Leah Litman

@leahlitman

Michigan Law Prof. Co-host, Strict Scrutiny Podcast Author, NYT Bestseller “LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, & Bad Vibes”

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Leah Litman@leahlitman· 10d

Excited that my latest article Remedial Essentialism is going to appear in the University of Chicago Law Review at the end of 2026 (I think - or maybe it's 2027....)! @uchilrev.bsky.social papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Federal post-conviction review is not a single remedial system. It is a collection of distinct statutory and procedural mechanisms—including habeas corpus, motions under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254 and 2255, compassionate-release motions, sentence-modification proceedings, Rule 35 motions, and relief under the First Step Act—each with its own text, history, purposes, and limits. Yet federal courts increasingly treat these discrete mechanisms as though they are variations on one narrow and fixed idea of post-conviction review. This Article identifies and analyzes that phenomenon, which it calls remedial essentialism.
Remedial essentialism occurs when courts invoke a fixed and assumed essence of post-conviction review—typically a restrictive one—to shape the interpretation of statutes that Congress enacted. Rather than beginning with the particular remedial mechanism before them, courts borrow limitations from one scheme to constrict another. They import detailed restrictions governing successive habeas petitions into § 2255 motions; treat § 2255 as a ceiling on the relief available under the First Step Act or compassionate release; and select narrow post-conviction baselines from which to infer that other remedial mechanisms must likewise be limited. These moves produce a one-way ratchet: Courts import restrictive features across schemes while declining to extend more generous features.
The Article makes three contributions. First, it documents a pervasive but underappreciated pattern of statutory convergence among post-conviction remedies, which are crucial mechanisms for correcting illegal convictions and sentences. Second, it expands the literature on remedial convergence. Existing accounts have largely focused on constitutional or common-law remedies and have attributed convergence either to judicial hostility toward particular remedies or to courts’ freedom to develop common law when neither explanation adequately accounts for convergence among distinct statutory remedies…

Leah Litman@leahlitman· 10d

THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE!

Leah Litman@leahlitman· 10d

Leah Litman@leahlitman· 18d

FINALLY up on SSRN - Melissa, Kate, & my paper - UNSETTLING THE PRESIDENCY! @profmmurray.bsky.social @kateshaw.bsky.social Brief excerpt from the abstract: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Over the past year, discussion of the relationship between the president and the courts has largely focused on the president’s attacks on and efforts to delegitimize the courts. But the phenomenon identified and discussed here reflects something different—not an attack on the courts but an effort to expropriate juridical authority for the president’s own ends. In this regard, the conventional separation-of-powers narrative in which the president and Congress are in conflict is no longer adequate to capture the shifting landscape of expanding executive authority. In his second term, President Trump has made unprecedented encroachments on the judiciary and its authority to “say what the law is.”
In this regard, we have moved beyond the traditional account of a unitary executive that embodies all executive branch authority. Instead, what is ascendant is an unprecedented account of executive authority that occupies and wields the powers of all three branches of government.

Leah Litman@leahlitman· 22d

some ~personal news~ as they say

Leah Litman // Associate Dean for Faculty & Research

Leah Litman@leahlitman· 25d

Help

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jul 1

Bart Simpson: I will not choose violence this morning

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 30

Happening over at the cesspool - according to Matt Walsh, these justices are worse than Roger Taney (author of Dred Scott) & James McReynolds (openly antisemitic bigot), to name a few

Matt Walsh: worst scotus justices of all time re women

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 30

Except not:

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 29

Every single word of this @joshtpm.bsky.social piece: talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-s... (I "grew up" as a lawyer in the Obamacare litigation, clerking on 2 courts, including SCOTUS, that heard the initial challenges. It forever shaped my perspective on courts, the law, & right-wing movements.)

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 29

OMFG. I cannot begin to describe my gasp at how Roberts & co decided to go all in on LOST CAUSE theory & insist that the Reconstruction Congress did Confederate sympathizer President Andrew Johnson wrong by attempting to keep him from destroying Reconstruction www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 25

More from Justice Sotomayor's dissent: "The consequences of today’s decision are predictable. More people will die. More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not."

