This week was even crazier than last week. Who would have thought a year ago that we’d be wondering today how many people can lawfully be in a room together? That question now matters a great deal to the Nielsons, however, because my little brother is scheduled to be married tomorrow.* All the while, my […]

Well. This week took a turn I didn’t expect.* Which prompts a question: How has the D.C. Circuit handled disease? Here is the Court’s current approach: And this: But what about in the Court’s cases? Surprisingly, the word “pandemic” has not been used very often. The most recent use was in 2013, in Muwekma Ohlone […]

Effective September 1, 2020, Judge Thomas Griffith will retire from the D.C. Circuit. He is not taking senior status; he is retiring. This is a huge loss. In my experience, Judge Griffith is extraordinarily well liked by his colleagues. He also sends lots of clerks to the Supreme Court; indeed, he is one of the […]

The D.C. Circuit today is in Utah! In about an hour, Judges Garland, Griffith, and Rao will visit BYU Law (where I teach) to judge the law school’s annual Rex E. Lee Moot Court Competition Finals. That doesn’t happen every day.* Because my day will be spent hosting, this post will be quick. But have […]

This will be a quick post; I’m traveling today. A couple of days ago, USA Today ran an op-ed urging President Trump to award Judge James Buckley the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That op-ed reminded me of a post I wrote in 2018.* Judge Buckley has lived an extraordinary life and certainly merits recognition. Notably, […]

This has been a momentous week in the D.C. Circuit. Chief Judge Garland is now Judge Garland again, and Judge Srinivasan is now Chief Judge Srinivasan.* Here is the press release: This news reminded me of something: I owe Chief Judge Srinivasan a belated thank you. I was a law firm associate in 2011. One […]

A year ago I wrote a post called Standing. In that post, I suggested that “the law professors suing President Trump about the Emoluments Clause ‘pretty clearly lack Article III standing.’”  Well, today, we learned for a fact that the members of Congress who sued President Trump about the Emoluments Clause lack standing. Here is how the […]

Law professor-ing can be a pretty cushy job. At first, teaching is hard, but it gets easier. Serving on committees takes time — but thankfully, I’ve yet to witness Sayre’s Law in action. And, candidly, it doesn’t take that much time. Writing letters of recommendation* is also part of a professor’s life, but it is […]

To sports fans, the term “bulletin board material” refers to a demeaning statement from the other team that is used to fire everyone up. And that’s a shame. For you see, bulletin boards can do much more than prompt already very competitive individuals to be even more competitive. In fact, a bulletin board changed my […]

This has been a busy week in the legal world — but not in the D.C. Circuit’s corner of it.* The Court issued just two decisions, neither of which, frankly, is likely to make much of a splash in the media. In Holland v. Arch Coal, Inc., Judge Ginsburg (joined by Judges Tatel and Srinivasan) […]

I try to keep my opinions to myself about D.C. Circuit’s decisions, at least for purposes of D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed. “When it comes to these posts, I see my role as a reporter, not a critic.“* I do this for a couple of reasons. First, without doing a lot more work, it often […]

We have one opinion this week — and it is the last opinion of the decade.* That by itself makes it unusual. Beyond that though, this opinion may prove to be unusually significant for labor law. And Judge Millett has been waiting for just such an opinion since 2016. Not a bad way to end […]

My extended family enjoys large holiday meals. When lots of individual families bring food, the multi-family table fills up quickly. On Christmas Eve, for instance, we had both a turkey and a ham — and potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and pie(s). Then on Christmas, we rendezvoused again for two kinds of enchiladas, Spanish rice, watermelon,* crunchy […]

In 2016, I wrote a lengthy post about Christmas in the D.C. Circuit. Since then, I have been updating it every year.* So here you go — the 2019 edition of the story of Christmas in the D.C. Circuit. Be warned, though: Christmas is not always jolly. Consider, for instance, the case of Anderson v. White, […]

Well now he’s done it — big time. Orin Kerr has crossed the line. Sure, Professor Kerr writes interesting posts over at the Volokh Conspiracy. Yes, he may be the leading Fourth Amendment scholar of his generation. And true, he may be sociable — even friendly — when you speak to him in person. But […]