Adam Zimmerman
@profadamszimmerman.bsky.social
Law Professor at USC Gould School of Law SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1026179
My essay on West Virginia v. BPJ is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal Forum. I argue the case should be treated as an erroneous departure from the Court's sex equality jurisprudence. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. Draft on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
1. A few quick notes about today’s $17B Multistate AG settlement with Meta. First, what’s the case about and how does it rank among other blockbuster settlements? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/t...
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims
The social media giant settled with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, and agreed to make major changes to its products over claims its platforms endangered children.
nytimes.com
1. A few quick notes about today’s $17B Multistate AG settlement with Meta. First, what’s the case about and how does it rank among other blockbuster settlements? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/t...
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims
The social media giant settled with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, and agreed to make major changes to its products over claims its platforms endangered children.
nytimes.com
The Supreme Court's decision in the transgender athlete cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J., is out. In a 6-3 opinion by Justice Kavanaugh, the Court upheld state laws excluding transgender girls and women from girls' and women's sports against equal protection and Title IX challenges. 1/x
supremecourt.gov
The Supreme Court's opinions on transgender athletes (West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox) will be out tomorrow morning and seem likely to be written by Justice Kavanaugh. I'll have thoughts on the implications on Bluesky tomorrow and live on Wednesday here: law.seattleu.edu/rapid-respon...
Rapid Response Webinar
The Supreme Court decides. Our experts explain what it means. Join a live discussion on the transgender athlete ruling and its impact on schools and sports.
law.seattleu.edu
Watson decision is unequivocally good news for election officials looking to prevent chaos. And the fact that four Justices disagreed is still mind-boggling.
In yesterday's Mullin v. Doe decision, the Supreme Court treated the President's repeated denigration of Haitians as not enough to show unconstitutional animus. Why do courts keep looking past explicit bias? Why is that the wrong thing to do? I took up those questions here: ssrn.com/abstract=3213998
Explicit Bias
In recent decades, legal scholars have advanced sophisticated models for understanding prejudice and discrimination, drawing on disciplines such as psychology,
papers.ssrn.com
I spoke to Bloomberg about the relationship between the Social Media litigation and our federal regulatory state. news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/m...
Major Tech Verdicts Serve to Check Industry as Regulation Stalls
Jury verdicts against technology juggernauts like Meta Platforms Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. are spotlighting the role complex litigation plays in shaping tech policy in the absence of comprehensi...
news.bloomberglaw.com
You know we’re in rough times when your Tort exam provides the background research an interview with CNN. www.cnn.com/2026/06/08/u...
A gender reveal mishap sparked a deadly wildfire. Who’s being held accountable is unusual | CNN
The expectant couple, along with several children and loved ones, walked with anticipation into the grass at the edge of the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, California – where wild grasses turn golde...
cnn.com
Monsanto's exotic bid to end litigation over Roundup in a $7.25B class action deal in state court hit a snag. But, just because the JPML let objectors remove and send the case to federal MDL, doesn't mean it will stay there. The JPML almost never resolves jx questions. www.law360.com/articles/248...
$7.25B Roundup Deal Conditionally Sent To Calif. MDL - Law360
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Thursday conditionally sent the case that resulted in a yet-to-be-finalized $7.25 billion settlement with Monsanto over claims that its weedkiller Rou...
law360.com
I spoke to NPR about the latest in the litigation over Trump’s $1.8 Fund. www.npr.org/2026/05/30/n...
Judge agrees to review Trump's $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund
The fund has sparked a broad backlash since it was announced earlier this month, exposing fractures within the Republican Party.
npr.org
1. Shortly before the first Trump administration, I wrote a piece called "Presidential Settlements," which charts the history of Presidentially-brokered settlements dating back to the founding. There are otherworldly differences between this settlement and those. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Presidential Settlements
Large groups repeatedly turn to the White House to collectively resolve complex disputes, much like a class action. Such presidential settlements go back at le
papers.ssrn.com
Adam Zimmerman@profadamszimmerman.bsky.social · 3mo agoI spoke to the New York Times about the legal problems with Trump’s proposed $1.8B settlement fund. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/u...
