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David Froomkin

@dfroomkin.bsky.social
6.1K followers 696 following 1.4K posts

Assistant professor, University of Houston Law Center. I write about democracy and the separation of powers. ssrn.com/author=3062912

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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 5h
We need to stop reaffirming that we don't expect Trump administration figures to face legal accountability for their misdeeds. Expectations produce reality. We need to start creating the expectation that they in fact will—indeed, must—face legal accountability.
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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 15h
"Whether he is watching too much Fox News or acting for other reasons, Justice Alito seems to be emotionally unable to rationally examine the actual evidence in the cases before him to see if they support his voter fraud arguments." democracyproject.org/posts/exorci...
democracyproject.org
Exorcising Justice Alito’s Voter Fraud Boogeyman
A broad range of views on democracy to help break the stalemate caused by partisan conflict.
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Joe Dunman @joedunman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Historically, the quality of SCOTUS opinions and orders has been sometimes good, sometimes bad. But the stuff being issued by the current SCOTUS is almost a joke at this point. Totally unprecedented absurdity, law upside down.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Having had several recent conversations in which my interlocutor and I disagreed about what the "left" and "right" position were on an issue, it strikes me that political theorists could devote more attention to those concepts rather than concepts with little connection to actual politics.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Beyond Neoliberal Administration" takes stock of the obstacles that new doctrines in administrative law such as the major questions doctrine pose to a paradigm of progressive social policy that presupposes broad regulatory discretion. The chapter proposes a set of tools for Congress to respond.
papers.ssrn.com
Beyond Neoliberal Administration
Recent developments in administrative law limit Congress's ability to confer regulatory discretion on its administrative agents. Commentators have tended to vie
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Beyond Neoliberal Administration," my forthcoming chapter in Building Democratic Capacity (Cambridge University Press, edited by @blakeprof.bsky.social, @joshuamacey.bsky.social, @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social, and Bijal Shah, forthcoming 2027), is now posted to SSRN. papers.ssrn.com/abstract=752...
Abstract: Recent developments in administrative law limit Congress’s ability to confer regulatory discretion on its administrative agents. Commentators have tended to view these developments as undermining progressive social policy, which has operated throughout the twenty-first century primarily through the administrative state. But Congress can respond by avoiding reliance on regulatory discretion in the first place. The new judicial doctrine does not constrain the use or acquisition of public resources. Thus, Congress has incentives to rely on a different set of tools: Pigouvian instruments (taxes and subsidies), redistribution, public infrastructure, and social control of investment. Despite recent progressive coding of regulatory bureaucracy, this alternative toolkit might well result in more egalitarian consequences. In many ways, the regulatory state was the instrument of a neoliberal mode of governance that offloaded ownership and control of resources onto private parties. The ultimate victim of the Roberts Court’s war on the regulatory state might be neoliberalism.
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James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We should raise taxes
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Niko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Finally the issue is not "can Congress pass bad laws." It's "what is the best remedy, in a constitutional democracy, for bad laws." The answer has not been handing supervision to the least accountable people in the fed government. It has been organizing, coalition building, and political remedies.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It seems like AI theft of IP exacerbates a dilemma that has long existed for scholars deciding whether to post works in progress on platforms like SSRN. If they post, they risk that AI will steal their work. If they don't post, AI might still steal their work, but it's harder for them to cry foul.
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Megan Wachspress @meganwachspress.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Jettisoning a Congressional cat-and-mouse with the Roberts Court in favor of massive expansion of publicly owned and/or managed economic and social programs? Now you're playing my (and hopefully the post-2029 Democrats') tune!
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Beyond Neoliberal Administration," my forthcoming chapter in Building Democratic Capacity (Cambridge University Press, edited by @blakeprof.bsky.social, @joshuamacey.bsky.social, @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social, and Bijal Shah, forthcoming 2027), is now posted to SSRN. papers.ssrn.com/abstract=752...
Abstract: Recent developments in administrative law limit Congress’s ability to confer regulatory discretion on its administrative agents. Commentators have tended to view these developments as undermining progressive social policy, which has operated throughout the twenty-first century primarily through the administrative state. But Congress can respond by avoiding reliance on regulatory discretion in the first place. The new judicial doctrine does not constrain the use or acquisition of public resources. Thus, Congress has incentives to rely on a different set of tools: Pigouvian instruments (taxes and subsidies), redistribution, public infrastructure, and social control of investment. Despite recent progressive coding of regulatory bureaucracy, this alternative toolkit might well result in more egalitarian consequences. In many ways, the regulatory state was the instrument of a neoliberal mode of governance that offloaded ownership and control of resources onto private parties. The ultimate victim of the Roberts Court’s war on the regulatory state might be neoliberalism.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This may be good advice in the northeast, but we play by different rules in Houston.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I have plenty of quibbles with the NYT list, but not including Veronica Mars in the top 100 TV shows of the 21st century is criminal.
