Steven Calabresi is the Clayton J. & Henry R. Barber Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he specializes in constitutional law. He also teaches regularly at the Yale Law School. Before going into teaching, he worked in the Reagan White House, and was a Special Assistant for Attorney General Edwin Meese III. He has written or co-written many law review articles and several books, including The Meese Revolution: The Making of a Constitutional Moment (2024) (with Gary Lawson).
Steven Calabresi
Latest from Steven Calabresi
Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1989 to 2009
Presidential non-acquiescence in Humphrey's Executor from 1989 to 2009.
Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1969 to 1989
Humphrey's Executor from 1969 to 1989.
Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1945 to 1969
Almost every president since 1945 has refused to accept Humphrey's Executor as having been correctly decided.
Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1933 to 1945
President Franklin D. Roosevelt did his best to defend presidential removal power at will notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s lawless decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.
Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1921 to 1933
Every President from 1921 to 1933 successfully defended presidential removal power at will.
Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1901 to 1921
Every president from 1901 to 1921 successfully defended presidential removal power at will.
Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1881 to 1901
Every president from 1881 to 1901 successfully defended presidential at-will removal power.
President Trump's New Housing Policy Should Include Massive Privatization of Federal Land
The U.S. government currently owns 28% of the land in the United States, which is way too much.
Some Answers to Justice Barrett's Questions in Trump v. Slaughter
Why the Executive Power Vesting clause of Article II compels a holding that the President has the power to remove Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.
Gordon S. Wood Weighs in on Akhil Reed Amar's Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840-1920
Praise from Wood for what I think is the best new book this year.
Appointment of Interim U.S. Attorneys
The attorney general can appoint interim U.S. Attorneys to successive 120-day terms of office unless the nominee is someone to whom the Senate has refused to give advice and consent by a vote either in committee or on the floor.
No Special Counsel for the Epstein Suicide Investigation
It would be a terrible idea to appoint a special counsel to investigate the Jeffrey Epstein suicide and scandal.
Should the Seventh Amendment Civil Jury Trial Right Apply to the States?
The right to a civil jury trial is far more deeply rooted in American history and tradition than is the right to own guns, which the Supreme Court was right to incorporate.
President Trump Made History Last Week on the Supreme Court's Shadow Docket
The Supreme Court very strongly hinted that it will overrule, or greatly narrow, Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935).
Some Reasons to be Skeptical of Nationwide Injunctions
The Supreme Court in Trump v. CASA, Inc. should rein in the district courts' use of nationwide injunctions.
President Biden's and the Democrats' Assault on the Supreme Court and the Rule of Law
Democrats tried to alter unconstitutionally the membership of the Supreme Court; they extorted Facebook into censoring free speech; they issued presidential executive orders unsupported by statute; and they pushed unprecedented prosecutions of Biden's predecessor in office, and his 2024 opponent, in the presidential race.
The Tariffs Imposed by President Trump Are Unconstitutional
Presidential power must stem from the Constitution or a statute, and the tariffs imposed by President Trump are unauthorized by statute, making them both unlawful and unconstitutional.
President Trump's Reduced Tariff/Taxes Are Still Unconstitutional
We need a district judge to enter a nationwide injunction putting a stop to these huge unilateral, presidential tax increases on ordinary working-class people.
President Trump's New Tariffs Are Unconstitutional
They violate the major questions doctrine set forth by the Roberts Court and must be stopped by a nationwide injunction.
Fortieth Anniversary of Attorney General Ed Meese's Swearing In
Three lessons for Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
President Trump's Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship is Unconstitutional
Trump is doing many great things but trying to get rid of birthright citizenship is not one of them
Sheldon Gilbert: The New President of the Federalist Society
A brilliant fusionist who has done remarkable work for the Chamber of Commerce, the Institute for Justice, the National Constitution Center, and as a senior counsel at Walmart.
The Meese Revolution: The Making of a Constitutional Moment (2024)
by Steven Gow Calabresi and Gary Lawson.
