John Mikhail
@johnmikhail.bsky.social
Carroll Professor at Georgetown Law https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/john-mikhail/
James Wilson helped shape the Constitution and served on the first Supreme Court. So why was he erased from history? @jessewegman.bsky.social will discuss his new book, The Lost Founder, with @johnmikhail.bsky.social on Wed., June 24 at 7pm ET online and in-person at DC’s @politicsprose.bsky.social
Jesse Wegman — The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution - with John Mikhail — at Conn Ave
politics-prose.com
Unpacking the Justice Department's arguments in the #birthright citizenship litigation. The meaning of “domicile” and gaps in the argument. By @martylederman.bsky.social and @johnmikhail.bsky.social www.justsecurity.org/120152/birth...
Taking Stock of the Birthright Citizenship Cases, Part III: DOJ’s Arguments Regarding Domicile and Unauthorized Immigrants
Unpacking the Justice Department's arguments in the birthright citizenship litigation.
justsecurity.org
FBI, DEA and other law enforcement recorded in Georgetown walking around “There’s not much going on around here… maybe they’re practicing”
"This is no longer a looming hunger crisis – this is starvation, pure and simple." www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
UN warns Gaza faces ‘starvation, pure and simple’ as child deaths mount – latest updates
Humanitarian office says 37 children have died from acute malnutrition since July, as overall toll nears 100
theguardian.com
Pillard in dissent, 100% right: “The majority does an exemplary judge a grave disservice by overstepping its bounds to upend his effort to vindicate the judicial authority that is our shared trust."
would love to live in a country with a ruling class less committed to vice signaling
Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · last yr.WASHINGTON (AP) - US Air Force says it will deny retirement pay to transgender service members being separated from the service.
“The combination of the Supreme Court’s shift to the right, both on content and in form, along with Trump’s autocratic approach, is radically altering the character and content of American government,” Tom Edsall writes.
Opinion | The Supreme Court Has Finally Found a President It Likes
Its six-member conservative majority has become a key enabler of Trump’s agenda.
nyti.ms
The UN has determined that the “worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.” Alex DeWaal and @tomdannenbaum.bsky.social call for all States to fulfill their moral, legal, and basic human imperatives now by ensuring comprehensive humanitarian action.
Time Has Run Out: Mass Starvation in Gaza and the Global Imperative
It is time for comprehensive, full-spectrum, sustainable, and coordinated humanitarian action. States globally must act without delay on that imperative.
justsecurity.org
Honored that my book is on the longlist for this year’s Cundill History Prize. www.cundillprize.com/news/the-202...
The 2025 Cundill History Prize Longlist | Cundill Prize
The jurors have chosen 15 exceptional titles to be longlisted for the 2025 Cundill History Prize.
cundillprize.com
"While Sudan’s crisis continues to escalate, it has received limited coverage in international media, and Sudan’s humanitarian collapse raises a difficult question: Why is the world ignoring Sudan? Part of the answer lies in global attention fatigue" #Sudan
Global Voices@globalvoices.org · last yr.The armed conflict in Sudan seems to be one of the world's most forgotten civil wars. The reigning silence surrounding this conflict plunges the population into daily turmoil.
The final contribution to the Balkinization symposium on my new book *The Oldest Constitutional Question* is by Prof. John Mikhail of Georgetown. You can find it here: balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/why-... @johnmikhail.bsky.social Sometime soon, I'll post a response to all the symposium essays.
Balkinization: Why Did the Framers Enumerate Congressional Powers?
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
It's out! The Dangerous Rise of "Dual-Use" Objects in War Coauthored with @mararevkin.bsky.social and @azmatzahra.bsky.social. We show that the targeting of dual-use objects over the last several decades has placed civilians at great risk. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
“What we need is for UNICEF and its humanitarian partners to be allowed to do our jobs.” Read UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell’s op-ed in @nytimes.com on the urgent need to regain safe, sustained aid access to Gaza at scale. ⬇️
Opinion | Children in Gaza Are Starving. Let the U.N. Do Its Job.
nytimes.com
Focusing on eight examples from the government’s recent briefs, @johnmikhail.bsky.social argues that the Trump administration’s position misrepresents the history around #birthright #citizenship. www.justsecurity.org/110212/birth...
Birthright Citizenship and the DOJ’s Misuse of History in its Briefs
Although the DOJ's briefs in birthright citizen cases might initially seem well-supported, a close look reveals that it is grasping at straws.
justsecurity.org
The United States government arrested Rumeysa Ozturk for writing an op-ed, then defamed her with outright lies. I encourage you to read and share the sworn affidavits linked below by the faculty and students who know her best. She must be freed immediately. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · 2y agoDays before masked ICE agents detained Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk to deport her, Dept determined that the admin had not produced any evidence showing she engaged in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Two-thirds of both houses of Congress could undo this whenever they want by passing a bill over Trump's veto taking all power to set tariff rates away from him. Tariffs are set by law. The Constitution gives the president no power over tariffs--only our current laws do that.