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
At 45k followers I will reveal exactly what terminology correctly carves AI at its joints.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Proponents of this view of legislative power need to grapple with the deep challenges it poses for separation of powers formalism: papers.ssrn.com/abstract=424...
papers.ssrn.com
The Vesting Clauses Are Not Law
Separation-of-powers formalists treat the Constitution’s Vesting Clauses—the first sentences of Articles I, II, and III—as sources of substantive law. Perhaps m
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Rick Pildes @rickpildes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
How Worried Should We Be about Threats to the Elections? At the NYT's "Interesting Times" podcast/interview, I addressed the concerns many have about threats to the election process with Sarah Isgur: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | How Worried Should We Be About the Midterm Elections? (Gift Article)
And how we learn to trust elections again.
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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#ELB: My Comments on Dahlia Lithwick’s Podcast About Reslience in the Face to Threats to 2026 Election Integrity electionlawblog.org/2026/my-comment…
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Guha Krishnamurthi @ggkrishnamoomoo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Some thoughts about a tension between textualism and originalism. It seems like the way the "history and tradition" test is being applied is anti-textualist... 🧐 Thanks to @dorfonlaw.bsky.social as always
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Weird that Republican presidents in the 21st century have consistently done this.
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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
On Thursday, I spoke on a panel that marked Constitution Day (educational programming Ohio State University is legally required to provide, thanks to a War on Terror-era law). And as I said there, it was surreal to talk about the U.S. Constitution when it is very clearly not in effect right now.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I got a lot of joy out of being reposted this morning by my favorite columnist @jamellebouie.net.
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Amanda Weiss @amandaweiss.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
🚨 New Working Paper! 🚨 Do voters *like* local prisons? Are prisons that good for the economy? After years of data collection (+ using a novel estimator?!), @nottone & I find new prisons: • Reduce Republican incumbent vote shares 1-3pp • Decrease per cap. incomes >$2,500 osf.io/dnwke 🧵👇
Abstract for the paper "The Electoral Effects of U.S. Prison Construction" by Ottone & Weiss: From 1980 to 2000, the United States opened over 400 prisons, a rapid expansion of carceral capacity mirroring the punitive turn in public policy and public opinion. Yet few studies have examined the impact of prison construction on nearby residents and their political behavior. We develop a theoretical model tracing how prison openings affect economic, attitudinal, and electoral outcomes in surrounding communities. Us- ing modern difference-in-difference methods and a novel county-level dataset covering forty years of prison openings, we find that prison construction decreases county-level vote share for Republican candidates, especially if Republicans represented the county during prison construction. Drawing on analyses of economic outcomes and prison bond measure support, we argue that voters sanction issue-owning Republican candi- dates for negative economic externalities and turn against funding for prisons. These findings challenge conventional wisdom about the political economy of prisons and have implications for how we understand contemporary expansions of carceral capacity.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Alito is not the only Republican justice who has embraced this disturbing rhetoric in recent years. It is instructive to break down what they are saying: we shouldn't count all the votes, because some segment of the electorate would become angry that their preferred candidate didn't win.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The fact that this is imaginary is perfect. The whole premise is based on a fantasy that the optimal form of public education is the midpoint of a polarized society. Just split the difference between the science of climate change and the lobby of denialism.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
LinkedIn removed my post about my latest story because the images of Republicans doing Republican things violated their community guidelines. Imagine being such assholes that even LinkedIn is like "nahhh that's too much."
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is a good question to be asking on Constitution Day: how much of the Constitution remains in effect? Not much of Article I. (Congress is absent.) Not much of Article II (the whole thrust of which is opposing the UET). Some Article III, to the extent that court orders still get obeyed.
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Niko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Bret Stephens’s take is dangerous. He urges us not to “tinker” with the Court—one that gutted the VRA, allowed billionaires to dominate spending, and gave Trump immunity to commit election crimes—because it didn’t ALSO let Trump illegally control mail ballots. Daphna & I anticipated his move here.
slate.com
John Roberts’ New Role Model Demonstrates Everything Wrong With the Supreme Court (Gift Article)
If the court is curling up anywhere, it is at the feet of a presidency increasingly unchecked by law.
