otherwise.
washingtonmonthly.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:44 AM
This is a great review by @mgraber1.bsky.social. I love the description of Barrett’s book (and others like it) as “campaign biography.”