Pat Sobkowski

Right-wingers are waging war on Reconstruction. Yesterday’s decision in Trump v. Barbara was a narrow 5-4 victory, but the reactionaries are not going to stop. Shame on some people for serving as foot soldiers for MAGA. My essay for @liberalcurrents.com: www.liberalcurrents.com/the-war-on-r...

Recommended. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Look what arrived today from @uncpress.bsky.social @sonyabonczek.bsky.social! Congratulations, @rachelshelden.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥

Abe makes himbs biscuits.

I review the big new book by @nikobowie.bsky.social and @daphnarenan.bsky.social in @thenation.com, with lots of admiration . . . and some pushback, too. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Pretty hilarious when corruption and self-dealing is too obvious even for the Trump administration.

Is there a worse place for a mosquito bite than your ankle?

Today, the public podcast feeds for the audio version of The Reconstruction Papers published @patsobkowski.com's essay. I've embedded the audio players in the essay on the site, along with the information on where you can subscribe to hear these as they come out each day for the rest of the month.

Now Sarkisian is going to whine about how Texas shouldn’t play Oklahoma anymore if a loss hurts them.

I want to bump a great looking paper by Joel Michaels. “The Bowsher Presidency” papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Amen.

Coming Tuesday.

Not perfect, but you can make a good argument that this entire unitary executive project is reaction to post-Watergate congressional reforms. This stuff was unfolding as Roberts was coming onto the scene. Those reforms were a mistake and they should never be repeated again.

Jesus Christ.

Unpopular Halloween opinion: I love candy corn.

Happy birthday Professors @stevevladeck.bsky.social and @patsobkowski.com! I hope both of you have a wonderful day.

And for everyone, the self-help book that changed my life was @joshchafetz.bsky.social’s Congress’s Constitution, yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300248333/congresss-constitution/.

The Packers are so bad.

Good piece by @jamellebouie.net. Notable that the modern administrative state has its roots in late-19c attempts at railroad regulation (e.g., Interstate Commerce Commission). SCOTUS did its best to kneecap regulatory agencies then, and its doing so now. Full circle! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...

Mao was bad. It’s insane that that’s a potentially divisive statement on this website.

Drawing from our new book Supremacy, @nikobowie.bsky.social and I argue in @slate.com that limiting judicial supremacy is the only way to bind the president with law. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump says the Court's rulings against him are "shockingly bad." But the rulings to worry about are all the ones putting him above the law. @daphnarenan.bsky.social and I are in Slate this morning on the difference between a Court that enforces acts of Congress and one that defies them.

This is sure to be a must read by two great legal historians.

I've been learning from @adamserwer.bsky.social about the Court and Reconstruction for a decade, so talking with him about Supremacy is such a treat. Join us tomorrow at 7 ET: tinyurl.com/supremacybooktalk

This is what the monitor and projector looked like in my first class this morning.

I was about to turn 6 years old on 9/11. I knew something was wrong because of my teachers and parents, but I obviously couldn’t understand the gravity of it.

Let's train AI to help us reengineer a world without AI.

Oh, Abe.

“Why the unitary executive requires voter bribery” by Kurt Lash and Ilan Wurman

A new book charts the Supreme Court’s expanding role in American government and the rise of judicial supremacy as a dominant ideology. Read Jesse Wegman’s interview with the authors: bit.ly/4xNVVml

I love when this happens! Thanks, @aaronbruhl.bsky.social!

“Trust that he won’t do anything to hurt the American people except for right now”

Notable that circa 1948, segregation *was* consistent with SCOTUS precedent. Truman relied on his own interpretation of the Constitution, rather than deferring to the court.

Not to inundate people with comics, but my collection is growing.

Brain dead shit.

Michigan is BAD, bad.

@anthonymkreis.bsky.social @unlawfulentries.bsky.social @evanbernick.bsky.social

I mentioned I’ve gotten back into collecting comic books. I got my grail book yesterday. I’ve wanted this since Spider-Man 2 came out in 2004.

If you’re interested in the conservative legal movement’s self-understanding, it’s worth reading through this syllabus — from Straussian to new natural law, to Catholic integralism (aka “common good” constitutionalism), to various originalisms.

Hang on, I was told the MQD would fix these types of abuses of statutory authority!

This is an incredible conference and I highly recommend that you submit. Thank you for hosting again, Quinn!