Reposted by Dan EppsRick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026#ELB: Read the Missouri Supreme Court’s Contempt Order electionlawblog.org/2026/read-the-m… 0145
Reposted by Dan EppsKProfsBlog @kprofsblog.bsky.social · 24/08/2026With help from @williambaude.bsky.social and @epps.bsky.social and their @dividedargument.bsky.social podcast, today’s post explores the law of appeals waivers in plea bargains as articulated in SCOTUS’s Hunter opinion from this year. www.contractsprofblog.com/2026/08/plea...contractsprofblog.comPlea Bargains as ContractsI mentioned in Friday’s post that today’s post is indebted to the Divided Argument Podcast. I try to follow the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) pretty 132
Reposted by Dan EppsAdam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 17/08/2026I wrote this because most journalists facing this pressure can’t. The paper we count on to check authoritarianism spiked an investigation into the Democratic Party because the party’s lawyers threatened to sue. Holding authoritarians accountable starts with holding your own side accountable.data4democracy.substack.comWith Fear and FavorInstitutions don’t have courage. They have incentives. 26633227
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 31/07/2026depends a lot on what you mean by "common law"—that term has many meanings. Sometimes it's a mode of interpretation, sometimes it means the old English common law. Our theory = principles of modern common law, in the sense that they are truly "common" today 100
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Thrilled that my and @donfro.bsky.social's new paper, "Constitutional Rights and General Private Law," will be in the Harvard Law Review next year. It's a sequel to our 2023 Yale L.J. piece, "The Fourth Amendment and General Law." We need to revise, so no @SSRN yet, but here's the abstract: 2103
Reposted by Dan EppsShalev Gad Roisman @shalevroisman.bsky.social · 29/07/2026New draft paper on SSRN: "Fact Avoidance," forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review Supreme Court Issue. This Essay identifies a recurring feature where the Court decides presidential power cases entirely on legal grounds without engaging at all with the facts /1 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....papers.ssrn.comFact Avoidance<p><i><span>The legality of the President’s exercise of statutory power depends on questions of both law and fact. Yet courts often focus exclusively on the for 59644
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/07/2026Zotero law people: I just pushed version 1.3 of the Citations Fixer plugin. It fixes recurring citation issues that the style file can't handle. Check it out: danepps.github.io/zotero/blueb...danepps.github.ioBluebook Citations FixerBluebook rule fixes for Zotero citations 0223
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Compare to Article I: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided." I'd be inclined towards your reading. 110
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 01/07/2026"Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by *a majority vote of both Houses of Congress*." Depends on how you define "majority," I guess. 110
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 28/06/2026Our latest, with more to come this week as the SCOTUS opinion dump wraps up. 150
Reposted by Dan EppsDr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 19/06/2026Secondly, and perhaps a bit niche but a lifesaver for those who need it, this #DigitalFriday plug in for law scholars using zotero bsky.app/profile/epps... 032
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Very proud of @donfro.bsky.social for her election to the American Law Institute! www.ali.org/members/memb...ali.orgMember Directory 060
Reposted by Dan EppsBenjamín Schultz-Figueroa @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · 08/06/2026Yeah, it's probably not a great sign of higher-ed's stability and longevity that every few years there's a new flash-in-the-pan technology or subfield of study that all the funding gets funneled towards until another shiny object comes along. 29918
Reposted by Dan EppsDan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 09/06/2026Law folks using Zotero: I'm ready to release my "Bluebook Citations Fixer" plugin designed to address some recurring issues with law review citations that Zotero alone can't handle. Download and instructions at link below. danepps.github.io/zotero/blueb...danepps.github.ioBluebook Citations FixerBluebook rule fixes for Zotero citations 74815
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 09/06/2026Law folks using Zotero: I'm ready to release my "Bluebook Citations Fixer" plugin designed to address some recurring issues with law review citations that Zotero alone can't handle. Download and instructions at link below. danepps.github.io/zotero/blueb...danepps.github.ioBluebook Citations FixerBluebook rule fixes for Zotero citations 74815
