Chris Mirasola
Assistant Professor, University of Houston Law Center
- Economic coercion to take a people’s land against their clearly stated will. Pretty sure we can definitively say that today’s the day the transatlantic alliance died.
- Reposted by Chris MirasolaPresident Trump is once again threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, this time in Minneapolis. That would be a flagrant and particularly dangerous abuse of the Act—one that would threaten the rule of law and public safety alike. 1/13
- There's so been so much awful news lately. What feels like an eternity ago, the admin declared fentanyl a WMD. That EO invoked a little-known statute that is a statutory exception to the Posse Comitatus Act. Here I explain why any future use of that statute based on this EO would be absurd.
- Really grateful to @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social for having me on today for a discussion about the protective power and what’s to come after the Illinois decision.
- Happy NDAA-reading season, to those who celebrate. The House version contains nuggets like this requirement that the Pentagon make milk available at all military installations. But more interesting are two provisions relevant to the boat strikes done by USSOUTHCOM (1/5)
- It was a real privilege (like, actually a ridiculous privilege!) to be invited by @mfroomkin.bsky.social to join his series on constitutional crisis. I got to chat with his fantastic students about domestic military deployments and make a few remarks introducing the mess that is this area of law.
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- The Solicitor General (unnecessarily) supplied SCOTUS with the administration’s first attempt to justify why POTUS can use the military without statutory authorization and notwithstanding the PCA. It’s wrong, as I explain here. Thanks to @lawfaremedia.org as always!
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- This is really excellent, detailed analysis on all the reasons why trump’s decision to pay the military in October is profoundly illegal. From @lawfaremedia.org and @bbkogan.bsky.social
- Many thanks to @sfchronicle.com for running my this piece on Trump's blatantly unconstitutional move to pay the military during the government shutdown. If the President is usurping Congress's power to decide how funds are spent, what is left of the power of the purse? What is left of Congress?
- I can’t overstate how entirely untethered to the constitution and past practice this unilateral move to repurpose funds to pay for military pay is. The commander-in-chief clause has precisely 0 bearing on the ability to expend funds. Here’s a list of authorities that do:
- Huge thanks to @gtownnatsec.bsky.social @realtoddhuntley.bsky.social for publishing my piece tracing what Trump II is doing with domestic military deployments to statutory changes made at the outset of the war on drugs in the 1980s. Lots of great pieces by others as well!
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- On the deployment to Portland, I don’t have much to add beyond noting again that the theory of implied power the president is relying on is incredibly vague, unmoored from constitutional text, and extremely prone to abuse. I wrote about these and other problems soon after the LA deployment.
- My horizons broaden every time I read a piece by my amazing UHLC colleague Andrew Lanham (who is unfortunately not on here—or anywhere). Just incredibly deep and rich insights at the intersection of social movements, racial justice, and national security from a fantastic legal historian.
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- Many thanks to the team at @lawfaremedia.org for running this piece! The bench trial in Newsom v Trump uncovered really important facts about the military deployment in LA. But I found significant aspects of Judge Breyer's analysis of these facts pretty confusing.
- Sure would be nice if federal judges coordinated when they release opinions with my kid’s doctors appointment schedule. But for now will just say that judge Breyer masterfully pieced together a factual record in what will some of the most consequential PCA litigation we’ve seen in decades.
- Yet more evidence why the executive branch’s theory of the protective power is so susceptible to abuse. There’s no evidentiary minimum that’s ever been asserted as legally required — just a swinging sword of Damocles hanging over any location with a federal presence.
- Many thanks to @lawfaremedia.org and @tylermcbrien.com for getting this posted so quickly! Although there are still questions about mission scope, rules for the use of force, and more, in many ways the damage has already been done. A totally antiquated area of law especially susceptible to abuse.
- Lots of crucial details still needed on the forthcoming DC Natl Guard deployment in DC. But based on what we already know, two paths seem to be at play. Once again, incredibly old and over broad statutory text and maximalist exec branch practice conspire to give Trump a sad amount of runway here.
- Ok I don’t normally post this kinda thing but really this is too perfect. Article 1? Never heard of her.
- Now for something completely different! My first love is international law. This past spring the Houston J of Int'l Law asked that I give a talk to their members, which I've turned into an essay about why students should take an international law class. Draft is on SSRN and I'd love feedback.
- UH Law Center is hiring this year! - 3 entry-level, TT in crim, employment/labor, & torts - 1 clinical in lawyering skills - 1 tenured position in health law Teach fantastic students with supportive colleagues! Reach out with any Qs!
