Paul Gowder
@gowder.io
Prof @ Northwestern law, political theorist, cat parent. Black lives matter.
Profile, pubs, etc: https://gowder.io
All my books (rule of law, racial justice, platform governance) are downloadable in free open access pdf @ https://books.gowder.io
Profile, pubs, etc: https://gowder.io
All my books (rule of law, racial justice, platform governance) are downloadable in free open access pdf @ https://books.gowder.io
legal scholarship really needs a canonical (& computerized) compendium of basic citations for obvious propositions to satisfy bluebook demands. (Alas, @orinkerr.bsky.social 's Theory of Law will not always work). Like, I am writing some variant of the following sentence in a draft essay: (cont)
September 21, 2026 at 9:28 PM
legal scholarship really needs a canonical (& computerized) compendium of basic citations for obvious propositions to satisfy bluebook demands. (Alas, @orinkerr.bsky.social 's Theory of Law will not always work). Like, I am writing some variant of the following sentence in a draft essay: (cont)
lol just one more American humiliation: the U.N. high level meeting is starting and we can’t work the airports because someone went snip snip on a fiber optic line somewhere
www.cnn.com/2026/09/21/u...
www.cnn.com/2026/09/21/u...
Fiber cut by construction crew leads to ground stop and delays at several major airports | CNN
A Federal Aviation Administration equipment outage is causing significant flight delays at five major Northeast airports after construction contractors dug up and cut a Verizon cable, the company said...
www.cnn.com
September 21, 2026 at 9:19 PM
lol just one more American humiliation: the U.N. high level meeting is starting and we can’t work the airports because someone went snip snip on a fiber optic line somewhere
www.cnn.com/2026/09/21/u...
www.cnn.com/2026/09/21/u...
Reposted by Paul Gowder
Maybe it's my military experience talking, but untrammelled Art. II just isn't a way to run a govt allegedly concerned with liberty. And it shouldn't be a way to launder authoritarianism and pinning for Caesar.
September 21, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Maybe it's my military experience talking, but untrammelled Art. II just isn't a way to run a govt allegedly concerned with liberty. And it shouldn't be a way to launder authoritarianism and pinning for Caesar.
Reposted by Paul Gowder
Like, what kind of fucking politico-legal setup is this? "Hey guys? Just so you know, Mercury was in retrograde one November in a year divisible by four and now you have a Caligula-based system of government. Enjoy!"
September 21, 2026 at 5:09 AM
Like, what kind of fucking politico-legal setup is this? "Hey guys? Just so you know, Mercury was in retrograde one November in a year divisible by four and now you have a Caligula-based system of government. Enjoy!"
I truly do not understand why everyone who ever argued for the unitary executive theory isn't on their hands and knees begging the rest of us for forgiveness after seeing what their insane dictatorship theory has created
September 21, 2026 at 5:06 AM
I truly do not understand why everyone who ever argued for the unitary executive theory isn't on their hands and knees begging the rest of us for forgiveness after seeing what their insane dictatorship theory has created
We as Americans have to surrender our grip on the global financial system. Yes it's useful for foreign policy purposes. But until we get rid of the institution of the presidency we can't be trusted with it anymore. We simply cannot control the guy with the capacity to lock people out of money.
I’ve been told this too, from UN sources - the US will sanction the #ICC as an institution this week, & that they have considered designating the Court as a terrorist or terrorist supporting body.
All for Netanyahu (and Putin).
States that believe in the rule of law must denounce this lunacy.
All for Netanyahu (and Putin).
States that believe in the rule of law must denounce this lunacy.
September 21, 2026 at 4:58 AM
We as Americans have to surrender our grip on the global financial system. Yes it's useful for foreign policy purposes. But until we get rid of the institution of the presidency we can't be trusted with it anymore. We simply cannot control the guy with the capacity to lock people out of money.
Reposted by Paul Gowder
You’re right—that plane shouldn’t have gone there. That’s my fault, and I should have made sure there wasn’t a terminal in the landing path.
Would you like me to call emergency services, or assist with lining up takeoffs?
Would you like me to call emergency services, or assist with lining up takeoffs?
September 20, 2026 at 10:47 PM
You’re right—that plane shouldn’t have gone there. That’s my fault, and I should have made sure there wasn’t a terminal in the landing path.
Would you like me to call emergency services, or assist with lining up takeoffs?
Would you like me to call emergency services, or assist with lining up takeoffs?
