Lawrence Solum

What is (Real) Law?

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more

Latest from @christianturner.bsky.social, "Deeply interesting and sophisticated. Highly recommended. Download it while it’s hot!"

Thanks so much to @lsolum.bsky.social for the kind words. I only hope some journal editors agree! I've made an audio version of the paper available here: www.hydratext.com/blog/2026/2/... — and a critical faculty workshop made with my app enTalkenator here: entalkenator.com/podcast/arti...

Moreau on Structural Injustice

(strukturelle Diskriminierung)

Be Careful What You Wish For: How Conservative Groups Learned from Liberal Cause Lawyers - Legal Profession Ann Southworth, Conservative Legal Advocacy: Organizations and Constitutional Change in the Roberts Court, 93 Fordham L. Rev. 1239 (2025).Rebecca RoipheMany scholars have written about the role of…

Jotwell:

Johnston on Balancing Mitchell Johnston (Boston College - Law School; Yale University, Law School) has posted A (Partial) Defense of Balancing on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Balancing tests the bête noire of those committed to a rules-based jurisprudence. Because comparisons between factors are impossible, critics allege that balancing “tests” are ultimately a fig leaf for the judge’s preferences. Justice Scalia famously was a critic of balancing for, in part, this reason and, therefore, it is no wonder that the current Supreme Court is keen to suggest that it is abandoning balancing as fast as it can.

Johnston on Balancing

Mitchell Johnston (Boston College - Law School; Yale University, Law School) has posted A (Partial) Defense of Balancing on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Balancing tests the bête noire of those committed to a rules-based jurisprudence. Because comparisons between factors are…

Cannan on the King of the Treatise Writers John Cannan, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law , on Joel Bishop's Reign as King of the Treatise Writers and What it Means fo...

Cannan on the King of the Treatise Writers legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/cann...

Kolber on Provisional Sentencing before Trial Adam J. Kolber (Brooklyn Law School) has posted Wonderland Sentencing: Therapeutic Perspectives on Pretrial Provisional Sentences (Virginia Law Review (forthcoming, 2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing tarts. The Queen of Hearts insists that they should “sentence first” and hear the verdict afterwards. Alice derides “[t]he idea of having the sentence first!” because, of course, nothing would be more absurd.

Kolber on Provisional Sentencing before Trial

Adam J. Kolber (Brooklyn Law School) has posted Wonderland Sentencing: Therapeutic Perspectives on Pretrial Provisional Sentences (Virginia Law Review (forthcoming, 2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Knave of…

Mugamba on Genealogical Culpability Elemegious Mugamba (Autonomous University of Barcelona; University of London) has posted The Jurisprudence of 'Hereditary Suspects': Deconstructing the Shift from Jus Soli to Genealogical Culpability on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article interrogates the emerging U.S. administrative jurisprudence of the "Hereditary Suspect", a legal subject whose citizenship is rendered provisional through the weaponisation of genealogical origin. Deconstructing the executive shift from jus soli (territorial birthright) to a "cultural determinism" that views the descendants of "failed states" as carriers of intergenerational pathology, the research argues this constitutes a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's anti-caste principle.

Mugamba on Genealogical Culpability

Elemegious Mugamba (Autonomous University of Barcelona; University of London) has posted The Jurisprudence of 'Hereditary Suspects': Deconstructing the Shift from Jus Soli to Genealogical Culpability on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article interrogates the…

Armendariz on AI Hallucinations Matt Armendariz has posted Ungrounded Divergence: A Philosophical Framework for Understanding AI Hallucination on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper argues that what the AI field calls “hallucination” in large language models is better understood through Kripke’s rule-following paradox. LLMs learn from finite training data and extrapolate to novel inputs. This is structurally identical to the problem Kripke identified in Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language: any finite set of examples is compatible with multiple rules, and nothing in the data alone determines which rule the learner has internalized.

Armendariz on AI Hallucinations

Matt Armendariz has posted Ungrounded Divergence: A Philosophical Framework for Understanding AI Hallucination on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper argues that what the AI field calls “hallucination” in large language models is better understood through…

Leshem on Ships as Legal Persons Ela A. Leshem (Fordham University School of Law) has posted Normative Transplants: The Case of Ships as Legal Persons (Forthcoming in Legal Personhood in Private Law (Paul B. Miller, Christopher Essert & Eva Micheler eds., Cambridge University Press 2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: What does the legal personhood of ships contribute to theories of legal persons? Ships became legal persons in U.S.