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 25

And Justice Sotomayor goes there in her Al Otro Lado dissent (where SCOTUS allows the Trump admin to nullify asylum guarantees if they stop people at/outside the border): "The current asylum system developed in response to the international moral reckoning that followed the Holocaust...."

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 25

KBJ dissenting in Wolford (decision invalidating Hawaii law that creates a presumption of no firearms on private property w/o property owner's consent): "Today’s decision makes one thing clear: The Court’s objective is protecting guns, not consistently preserving any principle of law."

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 17

Teamwork makes the dream work! Stoked Melissa Kate & I are the recipients of the Cudahy Prize for scholarship on administrative & regulatory law! @profmmurray.bsky.social @kateshaw.bsky.social @acslaw.bsky.social Unsettling the Presidency will be up on SSRN soon! www.acslaw.org/press_releas....

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 16

Happy Pub Day to LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance Fringe Theories & Bad Vibes (Paperback version aka Leah’s version :)) bookshop.org/p/books/lawl...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 15

Why yes I DID get my nails done to celebrate tomorrow’s release of LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, & Bad Vibes! 💅 🎉 📕 (in paperback, updated, with new section, aka Leah’s version)! bookshop.org/p/books/lawl...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 15

Ex:

Under immense public pressure, the administration would subsequently take a different course of action. The most vocal immigration hard-liner, Gregory Bovino, the Customs and Border Protection commander-at-large, was removed from his post, and the administration held back on ICE pushes in cities in the weeks after Mr. Pretti’s death.

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 15

Ex:

For weeks, Ms. Wiles, the chief of staff, had been fielding calls from elected officials and business leaders about Minnesota. After Mr. Pretti was killed, she had pointedly told colleagues that the reason for sending federal agents to Minneapolis had been “to arrest people who were getting federal benefits wrongly. This is what we went to Minnesota for. And we are so far off that mission.”

But as was often her way in charged discussions, she said little now, giving the others the floor.

From his seat on the couch, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, laid out the public relations problem. Mr. Vance, having heard the arguments, appeared to soften. Perhaps now was not the time.

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 15

Ex:

Then Mr. Blair weighed in with the political case. The scenes of federal agents in Minnesota already looked chaotic, he said, and the public was recoiling. He put three questions to the room: What does the Insurrection Act give us that we don’t already have? What changes on the ground would be worth the heat? What else could they win that would justify the public relations cost?

The room was quiet. Nobody had a good answer.

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 11

Just signed preorders of LAWLESS (Leah’s version, aka updated paperback): How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, & Bad Vibes at Literati! @literatibookstore.bsky.social You can still preorder from @bookshop.org and support indies! bookshop.org/p/books/lawl...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 9

She is indeed the best girl

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 9

The paperback version of LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, & Bad Vibes is out in ONE WEEK (June 16)! I call it LAWLESS (Leah’s version). You can preorder it & support indie bookstores here: bookshop.org/p/books/lawl... (Stevie 🩷 indies & preorders)

Leah Litman@leahlitman· Jun 8

It’s the last day to preorder a PERSONALIZED SIGNED copy of the (updated) paperback version of LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, & Bad Vibes from Literati bookstore! @literatibookstore.bsky.social literatibookstore.com/book/signedl...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· May 29

Running the paperback preorder merch give away for another day (through tomorrow), so if you preorder LAWLESS in paperback, be sure to enter to win some merch!!! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· May 28

Get your copy of LAWLESS (Leah’s version, aka the paperback version), out June 16th! Preorder link: bookshop.org/p/books/lawl... + preorder & enter the merch giveaway (through Saturday)! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· May 27

guy with butterfly meme, bari weiss - is this cancel culture - axing reporters based on the content of their stories

Leah Litman@leahlitman· May 25

Running a LAWLESS giveaway- preorder the new, revised paperback version! Updates to all chapters + new section on the unitary executive! Of course I made a bunch of new merch too… Giveaway link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Preorder from my local indie: literatibookstore.com/book/signedl...

Leah Litman@leahlitman· May 21

tfw u don’t know there are scotus opinions coming imminently