John Coates

Father, law professor, fan of association football

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jciv@mastodon-social.mostr.pub

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Last Notes

2025-06-18 23:05:07

Huge news: more than 200 business leaders across 34 states have signed a letter opposing the Trump administration's attack on research universities. Signatories include former CEOs of American, P&G, and LinkedIn.
https://docsend.com/view/8t45645typvm86z6

2025-06-18 11:06:08

I have a chapter on the Trump attacks on the rule of law in a new book out today:
https://cepr.org/publications/books-and-reports/economic-consequences-second-trump-administration-preliminary

2025-06-18 06:54:01

Astute historically informed critique of pending pro-#crypto bill about to be passed by the unstable geniuses in the #gop
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/opinion/genius-act-stablecoin-crypto.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

2025-06-15 00:58:31

What if you spent massive amounts of other people’s money on a parade and almost no one came?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/684/662/567/587/470/original/3f448813d90aa332.png

2025-06-14 17:07:30

Newton Mass, 2000+ #nokings
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/682/810/604/180/313/original/3f43f238c82e8a00.png

2025-06-14 03:21:48

Reffing in this game crazy biased. #pacers #thunder

2025-05-31 02:17:03

Trump:
“a real ‘sleazebag’ named Leonard Leo”
Did not have that on my Friday night bingo card.

2025-05-28 21:09:04

Another rapid unscheduled disassembly by SpaceX. I'd have thought they'd be kind of planned for by now.

2025-05-28 16:43:08

Trump's assault on science and education is literally killing people.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/28/trump-cuts-nih-cancer-care

2025-05-23 14:20:34

President Covefe identifies bad words
https://pen.org/banned-words-list/

2025-05-20 11:49:41

Also, in case you missed, GOP Budget Bill would also "restrict the authority of federal courts to hold government officials in contempt when they violate court orders."
In other words, the GOP wants to give Trump and cronies advance permission to ignore the law altogether.
https://www.justsecurity.org/113529/terrible-idea-contempt-court/

2025-05-20 11:46:41

The socialization of climate risk, upcoming:
-- Insurers exit markets
-- Homes go uninsured
-- Weather events hit homes
-- Home owners stop paying mortgages
-- Banks foreclose and lose billions
-- Banks start to fail
-- Fed and FDIC are overwhelmed
-- Taxpayers fund another bank bailout
Meanwhile, FSOC is going to be abolished by the GOP budget, and climate risk cannot be studied by anyone in the Federal government.

2025-05-14 15:23:34

A new statement is out from the Shadow SEC (on the rushed and under-reported GOP effort to use the opaque budget process to abolish the PCAOB and leave auditing entirely unsupervised):
https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2025/05/14/shadow-sec-the-pcaob-should-be-carefully-reviewed-not-hastily-abolished/

2025-05-14 01:11:16

What odds would you give that the SEC is actively investigating whether any GOP members of Congress or their friends or family traded on inside information about Trump's policy announcements?

2025-05-14 01:04:33

Powerful, clear, disturbing statement by Senator Murphy about DHS's many illegal acts.
https://fightthefire.substack.com/p/your-agency-acts-as-if-the-election

2025-05-14 00:28:30

Trump, preparing the path for corruption, suspended Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement in his first week in office.
Not addressed in his executive order was the other half of the FCPA, the requirement (enforced by the SEC) that public companies keep accurate books and maintain control over their own assets.
A statement from the Shadow SEC calls out for continued enforcement of this crucial law, Trump notwithstanding.
https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2025/05/12/shadow-sec-fcpa-books-and-records-requirements-must-be-vigorously-enforced

2025-05-11 00:45:06

In 2024, Knicks were up 2-0 over the Pacers in the playoffs, and the Pacers won 4-3. Just saying. #celtics

2025-05-07 14:16:23

Trump: Harvard is antisemitic
Senate GOP: saying Jews killed Jesus is not antisemitic
https://forward.com/fast-forward/716347/antisemitism-bill-congress-jews-jesus/

2025-04-28 01:17:04

Most biased officiating I've ever seen in an NBA game. #Celtics

2025-04-25 21:00:39

“There is nothing so tempting as confession.”
- Vajra Chandrasekera, The Saint of Bright Doors

2025-04-24 22:39:09

The PRC lies constantly, yet they have more credibility than Trump
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/tariff-trade-war-china-beijing-trump-washington-us-economy-markets-rcna202535

2025-04-24 00:33:06

TIL a “walking fig” isn’t really a fig, but it does walk (about an inch per day)

2025-04-18 19:36:54

Trump is amazing - he’s done what no one else could - unite the Harvard faculty. ht Jesse Fried
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us1.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3D145b9fc71645c7d2e1b45d6c8-26id-3Def961c208a-26e-3D2579b5b35d&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=okYLLuM3tytJIgMUlsU2by5IYBJ89G6M8qYyPWvsLtY&m=i0YiM9ZcwVOJrdSY-PwMC40W9bfjJdUsjf1fhLnblrOABg_hjmr2rTXrHF8PVr0M&s=KELiUvlBcr3kVHbNpp1gTH04PuwXdqKt3epn0jNEbo8&e=

2025-04-14 22:27:47

Reminder:
Elise Stefanik was removed from a Harvard advisory board because she lied, repeatedly and baselessly, about Trump losing the 2020 election.

