Amherst professor Austin Sarat discusses a federal district court ruling permitting Alabama to execute Jeffrey Lee via nitrogen hypoxia despite the judge’s own findings that the method causes severe suffering, examining the decision’s constitutional implications and the broader erosion of Eighth Amendment protections. Professor Sarat argues that Judge Marks’s originalist interpretation effectively nullifies the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by limiting its scope to methods the Founders would have recognized as barbaric, rather than applying the “evolving standards of decency” framework the clause requires to remain meaningful.

Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf examines the Democratic Senate primary in Maine, where progressive candidate Graham Platner—despite a compelling populist platform—has faced mounting scrutiny over a series of personal controversies including offensive social media posts, a controversial tattoo, and allegations of infidelity and abusive behavior. Professor Dorf argues that, while Platner’s character flaws are genuine cause for concern, Democratic voters can rationally support him in the general election against incumbent Susan Collins, because his flaws—more akin to Bill Clinton’s than Donald Trump’s—do not threaten constitutional democracy and should yield to the practical calculus of a binary electoral choice.

University of Pennsylvania professor Marci A. Hamilton discusses the breakdown of productive religious discourse in American public life, arguing that the religious right has seized control of the conversation through strategic framing, the appropriation of the undifferentiated label “Christian,” and the suppression of inconvenient facts. Professor Hamilton proposes three corrective rules: insist on factual accuracy in policy debates rather than deferring to religious framing, recognize Christianity as a diverse category rather than a monolith, and embrace open theological disagreement among believers as a legitimate and necessary form of public discourse.

Amherst professor Austin Sarat discusses Israel's recently passed legislation creating a dedicated military tribunal to prosecute approximately 400 Hamas militants for their roles in the October 7, 2023 attacks, examining the law through the lens of philosophers Hannah Arendt and Martha Minow. Professor Sarat argues that the tribunal risks becoming a politically motivated show trial that undermines fair trial guarantees and, rather than advancing justice or security, pulls Israel away from the difficult but necessary path between vengeance and reconciliation.

Cornell professor Joseph Margulies examines the Trump administration’s proposed $1.776 billion “victims of lawfare” compensation fund, its likely beneficiaries, and the legal and political opposition it has generated. Professor Margulies argues that while the fund is a corrupt sham designed to enrich Trump allies—including January 6th rioters who were justly prosecuted—the underlying concept of compensating people genuinely wronged by federal power is sound, and the true victims deserving redress are those like unlawfully detained immigrants and targets of vindictive prosecutions.

UC Davis Law professor emeritus Alan Brownstein and professor Vikram David Amar survey recent examples of overt government religious speech—at both the federal and state levels—to examine the constitutional principles underlying Establishment Clause limits on such speech. Professors Brownstein and Amar argue that government religious speech is constitutionally impermissible because it usurps individuals’ authority over their own faith, coerces religious conformity, favors some religions over others, and distorts the marketplace of ideas in ways only a robust Establishment Clause can offset.

Amherst professor Austin Sarat examines two recent Trump administration actions—the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund and a DOJ settlement granting the president and his family immunity from tax enforcement—arguing that both are unconstitutional and morally indefensible. Professor Sarat argues that the tax immunity arrangement amounts to an unconstitutional self-pardon by proxy, while the Anti-Weaponization Fund violates the First Amendment, equal protection, separation of powers, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s explicit prohibition on compensating insurrectionists. He further argues that courts and the public must resist both actions before Trump normalizes using governmental power for personal benefit.

Touro University, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center professor Rodger D. Citron discusses the civil rights history of New York Times v. Sullivan with legal historian Samantha Barbas in a podcast conversation regarding her book, Actual Malice. Professor Citron highlights Barbas’s findings that Alabama officials weaponized libel law to suppress coverage of the civil rights movement and emphasizes that this racial context remains essential to understanding the case’s legal legacy.

UNLV Boyd School of Law professor Leslie C. Griffin discusses the case of Gisèle Pelicot, who was drugged and raped by her husband and dozens of other men over a decade, as chronicled in Pelicot’s memoir Shame Has to Change Sides. Professor Griffin argues that Pelicot’s demand for an open trial serves as a vital challenge to patriarchal structures and underscores the necessity of shifting the burden of shame from victims to the perpetrators of sexual violence.

