Matt Steilen
@mattsteilen.bsky.social
Law professor. Legal history, constitutional law. PhD in philosophy. Forthcoming book on the origins of the English parliament, Routledge.
Alright here's my syllabus for this year's American Legal History course. I might make a few tweaks but it's basically done. It also doubles as a great readings list if you're doing a PhD field in American Legal History
_American Legal history Syllabus 2026.pdf
drive.google.com
Noah Rosenblum@narosenblum.bsky.social · 3w agoShare your syllabus??
'London Gardens' by Ethelbert White (1891-1972) (Private collection)
The William and Mary Quarterly forum on the recently discovered John Dickinson documents, revealing his previously unknown secret attempt to prevent the American Revolution, is now available online! The WMQ has generously made the issue open access for the next month. muse.jhu.edu/issue/57168
Routledge has just listed my book as forthcoming: www.routledge.com/Parliament-a...
Parliament and the Invention of Legislative Power: England, 1100-1330
How did the English parliament become a legislature—an assembly that deliberates, makes law, and represents a nation? In this wide-ranging and carefully argued reinterpretation, Matthew Steilen retrac...
routledge.com
Well Leeds certainly knew how to name its streets and yards containing working class housing. "Prosperity Street" might have been a little over the for families living in poverty. I am not sure I would have liked to live in a throughfare titled "Institution Street" either.
Church interior with, at left, church official explaining altarpiece to visitors. How great is that? Hendrick van Steenwyck, 1608.
Alma Mahler-Werfel (born #OTD in 1879) crossed the Pyrenees to Spain carrying a number of manuscript scores including Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and the first three movements of Bruckner’s Third Symphony. She arrived in New York on Oct 13 1940. holocaustmusic.ort.o...
The rebirth of the phoenix BL Harley 4751; Bestiary; 13th century; England, S.; f.45r
BREAKING: Historian Jane Manners filed a brief in Boyle v. Trump, challenging President Trump’s dismissal of three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 1/ bit.ly/4mKYlN8
Charcoal portrait of a woman in Flemish dress, possibly 1521. Albrecht Dürer (British Museum)
Character countdown for The Radical Fund, no. 47: George Creel, the Wilson administration propagandist and foil for the Garland Fund’s efforts to think about democracy in an age of mass communications. #TheRadicalFund
Lisa Cook will likely sue to retain her seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors very shortly. While we wait (and even after she files), here's my analysis of her case in five not-so-easy pieces. 👇
Can Lisa Cook Keep Her Fed Seat? That's Actually (at Least) Five Questions
A federal statute allows the president to appoint someone to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for a term of up to 14 years. President...
dorfonlaw.org
Wow 300 of the DOJ civil rights division’s roughly 400 lawyers have left since the start of the Trump administration, per its head Harmeet Dhillon
Ben Penn@benjaminpenn.bsky.social · 12mo agoExclusive from @suzannemonyak.bsky.social & me on continued upheaval at DOJ civil rights division: - 2 probationary attorneys fired - Others forced into sections focused on voter fraud & anti-DEI probes - AAG Dhillon hires "new class of civil rights warriors" news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
PLEASE REPOST 🥺🙏 The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes. www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...
Philosophy gazes calmly into the distance, unmoved by present troubles. Good night all! 😴 BL Royal MS 6 E IX; Convenevole da Prato, Carmina regia; c 1335 CE; Italy (Tuscany); f.27r
Knows what she wants: unusually assertive young woman, her portrait painted by Thomas de Keyser of Amsterdam. Today is his day.
New from me on SSRN: a review of Eric Kasper and Troy Kozma's excellent book "The Supreme Court and the Philosopher." I think Kasper and Kozma make a compelling case, but have some thoughts on how their thesis could be applied with greater specificity. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Luttig is communicating vastly more clearly and honestly about Roberts and Scotus than most Democratic officials are. It’s absolutely flabbergasting.
Alliance for Justice@afj.org · 12mo ago“The chief justice has no higher obligation than to protect the federal judiciary from attacks by this president, and in my view he has utterly failed.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
1. Earlier, I said SCOTUS was ducking confrontations with Trump by "channeling" them to less effective places. Maybe better words are "fragmenting" them. Curbing nationwide injunctions. Scattering Alien Enemy Act cases to all 94 districts. Dividing funding challenges... bsky.app/profile/stev...
Another read is not that SCOTUS is shy about confronting Trump but that they're basically on board with his project but would be embarrassed about the legal arguments they'd have to make if they upheld his actions on the merits, so they find procedural means to let him get his way.
Adam Zimmerman@profadamszimmerman.bsky.social · 12mo ago1. Earlier, I said SCOTUS was ducking confrontations with Trump by "channeling" them to less effective places. Maybe better words are "fragmenting" them. Curbing nationwide injunctions. Scattering Alien Enemy Act cases to all 94 districts. Dividing funding challenges... bsky.app/profile/stev...
Charles Burchfield, "Untitled", 1916, Watercolor and graphite on paper, 13 5/8" x 19 3/8"