Reposted by Paul Gowder
“Briefly detained” = beat half to death
BREAKING: Evanston police confirm a U.S. citizen was briefly detained by federal agents Sunday morning near Howard and Dodge before being released
The man was taken to the hospital for injuries to his head, neck and teeth after agents drove off
The man was taken to the hospital for injuries to his head, neck and teeth after agents drove off
Federal agents detained U.S. citizen Sunday morning - Evanston Now
Police chief says officers responded to a man with injuries to head, neck and teeth on Howard and made contact with agents involved.
evanstonnow.com
September 21, 2026 at 2:39 AM
“Briefly detained” = beat half to death
Reposted by Paul Gowder
according to the article, it took hours after the personal intervention of the mayor for his family to even get basic information about him. that information included that he had been transferred to ICE custody hours after being shot.
no amnesty
no amnesty
ICE shot a DoorDash delivery guy.
Attorney: Austin man shot by ICE agent was making DoorDash delivery
A Venezuelan man shot by an ICE agent in Austin was making a DoorDash delivery, his attorney said. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was later released from the hospital into ICE custody.
www.statesman.com
September 21, 2026 at 2:10 AM
according to the article, it took hours after the personal intervention of the mayor for his family to even get basic information about him. that information included that he had been transferred to ICE custody hours after being shot.
no amnesty
no amnesty
Reposted by Paul Gowder
What happens when powerful public figures make open bigotry feel acceptable? Danielle Allen on Trump, Musk, and the normalization of racism and antisemitism. From LibCon2026. #LibCon2026
September 16, 2026 at 4:03 PM
What happens when powerful public figures make open bigotry feel acceptable? Danielle Allen on Trump, Musk, and the normalization of racism and antisemitism. From LibCon2026. #LibCon2026
Reposted by Paul Gowder
So @radtranslib.bsky.social, who started writing for us this year and quickly became one of our core contributing editors, is kind of funny in that she contains within herself the multitudes that make up the @liberalcurrents.com community in general www.liberalcurrents.com/drive/
September 19, 2026 at 1:09 PM
So @radtranslib.bsky.social, who started writing for us this year and quickly became one of our core contributing editors, is kind of funny in that she contains within herself the multitudes that make up the @liberalcurrents.com community in general www.liberalcurrents.com/drive/
Random call into the void: is there by any chance anyone on here who knows of a really good historical treatment of the 1866 treaty between the U.S. and the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations?
September 19, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Random call into the void: is there by any chance anyone on here who knows of a really good historical treatment of the 1866 treaty between the U.S. and the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations?
Reposted by Paul Gowder
🚨NEW: A top DOJ official reportedly warned prosecutors they could be fired for declining to pursue voter fraud cases referred to them by FBI or DHS.
Report: Top DOJ official threatens to fire prosecutors who refuse to pursue voter fraud cases
The reported threat comes as federal agencies devote increasing resources to investigations of possible noncitizen voting, which is exceptionally rare.
www.democracydocket.com
September 18, 2026 at 10:25 PM
🚨NEW: A top DOJ official reportedly warned prosecutors they could be fired for declining to pursue voter fraud cases referred to them by FBI or DHS.
Reposted by Paul Gowder
*bangs pots and pans* NEW SPECIAL COLLECTIONS CATALOGING JOB JUST DROPPED (and it's at the University of Rochester, which is pretty great)
rochester.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UR_Sta...
rochester.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UR_Sta...
Special Collections Metadata Librarian
As a community, the University of Rochester is defined by a deep commitment to Meliora - Ever Better. Embedded in that ideal are the values we share: equity, leadership, integrity, openness, respect, ...
rochester.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
September 18, 2026 at 10:58 PM
*bangs pots and pans* NEW SPECIAL COLLECTIONS CATALOGING JOB JUST DROPPED (and it's at the University of Rochester, which is pretty great)
rochester.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UR_Sta...
rochester.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UR_Sta...
Fuck, why not. It's not any more constitutionally aggressive than the least insane scheme to come out of the depthless anuses of the likes of miller/vought in any given week
A Dem trifecta appoints judges who commit to holding that Trump as an insurrectionist was ineligible for office in 2024 & was not lawfully president in his 2nd term, and therefore any pardons in that term are a nullity.
This is an extremely infuriating aspect of everything going on: all these guys feel free to act in lawless ways, in expectation of pardons. And Trump will in fact pardon them! It's not clear what can really be done about it.
