Excellent and careful synthetic chapter by Chris Lund on the concept of church autonomy in American law. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

Agreeing to Disagree, written by Nathan S. Chapman and Michael W. McConnell, charts the political, philosophical, and legal history of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Nick Reaves and Benjamin Sanford of @becketlaw review👇 buff.ly/3RzTsJ0

The American republic is deeply divided about first principles, making civic friendship difficult—if not impossible. Can legal process mediate fundamental differences? How about the bonds of commerce? Putting Shakespeare into conversation with pillars of American political

Really enjoyed chatting with my friend Rick Garnett about the constitutional (and policy) issues in the recent Catholic charter school case from Oklahoma. Listen in!

Finished a draft article entitled "Does the Law Ever Run Out?" (Spoiler alert: the thesis is "no.") Download link below if interested. Comments are welcome--there's plenty to argue with! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

Hot off the press, "The General-Law Right to Bear Arms," written with William Baude.

Craddock on Civic Friendship and Republican Constitutionalism, lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/20…

My new post on the Originalism Blog looks at the use of original meaning as a kind of substantive canon when interpreting precedent. (Link below.)

Denying en banc review in Eknes-Tucker v. Alabama, Chief Judge W. Pryor cited scholarship on substantive due process that Judge Tymkovich, Josh Dos Santos, and I published in Nᴏᴛʀᴇ Dᴀᴍᴇ L. Rᴇᴠ. (Notre Dame Law Review) a few years ago. Glad our article could be helpful to CA11! ca11.uscourts.gov/sites/default/…

I’m happy to share that my article “Does the Law Ever Run Out?” will be published by Nᴏᴛʀᴇ Dᴀᴍᴇ L. Rᴇᴠ. (Notre Dame Law Review)! Thanks to all who’ve offered feedback since I posted the draft on SSRN. I’ve just posted a new version: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf….

.Kelsey Dallas recaps the religion cases that could make it onto #SCOTUS' schedule over the next few months. Read more in Deseret News ⬇️ deseret.com/faith/2024/09/…

9th Circuit, Judges Paez & Koh: we have found a viable Bivens case! This is just like the Supreme Court's Carlson's case. Judge Milan Smith, dissenting: No, it's different, there should be no Bivens here. cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opin… #N

Incredibly honored & humbled to be clerking for Justice Gorsuch starting summer 2026. I'm also thankful for BYU Law School's support. And I'm indebted to my wife and kids, without whom none of this would've been possible. We're excited for the amazing opportunities we have ahead!

Iowa Law professor James Toomey recently gave a guest lecture titled “Introduction to the American Legal System,” over Zoom in Aaron Kesselheim and Brendan Abel's bioethics and health policy class at Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, which he has been doing each semester since 2021.

There is a disturbing trend in Free Exercise jurisprudence in the lower courts that is now affecting the casestream coming before #SCOTUS.

Can litigation against a church itself create First Amendment problems? Does it matter if courts address potential church autonomy arguments at the start of the case rather than the end of the case? I argue yes and yes in an amicus brief I recently filed in the DC Circuit. 1/

Are religious liberty protections for churches historically defensible, grounded in American history? I argue yes in my latest draft: "The Origins of Church Autonomy: Religious Liberty After Disestablishment." Comments welcome! ssrn.com/abstract=49338…

Sai Prakash, a leading originalist scholar, has posted his superb paper on “The Spirit of the Law” SSRN. The first sentence says it all: “The Founders were not textualists.” Link here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

The Federalist Society mourns the passing of the great Ted Olson. Ted was a key figure in the formation and continued life of the Federalist Society and a warrior for the rule of the law as he saw it. He will be greatly missed. Over the next few days we will be posting further

The State of Louisiana, represented by Attorney General Liz Murrill, Solicitor General Ben Aguiñaga, and Becket, filed an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Friday. becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20241115191104… The appeal asks the court to uphold the State’s decision to display the Ten Commandments in public school