11 July 2025
Laboratories of Authoritarianism
In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the 1st Amendment Free Exercise Clause to grant conservative religious parents a constitutional right to remove their children from any classroom where a teacher includes LGBTQAI+ people in the curriculum. In effect, the Court has allowed public schools to discourage mutual tolerance, parents to opt out of Equal Protection, and fringe legal strategists to continue to use children’s constitutional rights as a test case for authoritarianism. In doing so, the erosion of children’s rights becomes the foundation upon which other rights are eroded. Continue reading >>
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09 July 2025
The Liberal Litigation Trap
The progressive legal movement faces a harsh reality: its reliance on federal courts has become a strategic liability in an era of conservative judicial dominance. Rather than continue on its current path or abandon impact litigation entirely, liberal cause lawyers should embrace “resistance through restraint” – tactically starving conservative appellate courts of cases while redirecting their energy toward democratic organizing, state-level advocacy, and defensive litigation. Continue reading >>
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18 June 2025
Legalising Authoritarianism through Pakistan’s Supreme Court
On 7 May 2025, Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned its own previous judgment from October 2023 that had declared military trials of civilians unconstitutional. The newly constituted Constitutional Bench reinstated clauses of the Pakistan Army Act that allow for the prosecution of civilians in military courts. The ruling was justified on national security grounds, citing the need to prosecute attacks by civilians on military installations, a rationale that conflates dissent with terrorism and bypasses the safeguards of civilian legal processes. This decision not only reverses prior precedent but also marks a troubling endorsement of military jurisdiction over civilian matters, raising fundamental concerns about the erosion of judicial independence and the rule of law. Continue reading >>
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23 May 2025
From Syrian Revolution to Constitutional Ambiguity
The remarkable yet tragic victory of the Syrian revolution reached its turning point on December 7, 2024. Unlike the coups of the 1950s and 60s, whose leaders immediately sought legal legitimacy, the current de facto ruler, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has declared a five-year transitional period under a temporary Constitutional Declaration. While it formally guarantees equality, the Declaration omits fundamental democratic safeguards and fails to ensure the separation of powers - entrenching a system of self-referential authority and executive dominance that mirrors the authoritarian dynamics of the past. Continue reading >>30 April 2025
Popular Struggle for Democracy in Indonesia
In Indonesia, newly elected President Prabowo Subianto is facing nationwide protests against his democracy-eroding policies. As institutional checks and balances are gradually being dismantled from within and the executive continues to accumulate power, the “Dark Indonesia” protest movement highlights the importance of a critical civil society in safeguarding a country’s democracy. Continue reading >>
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24 February 2025
A Power Grab Is Not a Constitutional Theory
Lawyers love legal theories. President Trump’s unprecedented executive actions have reignited interest in theories about the U.S. Constitution, especially conservative ones. Is he working with an extreme conception of the unified executive theory, a strong version of “originalist” or even “post-originalist” legal reasoning, or will the “political question doctrine” dominate? These debates are fascinating, but they strike me as pointless. Why? Because Trump’s supporters are not deploying them in good faith. Rather, these theories are being used as rhetorical maneuvers to dress up a power grab in theoretical garb. Continue reading >>
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21 February 2025
Trump’s Counter-Constitution
“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” Continue reading >>18 February 2025
From Democracy to Dynastic Rule?
On January 30, 2025, the National Assembly of Nicaragua approved a constitutional reform that significantly strengthens the power of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. The amendments profoundly transform the country’s political system, reinforcing the Executive’s influence over other branches of the state. This analysis aims to trace the political evolution of Nicaragua in order to better understand how the constitutional framework of the state is changing now. Continue reading >>13 February 2025
Transgender Rights at a Crossroads in the United States
In his first month in office, US President Donald Trump has issued a series of sweeping executive orders targeting transgender rights. These orders build on political terrain that is now exceedingly hostile to transgender rights. In this post, I briefly examine the landscape for transgender rights in the United States, analyze what President Trump’s executive orders on transgender rights aim to do, and then discuss the stakes of United States v. Skrmetti, the pending Supreme Court case that will likely set out the framework that federal courts will use in adjudicating transgender rights cases under the Trump administration and beyond. Continue reading >>
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