iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Matteo Godi

Jessica Clarke @jessicaclarke.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

My essay on West Virginia v. BPJ is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal Forum. I argue the case should be treated as an erroneous departure from the Court's sex equality jurisprudence. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. Draft on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Excited to meet my new Torts students @uscgould.bsky.social next week (bright and early, at 8:00 AM!)

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Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Now that the movers have left I guess it’s really happening? Excited to be visiting at YLS this fall! If you’re passing through New Haven, come say hi!! (And if you’re in my ConLaw class, I’ll see you at 8AM next Tuesday — check your inbox later today for the readings 🤓)

Screenshot of Noah Rosenblum’s visiting faculty page at Yale Law School

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I guess this is one way of learning that your old boss is still reading everything you write…

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

My forthcoming @uclalawreview.bsky.social article reports officers paid <.05% of settlements and judgments against them from 2018-23. This is consistent w/my earlier study, though I also find subtle differences that should inform policies/practices. Comments welcome! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Reform here is much needed, as hiring has absurdly moved to midway through 1L year.

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Jotwell @jotwell.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Jotwell Juris: Erik Encarnacion, The Rule of Law, through Thick and Thin, JOTWELL (June 15, 2026) (reviewing Felipe Jiménez, The Rule of Law, __ Mich. St. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2026), available at SSRN (Dec. 05, 2025)), juris.jotwell.com/the-rule-of-....

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I could not think of a better way to wrap up my first year teaching torts @uscgould.bsky.social than presenting a paper (working title #4: “Climate Harms, Chancy Aggregate Causation, and Statutory Torts”) at the 32nd Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy @depaullaw.bsky.social!

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Multiple former students of mine sent this to me today—which I guess makes sense since our dog (Fiona) is the main tortfeasor in all of my classes, midterms, and exams (all unfolding in the City of Los Fionas, in the State of Fionaland!)

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

This is terrific resource for lawyers contemplating whether and how to sue the feds - a comprehensive and clear guide to Federal Tort Claims Act claims 👇🏻👇🏻

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Adam Zimmerman @profadamszimmerman.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I spoke to the New York Times about the legal problems with Trump’s proposed $1.8B settlement fund. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/u...

nytimes.com

Trump and Top Officials Defend $1.8 Billion Fund With Inaccurate Claims

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

I’m so grateful to @profadamszimmerman.bsky.social for presenting my paper, (towards?) “A Theory of Statutory Torts,” at our faculty workshop—and for all of the insightful comments from everyone else! And, yes, we do have a great time workshopping (very rough) ideas at @uscgould.bsky.social!

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

It was wonderful to be back at Yale Law School today to present a working paper at the Yale-Toronto-Columbia Private Law Theory annual conference. I can't say I missed Pepe's pizza, but it was so nice to see some old (and older!) friends!

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Beginning in 2020, the Supreme Court sent two signals it was easing off its qualified immunity crusade: 1) its decision in Taylor v. Riojas, holding qi should be denied for obvious violations, even if no case on point; 2) slowing its shadow docket qi reversals. Does Zorn mark the end of #2?

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

As we brace for temperatures below 50F, something tells me Fiona’s never traveling back to the East Coast

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

This is definitely outside my area of legal expertise, but I’m not seeing obvious reasons why ICE—the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—should be operating abroad, at the Olympics…

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

I’m teaching a class on statutory torts this term, and next week’s class is on implied causes of action. Though we mostly focus on statutory cases, I also assign Bivens…

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Alexandra Lahav @alahav.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Does anyone have an article or other publication with the text of a bill to create liability for federal law enforcement officers? Not just what's wrong with the current situation but a proposed bill?

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Federal officers do not have absolute immunity, but there is a web of doctrines that make civil suits against them nearly impossible to bring successfully. Congress knew they needed to fix this in 2020, and new reasons why they should are coming fast and furious now. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

politico.com

Opinion | The Simple Way Congress Can Stop Federal Officials from Abusing Protesters

The Supreme Court gave people the right to sue federal officials for violating their rights. Now is the time for Congress to make it law.

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Thank you so much—it means a lot!

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

I admit that I do make “chicken parm” for Erin (upon her request)—and that is most definitely not an authentic Italian dish…

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

What is the operative definition of “inauthentic” here? Because carbonara is a debatable inclusion…

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Here’s an old thread summarizing this piece:

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Thrilled to see my job-talk paper in print! Many thanks to the amazing editors of the @califlrev.bsky.social!

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Agreed 100%. And I have a feeling some of my best students will be left out—and not just because they might choose to prioritize their classes now. Still, I wish they didn’t need to deal with this unnecessary stress.

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

That’s a great question. Honestly, I’m guessing they must be going off of law school ranking, post-college work experience, and undergraduate grades. All of which seems…silly. (My two midterms are ungraded!)

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

So am I! I still remember the day (October 6!) when I was giving the usual “do something fun this summer” spiel during office hours, and my students kept nodding and nodding…until they explained to me what was happening with big-law recruiting.

