Josh Blackman is a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston and the President of the Harlan Institute. Follow him @JoshMBlackman.
Josh Blackman
Latest from Josh Blackman
Boerne, RFRA, and the VRA
Several justices seem ready to import the congruence and proportionality test to the 15th Amendment.
The Championship Round of the Harlan Institute Competition Will Be Held In The Rotunda of The National Archives
High School students will moot whether the United Colonies should declare independence from Great Britain.
DOJ Argues That Agency Head Cannot Delegate Power To Appoint Inferior Officers
In 2005, the Office of Legal Counsel said this issue was unsettled. But a brief in the Alina Habba litigation takes a firm position.
A "Bombshell" Or a Dud?
Once again, originalism is only elevated when a scholar with conservative credentials opposes conservative jurisprudence.
From October 7, 2023 to October 13, 2025
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion.
Even With A Skewed Sample, The New York Times Survey Of Federal Judges Reveals A Brewing Judicial Crisis
And once again, you know who is to blame.
The 14th Annual Harlan Institute Virtual Supreme Court Competition: Patriots v. Loyalists
Should the United Colonies declare independence from Great Britain?
As The Roberts Court Turns 20, The Originalist Revolution Turns 40
"By the end of President Reagan’s administration, the originalist revolution was underway."
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! The October Term 2025 of FantasySCOTUS is now in session
Predict all of the biggest cases at the Supreme Court.
"The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here."
Once again, a district judge is reversed by the Supreme Court twice in the same case.
Eliminating The Voting Rights Act Asymmetry
After Callais, neither party would benefit from a VRA bonus.
A Fifth Circuit Disgrantle in the Alien Enemies Act Case
Judge Southwick dissents from the grant of rehearing en banc, Judge Ho cites his Abbott concurrence on the Invasion Clause.
Reversing The Burger Court
The Supreme Court has largely left Warren Court precedents in place, but is consistently undoing precedents from the Burger Court.
New in Civitas: Trump Is Refighting The "War" That Congress and the Burger Court "Waged" Against President Nixon
"The Burger Court approved this war. Trump is now successfully refighting that war."
The Coming Storm Over the Comptroller General
If the Comptroller General is an Executive Branch Officer, he could be removed at will, and his suit against the President would not be justiciable.
The Law No Longer Listens To Justice Kennedy
Justice Kennedy's new book reminds me how grateful I am the law no longer listens to him.
Why Can't The Court Schedule Emergency Docket Conferences?
Justice Kagan peels back the curtain on the Court's failure to schedule conferences for emergency cases.
Supreme Court of Texas Likely to Remove ABA as "Final Say" on Accreditation
"The Court is of the tentative opinion that the ABA should no longer have the final say on whether a law school’s graduates are eligible to sit for the Texas bar exam and become licensed to practice law in Texas."
