William Baude

Jan 10, 2025 | harvardlawreview.org | William Baude |Michael Stokes Paulsen

“Great cases,” the saying goes, “like hard cases make bad law.” The aphorism, from Justice Holmes’s dissent in the Northern Securities case, came with an explanation:Great cases like hard cases make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their real importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment.

Aug 15, 2024 | scholarship.law.nd.edu | William Baude |Robert Leider |George Mason

In this Article, we argue that Bruen's intended methodological shift has been widely misunderstood by the bench and bar. This has led to confusion and misapplication in the lower courts, as well as much scholarly criticism of the test that is, we think, misdirected. As we will explain, Bruen calls for a form of legal originalism, applying a classical view of fundamental rights as a form of unwritten customary law.

Jul 11, 2024 | nytimes.com | Kate Shaw |William Baude |Stephen Vladeck

Kate Shaw, a contributing Opinion writer, hosted a written online conversation with Will Baude, a law professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown and the author of " The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic," to reflect on the dramatic end to the Supreme Court term. Kate Shaw: This Supreme Court term ended on a shocking note with Trump v. United States.

Jul 5, 2024 | nytimes.com | William Baude

At the end of another momentous term, the Supreme Court has issued major rulings that will reshape the law. Like much that the court does today, these decisions, in areas like administrative law, have been widely criticized as corrupt or illegitimate. For the most part, this criticism does not give the Supreme Court enough credit.