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Regardless of whose “fault” this is (firms blame schools; schools blame firms), everyone can agree this makes zero sense. My 1Ls were worrying about applying for 2L summer jobs (not a typo) even before we read Palsgraf—and they were asked to fly out for callbacks in the middle of 1L fall finals!

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Erin and I had been talking about how much we missed fall here in LA…until last week, when fall reached to the two beautiful maple trees outside our home and the piles of leaves appeared. Still mildly strange to use a leaf blower in 81F weather, but a much needed break from exam writing!

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

A faithful reading would not only clear up a lot of mess in this area (and especially qualified immunity!), but also highlight tort law’s dualism and the unique role of statutory torts: defining, reaffirming, and pursuing specific public goals through private law mechanisms of enforcement. (7/8)

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

That move rewrote a harm-based tort into a conduct-based one--not only undermining Congress's Reconstruction design, but also clashing with basic tort principles. Strict liability attaches because of the infliction of an unjustifiable harm, not because of defective or unreasonable conduct. (6/8)

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

The text, legislative debates, and early cases through the 1950s all assumed strict liability. But starting in the mid-20th century, courts grafted fault (states of mind and qualified immunity) onto Section 1983 through constitutional rhetoric and federalism concerns. (5/8)

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Why strict liability? Congress wanted to end a state of affairs where individual rights were taken away “by reason of prejudice, passion, neglect, intolerance or otherwise.” State officials couldn’t be trusted, so Congress made them strictly liable, regardless of mental state or good faith. (4/8)

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

That shift lacks any basis in the 1871 text or history. As enacted, Section 1983 imposed liability whenever a state actor deprives someone of federal rights—regardless of fault or culpability, and without requiring the violation of some standard of conduct or duty. (3/8)

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

The core claim: Section 1983 was enacted as a strict-liability tort, but courts transformed it into a fault-based provision by shifting the focus from the victim's rights deprivations to the tortfeasor’s duty violations. (2/8)

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

I joined Short Circuit (@shortcircuitij.bsky.social) to discuss my forthcoming article, Section 1983: A Strict Liability Statutory Tort (@califlrev.bsky.social). If you’re into civil rights litigation, qualified immunity, or tort theory, check it out! Here's a thread about the basic argument (1/8)

ij.org

Short Circuit 403 | Strict Liability for Civil Rights Violations - Institute for Justice

In a special episode, IJ’s Anya Bidwell interviews Matteo Godi of USC Law about his new article “Section 1983: A Strict Liability Statutory Tort.” Professor […]

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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

My torts exam writes itself.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

It's worth asking how differently things might look on the ground right now if #SCOTUS hadn't eviscerated Bivens—and made it all-but impossible to bring damages suits against federal officers (like ICE agents) who violate our constitutional rights. This is from my rebuttal in Hernández v. Mesa:

I do want to go back to putting this case in the broader context because I think it's important to understand how we got here. Historically, the whole way that the tort liability regime worked for government misconduct was that this Court and state courts

looked to existing common law causes of action and focused on immunity defenses as the way of calibrating the harm that citizens and others faced when injured by government officers against the need to protect officers acting in good faith, back to Judge Hand in Gregoire
versus Biddle.

The Court struck this balance by fashioning immunity defenses where the fight would be over whether the officer was entitled to immunity or not. And for law enforcement officers specifically, this Court has long
rejected the argument that there should be any context in which law enforcement officers, because of the frequency with which they
interact with average individuals, because of the nature of their interactions, because of the powers they have to search, to seize, to arrest in this context, to use lethal force, did not justify absolute immunity and instead justified a more narrower, qualified kind of immunity for those most likely to come face-to-face with private citizens.

Distilled to its simplest, the government's position in this case is that

officers in what is self-described as the nation's largest law enforcement agency should have a functional absolute immunity at least where foreign nationals are concerned.

And our submission is that that is not consistent with how this Court has always understood the relationship between causes of action and immunity defenses in this context. It is not required by any of this Court's Bivens decisions. It does not abide by this Court's suggestion in Abbasi that there are strong reasons and powerful reasons to retain Bivens in this context.

And it would eliminate the one deterrence that is meaningfully available to ensure that officers in the nation's largest law enforcement agency are complying with the law.

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William Baude @williambaude.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Sincerely wondering: what remedies does Justice Kavanaugh believe are and should be available in federal court these days for excessive force violations by federal immigration officials?

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Fiona definitely did not find the “lighted squib” case as engaging as I do!

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

First day of torts @uscgould.bsky.social? ✅ It was so much fun to see the reactions of 1Ls when presented with the choice between negligence v. strict liability (especially at 8:00 AM!). This is a going to be a great class!

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Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Truly a dream come true to go on @strictscrutiny.bsky.social — somehow the peerless @leahlitman.bsky.social managed to make talking about even these depressing legal developments lots of fun

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Matteo Godi @matteogodi.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Much of the reporting notes this will hurt schools that rely on foreign students to boost their finances. But, really, this primarily hurts the students—including many on financial aid, seeking a visa to become the first in their families to graduate from college. I was one of them. Just terrible.

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