Sam Breidbart
@sam-breidbart.bsky.social
thinking about law and history at the Brennan Center; formerly working in NYC gov
It’s taken me 47 years, but some kind of switch flipped this year and I’ve gotten really into the Grateful Dead. www.npr.org/2026/08/03/n...
How long will the Grateful Dead's songs survive?
The Grateful Dead endured an original run of 30 years, but its appeal has survived just as long in a world where the band no longer exists. The question now is not whether the music will continue, but...
npr.org
And, in the process, their brief modeled one way that non-originalist historical scholarship can impact the contemporary Court's constitutional jurisprudence. Even in this "originalist" era, non-originalist work counts.
In @slate.com, Reva Siegel examines how SCOTUS's birthright citizenship opinion shows how people outside the courts have long shaped the Constitution. She spotlights a key development: for the first time, the Court recognized Frederick Douglass as a framer. Historians helped the Court get there 🧵⬇️
The Supreme Court’s Biggest Case of the Term Shows Popular Constitutionalism in Action
The birthright citizenship case the Supreme Court just decided demonstrates how deep-rooted this practice is.
slate.com
Don't let this report slip through the news cycle unnoticed: federal officials recently admitted that the Trump administration canceled billions in federal grants to states "based solely" on whether they backed the president in the 2024 election. This is a big deal. 🧵1/6
tony romm@tonyromm.bsky.social · 2w agoNEW: In a stunning admission, the Trump administration admitted in court documents that it canceled billions in energy grants to states "based solely" on politics -- and whether that state was represented by Democrats and backed Harris in 2024. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
For more on “negative precedents“ see our Countering Originalism guide (cc: @sam-breidbart.bsky.social & @cisozaki.bsky.social)
Countering Originalism
This guide offers lawyers strategies, arguments, and citations to address originalist claims they encounter in litigation.
brennancenter.org
We’re living under the negative presidency. As @jamellebouie.net explains in today’s NYT, the Trump admin is trying to turn all of our negative precedents into our future. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/o...
With NYC's 2nd flash flood warning in 4 days, today would be a good day to read Daniel Aldana Cohen interviewing NYU Eric Klinenberg on the rise of cloudburst events & the "sponge city interventions" that could mitigate harm while improving infrastructure nycpolicyforum.substack.com/p/how-to-han...
How to Handle a Rain Bomb
Eric Klinenberg and Daniel Aldana Cohen discuss flash flooding and sponge infrastructure in New York City
nycpolicyforum.substack.com
In the Slaughter and Cook cases, the Supreme Court misread history with an unmistakable result: two fundamentally irreconcilable decisions, argue @andreascoseriakatz.bsky.social (Andrea Scoseria Katz) and janemanners.bsky.social (Jane Manners).
“Lost to History”: Uses and Abuses of the Past in Slaughter and Cook
In these two cases, the Court misread and ignored history with an unmistakable result: two fundamentally irreconcilable decisions.
justsecurity.org
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
Brennan Center Reacts to the Terminations of Election Assistance Commissioners by President Trump
President Trump today terminated two members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and the agency’s remaining Republican commissioner resigned. This leaves the Election Assistance Commission — a...
brennancenter.org
Presidents are subject to the law. They are not above it, and they must respect the laws Congress passes. Brennan Center experts discuss the latest Supreme Court term on The Briefing with Michael Waldman: bit.ly/4w1z3P6
Celebrate the 250th birthday of our revolution against a king by getting mad at SCOTUS's attempted counterrevolution this past week.
Sam Breidbart@sam-breidbart.bsky.social · last mo.Talked with @mawaldman.bsky.social @brennancenter.org about everything SCOTUS is getting wrong (independent agencies) even when it sometimes gets something right (birthright citizenship, but barely), and what the Court's use of originalism is really all about. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erbf...
underappreciated that the racist and lawless position adopted by 4 justices in the birthright citizenship case a few days ago was considered and rejected by justices in *1898* who were like oh woof that's too racist and lawless even for us ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/birth...
The Supreme Court’s Big Birthright Citizenship Decision Is the Absolute Bare Minimum
The justices had a simple task in Trump v. Barbara: uphold their oaths. Only five were willing to do so.
ballsandstrikes.org
Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · last mo.The justices that upheld birthright citizenship in 1898 were racist men in a racist era who still could not avoid the plain text of the Constitution. What changed between is that the GOP now sees multiracial democracy as a threat rather than an ideal or aspiration www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Spoke to @adamserwer.bsky.social on why the birthright citizenship dissents make no sense.
Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · last mo.The right-wing attack on birthright citizenship is not just about birthright citizenship itself. As MAGA’s reaction to the Supreme Court ruling proves, it is part of their opposition to a broader ideal, that “All men are created equal.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Talked with @mawaldman.bsky.social @brennancenter.org about everything SCOTUS is getting wrong (independent agencies) even when it sometimes gets something right (birthright citizenship, but barely), and what the Court's use of originalism is really all about. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erbf...
Power Grab: Supreme Court Delivers for Trump (with Sam Breidbart and Eric Petry)
YouTube video by Brennan Center for Justice
youtube.com
Spoke to @zoetillman.bsky.social about the chaos the Court created with Slaughter, and some of the opportunities that remain for future litigation. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The Supreme Court managed to get the right answer on birthright citizenship. But it flunked just about every other test this term. The Court's failures put our democracy at risk. @tomtmwolf.bsky.social and @sam-breidbart.bsky.social explain.
Opinion | The Supreme Court saved birthright citizenship — but Kavanaugh’s dissent is ominous
Thomas Wolf and Samuel Breidbart: The decision in Trump v. Barbara is a rare moment of restraint in this court’s ongoing anti-democratic rampage.
ms.now
Lotta great cameos in the footnotes in Jackson's concurrence.
"While Trump v. Barbara was a weighty case, it shouldn’t have been a hard one. And the decision does not make the court some guardian of multiracial democracy. This court has been taking a sledgehammer to it throughout this term." Me and @tomtmwolf.bsky.social in @ms.now ms.now/opinion/supr...
Opinion | The Supreme Court saved birthright citizenship — but Kavanaugh’s dissent is ominous
Thomas Wolf and Samuel Breidbart: The decision in Trump v. Barbara is a rare moment of restraint in this court’s ongoing anti-democratic rampage.
ms.now
Justice Jackson built off the essential work of @katemasur.bsky.social and @marthasjones.bsky.social, as reflected in their brief. And just as importantly -- she demonstrated how history can contribute to constitutional meaning-making in a non-originalist register.
Annette Gordon-Reed@agordonreed.bsky.social · last mo.Justice Jackson’s opinion in the birthright citizenship case is absolutely stellar.
SCOTUS did what it needed to do on birthright citizenship (though only barely). But let's not celebrate them. This term has been a rolling disaster for multiracial democracy. @tomtmwolf.bsky.social and I elaborate here: www.ms.now/opinion/supr...
Opinion | Today, the Supreme Court got birthright citizenship right. Tomorrow we may not be so lucky.
Thomas Wolf and Samuel Breidbart: The decision in Trump v. Barbara is a rare moment of restraint in this court’s ongoing anti-democratic rampage.
ms.now
All this matters. Here's our brief, with immense thanks to @marthasjones.bsky.social @brennancenter.org Kendall Brill & Kelly and many others.
supremecourt.gov
With so many others I'm relieved that SCOTUS upheld birthright citizenship. And yes, it shouldn't have been this close. Please, everyone, read Justice Jackson, who gives a particularly forthright account of the relevant history and emphasizes the stakes for this country.
BREAKING: SCOTUS upholds the long-standing American tradition of birthright citizenship. Today’s ruling is the right one amid an avalanche of Supreme Court opinions undermining our democracy.
How is it "playing on their terrain" to show that the practice was always more complex that the majority opinion pretends to deny? This is not an appeal to original intention, understanding or public meaning. It says there is a long record of decisions that undermine any originalist riff.
Samuel Moyn@samuelmoyn.bsky.social · last mo.More reax: 1/ The Gorsuch concurrence is a roadmap to a libertarian paradise: the empowerment of the president requires deconstructing the state he now directs. 2/ The libs go full-bore liberal originalist (congrats to @jedshug.bsky.social on the cites!), playing on the terrain of their enemies.
This Court has already handed presidents sweeping immunity from prosecution. Now it's giving them greater power to pressure agencies — and to punish enemies and reward friends. 4/4
BREAKING: Today was another power grab by the Supreme Court — and a big increase in power for unaccountable presidents. 1/4
There is a pernicious and sustained effort to distort the historical record and do violence to the public’s memory.
We are excited to welcome Kate Andrias, Olatunde Johnson, William Novak, Alice O’Brien, and Julie Suk as the new class of Polan Fellows. Drawn from the law and academia, the fellows will join the fight for the future of the U.S. Constitution. bit.ly/4uz5LGn
Brennan Center Announces 2026-2027 Steven M. Polan Fellows in Constitutional Law and History
The Brennan Center welcomes Kate Andrias, Olatunde Johnson, William Novak, Alice O’Brien, and Julie Suk as the new Polan Fellows. Drawn from the law and academia, the fellows will join the fight for the future of the U.S. Constitution.
brennancenter.org
