Yes, the Supreme Court works, which means that the public respects it and losing parties obey it, as a function of it getting enough of its decisions, in *our* (the public’s) views, right.

Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · 2d ago

Lots of efforts to prop up #SCOTUS have focused on the claim that the Court has shown itself to be “independent” of Trump. As today’s “One First” explains, “independence” may make it possible for the Court to rule against the other branches, but it’s only the means—not the end—of judicial review:

Pretend that we had a proper U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Attorney Pirro would have resigned or Acting Attorney General Blanche would have fired her. But of course we don’t. Misuse of federal law enforcement power to try to cover up Reflecting Pool contractor incompetence shows that plainly.

Charges Dropped in Reflecting Pool Case as Prosecutors Say Work Was ‘Botched’ There should be serious consequences for the Interior Department officials whom Ms. Pirro accused of deception. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/u...

Charges Dropped Against Ex-Olympian David Hearn Accused of Damaging Reflecting Pool

A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.

nytimes.com

On Monday, July 27, Michael R. Dreeben, a former Deputy Solicitor General of the United States, delivered at Chautauqua Institution its 22nd annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States. @chq1874.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ob...

The 22nd Annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the U.S. | Michael R. Dreeben

YouTube video by Chautauqua Institution

youtube.com

Update: Hadi Matar now is on federal trial, charged with three terrorism crimes for his attack on Salman Rushdie, in the Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse in Buffalo, New York. @uscourts.bsky.social @buffalonews.com @chq1874.bsky.social

John Q. Barrett@johnqbarrett.bsky.social · last yr.

In 2025, Chautauqua County's court in Mayville, NY, was the site of Hadi Matar's trial for attempting to murder Salman Rushdie. From 1913 into the late 1930s, it was the courtroom where Robert H. Jackson tried many cases. His portrait watches over it. #JacksonList thejacksonlist.com/2025/05/22/r...

Listen to U.S. chief prosecutor Robert H. Jackson's closing statement at Nuremberg, the post-World War II trial of the top Nazi war criminals. Justice Jackson delivered his two-hour address to the court on July 26, 1946--80 years ago this weekend.

Great, expert discussion of Todd Blanche’s law-breaking and unethical behavior. No honest, oath-keeping Senator will vote to confirm him as U.S. Attorney General.

Andrew Weissmann@weissmann.substack.com · 2w ago

open.substack.com/pub/weissman...

My friend Moritz Fuchs was born 101 years ago today. He became a World War II soldier, U.S. Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson’s bodyguard at Nuremberg, and then a Catholic priest. Here’s a #JacksonList essay I wrote when Father Fuchs died in 2018. thejacksonlist.com?s=Fuchs+Spir...

Search Results for “Fuchs Spiritual bodyguard shrapnel” – The Jackson List

thejacksonlist.com

On October 15, 2026, I will have the honor of delivering the New York County Lawyers Association's 59th Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Lecture. My topic: “Presidential Material” Should Be “Supreme Court Material,” and Vice Versa: The Charles Evans Hughes Model.

E. Jean Carroll, I’m sorry that you suffered these assaults, physical, then verbal, by Donald Trump. Thank you for seeking legal recourse, and to you and your lawyers for winning it. We call it “the justice system.” Sometimes, such as here, it lives up to its name. @ejeancarroll.bsky.social

I ran into Sen. John Cornyn in a hotel last week. We spoke pleasantly for a minute. I regret deeply not saying that he’s politically free now to do what’s right, & that voting against the nomination of law-breaker Todd Blanche to be Attorney General should top his list of patriotic things to do.

Outrageous. Read the First Amendment: “press.” Shame on the SDNY U.S. Attorney’s Office & the FBI for preparing & serving such lacking a compelling interest subpoenas on NYT reporters, and in heavy-handed ways. DOJ, when acting lawfully, is not a dictator’s anti-embarrassment army.

Eric Lipton NYT@ericlipton.nytimes.com · 4w ago

Times Journalists Subpoenaed as Trump Escalates Pressure on Media The Justice Department is seeking to compel testimony from reporters who wrote about the new Air Force One. The Times called the move a “brazen act.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/b...

Hello from Nuremberg, where it’s pretty easy to see that the opposite of birthright citizenship (the U.S. Constitution, & our melting pot of U.S. patriotism) is the Nuremberg Laws (Nazi Germany, 1935). Read @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social for details.

David French@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 4w ago

Birthright citizenship is noxious to MAGA. They scorn it as relying on magic dirt — the idea that there is something inherent in American soil that makes a person an American citizen. Yet the same populists seem to believe in something like magic blood — that one’s lineage can make one superior.

Yes, up— Graham Platner, please withdraw. Maine Democratic Party, please, if she will run (making a single term promise, for her happy long term future, & to improve our politics?), please nominate Heather Cox Richardson. @hcrichardson.bsky.social

Graham Platner for Senate@grahamformaine.bsky.social · last mo.

The only direction we need to point fingers is up.

In 1941, U.S. Attorney General Robert H. Jackson was supposed to give the Independence Day address to the National Mall crowd in Washington, DC. But the event was rained out. So he gave the address over nationwide radio. Here's a #JacksonList essay with details. thejacksonlist.com/2026/07/05/i...