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 31/05/2026That has never worked for me. So my workflow is to just get the article name on westlaw, paste it into Google scholar, and then follow a link to JSTOR/Hein and grab the article (and PDF) from there. 020
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/05/2026I had a great time on NPR's 1A talking about SCOTUS reform with @kateshaw.bsky.social and @aliciabannon.bsky.social this morning. Link: the1a.org/segments/if-...the1a.orgIf You Can Keep It: Reforming the Supreme Court, part 2We talk more about what’s possible and answer more questions. 081
Reposted by Dan EppsMarin K. Levy @marinklevy.bsky.social · 17/05/2026Divided Argument 🎙️ in the wild . . . @williambaude.bsky.social @epps.bsky.social #ALI 1113
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 07/05/2026New @dividedargument.bsky.social episode: "Majordoma" We take a medium-deep dive into LA v. Callais. dividedargument.com/episode/majo...dividedargument.comMajordoma | An unscheduled, unpredictable Supreme Court podcast.The Court’s latest Voting Rights Act decision, Louisiana v. Callais , narrows Section 2 in a way that could reshape redistricting, weaken majority-minority... 020
Reposted by Dan EppsDru Stevenson @drustevenson.bsky.social · 05/05/2026Law profs - ICYMI, @washulawreview.bsky.social just posted a Call for Papers on Scholastica for their upcoming Symposium on "The Many Faces of the State." What a great idea for a symposium - very timely and innovative. 0115
Reposted by Dan EppsDivided Argument @dividedargument.bsky.social · 29/04/2026🎙️ New episode: "Even Eve-ier" We cover leaked SCOTUS memos, shadow docket reversals, Sotomayor's Kavanaugh apology, and a contractor preemption case narrowing a Scalia opinion. dividedargument.com/podcast/divided… 111
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/04/2026Yes, I found that quite annoying. I still use prefixes for signals (per the signals plugin) but I don't think the suffix field is well designed for a lengthy parenthetical. 000
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/04/2026Yeah, I modified the style so that the periods aren't automatically inserted to make it possible to add parentheticals after cites manually. 100
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/04/2026My style is only bluebook. For Zotero, you use a distinct style file for distinct sets of rules. Someone else may have produced a style for Cal but not sure. If you're comfortable with/ Claude Code you could fork and modify this style easily. This is more useful for scholarship than cases FWIW. 020
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/04/2026Unfortunately, there are some features of legal cites that aren't possible to implement using a CSL style. (For example, generating "hereinafters" for two cites by the same author in the same FN. I'm working on some plugins that might fix that (using Claude ofc). Please flag other things like that! 020
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/04/2026It's linked on that page, but I've also updated a plugin that lets you insert properly formatted signals in cites. danepps.github.io/zotero/danepps.github.ioZotero Plugins — Dan EppsA plugin to enable an easy drop-down menu for inserting Bluebook signals when using Zotero in Microsoft Word. Based on code designed by Frank Bennett. 010
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 19/04/2026Law profs/students/anyone doing legal scholarship: If you're not using @zotero.org to manage cites and research, you should. An unbelievable time saver. I've revised the Bluebook style for rendering footnotes, w/ detailed instructions on using Zotero: danepps.github.io/bluebook/danepps.github.ioBluebook Style — Epps VersionA Bluebook CSL citation style for Zotero, customized by Prof. Daniel Epps. 4356
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 02/04/2026Agree or disagree: the length of a dissent is inversely related to its persuasiveness. 650
Reposted by Dan EppsJoseph Fishman @jpfishman.bsky.social · 24/03/2026Some big professional news: I’m thrilled to be joining the amazing faculty at @fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social this fall! 🧵 4343
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 10/03/2026For more on my and @willsortman.bsky.social's Defender General, see this NYT article by @adamliptak.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/u...nytimes.comA Proposal to Offset Prosecutors’ Power: The ‘Defender General’ (Published 2020) 041
