My contribution to the Solan symposium is "Pragmatics and Textualism," a deep dive into the role of context in the interpretation of statutes. Link: bit.ly/PragmaticsAn...

-The Broad Church of Modern Textualism (Steitz, Tobia, Slocum).

Issue 2: brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol33/is...

-Pragmatics and Textualism (Solum)

Big thanks to all of the participants, Larry's family, and
@brooklynlawschool.bsky.social

Issue 1: brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol33/is...

-Intro (me)

-Pet Fish Canon (Eskridge)

-The Enduring Relevance of Congress Despite the Court's Shift to Ordinary Reader Statutory Interpretation (Gluck & Robbins)

-Grammar & Syntax Arguments on the Roberts Court (Krishnakumar)...

Beloved colleague Larry Solan died two years ago today

Thankfully we were able to hold a symposium in his honor a few months before

Check out amazing contributions from:
-B. Eskridge
-A. Gluck & L. Robbins
-A. Krishnakumar
-N. Steitz, B. Slocum, @kevintobia.bsky.social
- @lsolum.bsky.social

Link

Thanks, @kevintobia.bsky.social!

The quiet dignity of the sign maker

Legal Industry Responses to Fascist Attacks Tracker (Public)

🚨Georgetown University Law Center students are detailing which law firms have caved and which have stood up to the Trump regime. They have created this spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... Please share widely.

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Heading to @georgetownlaw.bsky.social for a symposium on legal interpretation and data.

I'll be presenting some preliminary empirical results for an early-stage paper, "Is Originalism Common Sense?"

Attend virtually! Program and info here: solid-symposium.github.io/2025/#program

"Should we ask which Four Seasons they meant, or just go ahead and book Four Seasons Total Landscaping?"

Grateful to @dtdeacon.bsky.social for the generous review of my new article at Yale J. of Reg.'s "Notice & Comment" blog.

"'Standard Textualism' should be of great interest to the administrative law crowd in addition to the legal theory generalist." Indeed!

www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Standard Textualism," by @jammacleod1.bsky.social. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

"Standard Textualism" (papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....)
got the coveted "Download it while it's hot!"
--AND Download of the Week!--
on @lsolum.bsky.social's Legal Theory Blog!

Difficult and kind of embarrassing trying to convey to family and friends how excited this made me...

...w/ @richardre.bsky.social, @katieeyer.bsky.social, @kevintobia.bsky.social, Tara Grove, Brian Slocum, least recently at @georgetownlaw.bsky.social's Legislation Roundtable, where @ryandoerfler.bsky.social
gave insightful comments at a very early stage. Lots of add'l help in between. Take a look!

I support the main claim w/ a simple 2-part arg, then demonstrate w/ a more systematic review of all divided SCOTUS cases in the 2020-2023 Terms.

I've had many fruitful conversations about it, most recently at AALS panel on "Methodological Realignments in Statutory Interp."...

New draft article!

“Standard Textualism”
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Main claim: Faithful adherence to modern textualism would produce far more standard-like (as opposed to rule-like) law than people have realized.

Important implications for textualists AND critics of textualism!

I'll say more about "Standard Textualism" on here some day soon, but for now I'm busy being tickled...

...law than modern textualists and their critics have realized.

Katie Eyer's paper: "Textualism as an Equity Practice"
Richard Re: "Legal Realignment"
Tara Grove: "The Power to Impose Method"
'Slobia': "Pragmatic Textualism"

*Tickled* be presenting at today's 2:40 AALS panel, “Methodological Realignments in Statutory Interpretation?”

With Katie Eyer, Tara Grove, Richard Re, Brian Slocum & Kevin Tobia!

My paper, "Standard Textualism," argues that adherence to modern textualism would produce much more standard-like...

@beaubaumann.bsky.social

On my way to AALS! Today I’ll moderate the “New Voices in Legislation” panel at 2:40

Exciting work by:

—Jon Choi & Nina Mendelson on canons
—Beau Baumann on legislative constitutionalism
—Sam Simon on coalitional congressional constitutionalism
—Joel Johnson on MQD and lenity

Join us!

I feel you! (And certainly didn’t mean any sass.) I recently made the mistake of showing mine an AI song generator and now, ten snippets of bespoke pop punk songs about superheroes later, it’s… remarkably hard to convince him that anybody should try to make up songs from scratch

No guitarist has ever done this without buying one or more additional pedals within the year.

I'm editor of the Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Legal Theory & Philosophy. We're in need of contributors on: (1) Raz, Joseph; (2) Critical Race Theory & Law; (3) Discourse Theory & Law; (4) Empirical Legal Studies; & (5) Law & Risk. If you're interested, let me know via email. #academicsky

Kate Weisburd and I have a new empirical paper out in the Northwestern University Law Review! We ask: what do ordinary Americans believe about how Miranda rights are invoked? t.co/fjpjlJ4vUY 1/4

Evergreen

Samesies, thanks Maybell!

Yes please!