Articles Posted in Uncategorized

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In their provocative and urgent reflection, Austin Sarat and Steve Kramer confront what they view as one of the most dire questions for America today: what happens the spectacle of a public assassination becomes another battleground for opinion and outrage? In “After the Death of Charlie Kirk, America Needs to Take a Pause,” they examine the violent death of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk not merely as an isolated tragedy, but as a moment pregnant with national significance. Drawing on historical analogies, social media analysis, and a hard-eyed reading of our polarized public sphere, they call on Americans to resist the accelerating drift from deliberation to reaction, from democracy to demonization.

Sarat, a scholar of jurisprudence and political life, and Kramer, a seasoned legal practitioner, bring complementary lenses to this inquiry. For them, the more pressing danger is not just that a life was lost, but that the social response,  rushed judgments, political exploitation, binary narratives,  may deepen fractures in a democracy already saturated with distrust. Their central claim is if we fail to slow down, to “take a pause,” we risk letting the crowd, and the algorithm, decide not only the meaning of death but the future of public life. In their posting in JUSTIA/VERDICT,  Sarat and Kramer unpack the patterns of reaction, the structural forces amplifying them, and the modest but essential act of collective restraint they urge in response.

To see Sarat and Kramer’s complete posting in JUSTIA/VERDICT, click here.

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September 11-18, 2025

Over the past week, Philip Swagel  participated in several events where he highlighted Congressional Budget Office’s* role, discussed recent analyses, and engaged with audiences on topics ranging from tax policy to long-term fiscal challenges.

On September 11, he joined a breakfast discussion on tax policy hosted by a group of private-sector professionals, known as the “Behind the Tree” tax group.

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Introduction

In a recent analysis published in Justia’s Verdict, Cornell Law professor Michael Dorf critiques two high-profile television interviews in which Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Sonia Sotomayor promoted their new books, Barrett’s constitutional memoir Listening to the Law and Sotomayor’s children’s book Just Shine. Dorf suggests that, far from reinforcing the Court’s legitimacy, these media appearances risk reducing the Justices to TV personalities and sidestepping significant concerns about the Court’s institutional health. As Listening to the Law urges readers to engage with originalism and constitutional interpretation while championing judicial modesty, Dorf argues it fails to grapple meaningfully with recent shifts in the Court’s emergency docket and broader threats to democratic norms.

Executive Summary

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Articles and observations about the art of living a meaningful life included in the July/August 2025 issue of Experience magazine published by the Senior Lawyers Section of the American Bar Association:

As we dive into the July/August 2025 issue of Experience, we celebrate the empowering theme at its heart: living with intention, creativity, and deep human connection. Across a diverse array of articles  contributors explore how seniors, especially those transitioning from long legal careers, are crafting lives rich in meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. For example:

  • In Living Is the Meaning of Life, Seth D. Kramer affirms Herb Cohen’s uplifting mantra that “the meaning of life … is more life,” underlining that fully embracing new experiences, from arts to sport to technology, is its own art form.

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Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Cost Estimate July 9, 2025.

In the context of the US Congress, SOPRA refers to the Separation of Powers Restoration Act. It’s a legislative proposal aimed at amending the Administrative Procedure Act to change how courts review agency actions. Specifically, SOPRA seeks to eliminate the practice of “Chevron deference,” where courts defer to an agency’s interpretation of a law if it’s deemed reasonable, and instead require courts to review legal questions de novo, meaning without deference to the agency’s interpretation. 

COST ESTIMATE LETTER JULY 9 2025

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From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), June 12, 2025:*

OVERVIEW:

“This interactive tool illustrates the distributional effects of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It allows users to explore how H.R. 1, as passed by the House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, would affect the economic resources available to households grouped on the basis of their income. (See CBO’s estimate of the budgetary effects of the bill.)

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“This year’s celebration of Law Day is much different than any we have ever faced. Our justice system and profession face grave risks due to the clear pattern of statements and actions by elected and appointed officials that threaten the rule of law. These include attacks on the judiciary and the legal profession, retaliation against those who disagree with government actions, and efforts to penalize those who seek to eliminate bias in our justice system and profession and enhance diversity. The frequency and intensity of these attacks are escalating. You read about them every day. We, [ the ABA] have spoken strongly and clearly about these threats. Make no mistake. Our judicial system, profession and the principles we have cherished for 250 years are at risk”  ABA Fights for the rule of law.

BAR ORGANIZATIONS’ STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE RULE OF LAW.

There are clear choices facing our profession. We can choose to remain silent and allow these acts to continue or we can stand for the rule of law and the values we hold dear. We call upon the entire profession, including lawyers in private practice from Main Street to Wall Street, as well as those in corporations and who serve in elected positions, to speak out against intimidation.

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Report-April 11, 2025.

The Congressional Budget Office* “(CBO) provides an overview of federal tax credits that support investment in wind and solar electric power. The agency also explains how it assesses the credits’ budgetary and economic effects and how its baseline reflects JCT’s revenue estimates.”

SUMMARY:

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April 10, 2025, Report

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed the effects of an alternative budget scenario in which certain provisions of the 2017 tax act were extended permanently and revenues were reduced by additional amounts.

SUMMARY:

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Since writing and publishing my 1982 article, An Examination of the Dynamics of Change in Information Technology as Viewed From Libraries and Information Centers, 75 Law Library J. 198 (1982). I have learned a great deal—so much, in fact, that a completely new article is necessary. What I have come to understand more deeply is the universality of change—how it shapes everything within us and around us. This realization has transformed my perspective, and I believe it is important to share these new insights. I hope you find this fresh perspective both valuable and thought-provoking, and that it inspires you to share it with others.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    David Badertscher

INTRODUCTION

Change is the driving force behind everything—from the expansion of the universe to the evolution of life and the rise and fall of civilizations. It fuels both entropy, which pushes systems toward disorder, and evolution, which shapes complexity and adaptation. But is change simply a consequence of these forces, or is it the deeper, underlying principle guiding all transformation?

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