Michael Froomkin

@mfroomkin

U.Miami Lawprof. Techie. Teach AI, AdLaw, Jurisprudence & Privacy. EIC of Jotwell.com. Home@ . Survivor of many medical things that should have killed me but didn't. Remains to be seen if I'm stronger.

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Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 2d

Internet outage at home. Cause: "Network improvement". I know people justly complain about Comcast, but honestly it was better than nothing before they improved it.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 13d

@michaelianblack.bsky.social

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 15d

How lawyers help in the transnational effort to fight climate change: Caroline M. Bradley, Sharing Law: Climate Finance Contracting, papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A transnational focus on finance as a component of climate change
policy is essential,1 as climate change involves risks and opportunities that
affect financial market participants, and these risks and opportunities are not
limited to particular geographic locales. Finance and financial markets have
been, therefore, a significant focus of actions and policies to address climate
change. These actions and policies include a range of public and private
initiatives including the development of standards, transactions, and
instruments which focus on sustainability.

Building sustainability into finance requires the development of
appropriate contractual provisions. The paper discusses three examples of
work to build sustainability into financial transactions, all of which can have
an impact on transnational climate finance-related transactions in different
ways. These are: the work of the Chancery Lane Project, ISDA’s
development of Verified Carbon Credit Transactions Definitions, and model
climate resilient debt clauses. These three examples illustrate public and
private actors focusing on contracting to achieve sustainability. They also
demonstrate a mixture of motivations, from lawyers working with a
commitment to sustainability (the Chancery Lane Project) to work oriented
to improve financial market participants’ opportunities to profit from
climate change (the ISDA project), to a recognition of the vulnerability of
many sovereign debtors to extreme weather events (the climate resilient
debt clauses project).

These three examples suggest that lawyers' contributions to the
development of climate finance are currently primarily as technical experts,
and their effectiveness depends on the motivations of other actors in the
financial system, Lawyers are not developing accounting and auditing
systems for GHG emissions, but they are increasingly (in some jurisdictions
more than in others) paying attention to the impact of their work on the
planet.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 16d

Heck of a lot of truth in this cartoon illustrating new-to-me Brandolini’s law en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandol... (via @garymarcus.bsky.social in garymarcus.substack.com/p/two-critic...). Although TBH it sounds like something @mnemonic.bsky.social would have said...

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 17d

Watch out what you wish for. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 19d

How to spoil your weekend: Read my new paper, “Putting the Brakes on a No-Drive List” papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers..... Its trying to get ahead of plausibly foreseeable repression. I hope it scares you. It scares me.

The constitutional right to domestic travel, though often called fundamental, is doctrinally unstable and full of exceptions-a vulnerability that could enable an oppressive new "No-Drive" list modeled on the No-Fly list, barring designated individuals from driving or riding as passengers, across (or within) state lines.

The No-Fly list rests on four premises transferable to driving: that the activity is a privilege, not a right; that special circumstances justify restricting people never charged or convicted; that government can identify targets through secretive processes; and that limited administrative review satisfies due process. Since driving is already legally treated as a privilege, this doctrinal groundwork exists. Meanwhile, license plate readers, facial recognition, GPS tracking, and pervasive surveillance make such a scheme technically feasible where it once wasn't.

A No-Drive list could be implemented via congressional authorization, emergency powers, or immigration authority, with rhetoric labeling political opponents "domestic terrorists" supplying a ready justification-echoing the No-Fly list's rationale, and made increasingly practical by expanding surveillance infrastructure.

Such a list would face even stronger moral, political, and economic objections than the No-Fly list. Freedom of movement is central to personal liberty and dignity; restricting it would harm democratic participation, chill association, enable authoritarian control, disrupt labor markets and resource allocation, and undermine competitive federalism. Strict scrutiny, due process and statutory claims offer legal challenges, especially against passenger prohibitions-which would effectively block interstate travel and surveillance-based enforcement raises Fourth Amendment concerns. Still, the travel right's underlying fragility leaves its judicial invalidation uncertain.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 23d

My letter to Yale President McInnis about Yale reportedly in talks to 'bend the knee'. Text in the Alt.

Dear President McInnis,

In the more than 40 years since I graduated from Yale College, and the almost 40 since I graduated from YLS, I have been proud of my connection to Yale. While I've had the occasional issue with this and that, I have never been so saddened, outraged, and deeply disappointed as when I heard that Yale was giving into blackmail from the Trump administration by negotiating a settlement that would compromise Yale's independence.

Yale is a leader in higher education. When it gives, in unnecessarily it moves the goalposts for other universities. I teach at the University of Miami. Its administration is far from a leader on these issues. The last thing we need is for you to give them more excuses for caving in to pressure.

Recent history teaches us that bodies who fight the Trump administration often win--law firms for example. Those who capitulate, kiss the ring, earn derision from their peers, and rightly so. Young people, especially, go elsewhere.

Even more than the pragmatics, there is the moral issue. Yale's commitment to "Lux et Veritas" compels all of us, and should especially compel you, to stand up to what alas can only be called fascism. Litigation is expensive. Bad publicity might--or might not--follow. But I learned (from Yale!) that some ideals are worth fighting for.

It's not too late.

Don't do it.

Yours Sincerely,
A. Michael Froomkin
Yale College '82, Yale Law '87

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· 26d

By popular demand (yes, really) I've posted this year's recommendations for the Miami-Dade judicial elections on my blog. www.discourse.net/2026/07/2026...

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Jul 6

Hot on the heels of Trump's 90-minute chat with Putin, Estonian sources report that the US is removing all or most troops and won't commit to rotating in new ones. I cannot believe how stupid this is...firmest evidence yet that Trump is totally Putin's poodle. odessa-journal.com/public/most-...

