Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.

Now a few words from another person for whom truth, and the rule of law built on the value of telling the truth, actually matters. wapo.st/3eivk79 Mueller's rare interjections deserve respect and more attention, but the POTUS proves that empty vessels make the most noise.

An excellent interview with Sen Cory Booker on the "unbroken cords of racial injustice that have been with us for generations" & real, concrete policies for change. He remains "a prisoner of hope," but reminds us not to look to others to do our hard work. econ.st/2OoLWjn

Collaborators: “Sometimes the point isn’t to make people believe a lie – it’s to make people fear the liar.” bit.ly/3eDzKWq

SMU is one of only seven U.S. colleges and universities at which undergraduates can earn a degree in human rights. Rick Halperin explains why expansion of those programs is so needed in a country with "virtually no culture of human rights." bit.ly/3g4a8Ud

Congratulations to SMU Law Prof. chris jenks and STCL Houston Geoff Corn who appeared & participated Int'l Criminal Court #Ntaganda case on the meaning of "attack" as part of #WarCrimes against cultural property under the Rome Statute.

In other news, a visual rendition of Marie-Antoinette's famous line, "Qu’ils mangent de la brioche," appears in Times Square, updated and reinterpreted just in time for the election. bit.ly/3oDmcka

Petri depicts the "hideous spectacle" Justice Kavanaugh fears most. "Have you ever seen a naked ballot after midnight? Dancing in a clearing, its dots pulsing and rippling all over the page, frolicking with a diabolical delight? Pray that you never shall." wapo.st/2HJMLCY

And now a word from serious government officials: bit.ly/3eVggi3. Thank you for what shouldn't have to count for courage, but does these days: restating confirmable facts in the face of mendacious attacks by a faithless man enabled by cowardly & selfish political hacks.

A sad coda to this president's path of destruction, not only while in office but also finally exiting it, is Ms. Murphy's felt need to claim that she was not pressured and acted independently. Shakespeare knew the type well: The lady doth protest too much. bit.ly/2J584Aa

Here's a short list of POTUS's efforts to keep power. The term for that is autogolpe: self-coup. If you think that's overly dramatic you may be distracted from his true intentions by his bottomless incompetence. The silence of most GOP elite? Contemptible. bit.ly/3oBrJqB

Happy to see today's 8-0 SCOTUS opinion in Tanzin v. Tanvir that fed'l officials may be sued for damages under RFRA to remedy placement on the No Fly List for refusing to become FBI informants. And proud to have filed an amicus brief supporting the effort. bit.ly/37QQAQv

This president's thuggish behavior ("Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.") is impeachable. He should be convicted for it, denied the right ever to return to office. But that treats the symptom only. What's the cure for 74 million voters thinking he had earned a second term as president?

As the sedition caucus, led by Senators Hawley and Cruz, warms up for its democracy-weakening stunts today, those who care about what these craven, ambitious men would so casually destroy will find nothing better than this summary of their selfish games: bit.ly/3okpS9Z

The president must be impeached and convicted for his conduct yesterday. He should be barred forever from any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States. He has disgraced himself and placed our democracy at great risk. History's judgment cannot be severe enough.

Great article in The Washington Post on developments in terrorist watchlist cases in CA4 & CA9, and gov't efforts to moot potentially successful cases. wapo.st/3Vybk7C A strange world in which one ceases to be a "suspected terrorist" when a judge gets interested in the case.

Hey, Rachel Weiner, great article today! These are definitely cases to watch.

You Be the Ump 7/7 ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ nyti.ms/3SJsFaS Just like being on the Supreme Court, I suppose...

Thanks, Johanna Ketola, for chairing a great panel at #aleksanteri2022 on the interplay between institutions and states with papers on the OSCE from Marzia Cimmino, complaints systems from Elena Bogdanova & my paper on the origins of Russia's CoE membership and the seeds for its expulsion.

Happy to speak at CREECA UW-Madison today. An excellent center for serious scholars. And a fun place to test drive ideas. Today: the role of lawyers in the 1990s decision-making process to offer Russia membership in the Council of Europe. Thanks, Prof. Kathryn Hendley, for the invite!