The month of Augustus Caesar has arrived, which means that the Blog is officially on hiatus until the new school year. But before we hit the beach (library) and catch some rays (plan our fall schedule), a few brief announcements.
Inaugural Association of Law and Political Economy Conference
A reminder that proposals for the inaugural ALPE Conference are due between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15. The conference, which will take place on February 6-7 in Richmond, will serve as the launch for the new Association for Law and Political Economy. More information is available on the ALPE website.
Our Most Popular Posts of the Year So Far
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. But if you find yourself pining for LPE content during the dog days of summer, you can revisit some of our most loved posts from the first half of 2025.
10. The Anti-Democratic Legal Form of the University (and How To Fix It) – Timothy Kaufman-Osborn
Timothy Kaufman-Osborn argues that to arrest the recent slide into academic authoritarianism, we need to reckon with the anti-democratic legal structure of the American university.
9. In This Brave New World, Does Scholarship Still Matter? – Beth Popp Berman
Beth Popp Berman grapples with the current predicament of many academics: if the recent past is no longer a useful guide to seeking change in the present, what good is policy-adjacent scholarship?
8. Six Perspectives on Fissures on the Right
Daniel Martinez HoSang, Lindsay Owens, David Austin Walsh, Amanda Hollis-Brusky, Todd Tucker, and Dessie Zagorcheva share their perspectives on possible fissures on the right — from tax & trade to fed soc and the multiracial right.
7. The Political Economy of the Current Crisis – Jedediah Britton-Purdy
Jedediah Britton-Purdy reflects on the distinctive political economy of the present crisis, where professional civil servants are treated as at-will employees, and the threat of prosecution is just another bargaining chip.
6. A Call To Defend Free Speech From Weaponized Allegations of Terrorism Ties
A group of leading scholars explain how universities are being weaponized against their own members through allegations of “support for” or “alignment with” terrorism. Universities must prepare for this, and refuse to operate on the basis of fear rather than legal necessity or moral principle.
5. Six Biden Administration Officials on Reimagining a Progressive Future
Elizabeth Wilkins, Chiraag Bains, Bharat Ramamurti, Samuel Bagenstos, Shilpa Phadke, and K. Sabeel Rahman reflect on what Biden Administration policies worked, what policies fell short, and what a more ambitious, progressive, and ultimately successful approach might look like going forward.
4. Eight Legal Experts on Trump’s Assault on Higher Education
Jonathan Feingold, Veena Dubal, Samuel Bagenstos, Alexander Chen, Dallas Estes, Sarah Sherman-Stokes, Jeremiah Chin, and Sameer Ashar describe what Trump’s executive orders on higher education purport to require, analyze what they actually require, and assess how colleges and universities ought to respond.
3. The Anti-Constitutional Attack on Birthright Citizenship – Evan Bernick
Evan Bernick explains why Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship is not merely unconstitutional — it is an effort to perpetrate the very evils that abolitionists and Republicans sought to eradicate from our constitutional order.
2. Define and Divide: Toward a Strategy for Opposing Trumpism – A.J. Bauer
A.J. Bauer argues that to meaningfully oppose Trump, the Democrats and the press must stop embracing the right’s framing of the problems we face, and they must stop depicting Trumpism as a monolith.
1. The Institutional Neutrality Trap – Amy Kapczynski
In a post from January, Amy Kapczynski explains what’s wrong with institutional neutrality rules, and what we can expect of powerful institutions in the second Trump era. Seven months later, her warnings about the lack of conviction and solidarity among university leaders looks all the more prescient.
Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes
This summer, we say a fond farewell to two members of our editorial board, Karen Tani and Caroline Parker. Both longtime contributors to the Blog as authors, editors, and organizers, they have graciously helped guide our programming over past couple of years. We are grateful for their service!
We also bid adieu to three of our student editors: Chloe Miller, Sohum Pal, and Elliot Setzer. From keeping you informed about the Bangladesh Student Movement, to making you feel a bit more optimistic about the state of labor organizing, to deepening your understanding of public power, these editors helped bring the blog to new heights over the past year.
To help this ship of Theseus stay afloat, we have also brought aboard two new team members. To the editorial board, we welcome Ntina Tzouvala, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales known for her penetrating insights on international law, legal theory, and the contradictions of capitalism. And to our ranks of student editors, we welcome Edie Conekin-Tooze, a rising 2L at Yale Law School.
