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Essay

The Political Economy of the Current Crisis

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The current constitutional crisis offers a new picture of what legitimate government looks like: rule by the boss, where professional civil servants become at-will employees, the threat of prosecution is just another bargaining chip, and statutory, constitutional, and ethical restraints are treated as tokens in a sucker’s game.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Feb 14

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Luke Herrine on writing down our dreams during a living nightmare, Allison Tait on the not-so-secret lives of trusts, and Ezra Rosser on how antipoverty advocates can go on the offensive. Plus, an upcoming event with Umut Özsu and Sam Moyn, a new paper by Brian Highsmith, Maya Sen, and Kathy Thelen, a new piece by Marshall Steinbaum about the longstanding Democratic. . .
Essay

How Antipoverty Advocates Can Go On The Offensive

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In the embers of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Grants Pass decision, a new form of necessity doctrine offers a ray of light. If private property owners’ exclusionary rights are meaningfully threatened, might the political will for ending homelessness and food insecurity finally emerge?
Symposium

The Not-So-Secret Lives of Trusts

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One common critique of trust law is that it exacerbates wealth inequality by creating layers of financial secrecy for families with substantial assets. Yet in facilitating the purchase of high-end real estate, private jets, and super-yachts, trust law also produces visible, even mappable effects on our physical landscape.
Essay

On Writing Down Our Dreams During a Living Nightmare

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When it’s time to rebuild from the wreckage of the Trump-Musk rampage, the left may have the opportunity to implement a truly transformative agenda. However, unless we have relatively detailed proposals ready in advance, we will lose out to those who merely want to reproduce what came before.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Feb 7

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Six perspectives on fissures on the right, Jed Kroncke on the rise of anti-democratic super-property, and Ben Sachs on what happens to labor preemption without a functioning labor board. Plus, our favorite pieces on the Treasury payments crisis, Blake Emerson on the systemic constitutional violations under Trump, Samuel Bagenstos on writing about the illegality. . .
Symposium

The Anti-Democratic Rise of Super-Property

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Trust law, originally devised as a way to protect the assets of vulnerable parties, has undergone a wholesale transformation in the past half-century. It now primarily serves the rich by providing them with a new form of super-property, insulated from taxation, reporting requirements, and creditor claims. How did this perversion of trust law come about? And. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Jan 31

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Gaurav Mukherjee on America’s first religious charter school, Beth Popp Berman on the relevance of policy-adjacent scholarship in a broken world, and Evan Bernick on the anti-constitutional attack on birthright citizenship. Plus, a lefty law conference at HLS, an(other!) event with Dean Spade, a CfP on offshore finance, and new pieces by Jan-Werner Müller,. . .
Essay

America’s First Religious Public School?

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This past Friday, the Supreme Court granted cert in a case that concerns the first religious charter school in the United States. But this case is not merely about school choice or religious freedom — it also reflects a broader contest over how law structures public responsibility and private power.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Jan 24

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A.J. Bauer on how to oppose Trumpism, Genevieve Lakier on the TikTok Ban and the limits of the First Amendment, and Chrystin Ondersma on a dignity-based approach to debt. Plus, upcoming events with Dean Spade on sticking together and Michael Fakhri on Palestianian Food Sovereignty, CFPs for workshops on social reproduction and the post-neoliberal moment. . .

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