2025-04-14 20:26:08

I believe it's time to dust off those criminal contempt statutes and hire some court officers to enforce the sanctions.

2025-04-14 18:34:41

Is anyone tracking the number of people who have resigned from or been fired by the DOJ since inauguration?

2025-04-13 03:03:13

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/clarence-thomas-fears-volatile-stock?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

2025-04-09 17:14:54

President starts fire, shouts “BE COOL!!”
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/309/124/815/834/061/original/78b308e9b755e3e7.png

2025-04-09 14:12:03

Evidence that the bond market fall-off is systemic:
"US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said that the sell-off in the US bond market is 'not systemic'..." (FT)

2025-04-05 21:49:21

Right-wing group has created a "professor watchlist," a/k/a a McCarthyite blacklist.
https://www.professorwatchlist.org/search
The site takes "tips". It would be terrible if it was flooded with false positives.

2025-04-05 16:47:02

Financial economist Tom Lys estimates:
Trump just effectively raised taxes:
- By 7% for top income households
- By 37% for median households
- By 159% for low income households
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/poetic-justice-trump-tariffs-thomas-lys-ipi7c?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via

2025-04-05 14:02:44

Another appalling border story.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/05/i-was-a-british-tourist-trying-to-leave-america-then-i-was-detained-shackled-and-sent-to-an-immigration-detention-centre
One take-away: despite the "shock and awe" theory of Trump's neo-fascist anti-other posturing, US (and Canadian) border guards still heavily rely on people to tell the truth. People who lie about difficult-to-verify things end up better off in such moments.
This is not advice: I'm not counseling fraud. But...
1/2

2025-04-03 21:17:29

#Trumpslump continues to worsen.

2025-04-03 17:35:17

Business leaders appear to be shocked that Trump -- someone who broke his promises to pay his debts and went into bankruptcy four times before he turned to reality TV -- isn't keeping his word.
Israel got hit with tariffs, as did Modi's India.
Wake up, folks. A promise from Trump is so much hot air.

2025-04-03 13:57:46

Does it seem ... off? ... that a person working in the White House and overseeing an off-the-books government initiative should also own and control several major companies with government contracts?
How would Hunter Biden have been treated if he'd been doing what Elon Musk is doing in open sight?

2025-04-02 22:38:37

E mini S&P futures plunging…
What happened this afternoon?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/270/764/702/204/980/original/112ddb5fb3956abd.png

2025-04-01 12:21:19

A third of patents rely directly on government funding
Government research funding accounted for a fifth of all U.S. productivity growth since World War II
-- NYT
But sure let's take away all of that investment -- on top of tariffs, tariff uncertainty, high interest rates, continuing inflation, and an attack on the rule of law.
"I couldn't care less," says the Leader.

2025-03-31 17:18:48

It’s a sad sign of the times that our president can announce a plan to mount a coup and there is minimal public response.

2025-03-31 14:06:52

“I couldn’t care less,” says Trump.

2025-03-30 01:01:33

If you've lost track of all the Trump v. law firm and lawyer goings on, executive orders, litigation, and the like, here's a collection of sources:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BCWSy91QJXJMylUDjvUtkIH3NEtvJ8n82NUmj_PuTnQ/edit?gid=0#gid=0

2025-03-28 14:25:34

With Wilmer and Jenner suing to block their Executive Orders, it's looking like Paul Weiss may end up being alone in the shame shed.

2025-03-28 14:17:20

Oil industry: carbon emissions are too important to be handled by the states, only the federal Clean Air Act can handle them
Also oil industry: carbon emissions are not within the scope of the Clean Air Act, which only applies to traditional pollutants

2025-03-28 01:04:01

Beginning to see a few red lines for GOP officials:
-- Impoundment (Collins)
-- Signalgate (Cornyn, Sheehy, McCormick)
-- Impeaching Judges (Roberts)
-- Idiot Nominees, Russia (McConnell)
-- Ukraine / Russia (Bacon)
Its still a trickle, but not nothing.

2025-03-24 12:38:02

A squib on current brouhaha in Delaware over proposed corporate law changes and whether to make them mandatory or optional
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/john-coates-505990b_sb21-texas-nevada-activity-7309909244948983808-Zzw4?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAIaN9UBznvWKjlaGgFFKxMY10CQib3M6nA

2025-03-22 20:18:33

“In fascist states, individual rights had no autonomous existence. …Law… vanished, along with the principles of due process by which citizens were guaranteed equitable treatment by courts and state agencies. …”
1/3

2025-03-22 15:14:07

US in a year or three?
"Turkish police detained the main political challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week..." -- FT
If not, why not?
That is, those of you who haven't imagined this, or having imagined it, reject it as alarmist, convince me. What about the US in our moment says this won't happen before our next POTUS election?