Leshem on Ships as Legal Persons

Ela A. Leshem (Fordham University School of Law) has posted Normative Transplants: The Case of Ships as Legal Persons (Forthcoming in Legal Personhood in Private Law (Paul B. Miller, Christopher Essert & Eva Micheler eds., Cambridge University Press 2026)) on SSRN.…

Litman on the Passive Vices Leah Litman (University of Michigan Law School) has posted The Passive Vices (115 Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Alexander Bickel celebrated the Supreme Court's mechanisms for deciding not to decide a matter as the Court's "passive virtues." Using case studies on the modern Court's decisions not to decide matters during the second Trump administration, this Article revisits Bickel's influential work and develops an account of the "passive vices." The passive vices are occasions where passivity carries significant costs that Bickel either overlooked or undervalued.

Litman on the Passive Vices

Leah Litman (University of Michigan Law School) has posted The Passive Vices (115 Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Alexander Bickel celebrated the Supreme Court's mechanisms for deciding not to decide a matter as the Court's "passive…

Moreau on Structural Injustice Sophia Moreau (New York University School of Law) has posted A Fully Systemic Approach to Structural Injustices on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper argues for the importance of a system-wide and diachronic approach to structural injustices, using as a case study the position of Indigenous women in Canada. I explain what a fully systemic approach involves, and I argue that such an approach can result in a more complete picture of the vulnerable social positions occupied by marginalized groups across different contexts, as well as a more precise understanding of the reinforcement mechanisms through which these vulnerabilities subtly and often invisibly reinforce each other.

Moreau on Structural Injustice

Sophia Moreau (New York University School of Law) has posted A Fully Systemic Approach to Structural Injustices on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper argues for the importance of a system-wide and diachronic approach to structural injustices, using as a case…

Turner on Artificial Legal Agents Christian Turner (University of Georgia School of Law) has posted Artificial Legal Agents and the Alien Stance on SSRN. Here is the abstract: We find ourselves ensnared in an ever nastier and strident debate over AI and its role in law, society, and private life. Derided as mindless math or a stochastic parrot, AI is often shrugged off as just a bad tool, perhaps even the latest tech bro obsession after crypto and NFTs.

Turner on Artificial Legal Agents

Christian Turner (University of Georgia School of Law) has posted Artificial Legal Agents and the Alien Stance on SSRN. Here is the abstract: We find ourselves ensnared in an ever nastier and strident debate over AI and its role in law, society, and private life.…

Steel on Compensation for Permissible Harm Sandy Steel (University of Oxford) has posted Compensation for Permissible Harm (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article examines the law on when a person has a duty to compensate, despite acting permissibly in causing harm that normally violates a person's right. First, it compares the law's approach to compensation across a number of different types of permitting fact, such as defence, private necessity, public necessity and preventive action against a common enemy, and seeks to explain the extent to which the law's approach is consistent.

Steel on Compensation for Permissible Harm

Sandy Steel (University of Oxford) has posted Compensation for Permissible Harm (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article examines the law on when a person has a duty to compensate, despite acting permissibly in…

Kulbeth on Church Autonomy and Fact Finding Candice Mason Kulbeth has posted Church Autonomy: A Universal Sequencing Question on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article identifies a national “sequencing collapse” in church‑autonomy jurisprudence: lower courts increasingly treat the mere presence of religious vocabulary as a threshold bar to adjudication, rather than a merits‑stage defense. The result is a constitutional black hole where secular conduct—fraud, fiduciary breaches, torts—evades civil accountability.

Kulbeth on Church Autonomy and Fact Finding

Candice Mason Kulbeth has posted Church Autonomy: A Universal Sequencing Question on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article identifies a national “sequencing collapse” in church‑autonomy jurisprudence: lower courts increasingly treat the mere presence…

Allen on the Meaninglessness of Burdens of Persuasion Ronald J. Allen (Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law) has posted Larry Laudan, The Pursuit Of Truth, And The Meaninglessness Of Burdens Of Persuasion on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Inspired by the work of Larry Laudan, the meaninglessness of current conventional understandings and discussions of burdens of persuasion is demonstrated. The conventional view is that burdens of persuasion are a mechanism to fine tune error distribution at trial.