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 10/03/2026A great development, but I disagree w/ the article's claim that this is totally different from my & @willsortman.bsky.social's "Defender General." This helps w/ problems we identified & resembles our proposal even if it doesn't go far enough. Article here: repository.law.upenn.edu/Documents/De... 051
Reposted by Dan EppsMatthew Lawrence @mblawrence.bsky.social · 07/03/2026At the 2026 National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars. The Rehnquist Center at Arizona Law puts together a great program. Neat to see tomorrow’s debates forming…and the sunsets aren’t bad. 3205
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 26/02/2026I am 43 years old. I would like to think that if 13-year-old me could see the life I would build three decades hence, he would be pleased. 0200
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 14/01/2026I very much appreciate Mark’s engagement and think he makes some good points worth reading! 040
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 14/01/2026New post from me on the @dividedargument.bsky.social blog: "Case v. Montana and the General Law Approach to the Fourth Amendment" blog.dividedargument.com/p/case-v-mon...blog.dividedargument.comCase v. Montana and the General Law Approach to the Fourth AmendmentJustice Gorsuch seems to look to modern general law to flesh out the content of the Fourth Amendment in today's Fourth Amendment decision. 020
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 14/01/2026What you want today: Tariffs, Voting Rights What you’ll (probably) get instead: USPS v. Konan (liability for undelivered mail); Coney Island Auto Parts (time limits for motions to set aside void judgments) 010
Reposted by Dan EppsDivided Argument @dividedargument.bsky.social · 13/01/2026NEW EPISODE: "The Marshal and the Margarine" We catch up on Trump v. Illinois, the national guard case, after first warming up with new Erie scholarship, state criminal jurisdiction over federal officers, and some recent online discourse. dividedargument.simplecast.com/episodes/the...dividedargument.simplecast.comThe Marshal and the Margarine | Divided ArgumentWe're back with the first episode of the new year, breaking down the interim docket opinion/order in Trump v. Illinois, the national guard case, after first warming up with new Erie scholarship, state... 051
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 09/01/2026Sorry I thought you meant a suit against the agent personally as an alternative to criminal charges against him. If FTCA I think the best path would be to style as an international tort subject to the law enforcement proviso 110
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 09/01/2026When you’re waiting for huge opinions, never, ever underestimate the Court’s ability to disappoint you. 181
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 08/01/2026If you entirely lack the relevant context, it might be best to sit this one out rather than jumping in to try to contradict based on vibes. I stand by what I said, I have good reason to say it, and my goal is to encourage my peers to engage in ways that are socially productive 000
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 08/01/2026I took Mark's post as essentially saying it's not worth engaging even with folks left of center if they're not 100% with the program 100% of the time. 010
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 08/01/2026But (1) we need also to keep our side honest and rigorous and (2) try to not only speak to our ingroup in a way that alienates good-faith folks with different values. 320
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 08/01/2026I am absolutely good with calling out low quality/politically motivated work and I hope I wasn't read as saying otherwise. I spend less time doing that because (1) much of it isn't in my core areas of expertise and (2) a lot of folks have that covered. 110
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 07/01/2026🤷♂️I try to talk to a lot of folks outside that bubble, even if _policy_wise I'm more of a centrist. I think preferring one set of policies is not the same thing as preferring to live in a bubble where you don't interact with people who don't share your views. 100
Reposted by Dan EppsChad Oldfather @oldfatherc.bsky.social · 07/01/2026The entire thread is worth your time. The portion around and including this post gets at a point I tried to make in my book - the less common ground within the profession about what the rule of law entails, the less likely we are to be able to sustain the rule of law. 071
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 07/01/2026No...I think it's a genuinely hard question (what to do about X). I struggle with it. Sort of a collective action problem in that a lot of folks I respect are there still. 010
Dan Epps @epps.bsky.social · 07/01/2026Ok, in the sense that there are certain kinds of political principles that should be applied consistently? 100