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Niko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Takes like these—the court just acted with integrity! how could we “tinker” with such an upstanding group—are good evidence for @dfroomkin.bsky.social’s hypothesis that today’s Supreme Court rules certain ways to preempt future regulation by Congress
Bret: I have no doubt Trump will try to do his worst if the midterms prove to be the shellacking I suspect it's going to be. My point is that the court still defends its own independence and acts with integrity, whether or not you agree with this or that ruling. It's an excellent reason to resist attempts to pack it with four additional justices, which is Senator Adam Schiff's brainstorm, or tinker with it in other ways, such as imposing term limits. I can think of better ways to improve the democratic system.
Frank: I agree with you on court packing.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is why educators have a duty to maintain educational standards. This guy allegedly studied economics in college.
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Lawprofblawg @lawprofblawg.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
After lighting house on fire and watching it burn, brave arsonist stands up to fire by pouring remnants of his water bottle on smoldering embers. #Satire
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Relief we wouldn't need to feel in a stable democracy
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Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"One 2025 study out of M.I.T. found that people who used chatbots as writing assistants struggled to remember what they had written only minutes after finishing their essay." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/u...
nytimes.com
Universities Sound Warnings About A.I. Even as They Embrace It
As A.I. upends education, university leaders have been all over the map about how to respond. It can be very confusing for students.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
As incredible as it is, it seems that a lot of people still have not wrapped their heads around the fact that the guy in charge of the executive branch tried to do a coup the last time he lost an election.
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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.net · 14/09/2026
What single variable explains almost all of the variation in protections for the trans community across U.S. states?
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I'm still not sure I would advise voters to cast mail ballots if they have an alternative. The Court may have done the right thing today, but we don't know whether the executive branch will follow the law.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This is depraved behavior. The last two years have made me so much more carceral.
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Amanda Weiss @amandaweiss.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Yet another reason to be REALLY, REALLY CAREFUL about using AI to label and analyze qualitative data.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is excellent. "Holding a convention would undeniably be risky. But not holding a convention would be risky as well, insofar as the existing constitutional order has contributed to a profound set of problems that have proven stubbornly resistant to other modes of repair."
papers.ssrn.com
Back to Philadelphia? The Uneasy Case for a New Constitutional Convention
<p><span>No country has ever had a written constitution in longer continuous operation than the United States. Such resilience is cause for commemoration. But f
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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Of all the late stage Trump theories, wants the world to die with him seems increasingly credible.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This has been one of Trump's central effects on politics since the very beginning. I remember in 2016 noting the striking contrast between the Democratic and Republican presidential primary debates. The Democrats discussed policy disagreements. The Republicans competed to spew the most hatred.
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Jeffrey Vagle @jvagle.me · 13/09/2026
When I was quite young, I saw Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place, and I try to imagine telling my younger self why this sentence needs to exist in America today.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Denazification needs to be a central plank of Project 2029.
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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.net · 13/09/2026
As I've noted before, the vibes here are very 2006. Given that the 2028 Senate map only includes two "normal" Democratic pickup opportunities, it's *really* important to run up the tally if we are going to have any hope of major reforms in 2029.*
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Will @popher.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I'm reading this article and its actually very interesting.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Consequences of current Senate malapportionment: * Republicans are overrepresented in the Senate. * The 50th vote in the Senate is skewed to the right of national opinion. * If a Republican, they can get away with being very far-right. * If a Democrat, they are pulled to the right to be competitive.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Have political scientists studied the phenomenon of voters who are willing to cut off their nose to spite their face? It is deeply at odds with the behavioral/cognitive assumptions behind spatial voting (which, last I checked, was the dominant theory).
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Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Well, and how broken Florida is.
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Democrats being on track to control 52 of 100 Senate seats after two years of the most deranged presidency in modern history is a testament to how deeply broken the design of the Senate is. papers.ssrn.com/abstract=379...
papers.ssrn.com
Saving Democracy from the Senate
It should not be surprising that Americans say they are frustrated with their national institutions. Congress, particularly the Senate, responds poorly to the p
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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Woke: Trump isn't smart. Bespoke: Trump isn't President.
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@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Credit to PBS News. This is by far one of the most accurate descriptions of what trump did. None of the sanewashing we saw with so much of the news coverage.
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