Jonathan Ladd@jonathanmladd.com · 2y agoTariffs are actually controlled by law. Trump can only raise tariffs because the current law says the president can declare an emergency and change rates. Congress could actually pass a law that repeals **all** presidential discretion on tariff rates.
Is there a right to defy a U.S. court order provided one does so outside the bounds of the U.S.? No, says equity whiz Samuel Bray, who’s exactly the person I was hoping would weigh in on the legalities. He says it’s straight contempt.
Contempt, Equity, and the Boundaries of the United States
Equity does not stop at the water's edge
blog.dividedargument.com
Some of my Columbia Law School colleagues and I offer our thoughts on legal issues with the Administration's March 13, 2025 letter to our University's president, and its threat to academic freedom. balkin.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-ti...
Balkinization: A Title VI Demand Letter That Itself Violates Title VI (and the Constitution)
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
Important new book by my @UMichLaw colleague, @Richard_Primus, focusing on the Constitution’s allocations of power. You can pre-order here.
The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power
The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power
a.co
An unnecessary and self-mutilating attack on scientific research. Making America Sicker and Weaker Again
Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 2y ago🧪 The attack on science could have a generational effect. We risk losing a wave of early-career researchers to these cuts. And biomedical science in the US will be less ambitious, less competitive & lead to fewer breakthroughs. So much is at stake. My latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com (🎁 link):
“Indeed, despite its rare use, section 237(a)(4)(C) has already been found unconstitutional by a federal court” on the grounds of “‘void for vagueness,’ a violation of due process.” Yes. And the judge who wrote that opinion was Maryanne Trump Barry - Donald Trump’s eldest sister.
Ryan Goodman@rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 2y agoAn important piece by two leading experts. Explainer on First Amendment and Due Process Issues in Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Student Activist(s) By Ahilan Arulanantham (@ahilantoolong.bsky.social) and Adam Cox (@adambcox.bsky.social)
This is the dark heart & power of the war on terror discourse: its capacity to magically transform political expression into terrorism, and therefore deny an entire class of speakers the right to speak. We are seeing it play out aggressively in real time right now and it is terrifying.
Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 2y agoThe larger picture, as others have pointed out, is that the Biden administration and now the Trump administration have cast anyone who defends Palestine as "pro-Hamas" and anyone who defends the rights of the people saying it as "Hamas sympathizers" which makes it much easier to justify persecution.
Listen this IS in fact how it’s done. Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor responds to Acting U.S. Atty Ed Martin’s threat to refuse to hire Georgetown graduates who have taken “DEI” courses in their curriculum. Treanor is a brilliant lawyer & constitutional scholar. Embarrassing for Martin.
Josh Chafetz@joshchafetz.bsky.social · 2y agoWith his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu & Gallant for starvation crimes. In addition to disputing jurisdiction, Israel denied the facts, claiming it has allowed sufficient humanitarian access. Several States Parties said they won’t arrest Netanyahu. Now this. 1/2
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2y agoIsrael says it is stopping the entry of all goods and supplies into Gaza
Please don't let the reporting about the Pentagon purge focus solely on DEI/Joint Chiefs. Firing the service TJAGs - the top lawyers for Army, Navy, USAF/Space Force - is incredibly consequential. A little context🧵on why.
Alexander S. Vindman@avindman.bsky.social · 2y agoPay attention to this. Replacing JAGs with loyalists enables whatever orders Trump and Hegseth issue to be interpreted as lawful.
The Fundamental Flaws in the Barnett/Wurman Defense of Trump’s #Birthright Citizenship Executive Order by @adambcox.bsky.social, Pamela Karlan, @martylederman.bsky.social, @twmorrison.bsky.social, and Cristina Rodríguez www.justsecurity.org/108070/funda...
The Fundamental Flaws in the Barnett/Wurman Defense of Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Executive Order
"In their apparent effort to give credence to the Trump Executive Order, Professors Barnett and Wurman indefensibly ignore these core, constitutive principles."
justsecurity.org
Agreed. B&W are basically reading the 14A as if it said: “All persons born…in the United States and [whose parents are] subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States….” This isn’t good originalism/textualism, nor is it consistent with the history of birthright citizenship.
jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 2y agothis is probably the strongest possible case and it is still extremely unpersuasive. you'll notice that they rely on everything but the words of the framers of the 14th amendment to make their case. i wonder why that is
Zora Neale Hurston was born on this day, January 7, 1891. She died penniless on January 28, 1960 and was buried in an unmarked grave. This passage, from her famed 1937 novel, *Their Eyes Were watching God,* seems especially pertinent at this moment. 1/