Associate Professor, Temple University School of Law. I post about things that interest me, some of which are about law.
Ben Heath
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We got married here In 2011. It truly is the happiest government building I’ve ever visited. I love this.
This is really beautiful and sad. A great read for all the Trekkies on LawSky. You know who you are.
This a good piece. Among other things, the first part of Catherine's paper on the civil service is a very readable restatement of the conventional wisdom <positive> on the rise of the nonpartisan civil service. I taught from it this year and will do so again. 1/3
A supplement to that accepted history is Eric Yellin's Racism in the Nation's Service, which I also excerpt in my administrative law class. (We haven't gotten there yet.) Yellin helpfully surfaces the relationship btw patronage & the legacy of Reconstruction. 2/3 uncpress.org/978146962838...
“They've overstayed a visa. They've missed an appointment with an immigration judge. Alright, that warrants a slap on the wrist, a wagging disapproving finger, and perhaps a small fine for the bureaucratic burden. These are administrative violations” www.liberalcurrents.com/abolition-am...
Between the 1880s and 1910s, thousands of African Americans passed civil service exams and became employed in the executive offices of the federal government...
In 1854, after watching the federal government deploy 2000 federal troops and spend $40,000 sending Anthony Burns back into slavery, Boston's Amos Adams Lawrence said “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.”
Ben Heath
New Foreword up on SSRN, previewing new projects on the history of constitutional history and what it can teach about legal frameworks at the heart of our "constitutional crisis"-federal Indian law, territorial law, expansion, immigration, and executive power. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
You may not believe immigration restrictions are racist, but racists believe immigration restrictions are racist.
www.liberalcurrents.com
Liberal Currents
This action "is a ringing alarm bell warning all of us of the extent to which this administration has succeeded in degrading our governing institutions in such a short period of time." My statement progressivereform.org/cpr-blog/epa...
Over the course of more than a century, serious statespeople came together to build the modern administrative state out of a shared commitment to redeeming their constitutional duty to form a more per...
progressivereform.org
A third, revisionist history can be found in the Trump admin's NPRM for adding a fireable Schedule F to the excepted service. (h/t @nicholasbednar.bsky.social). This rule has now been finalized. I may or may not teach it this year, depending on time & interest.3/3
www.regulations.gov/document/OPM...
Everyone in the world comes to get married at the NYC Marriage Bureau. Last week, the Mayor stopped by to officiate a few of those ceremonies.
Thank you to all the couples who shared their joy with us. Happy Valentine's Day, New York.
Watch the full video at Youtube.com/nycmayorsoffice
Video
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social
Jotwell Worklaw:
Joseph Slater, Defending Civil Service Rules from Existential Attacks, JOTWELL (February 13, 2026) (reviewing Catherine L. Fisk, Democracy and a Nonpartisan Civil Service, 67 Ariz. L. Rev. 629 (2025)), worklaw.jotwell.com/defending-ci....
I can say goodbye to Star Trek because Star Trek raised me: aftermath.site/star-trek-skyd...
James Goodwin
Trump: "We are officially terminating the so-called 'endangerment finding'"
Video
aftermath.site
Star Trek instilled in me many of the same values that are taught in houses of worship across the world, but in my faith, there is no God to judge or punish me—I learned how to rely on my own moral compass and inner strength. Last year, Skydance Media bought my church.