Cornell professor Joseph Margulies discusses the Cornell University Board of Trustees’ investigation into a 2026 confrontation between President Michael Kotlikoff and student protesters. Professor Margulies contends that the inquiry was a fraudulent “Potemkin process” that lacked true independence by tasking campus police with investigating their own superior, thereby eroding institutional legitimacy through a preordained exoneration.

University of Pennsylvania professor Marci A. Hamilton discusses Donald Trump’s dual strategy for institutionalizing White Christian Nationalism by installing a conservative Supreme Court majority and empowering the religious right’s political agenda. Professor Hamilton argues that these efforts subvert the separation of church and state by promoting a false historical narrative and prioritizing the specific theological demands of a minority over the rule of law and civil liberties.

Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf discusses the settlement of a lawsuit between Donald Trump and the Department of Justice, which established a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and granted the Trump family permanent immunity from various tax claims. Professor Dorf argues that this arrangement constitutes a corrupt exploitation of the Federal Judgment Fund and urges Congress to implement structural reforms to prevent future presidents from bypassing the constitutional power of the purse through collusive litigation.

Amherst professor Austin Sarat discusses the Department of Justice’s decision to seek the death penalty for Elias Rodriguez following his 2025 antisemitic murders at the Capital Jewish Museum. Professor Sarat argues that American Jews should oppose the execution because capital punishment contradicts the Jewish values of “repairing the world,” violates long-standing rabbinical skepticism toward state-sanctioned killing, and denies the fundamental human right to make moral amends.

UC Davis Law professor Vikram David Amar discusses the Virginia Attorney General’s emergency application for the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a state supreme court ruling that invalidated a redistricting-related constitutional amendment. Professor Amar argues that the challenge will fail because the state court’s decision rests on an independent interpretation of the Virginia Constitution and constitutes a routine exercise of judicial review that warrants deference under Moore v. Harper.

Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf discusses the Supreme Court’s role in enabling racial gerrymandering under the guise of partisan strategy and the resulting limitations of current legislative remedies like the Voting Rights Act. Professor Dorf argues that Congress should use its constitutional authority to mandate independent redistricting commissions or, more effectively, adopt a system of statewide proportional representation to ensure fair minority voice without using the specific racial classifications the current Court finds objectionable.

University of Pennsylvania professor Marci A. Hamilton discusses the systemic barriers child sex abuse survivors face when seeking justice and highlights three individuals who use their professional expertise to force institutional transparency and reform. Professor Hamilton argues that while these survivors courageously drive progress, society must stop placing the burden of child protection on the victims and instead proactively hold institutions accountable.

Amherst professor Austin Sarat discusses the historical prominence and systemic flaws of capital punishment in Texas as the state nears its 600th execution since 1977. Professor Sarat argues that Texas’s continued practice of executing intellectually disabled and mentally ill individuals defies constitutional standards and highlights an urgent need for political leaders to abolish the death penalty.

Amherst professor Austin Sarat discusses a Justice Department motion to lift an injunction against the construction of Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, noting that the filing adopts the inflammatory and legally irrelevant rhetoric of President Trump’s social media posts. Professor Sarat argues that the lawyers involved violated their ethical obligations and federal procedural rules by submitting such a frivolous document and urges the court to impose sanctions to protect the rule of law.

Amherst professor Austin Sarat examines the case of Tony Carruthers, a Tennessee death row inmate scheduled for execution despite significant evidence of innocence and severe procedural failures at trial. Professor Sarat argues that Governor Bill Lee should exercise his clemency power to spare Carruthers’ life, contending that the case exemplifies the systemic failings that make executive clemency a critical but underused safeguard against miscarriages of justice.

Cornell professor Joseph Margulies discusses the moral implications of the wrongful conviction movement and contrasts it with his own focus on humanizing those who have been rightfully convicted of serious crimes. Professor Margulies argues that society’s preoccupation with innocence inadvertently reinforces the dehumanization of the guilty, asserting that we must recognize the shared humanity of all incarcerated individuals rather than dismissing them as monsters.