Can holistic criminal justice survive algorithmic governance?
Another new π of mine, βAnti-Holistic Algorithms,β now out with the @vandylaw.bsky.social Vanderbilt Law Review, grapples with this question (ssrn: shorturl.at/eyZhu)
abstract π & short thread 1/6
04.03.2026 20:59
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Cover page of a book manuscript. Title reads βCultivating the City: The Long Struggle to Put Land to Useβ
Under that it says βBy Nate Elaβ
This is going off into production today @uchicagopress.bsky.social and I canβt wait to share it with the world next spring. A story of land, property, and social policy, told via Chicagoβs farms and gardens, past and present.
05.03.2026 14:10
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Iβm also thankful to Jessica Eaglin @gilatjbachar.bsky.social for thoughtful feedback and suggestions, and to the Vanderbilt Law Review editors for their superb editorial work. Comments welcome! 6/6
04.03.2026 20:59
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Farhang Heydari @mariemanikis.bsky.social Federica Coppola Jarrell Daniels Saira Mohamed Jonathan Simon Chris Slobogin @terrymaroney.bsky.social 5/6
04.03.2026 20:59
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Iβm honored to publish this piece alongside a stellar group of scholars and grateful for the conversations we had as part of this special symposium on holistic criminal justice @hadardancigr.bsky.social Hadar Aviram Peter Dixon Jamelia Morgan @ericfish.bsky.social 4/6
04.03.2026 20:59
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I argue that algorithmic governance may further erode the foundations of desistance-based rehabilitation by weakening 3 crucial pillars of change: individual capacity for self-transformation, institutionsβ commitment to enabling personal change,& societyβs acceptance of redemptive possibility 3/6
04.03.2026 20:59
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As criminal legal systems increasingly rely on algorithmic risk-assessment tools, a deeper tension emerges. While much of todayβs reform discourse promises holistic justice, in practice--I argue--it often reflects thin holism: repackaged risk management rather than genuine human transformation 2/6
04.03.2026 20:59
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Can holistic criminal justice survive algorithmic governance?
Another new π of mine, βAnti-Holistic Algorithms,β now out with the @vandylaw.bsky.social Vanderbilt Law Review, grapples with this question (ssrn: shorturl.at/eyZhu)
abstract π & short thread 1/6
04.03.2026 20:59
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Probably easiest decision ever π Congrats β so well deserved π
27.02.2026 21:30
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Happy to share that Developmental Evidence Rules is forthcoming in the California Law Review! What would it mean to take childhood seriously in evidence law? This article takes up that question.
23.02.2026 17:47
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Ally beat me to it, but excited to share that "Perinatal Palliative Care & Abortion," co-authored with @amwhelan.bsky.social, is forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review.
Abstract below and it will be up on SSRN as soon as SSRN allows...
23.02.2026 17:22
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My latest with the
@ucdavislaw.bsky.social Review
argues that plaintiffsβ lawyers can refuse harmful NDAs by defining the scope of representation at the outset and reclaiming their role as both advocates and stewards of justice. Check it out: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... @templelaw.bsky.social
21.02.2026 13:22
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Thrilled that my article with William ("Chip") Carter, An Originalist Critique of Fetal Personhood, is now forthcoming in the Pennsylvania Law Review!!! It was weirdly fun to spend months buried in 19th century dictionaries & Locke's writings. We are still editing but hope to have it online soon!
19.02.2026 15:11
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My paper, Patronage Pardons, is forthcoming in the Duke Law Journal.
This has appeared in popular press, but here is the full dress version. What distinguishes Trumpist clemency corruption is its communicative function - it powers a loyalty for protection racket.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
10.02.2026 14:52
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My latest article with the one and only @spenceroverton.bsky.social called βDigital Ethnonationalismβ forthcoming in University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Here is the papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
10.02.2026 00:32
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Congrats!!
09.02.2026 17:21
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Great news β congrats π π
09.02.2026 17:20
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Very excited that @gelbach.bsky.social & I will be publishing "Bruen's Tenth Amendment Problem" in the @uchilrev.bsky.social!
Our central arg is that Bruen's erasure of unexercised powers violates the 10th Am's preservation of existing State power. Comments welcome!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
09.02.2026 16:14
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My latest, "Free Exercise and the Redistribution of Liberty," is now posted (and forthcoming in @yalelawjournal.bsky.social). It argues that free exercise doctrine uses selective market logic to redistribute both public resources and liberty itself.
Comments welcome: papers.ssrn.com/abstract=618...
