About ten years ago, I came across a phrase I had never heard before: dog’s breakfast. It was in a dissent penned by Chief Justice Roberts. Here is the passage: When the state courts considered these cases, our precedents did not provide them with “clearly established” law, but instead a dog’s breakfast of divided, conflicting, […]
When President Obama nominated Chief Judge Garland to the Supreme Court, I put together a list of his dissents and concurrences. As I explained then: President Trump has just nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. With the help of two hard-working research assistants* I’ve put together a similar list for him. Note that […]
Ever since I was a 2L, I’ve had a soft spot for Judge David Sentelle. It is not because he is a “very bright and capable” jurist — though he surely is that. And it is not because he is a published author — though his book is quite good. It is not even because […]
Apologies: This post was written quickly. My evening was spent at a D.C. Circuit-ish event. The D.C. Circuit and “Net Neutrality” have a long history. Here is a short, very simplified version of it.* In 2002, the FCC decided that internet access was an “information service” rather than a “common-carrier” service. The decision was challenged […]
In the aftermath of Watergate, a young — well, young-ish — Antonin Scalia found himself defending executive privilege before Congress. This is how he closed his remarks: “I realize that anyone saying a few kind words about executive privilege after the events of the last few years is in a position somewhat akin the man […]
The Ninth Circuit’s decision to deny en banc review in Washington v. Trump was not, of course, the biggest development yesterday in litigation related to the President’s executive orders restricting entry from seven six overwhelmingly Muslim countries. But the Ninth Circuit’s denial of reconsideration—and, more specifically, Judge Bybee’s dissent from the denial—is worthy of attention […]
Today the D.C. Circuit applied the Prill doctrine. There are many things about administrative law that I do not know well, but Prill is not one of them. In fact, Daniel Hemel and I are currently working on an article all about Prill (which we dub Chevron Step One-and-a-Half). We’ll publish it later this year. […]
This week has been busy in the D.C. Circuit. There are nine cases. But only three have anything to do with administrative law. That fact reminded me of a quirky tidbit that I discovered about the D.C. Circuit: The number of administrative appeals decided by the D.C. Circuit appears to have been declining over the […]
Each week I blog about the D.C. Circuit. There is a reason for this. In today’s world, we are flooded with commentary about the Supreme Court—and the law of diminishing returns is real. Thus, although the D.C. Circuit is (probably) less important than the Supreme Court, there is more “bounce to the ounce” in covering […]
Just over six months ago, I set resolutions for myself, law students, the Supreme Court, the Big 12 Conference, my freeloading chickens, and the D.C. Circuit, among others. This week seems as good as any to check in on how everyone is doing. First, I resolved to write something for the Wall Street Journal. Alas, […]
I remember well the indignation I felt when I first learned about unpublished decisions. The idea that an appellate court in a common-law system can issue a decision that “carries no precedential force“—an opinion good for one case only—struck me as scandalous. The rule of law, I felt, depended on precedential effect. But then I […]
Justice Elena Kagan has many talents, one of which is asking sharp questions at oral argument. For instance, one of my favorite moments as a litigator came, in a case about raisins, when Kagan asked these questions to the attorney for the United States: (1) “[B]efore you do that then [i.e., get to his prepared […]
This is a foolish way to start a sentence, especially one published on the internet: “I’m no military historian, but ….” After all, there are lots of actual military historians out there, and they often have strong opinions on the subject. Even so, I’ll chance it. I’m no military historian, but it seems to me […]