Amidst a flurry of
wildly erroneous charts and figures President Trump announced his “Liberation
Day” tariffs on April 2, 2025. These
included the boldest action any U.S. President has ever taken against the Heard
and McDonald Islands. After almost
Jack M. Balkin
Balkinization is a legal blog that focuses on constitutional law, transitional justice, and judicial review. It hosts symposia and discussions on contemporary legal scholarship, including analyses of constitutional revolutions, democratic renewal, and statutory interpretation. The blog features contributions from legal scholars and practitioners who explore the ethical, political, and methodological dimensions of law, particularly in the context of American democracy and international law. Topics often include the role of courts in democracy, the evolution of legal doctrines, and the challenges of interpreting statutes under changing judicial philosophies. Balkinization serves as a platform for critical engagement with legal theory and practice.
Website:
https://jackbalkin.yale.edu
Latest from Jack M. Balkin - Page 5
Presidential Accountability and the Twenty-Second Amendment: A Little Math
Note: Having just spent the morning writing a short
essay about the Twenty-Second Amendment, I was dismayed to find that Jeffrey
Gordon had just posted a much more thoughtful piece
on the same subject. Accordingly, I…
Trump v. Slaughter and the Twenty-Second Amendment
Jeffrey N. Gordon
Supreme
Court decisions of the recent term threaten to undermine the regulatory system that
has supported US economic growth and prosperity for nearly 100 years. Many have objected to the Court’s failure to
give weight to…
Justified and Unjustified Loss of Trust (in institutions)
You may have heard of the “Yale Report” – in April
Yale University released a thoroughly researched response to public concern
with universities. Authored by a panel
of distinguished scholars, it is titled “Report of the Yale Committee…
Dobbs and Now B.P.J.
Reva Siegel & Mary Ziegler
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the
conservative Christian legal organization that litigated
Dobbs, is now trying to do for the law of equal protection what it
has done for the law of due process. Consider…
From Off the Wall to On the Wall: How Social Power Shapes Legal Reason
I’ve posted my latest article, From Off the Wall to On the Wall: How Social Power Shapes Legal Reason, to SSRN. Here is the abstract:Throughout the history of the Constitution legal arguments have moved from being “off the wall”–…
Fiscal Floundering
Our nation
continues its transition from congressional to presidential fiscal control. Retainers of the ancièn regime (“Members
of Congress” to you) fumble around looking for something to do as the
Administration becomes increasingly assertive.
No single recent event…
America at 250: A “Christian Nation,” But Which Christianity?
Arvind Kurian AbrahamAs
fireworks lit up the sky this Fourth of July, the United States of America
turned 250. Barring the heatwave, the celebrations were spectacular, the
patriotism genuine, and the questions, as ever, complicated. Among the most
persistent: Was…
Saint Alito
Hagiography
is an old literary form, dating back to early Christianity. It recounts the lives of the saints in order
to elicit the audience’s admiration. Although
its reverential character notoriously compromises accuracy, hagiographies can
be worth reading as windows into…
The State of the Article V Convention Battle
Yesterday I
suggested that progressives should reconsider the wisdom of increasing the
weight and impact of decisions made in the current political environment. Although supported by only a small minority
of progressives, efforts to call an Article V…