Waiving the Filibuster to Pass a National Abortion Bill Is a Bad Idea
Democrats will live to regret doing this if they have the votes to do it.
Biden-Harris on Supreme Court Term Limits
An attack on the independence of the federal judiciary.
Academic Tuition and Student Loan Relief
My thoughts on this as a policy issue
Judge Aileen Cannon's Opinion in U.S. v. Trump
My thoughts on this opinion.
SEC v. Jarkesy: A Win for the Separation of Powers and the Right to Civil Jury Trial
The Supreme Court held today that the Seventh Amendment right to a civil jury trial in fraud cases was violated when an administrative law judge of the S.E.C. decided the case.
Two Excellent Opinions in Murthy v. Missouri
Justice Barrett's majority opinion reaches the right outcome; Justice Alito's dissent publicizes the atrocious mistreatment of Facebook by the Biden Administration during Covid.
Moore v. United States: Joe Biden Thinks He Can Tax Gains in the Value of Your House When You Have Not Yet Sold It
The Biden Solicitor General's office and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson think that cases under the Taxation Clause or the 16th amendment are political questions.
More Thoughts on Unpublished Opinions
Empirical study of the impact of unpublished opinions on socially disadvantaged people.
Unpublished Opinions: A Response to Judge Jerry Smith
Unpublished opinions are a growing threat to the rule of law
Unpublished Opinions that Cannot be Cited
A growing threat to the rule of law
Wealth Taxes are Direct Taxes that are Subject to the Rule of Apportionment
An originalist analysis
Former President Trump's NY Cases Ought to Be Removable to Federal Court
The House of Representatives should pass a bill allowing former President Trump to remove both his New York criminal and civil cases to federal court.
The Left Wing Attack on Judicial Independence and on Justice Alito
The left has abolished the secret ballot and legalized fraud-friendly mail in voting. now they want to destroy our independent judiciary
Lessons from the 2020 Presidential Election
The importance of the secret ballot and of same day voting
The Left's Attack on the Secret Ballot and on Same Day Voting
Mail in voting over a period of weeks with drop boxes eliminates the secret ballot, and the need for everyone to vote on the same day, with the same headlines in mind, and not over the period of a month.
American Voters Need Fast U.S. Supreme Court Review of the Constitutionality of President Trump's Convictions
New York state courts must rule quickly and separately, if they can under New York law, on the constitutionality under the First Amendment of President Trump's recent criminal convictions.
President Donald Trump's Manhattan Convictions are Unconstitutional
The first amendment protects the alleged payment of hush money to a porn star to influence an election outcome as the u.s. supreme court will eventually rule
Trump Should NOT TESTIFY at MANHATTAN WITCH HUNT OF A TRIAL
the lying liberal jurors and new york state democrats will twist his words to convict him for lying under oath just like they did with Michael Flynn
Judge Aileen Cannon is a Heroine
She is scheduled on June 21st to hear oral argument on whether special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed
Trump's Trial and the First Amendment
Orin Kerr's reading of NY criminal law is overly broad and would chill constitutionally protected speech
NY State v. Trump Does Violate Trump's First Amendment Rights
The 34 misdemeanor charges of falsifying business record to conceal some other crime clearly contemplate a violation of federal or state elections laws and that "other crime" is not a crime because of the First Amendment
Donald Trump Has a First Amendment Right to Pay Hush Money to Support his Electoral Ambitions
The liberal news media buys in to the NY state district attorney's unconstitutional prosecution of Donald Trump
The Narrowest Ground for Deciding Trump v. United States
Holding that Jack Smith lacks defendant's standing lets the Supreme Court avoid the fraught question of presidential immunity for criminal actions
Special Counsel Jack Smith Lacks Standing to Defend the D.C. Circuit's ruling on Presidential Immunity in the Supreme Court
Defendant standing must exist at all stages of any litigation and must be raised by the justices of the Supreme Court even if the litigants themselves fail to raise it