Allen on the Meaninglessness of Burdens of Persuasion

Ronald J. Allen (Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law) has posted Larry Laudan, The Pursuit Of Truth, And The Meaninglessness Of Burdens Of Persuasion on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Inspired by the work of Larry Laudan, the…

What is Real Law? - Jurisprudence Brian Flanagan & Guilherme de Almeida, Lawful, But Not Really: The Dual Character of the Concept of Law, 43 L. & Phil. 507 (2024).Izabela SkoczenIn the article, Lawful, But Not Really: The Dual…

What is Real Law? - Jurisprudence

The SCOTUS attorney switcheroo Empirical SCOTUS is a recurring series by Adam Feldman that looks at Supreme Court data, primarily in the form of opinions and oral arguments, to provide insights into the justices’ decision making…

The SCOTUS attorney switcheroo

Balganesh & Zhang on Legal Internalism Shyamkrishna Balganesh (Columbia University - Law School) & Taisu Zhang (Yale University - Law School) have posted Legal Internalism: A Behavioral Theory (Yale Journal of International Law, Volume 52, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article argues that legal systems, regardless of socioeconomic, political, cultural, or ideological context, naturally drift towards jurisprudential internalism. We define “legal internalism” as a behavioral paradigm in which legal actors treat legal rules as normative, epistemologically self-contained, and systemically coherent.

Balganesh & Zhang on Legal Internalism

Shyamkrishna Balganesh (Columbia University - Law School) & Taisu Zhang (Yale University - Law School) have posted Legal Internalism: A Behavioral Theory (Yale Journal of International Law, Volume 52, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article…

Bachar on Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Disclosure Gilat Juli Bachar (Temple University - James E. Beasley School of Law) has posted Plaintiffs' Lawyers' Disclosure Duties (59 UC Davis L. Rev. 1123 (2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Lawyers representing plaintiffs in civil litigation often participate in settlements that conceal risks to public health and safety-contributing, wittingly or not, to future harm. This Article challenges the prevailing assumption that plaintiffs' lawyers have no obligation to consider the interests of nonclient third parties in such cases.

Bachar on Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Disclosure

Gilat Juli Bachar (Temple University - James E. Beasley School of Law) has posted Plaintiffs' Lawyers' Disclosure Duties (59 UC Davis L. Rev. 1123 (2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Lawyers representing plaintiffs in civil litigation often participate…

Yang on Systemic Smoothness and AI Mediated Law Jili Yang has posted Algorithmic Jurisprudential Sovereignty: Systemic Smoothness and the Reconfiguration of Legal Responsibility in AI-Mediated Regimes on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded within judicial systems, legal practice, regulatory oversight, and dispute resolution mechanisms. Existing scholarship focuses on bias, liability allocation, and regulatory compliance. This paper argues that such analyses underestimate a deeper structural transformation: the emergence of systemic smoothness as the stabilizing principle of AI-mediated legal regimes.

Yang on Systemic Smoothness and AI Mediated Law

Jili Yang has posted Algorithmic Jurisprudential Sovereignty: Systemic Smoothness and the Reconfiguration of Legal Responsibility in AI-Mediated Regimes on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded within judicial…

Baker on the Senior Executive Service and the Appointments Clause Peyton C. Baker (University of Minnesota Law School) has posted Significant Authority and the Senior Executive Service on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Recent executive-branch litigation has brought an unsettled constitutional question to the surface: whether all members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) must be treated as inferior officers under the Appointments Clause. The Trump administration has argued that all career SES officials exercise significant executive authority and therefore cannot be insulated from presidential removal by statute.

Baker on the Senior Executive Service and the Appointments Clause

Peyton C. Baker (University of Minnesota Law School) has posted Significant Authority and the Senior Executive Service on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Recent executive-branch litigation has brought an unsettled constitutional…

Bishop on Copyright Office Action on AI Lea Bishop (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law; Yale University - Yale Information Society Project) has posted Copyright Office Action on AI on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This guide to primary sources documents the U.S. Copyright Office's actions regarding artificial intelligence, including registration decisions, policy guidance, the formal AI study, and related congressional correspondence. Materials are organized chronologically within thematic sections. For historical context on how the Office has treated prior new technologies (photographs, motion pictures, computer programs, sound recordings), see Part 3b.