Most U.S. military personnel who were stationed in Estonia on a rotational basis have left the country. The further presence of the contingent will depend on the results of a large-scale review of U.S. military strategy in Europe currently being conducted by the Pentagon, ERR reports, citing Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur.

According to the defence minister, a new American unit is expected to arrive in Estonia in the summer and is, according to preliminary plans, supposed to remain until the end of the year. However, final decisions regarding the size and composition of the contingent have not yet been made.

Answers to these questions are expected from the six-month review of the U.S. military presence in Europe. Despite this, Tallinn expects that another rotation of U.S. troops will still take place in the coming months. Previously, between 500 and 700 American service members were stationed in Estonia, mainly at the Tapa base and other facilities. Their number has now been reduced to fewer than 100. The U.S. contingent arrived in Estonia from brigades based in Poland or Romania. However, the question of further rotation of these forces, as well as the future of the U.S. brigade in Poland, remains open.
Pevkur noted that the review of the U.S. military presence may take longer than a year. Only after it is completed will it become clear which units will continue to serve in Estonia.

The head of the parliamentary National Defence Committee, Kalev Stoicescu, stressed that the final decision regarding U.S. troops is made exclusively in Washington, regardless of how much allies spend on defence.

The defence minister also noted that he does not expect concrete decisions regarding the U.S. contingent in Estonia even at the upcoming NATO summit. Until new decisions are made, the country’s security will continue to be ensured by its own defence forces and NATO multinational battle groups stationed in the Baltic states.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Jun 19

Good week to be away--Miami Herald article: Inside Miami’s hellish week: Wildfires, flying soot, dark clouds, extreme heat www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c... Attachment is typically lousy holiday snap...

View of foggy, chilly, hilly, Norwegian coast

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Jun 15

Not in Miami today.

View from my window of a fjord, with houses in foreground.
.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Jun 13

Seen at MIA in the TSA departures queue, this invitation to 'self-deport' in exchange for a $1000 per person and a free flight. Although I recall reading they don't necessarily deliver. In any case a sour taste for the start of international travel.

Posted sign offering "Claim a free flight and $1000 for EACH member of your family" if you choose to "self deport" and "leave on your own terms".

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Jun 5

@dfroomkin.bsky.social and @amandaweiss.bsky.social got married!

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Jun 4

May I suggest jotwell.com as a very partial substitute?

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· May 27

Having some trouble detecting my choices here for how they share my data.

Envelope promises "important privacy choices". Contents offer me absolutely no choices at all as to how my data will be shared.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· May 22

Received an ad in the mail for "Woof Love Play" a, wait for it, spa for pets. People are losing medical care and others being shut up in camps. So, yes, the country is going to the dogs--but this is not the solution.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· May 14

It's termite swarming season in S Fl. Neighbors tented recently. And then we found termite carcasses in a bathtub. Tenting requires you get the food and plants out: a big hassle we've done twice and dread. But termite guy said they got in through a hole in caulking and no spread, so no tent. Yet.

Photo of across the road where they tented a couple of weeks ago. That means gassing the whole house with toxics to kill the bugs wherever they're hiding.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· May 12

Compare and contrast.

Photo of golden statue of Trump at Mar-a-Lago

Ozymandias
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Copyright Credit: Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ozymandias" from The Poetical Works: In Four Volumes. (London: Reeves & Turner, 1876.) Public domain.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· May 11

Small family celebration this weekend marking my being in remission from aggressive lymphoma for five years. Four lines of treatment failed then monoclonal antibody cocktail worked. Furious that Trump has eliminated so much cancer research just as we're developing new antibody therapies for others.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Apr 29

Sad to learn that Barney Frank has entered hospice. Unfortunate he turned against the party's left, his natural allies, later in his career.

Barney Frank poster "neatness isn't everything"

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Mar 30

Crane-Brinton tells us that "revolutions occur in times of rising expectations" (1938!). en.wikipediaorg/wiki/The_Ana... Given expectations are cratering, doers that mean this is not a revolutionary moment? Presumably MAGA, lots of which is fueled by status anxiety if not worse, wasn't one also?

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Mar 28

At a satellite No Kings rally along LeJune Ave near Coral Gables High School (great parking). Over 500 people lining the street, waving signs, lots of honking.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Mar 19

Selling The People's Cadillac: The Edsel and Corporate by Jan G. Deutsch

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Mar 18

New Yorker mag sends me daily email today with subject line"Why Everyone Has a Doodle Now". I'm surprised, wondering why meeting scheduling app doodle.com is suddenly so popular. Turns out they mean a different sort of doodle.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Mar 18

We Robot April 23-25 in Berlin Germany. Tickets now available! ai-laws.org/werobot-2026...

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Mar 15

Why am I reminded of this?

Doonesbury cover "the president is a lot smarter than you think"

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Mar 9

DLCC sent me email asking me to "renew" my membership. I've never had one because I disapprove of them intervening in primaries against progressives and funneling money to bad candidates in the general. But is lying to your own voters a new low?

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Feb 22

If true, so what? Trump isn't a Communist either but does lots of stuff a Soviet would do. I truly fail to see the relevance of what we're debating here. So I'm going to go watch a basketball game. image.slideserve.com/780209/appea...

The ad verecundiam fallacy consists of an appeal to an irrelevant authority ... (or at least one we have no reason to believe to be such an authority)...

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Feb 20

After a surprisingly long delay following the faculty vote, Interim Dean Patricia Abril has been named Dean of @miamilawschool.bsky.social . See ow.ly/toBk50YiY2Q for full announcement.

Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin· Feb 11

Gotta wonder if Hakeem Jeffries's sudden spine on DHS funding might be connected to the growing number of insurgent Congressional candidates who are not willing to commit to voting for him as speaker. (Links in Alt text.)