Blindspot

A BLOG ABOUT LAW, POLITICS, AND CULTURE

Jun 7, 2018
6 min

The Textual Case Against Trump Pardoning Himself

And even tonight, with all of the heated back and forth, between my opponent and me at the debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each other. In fact, just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, “Pardon me.” (LAUGHTER) And I very politely replied, “Let me talk to you about that after I get into office.” (LAUGHTER) Donald J. Trump, speech at the Al Smith Dinner (Oct. 21, 2016) “As has been stated by nu

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Max Stearns

Sep 4, 2017
7 min

On Richard Posner

Richard Posner, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and a long-time member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty, announced on Friday, August 27, 2017, that he was retiring from the bench the very next day. See here. Posner had served on that court for 36 years, including seven years, from 1993 to 2000, as Chief Judge. To describe Posner as prolific is silly. Cass Sunstein, Erwin Chemerinksy, and Frank Easterbrook are prolific. Ric

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Max Stearns

Jun 11, 2017
7 min

Two Strikes for Alan Dershowitz: Why Donald Trump is not Exempt from Investigation for Obstruction o

For the past several days, Alan Dershowitz has repeatedly maintained that President Trump cannot be found to have obstructed justice through his one-on-one meeting, or other interactions, with former FBI Director James Comey. See, e.g., here and here. Comey has now testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that at that meeting, Trump encouraged him to leave former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, alone. Dershowitz maintains that because Trump could have directl

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Max Stearns

May 10, 2017
3 min

“You’re Fired!”: Some Post-Comey Clarification on Special versus Independent Counsel

In the aftermath of the somewhat shocking firing of FBI director James Comey—shocking due more to timing and style than substance—there has been some media confusion as to whether an appropriate response to the various investigations into alleged Russian involvement with members of the President’s top advisors should be a special counsel or an independent counsel. In this post, I hope to offer a bit of clarification, which might help as you sort through the various media repo

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Maxwell Stearns

I have been teaching law for twenty-nine years, and I am the Venable, Baetjer & Howard Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. My core areas of interest are Constitutional Law and Law & Economics, which I view as critically interwoven. My most recent book is titled Law and Economics: Private and Public (West Academic 2018, with Todd Zywicki and Tom Miceli). In this poster, recently created by the Maryland Carey Law Thurgood Marshall Law Library, I am pictured with several wonderful books that I've recommended to friends, family, and students.