Bishop on Copyright Office Action on AI

Lea Bishop (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law; Yale University - Yale Information Society Project) has posted Copyright Office Action on AI on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This guide to primary sources documents the U.S. Copyright Office's…

Baude on Youngstown William Baude (University of Chicago - Law School) has posted Youngstown on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court addressed a critical constitutional issue: When can the President act in ways that have not been authorized by Congress? The Court's answer has enduring importance for executive power, as well as for judicial power, under the Constitution. Highly recommended.

Baude on Youngstown

William Baude (University of Chicago - Law School) has posted Youngstown on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court addressed a critical constitutional issue: When can the President act in ways that have not been authorized by…

My contribution to the Solan symposium is "Pragmatics and Textualism," a deep dive into the role of context in the interpretation of statutes. Link: bit.ly/PragmaticsAn...

Aggarwal on Political Economy and Open Banking Regulation Nikita Aggarwal (University of Miami, School of Law) has posted Lobbying for Data: The Political Economy of Open Banking Regulation on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article examines the political economy of Open Banking regulation in the United States and its implications for consumer financial regulation in the digital age. Drawing on a novel dataset of federal lobbying disclosure reports and associated public comments on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Open Banking rulemaking, the Article examines which interest groups sought to influence Open Banking regulation through lobbying and with what apparent success.

Aggarwal on Political Economy and Open Banking Regulation

Nikita Aggarwal (University of Miami, School of Law) has posted Lobbying for Data: The Political Economy of Open Banking Regulation on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article examines the political economy of Open Banking regulation in the…

Purevdorj on Foreign Judicial Overreach Bayar Purevdorj (JSD (Cornell Law School)) has posted Foreign Judicial Overreach and the Limits of Enforcement: The Enforceability of Kaliningrad’s Court Decision Targeting to Seize 66% of Oyu Tolgoi on SSRN. Here is the abstract: On December 11, 2025, the Arbitration (Commercial) Court of the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation issued a decision ordering the Rio Tinto Group to pay approximately USD 1.32 billion to United Company Rusal PLC and, in an unprecedented move, to secure that obligation through Rio Tinto's 66 percent shareholding in Oyu Tolgoi LLC, a Mongolian-incorporated company controlling one of the world's largest coppergold deposits.

Purevdorj on Foreign Judicial Overreach

Bayar Purevdorj (JSD (Cornell Law School)) has posted Foreign Judicial Overreach and the Limits of Enforcement: The Enforceability of Kaliningrad’s Court Decision Targeting to Seize 66% of Oyu Tolgoi on SSRN. Here is the abstract: On December 11, 2025, the…

Sharma on Memes and Disinformation Shambhavi Sharma (Jamnalal Bajaj School of Law, Banasthali Vidyapith, Jaipur) has posted Role of Memes in Spreading Disinformation and Political Propaganda on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Memes have become powerful tools in shaping political opinion and spreading information in the digital era. This paper examines how memes, originally intended for humour, are now utilised to shape public perception and influence political narratives in India.

Sharma on Memes and Disinformation

Shambhavi Sharma (Jamnalal Bajaj School of Law, Banasthali Vidyapith, Jaipur) has posted Role of Memes in Spreading Disinformation and Political Propaganda on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Memes have become powerful tools in shaping political opinion and spreading…

Musbah on AI, Text, and Scientific Evaluation Hmeda Musbah (Dalhousie University) has posted When Text is No Longer Evidence: Rethinking Scientific Evaluation in the Age of Generative AI on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Generative artificial intelligence has quickly become part of everyday scientific work. While these tools can genuinely help researchers write, analyze, and communicate, they also expose a growing weakness in how science is evaluated. For decades, written text, papers, rebuttals, and reports, has been treated as evidence of understanding.

Musbah on AI, Text, and Scientific Evaluation

Hmeda Musbah (Dalhousie University) has posted When Text is No Longer Evidence: Rethinking Scientific Evaluation in the Age of Generative AI on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Generative artificial intelligence has quickly become part of everyday…