Independence Day Address (1941)

This is a reprise posting of the essay below. It seems to be on point given the extreme heat, rain, lightning storms, and temporary evening evacuation of the National Mall that were parts of this F…

thejacksonlist.com

Thank you, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, of Maine, Bowdoin, the Grand Army of the Republic, Gettysburg, and, for almost my whole working life, my office wall.

Angry Staff Officer@pptsapper.bsky.social · last mo.

Happy “liberal arts professor helps save the Union” day to all who celebrate

In 1935-36, Robert H. Jackson prosecuted the U.S. tax case against ex-Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon. After the litigating was done, Jackson's bosses wrote to him, expressing thanks. And he shared that with his team. Here's a #JacksonList essay with details. thejacksonlist.com/2026/07/01/b...

Bosses’ Thanks to the Mellon Case Team (1936)

In 1935 and 1936, Robert H. Jackson, Assistant General Counsel heading the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the United States Treasury Department, led the U.S. government team that litigated a major t…

thejacksonlist.com

Robert H. Jackson did complete law school. Nits aside, this essay is strong, wise, and worth reading. (Free Press or someone, post a complementary link?)

The Free Press (Mirror)@thefp.mirrors.bot · last mo.

Robert H. Jackson grew up pitching hay in upstate New York and became the most morally serious jurist America has ever produced. Today, the America that made him is gone, writes Matthew Walther. Original post

Nina Totenberg is very smart, Court-expert, classy, deeply kind, and human. This was yesterday. I look forward to hearing, reading, and learning from her next reporting. www.npr.org/sections/npr...

NPR retracts story about Alito retirement

A misheard comment led to the error

npr.org

Rory Little posted a comment on SCOTUSblog live this morning that @strictscrutiny.bsky.social will have a field day about Justice Kavanaugh writing the Court’s opinion about girls’ sports teams. Little joked that maybe he shouldn’t be cross-branding…. Then, in seconds, someone deleted the comment.

Please don’t retire now from the Supreme Court, Justices Thomas and Alito.

John Q. Barrett@johnqbarrett.bsky.social · last mo.

Pres. Trump *wants* vacancies, to fill with younger versions… I want Justices Thomas and Alito to continue to serve, staying “too long,” thwarting that.

On July 27, Michael Dreeben will give Chautauqua Institution's 22nd annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States. Here's a Jackson List post with details, plus links to past lecture videos & lecturer interviews. @chq1874.bsky.social thejacksonlist.com/2026/06/30/m...

Michael Dreeben to Give Chautauqua Institution’s Jackson Lecture ‌

I am very pleased to report that Michael R. Dreeben will give Chautauqua Institution’s 22nd annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States, on Monday, July 27, 2026, at …

thejacksonlist.com

Really odd. Yes, why was Justice Thomas walking in the Capitol? And as he is a public official who chose to walk where press interviews officials, why not say something basic, responsive, and cordial?

Doug Lindner@douglindner.bsky.social · last mo.

MSNBC: Clarence Thomas why are you in the Capitol Building? Clarence Thomas: lol @ the mere concept of answering for the way i wield massive government power for 35 years and counting

On August 28, 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers President/GM Branch Rickey, in his office at 215 Montague Street, broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier by signing Negro League star Jackie Robinson. The building later was torn down. Its successor had a plaque. brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/356

Question for this Supreme Court week: Will Justice Alito, age 76, 20 years on the Supreme Court and 36 years total a U.S. judge, resign (cease to be a judge), retire (take senior status), or neither (remain a Justice in active service)? Your guess, prediction, or inside information?

Next year will be the 90th anniversary of Robert H. Jackson’s impactful & rising to high prominence year as Assistant Attorney General heading the Antitrust Division in the U.S. Department of Justice. News: Pres. Trump to nominate Adam Candeub to this post. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/25/t...

Trump Chooses Next Antitrust Chief for Justice Dept.

nytimes.com

Will a State soon legislate that a person who has terminated a pregnancy may not be licensed by its courts to practice law? (The Texas Republican Party is urging TX government to revoke medical licenses of such doctors.) @americanbar.org #NYSBA #abortion

This is authoritative. Thank you, from 1973 to today, John Dean. @johnwdean.bsky.social #Watergate

John W Dean@johnwdean.bsky.social · last mo.

Vance dismisses Watergate scandal, says ‘deep state’ went after Nixon - The Washington Post. Vance seems remarkably ignorant of history. Republicans ended Nixon’s presidency and they have never before been called the “deep state.”

Justice Thomas thinks that Bolling v. Sharpe, which held U.S. racial segregation of schoolchildren unconstitutional, was wrong. This means that he thinks that Korematsu v. U.S., which upheld the U.S. excluding people from west coast freedom because they were ethnically Japanese, was right. Nuts.

ERTBen@ertben.bsky.social · last mo.

Damn, Thomas believes the Federal government has no Equal Protection obligations whatsoever. He would overturn Bolling, which desegregated DC schools on the same day Brown required states to desegregate.

It’s painful to mention Emil Bove in the same sentence as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth. But “rule of law” means that it, the law, applies to everyone; all must obey court orders.

Joyce White Vance@joycewhitevance.bsky.social · last mo.

Can a president ignore a federal judge? That's the question the full D.C. Circuit will consider when it takes up whether Judge Boasberg can investigate possible contempt after the administration refused to comply with his order. The analysis is free to read. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...