Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 05/06/2026But there is a solution, and the statutory fix would be easy. When the president chooses civil servants to be acting officers, they must serve in the same agency as the vacancy. Congress should amend the Vacancies Act so that this rule also applies to Senate-confirmed officers who fill a vacancy. 161
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 05/06/2026The latter category gives the president far too many options; it allows him to pick people who are unqualified for offices in vastly different departments. Pulte is the Senate-confirmed head of the FHFA, an agency that has virtually no overlap with the responsibilities of @odnigov.bsky.social. 120
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 05/06/2026The Vacancies Act creates two broad categories of options for the president to choose from when he appoints an acting officer to temporarily fill a vacancy. He can choose a high-ranking civil servant *from the same department,* or he can choose a Senate-confirmed official from *any* department. 130
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 05/06/2026In @lawfaremedia.org, I explain how William Pulte's appointment as acting director of national intelligence exposes a major flaw in the Vacancies Act, and what Congress can do to fix it. 🧵 22511
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 28/04/2026Two members of the cabinet are currently acting officers, and more may be on the way. How long can they serve without Senate consent, and is their service even constitutional? I go over all the rules and controversy below. 153
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 10/03/2026The government is punishing @anthropic.com because Anthropic refuses to change what its AI model will say and do. That retaliation campaign is unconstitutional, because the First Amendment protects the right to design AI models with limits and guardrails as its creators see fit. 140
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 27/02/2026If the president could unilaterally change federal election law without Congress, it would destroy the Framers' design. That is why any legal claim of inherent presidential authority to regulate elections during a supposed "national security emergency" must be vigorously opposed. 13311
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 03/02/2026Reminder: We're still hiring legal associates at @cato.org for the upcoming Term, to start in August or September. You'll work with our legal team to draft amicus briefs in the most interesting and important cases of the year. Link to application in reply. 121
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 13/01/2026Florida bans noncitizens from handling voter registration forms, despite a lack of evidence that noncitizens are any more likely to abuse that trust than citizens. @cato.org has filed a brief supporting a challenge to the law as a violation of equal protection. 161
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 17/12/2025I spoke to @bloomberglaw.com about why the Trump Administration's maneuver to appoint Alina Habba and others as acting officers is neither legal nor necessary to keep the government running. 111
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 15/12/2025Thanks so much to Jeffrey Rosen for having me on the @constitutionctr.bsky.social's We the People Podcast to debate the Trump v. Slaughter case with Professor @jedshug.bsky.social, it was a great conversation (link in reply). 141
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Alina Habba and Lindsey Halligan aren't the only disputed acting U.S. attorneys; Sigal Shattah in Nevada is another. Now the Ninth Circuit is reviewing her appointment, and @cato.org has filed a brief explaining why she was not validly appointed. (link in reply) 110
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 09/12/2025Come work with me and the legal team at @cato.org drafting briefs in the most important cases of the year. We're hiring 1-year legal associates and summer interns. See link in reply for more info and how to apply; the sooner we receive applications the better. 122
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 04/11/2025The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the tariffs cases tomorrow. @cato.org filed a brief explaining why Congress never authorized Trump's tariffs. The Supreme Court should strike them down. 2114
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 21/09/2025Thanks to @peterbakernyt.bsky.social for including my thoughts in this great piece on Trump and free speech 2103
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 18/09/2025"Regardless of the truth or falsity of Kimmel’s remark, the government should not serve as the arbiter of truth in public debate." It is all to easy for the government to use a truth-policing power "as a tool to threaten and punish disfavored speakers." 14111
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 18/09/2025I wrote about Pam Bondi getting the First Amendment very wrong this week. 3348
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 29/08/2025Gratified to see that @cato.org's amicus brief was cited in this important decision, a credit to Brent Skorup's excellent work researching and writing our brief as well as Charles Brandt's dedicated research and drafting assistance. 052
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 30/07/2025Alina Habba’s acting appointment is a case study in the complexities and loopholes of the Vacancies Act. Link to an explainer in the first comment. 1104
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 27/06/2025Today the Supreme Court upheld a Texas law mandating online ID checks for adult content, effectively overruling its own precedents in the process. 110
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 24/06/2025The Trump administration has attempted to punish Harvard for what it chooses to say and teach. That violates the First Amendment. The Cato Institute has joined a broad coalition led by the ACLU to file a brief supporting Harvard. 37918
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 30/04/2025Cato has joined @thefireorg.bsky.social and a broad coalition of organizations to file an amicus brief supporting Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University graduate student whose visa was revoked on the basis of an op-ed. 150
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 23/04/2025All too often, the government uses creative arguments to convince courts that those suing the government lack "standing" to make their claims. This morning the Supreme Court will have a chance to push back against that strategy. 141
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 21/04/2025This morning the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case about whether those who make final decisions on important policy questions must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Ironically, the Trump administration is defending the Affordable Care Act. 101
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 11/04/2025A Texas city has banned short-term rentals based on flimsy evidence. The Fifth Circuit should hold the ordinance unconstitutional. Link below, with @foxmike90.bsky.social 3113
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 09/04/2025In one hour, at 11 eastern, I'll be on a virtual panel co-sponsored by the Georgetown Free Speech Project discussing judicial independence. Tune in! Link in first comment 121
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 03/04/2025The executive order against Perkins Coie is an unconstitutional attempt to punish the firm for its protected advocacy on behalf of its clients, and to intimidate other law firms from challenging the administration or its officials. 48619
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 30/01/2025I enjoyed getting the chance to watch my former law school professor Cristina Rodriguez debate Supreme Court reform at the new Johns Hopkins building on Pennsylvania Ave (though I still miss the Newseum, which used to be housed here). 010
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 27/01/2025Looking forward to speaking momentarily at @dukelaw.bsky.social on a legal libertarian view of what's to come in the second Trump Administration. 110
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 16/01/2025Yesterday's Supreme Court oral argument in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton featured an exchange between Justice Jackson and the Texas solicitor general that really drove home how courts are forced to accept absurd government arguments under rational basis review. 021
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 10/01/2025Braving the cold in the Supreme Court bar line for the TikTok argument. 030
Thomas Berry @thomasberry.bsky.social · 24/07/2024Was Jack Smith unlawfully appointed? I wrote about Judge Cannon's opinion tossing out the Trump prosecution for Yale Journal on Regulation's Notice & Comment blog. www.yalejreg.com/nc/analyzing... 000