1. Shortly before the first Trump administration, I wrote a piece called "Presidential Settlements," which charts the history of Presidentially-brokered settlements dating back to the founding. There are otherworldly differences between this settlement and those. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Presidential Settlements
Large groups repeatedly turn to the White House to collectively resolve complex disputes, much like a class action. Such presidential settlements go back at le
papers.ssrn.com
Adam Zimmerman@profadamszimmerman.bsky.social · 3mo agoI spoke to the New York Times about the legal problems with Trump’s proposed $1.8B settlement fund. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/u...
I spoke to the New York Times about the legal problems with Trump’s proposed $1.8B settlement fund. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/u...
Trump and Top Officials Defend $1.8 Billion Fund With Inaccurate Claims
nytimes.com
I shared some additional thoughts about Trump's $1.8B settlement with PBS. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...
Why legal experts say Trump's new 'anti-weaponization' fund is unprecedented
President Donald Trump’s administration has created a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who say they were victims of government “weaponization,” raising questions about whom among his allies and ...
pbs.org
I spoke to @CNN about Trump’s $1.776B deal with his own administration to create a compensation fund for his political supporters. I’ve documented presidential settlements that go back to the earliest days of the republic. But I’ve never seen anything like this. www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/p...
What to know about Trump’s $1.8 billion taxpayer-fueled fund for his allies | CNN Politics
The unprecedented lawsuit President Donald Trump brought against the Internal Revenue Service over the unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns years ago has led to an unprecedented arrangement that...
cnn.com
Interested in a state supreme court clerkship? @statecourtreport.org has a database featuring clerkship opportunities from 25 states and more than 80 justices. We hope it's a good starting point for applicants! statecourtreport.org/state-judici...
State Judicial Clerkship Resource
statecourtreport.org
I spoke with CNN’s Leigh Waldman about the stakes involved in New Mexico’s litigation against social media companies, like Facebook. urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...
urldefense.com
I'm delighted to work with UCLA Law Review @uclalawreview.bsky.social to publish Skrmetti's Shell Game. Here's an updated version of the article with more discussion of how lower courts are interpreting that case. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I’m so grateful to @profadamszimmerman.bsky.social for presenting my paper, (towards?) “A Theory of Statutory Torts,” at our faculty workshop—and for all of the insightful comments from everyone else! And, yes, we do have a great time workshopping (very rough) ideas at @uscgould.bsky.social!
I never noticed this, but Judge Boasberg relied on one of my obscure law review articles to certify this very important class action in JGG v. Trump five weeks ago.
I spoke to @bloomberglaw.com about Edison’s new wildfire compensation fund, and the difficult choices CA homeowners now face in the wake of last year’s wildfires in Los Angeles. news.bloomberglaw.com/california-b...
Sue or Settle: Choice Before LA Fire Victims Rubs Wounds Raw (1)
As many survivors of last year’s Eaton Fire in Los Angeles exhaust their insurance coverage money for temporary relocation, they’re faced with either taking their chances in court against Southern Cal...
news.bloomberglaw.com
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will be the first state high court to resolve if addictive social media platforms are a “nuisance“ and whether such claims are consistent with the First Amendment and federal law— with me, @alahav.bsky.social, and Teddy Rave. urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...
Massachusetts high court filters Instagram for addictive features
The first state high court to consider whether social media platforms are legally responsible for the teen mental health crisis seemed inclined to allow the issue to go to trial.
urldefense.com
I'm revising the Wright & Miller treatise right now on this very topic and there is no case I can find in which the litigants' assessment that an order was plainly illegal could be violated without contempt. The closest is a case of prior restraint of a newspaper and there the court said...
Just now reading about the radical leftist judge who supported the dismissal of both James Comey’s & Letitia James’ indictments. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
I was proud to join a very distinguished group of constitutional law professors organized by @dorfonlaw.bsky.social to file this SCOTUS brief in support of trans rights. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
supremecourt.gov
