“As James Madison put it: ‘In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department. ... [T]he trust and the temptation would be too great for any one man.’”
The Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River in Selma.
On the road today with brilliant Alabama Law E-Clinic students for a client doing vital work on some Alabama holy ground.
Sunset over the Black Warrior River.
The Black Warrior River.
Long walk around Rocket Park at the US Space and Rocket Center, interrupted by a skunk on the sidewalk.
BONUS RULING: Judge Thomas Johnston, a George W. Bush appoiintee in West Virginia, used a recent ruling to warn of the dangers of defying due process for immigrants because of what it could also mean for Americans. It's worth a read.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
That Truth Social post from Trump depicting the Obamas as apes is straight, undiluted, Jim Crow racist.
Anton Sorkin and I continue our conversation on the Cross & Gavel podcast. We discuss Christian Realism, mass incarceration, moral imagination, and the dignity of all people, working from my article, Christian Realism and the Sins of Mass Incarceration. open.substack.com/pub/jrbprof/...
Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place. Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: "Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?" "A republic, if you can keep it." With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED. SIGNED this 31st day of February, 2026. 7um Jing FRED BIERY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE Credit: Bystander Matthew 19:14 John 11:35 There is also the photo of the boy from the viral stories included.
Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Grateful to Anton Sorkin for welcoming me to the CLS podcast to discuss my article, A Sermon on the Law: The Jurisprudence of Law, the implications of love as the organizing principle for law & policy.
substack.com/@jrbprof/not...
Join us for the annual symposium of the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human & Civil Rights, March 12-13, in Montgomery. We are confirming a strong array of panelists to join conversations about justice in voting rights, election law, and democracy.
fredgrayinstitute.org/register-to-...
Jan. 6 is Epiphany, a day to witness the Magi, foreigners who met a poor family and helped them escape a tyrant.
Also, here’s an essay I wrote in Jan. 2021 about Lost Cause myths and the violence and anger they generate in fearful souls.
www.mississippifreepress.org/vengeful-nos...
Happy New Year, y'all!
Defend humanity!
Behold this Race Matters episode with Dr. Jimmy McCarty. Carson and I talk with Jimmy about his work in conflict transformation, restorative justice, and the pernicious and dehumanizing forces of the prison-industrial complex. It's heavy but hopeful work.
on.soundcloud.com/DMlKuRJKs5TR...
Hark!
Looking for a gift for a discerning fiction reader? Consider this lyrical novella about refugee sisters searching for their parents and surviving a war, a journey through snow, strangers, peaches, canoes, and danger, meditating on trauma, hunger, hope and love.
open.substack.com/pub/jrbprof/...
I'm grateful to Anton Sorkin for highlighting our conversation with Jennifer Koh, her work and mine, and others' about faith & law, redemption & imagination, hope & justice, policy & jurisprudence. Anton practices the ministry of convening people together in dialogue and curiosity, a vital vocation.
I don't know, Aaron. I think we need to take this seriously. In fact, after surveying hundreds of years of history in the past few days, I've written an article assessing the originalist case here:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
On the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a very good day in Florence at the first Alabama Legacy Luncheon with the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights alongside other Fellows, friends and family.
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
As you’re preparing for your Thanksgiving meal, remember the skilled work it took to get that food to your grocery store.
Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
This is very smart and bleak. (It's also too long and in want of an editor.) But it rings true, and it's a tricky trap. This is about poverty, the poverty line, and the real costs of surviving in the hard economics of our moment.
open.substack.com/pub/michaelw...
My friend, Edward Carson, has long hosted Race Matters, a radio show (WJOP 96.3!) and podcast. I recently joined him as a co-host. This episode is a rich conversation with Dr. Reggie Williams, on Bonhoeffer, ethics of resistance, and discerning true humanity.
soundcloud.com/ncmhub/race-...
Roll Tide anyway......
The lecture manuscript if you're interested:
diocesela.org/wp-content/u...
Last week, I had the honor of delivering the Margaret Parker Lecture at the Episcopal Diocese of LA annual convention:
The Church of Dissent in the Imperial Republic.
youtu.be/QI9SMbim0DM?...
I've done all of them, and it's not even close, just basic GenX daily life. And I still use a dusty old dictionary.
A great day for the golden rule of political analysis: when the right wins it is a resounding ideological victory that humiliates the left and when the left wins it is a precarious fluke that will surely end up humiliating the left. Conservatives are power’s landlords and the left merely tenants
DODGERS WIN THE WORLD SERIES
Kendrick wins again
🗣️ The Montgomery Advertiser—Alabama’s oldest and best newspaper—doesn’t have a presence (yet) on #Bluesky which is too bad. ICYMI this is my most recent opinion-essay just published by The Advertiser concerning last week’s execution in Alabama. Thank you. www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/opinio...
