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Wait, Can He Actually Do That? Part 16: Trump's Threat to Fire Fed Chair Powell

5 days ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

President Donald Trump recently took to social media to call Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell a "major loser" for failing to lower interest rates "NOW." Read against the backdrop of Trump's statement that Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough" and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett's confirmation that the administration is studying whether Trump can fire Hassett, the broadsides against Powell wreaked further havoc on Wall Street. Understandably so.
Is the Alito/Thomas Dissent From the 1 AM Order Naive, Disingenuous, or Callous?

1 week ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

Just before 1 AM on the morning of Saturday, April 19, the Supreme Court issued an order directing the U.S. government not to remove (i.e., send to El Salvador) any member of a group of Venezuelans currently detained in Texas pending the Court's further order. The Court acted early Saturday morning because it appeared that the Trump administration was about to violate the limits on removals set forth in its April 7 per curiam opinion.
Lightning Round Friday: Contempt; Birthright Citizenship; and Abrego Garcia

1 week ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

As John Oliver says at the top of each episode of Last Week Tonight, it has been a busy week. So busy, in fact, that for today's essay, I'm going to do a lightning round of observations on three of the major developments in just the last couple of days. 1. ContemptLet's start with Judge Boasberg's opinion in J.G.G. v.
Wait, Can He Actually Do That? Part 15: Trump's Threat to Revoke Harvard's Tax-Exempt Status

1 week ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened to revoke Harvard's tax exempt status, posting on Truth Social:Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’Put aside the absurd suggestion that Harvard is pushing "sickness" (in scare quotes even in Trump's original for no apparent reason) that is inspired by or in support of terrorism.
Harvard Had No Choice

1 week ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

[N.B. My latest Verdict column, Fighting the Last (Trade) War: Trump Ignores the Coming AI Revolution, was published yesterday. It explains that even in the unlikely event that President Trump's tariffs--or even more rational tariffs--boost U.S. domestic manufacturing, they will not lead to very substantial increases in domestic manufacturing employment, due to automation.
Wait, Can He Actually Do That? Part 14: Incarcerating U.S. Citizens in Foreign Prisons

1 week ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

The Trump regime has chosen defiance over compliance with the federal court order to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the inhumane El Salvadoran prison to which he was mistakenly sent. Yesterday, during an Oval Office meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele, both stated that Abrego Garcia would not be coming back. There was no indication whatsoever that Trump had asked Bukele for Abrego Garcia's return and that Bukele had then said no.
SCOTUS is Missing the Forest for the Trees AND Missing the Trees for the Forest

2 weeks ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

On Thursday night last week, after the Supreme Court issued its order in Noem v. Abrego Garcia but before Judge Xinis responded by clarifying what exactly she expected of the Trump administration, I published a thread on BlueSky that, in retrospect, may have been too optimistic. Unrolled (that is to say, as a single text rather than multiple entries), here's what I wrote:I'm seeing a lot of criticism of the SCOTUS order in the Abrego Garcia case.
Is the House Bill Forbidding (Most) Nationwide Injunctions Constitutional?

2 weeks ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

On Wednesday night, the House of Representatives passed the No Rogue Rulings Act (NORRA) of 2025 on a party-line vote: 219 in favor and 213 against. All but one Republican voted for NORRA, and all Democrats voted against it. Below I'll further describe and analyze the bill, but I want to say a word about the partisan nature of the vote. NORRA restricts the ability of federal district courts to issue what are sometimes called "nationwide" or "universal" injunctions.
When Economic Advisors Stop Caring About Honesty, Accuracy, or Credibility

2 weeks ago | dorfonlaw.org | Neil H. Buchanan

The current administration's economic advisors are truly fascinating, but in the worst possible way. Notably, however, they were for the most part highly educated at elite institutions (horrors!) and would seem at least superficially to have expertise in the subjects on which they are working.
Enumerating a Post-Dobbs Pathway (cross-posted at Balkinization)

2 weeks ago | dorfonlaw.org | Michael C. Dorf

N.B. Repeating its pattern of illegally cutting funds to universities without following ANY of the statutorily mandated steps, yesterday the Trump administration announced a "freeze" of $1 billion to Cornell and $790 million to Northwestern. Other than the fact that this particular iteration of the policy hits home for me, I have nothing new to say about it beyond what I've already written with respect to Columbia and other universities (e.g., here, here, and here).