September 18, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Fuck, why not. It's not any more constitutionally aggressive than the least insane scheme to come out of the depthless anuses of the likes of miller/vought in any given week
How in the ever loving fuck are we back on Greenland
September 18, 2026 at 10:43 PM
How in the ever loving fuck are we back on Greenland
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project was one of the supreme court’s worst decisions in its history, probably just on the tier below its most notorious infamies (Dred Scott, korematsu, trump v us, etc.); it was a gift-wrapped recipe for exactly the sort of repression we’re now seeing.
The Trump administration is pursuing a multipronged strategy to quash those it perceives as its ideological opponents. Part of it involves using expansive authorities meant to combat foreign terrorist groups against U.S. civil society. bit.ly/4Ak6MWP
Trump Administration Linking Its Domestic Enemies to Foreign Terrorists
Falsely claiming that U.S. citizens and groups have ties to international terrorism could let the government turn tools intended to combat the likes of ISIS against its perceived foes at home.
www.brennancenter.org
September 18, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project was one of the supreme court’s worst decisions in its history, probably just on the tier below its most notorious infamies (Dred Scott, korematsu, trump v us, etc.); it was a gift-wrapped recipe for exactly the sort of repression we’re now seeing.
Reposted by Paul Gowder
i am genuinely bewildered by people who say that the rise of white nationalism in the republican party is a response to the "woke left." like, did the woke left cause pat buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign? is the woke left why steve king had a long career in congress?
September 18, 2026 at 6:33 PM
i am genuinely bewildered by people who say that the rise of white nationalism in the republican party is a response to the "woke left." like, did the woke left cause pat buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign? is the woke left why steve king had a long career in congress?
In addition to being profoundly sick and evil, this is of course wildly illegal---U.S. law incorporates the international law principle of non-refoulment
NYT - Two men deported to Equatorial Guinea by the Trump administration were hooded, bound, beaten with guns and shoved down a flight of stairs recently by police officers at a remote hotel where immigrants are being held indefinitely. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/wo...
www.nytimes.com
September 18, 2026 at 7:05 PM
In addition to being profoundly sick and evil, this is of course wildly illegal---U.S. law incorporates the international law principle of non-refoulment
Reposted by Paul Gowder
this 1922 new york times story on hitler, over 100 years later, is like the poster child for why you don't just accept spin from people you have access to as gospel when you're doing reporting.
September 18, 2026 at 3:18 PM
this 1922 new york times story on hitler, over 100 years later, is like the poster child for why you don't just accept spin from people you have access to as gospel when you're doing reporting.
"You're right! Those two airplanes did occupy the same flight lane. I should not have ordered them to fly into one another. After recalculating I can suggest that it wasn't a catastrophe---it was an opportunity for reform."
September 18, 2026 at 12:48 AM
"You're right! Those two airplanes did occupy the same flight lane. I should not have ordered them to fly into one another. After recalculating I can suggest that it wasn't a catastrophe---it was an opportunity for reform."
That's one way to get abolition rolling...
September 15, 2026 at 5:50 PM
That's one way to get abolition rolling...
So Trump is trying to restart the troubles now is that right
September 12, 2026 at 8:52 PM
So Trump is trying to restart the troubles now is that right
Reposted by Paul Gowder
It's really worth emphasizing just how hypocritical and Orwellian Chancellor Frenk's comments are.
"We every member of our community should be respected" he says, while publicly trashing dozens of members of the UCLA community.
"We every member of our community should be respected" he says, while publicly trashing dozens of members of the UCLA community.
September 12, 2026 at 5:00 PM
It's really worth emphasizing just how hypocritical and Orwellian Chancellor Frenk's comments are.
"We every member of our community should be respected" he says, while publicly trashing dozens of members of the UCLA community.
"We every member of our community should be respected" he says, while publicly trashing dozens of members of the UCLA community.
God help us when the robed idiots get it
Judge Berner's decision is a sobering read. Trump's mass detention agenda "harkens back to some of the darkest moments in our country’s history," including the internment of Japanese people during WWII.
9 Appellate Courts have now shot down this lawless policy. SCOTUS should too.
9 Appellate Courts have now shot down this lawless policy. SCOTUS should too.
Appeals court rejects ICE detention policy, setting stage for SCOTUS
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals compared ICE’s policy to Japanese internment.
www.politico.com
September 12, 2026 at 5:31 PM
God help us when the robed idiots get it