09.02.2026 15:22
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In Praise of Generative AI
65 Pages Posted: Last revised: 9 Feb 2026
Michael L. Smith
University of Oklahoma - College of Law
Date Written: February 09, 2026
Abstract
In this article, I team up with the Worst People You Will Ever Meet in Law to praise generative AI. After introducing themselves, these actors explain how this technology is a godsend. The terrible lawyer describes how he remains asleep at the wheel and turns over motions, briefing, and client counseling to erratic AI. The worst clients explain how they now prepare all legal documents themselves and refuse to pay attorneysβ unwarranted fees. The lazy judge describes how she replaces party submissions with AI and delegates the task of reasoned judgment to technology. The horrible law professor describes how heβs outsourced teaching, assessment, and scholarship to a machine. The disengaged law student explains how she uses AI to circumvent class discussions and assignments. And the sovereign citizen explains how heβs able to generate harassing nonsense at an unprecedented scale. I close with reflections on what this might mean for the technologyβs use in legal spaces, including the need for both advocates and critics of generative AI to consider how the technology will be misused and abused. Finally, I warn that prolonged generative AI usage might transform reasonable individuals into my terrible coauthors.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, generative AI, large language models, legal writing, litigation, discovery, professional responsibility, misconduct, pedagogy, sovereign citizens, law and technology
My latest article, "In Praise of Generative AI," is forthcoming in the Iowa Law Review! In it, I present accounts from the Worst People You Will Ever Meet In Law in which they praise generative AI and all the extra terrible behavior it enables: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
09.02.2026 13:43
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My paper, Habeas and the 1948 Judicial Code, is forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review (@stanlrev.bsky.social).
I argue that the 1948 Judicial Code, not the 1867 Habeas Corpus Act, should be the statutory focus for inquiry into the scope of habeas review.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
09.02.2026 13:18
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Thrilled to share that πΊπ’πππ‘ ππ¦ ππππππ‘βπππ has found a home with the Yale Law Journal. This piece examines parental liability regimes and parental rights, and how they are connected by a shared logic that harms children and families. Thank you to all those who read drafts and offered feedback!
06.02.2026 17:01
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Another new article of mine is officially out: β(Re)Individualizing Criminal Law,β (67 B.C L. Rev. 255 (2026): lnkd.in/eR9eF7Fv Abstract π & v. short π§΅
1/6
03.02.2026 20:52
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The Article argues that algorithmic risk assessment tools are reshaping criminal law itself by moving the focus away from the foundational principle of subjective culpability. I explore these shifts & ask: can the system restore its commitment to that principle? Let me know what you think! 2/6
03.02.2026 20:52
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@brettfrischmann.bsky.social, MaΕ‘a GaliΔ, Katrina Geddes, Eve Hanan, Paul Heaton, Sarah Lageson, @marklemley.bsky.social .bsky.social, Evelyn Malave, Sandy Mayson, Nicola Padfield, @frankpasquale.bsky.social, Teri Ravenell, David Schwartz, David Sklansky, Sarah Swan, Christopher Yoo 4/6
03.02.2026 20:52
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This one has been long in the making and benefited from the wisdom and advice of many (apologies if there is someone I missed):
@gilatjbachar.bsky.social, @IsabellaBanks, @nbanteka.bsky.social, Matthew Bruckner, @buchhandler.bsky.social, @erincollins.bsky.social, @m2dempsey.bsky.social, 3/6
03.02.2026 20:52
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@lawandsociety.bsky.social 2024 Ann. Meeting; The Criminal Jurisprudence & Philosophy Seminar U. Cambridge; & the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law & Howard University School of Law Faculty Workshops. The BCLR editors were incredible - thank you!
6/6 END!
03.02.2026 20:52
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the participants at the Stanford-UPenn-Northwestern Junior Faculty Forum on Law & STEM; ABA-AALS Criminal Justice Roundtable on Criminal Law and Technology: @profferguson.bsky.social, @ggkrishnamoomoo.bsky.social & Melanie Reid; CrimFest 2024; Privacy Law Scholars Conference Europe 2024. 5/6
03.02.2026 20:52
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Thanks so much β also for the wonderful comments on earlier drafts!
04.02.2026 00:30
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@lawandsociety.bsky.social 2024 Ann. Meeting; The Criminal Jurisprudence & Philosophy Seminar U. Cambridge; & the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law & Howard University School of Law Faculty Workshops. The BCLR editors were incredible - thank you!
6/6 END!
03.02.2026 20:52
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