2025-03-20 10:06:47

“The supreme court has been such a drag on the country,” said Mike Cernovich, a conspiracy theorist now courted by the Trump administration. “They invent constitutional rights to bypass the will of the people. Losing the court is no loss at all, it is a gain for the country. It would allow issues to be decided democratically.”
--Guardian

2025-03-19 23:18:07

In case you haven't been following Musk's career, there's a simple reason he is donating to GOP folks who want to impeach judges: Musk seems incapable of following rules, whether laws or his own promises.
He's lost repeatedly in court -- in disputes sounding in contract, corporate law, securities regulation, or simple court orders.
Only someone who has so much money he thinks he's above the law would want to put judges in jail for following the law.

2025-03-19 02:54:18

Trump Gets New Podiatrist’s Note in Preparation for War with Canada by Andy Borowit
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-gets-new-podiatrists-note-in

2025-03-17 16:29:48

Trump’s playbook is becoming clearer:
- detain “enemies”
- initially “undesirable” non-citizens
- start wars (initially Yemen, then Iran)
- assert no judicial review of war power
- extend detentions to “enemies within”
- prompt protests
- expand detentions
- use Gitmo or El Salvador to make court interventions impractical to carry out

2025-03-16 20:37:53

“I’ve been in the investment business for 35 years, and I can tell you that corrections are healthy,” Bessent said.
Get ready for another market fall, tomorrow.

2025-03-16 20:21:02

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9yv1gnzyvo
What are the standards for civil contempt of court?

2025-03-16 20:11:20

Follow the thread, folks
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/national-security-adviser-mike-waltz-all-options-table-iran-rcna196623

2025-03-16 14:23:05

A nice discussion of my book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57kSglJkXTs

2025-03-16 13:52:37

Trump is hoping for a terrorist attack on the US, preferably by Iran, because that is who will blame in any event.

2025-03-16 13:45:00

The Dems leaders should stop assuming we are going to get to midterms before they are all arrested and deported to Gitmo

2025-03-16 00:01:58

“Hitler … avoided any direct assault on legality until he was already in unshakable control in spring 1933.”
- Robert Paxton, Anatomy of Fascism

2025-03-15 15:49:00

“ENDING THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT” is the title of a new White House announcement that is another round in Trump’s historically unprecedented weaponization of government.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-addresses-risks-from-paul-weiss/

2025-03-15 15:06:51

“Mortgage lenders, which have historically been one of the groups that bristled at the [CFPB’s] oversight, have also pushed for the agency to not be shuttered, at least without careful planning, according to three people familiar with internal discussions at the bureau.” - NYT
Turns out anarchy isn’t so great for business.

2025-03-13 21:09:28

"Fox News host Laura Ingraham advised her viewers to 'ignore' the tumbling stock market 'because Trump is good for business."
-- Mediaite
Don't think that needs any comment

2025-03-13 15:10:46

I'm looking forward to the upcoming new era of bootlegging wine and champagne.

2025-03-10 19:28:27

Probably a good time for remembering this poem.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/139/782/887/613/316/original/d40587523468b070.png

2025-03-10 13:17:24

Canada does the opposite of the US - nominates a respected, smart, successful person who understands financial markets.

2025-03-10 13:06:54

Any national leader that would contract for a key security resource such as communication satellites with a person who has repeatedly broken his contracts and forced his trusted counterparties to sue him should be immediately voted out of office.

2025-03-06 16:55:17

The Trump Slump proceeds apace
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/116/531/569/289/176/original/4877e81ab6fe029d.png

2025-03-05 18:01:21

Alito’s an unashamed liar, professing to be “stunned” that there is an Article I that comes before Article II in the US Constitution.

2025-03-04 22:02:10

“Concerned”
“Uneasy”
That’s the best Congressional republicans can muster as the stock market plunges to price in Trump’s new taxes on trade.

2025-03-03 01:42:48

TIL Slava Ukraini! from an actor who once played a mermaid in a major motion picture.

2025-03-02 13:27:14

District court rules Trump can't fire head of Office Special Counsel for no reason because (a) Congress said so, and (b) OSC has minimal executive power -- OSC cannot bring its own cases in court or compel any agency to do anything.
A detailed 67-page opinion explained the permanent injunction.
While I'm sure it will be appealed, hopes or fears this case will resolve the "unitary executive" debate entangling the Fed, NLRB, and all independent agencies may have been overstated.

2025-03-02 13:21:33

"At least 60 people have died and more than 1,000 have been sickened in Congo's Équateur province by [an unknown] illness...
"Before recent cuts to USAID by the Trump administration, the United States may have deployed experts to Congo's hot zone.
"Today, there are fewer than 10 people employed at what remains of the agency to respond to outbreaks around the globe, including those caused by Ebola, mpox and Marburg." (Boston Globe)

2025-02-27 13:48:16

Many right-leaners accuse academia of being biased against them, because most academics lean left. But maybe, just maybe, the problem is not with academia, but with right-leaners:
"news subscribers ... tend to be left-leaning" ... "Regular payers ... tend to have received more formal education and are more likely to be left leaning politically than right leaning, (especially in the US)."
(Reuters analysis, noted in NYT)
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/paying-news-price-conscious-consumers-look-value-amid-cost-living-crisis

2025-02-27 02:30:55

"“It’s not unusual,” Kennedy said of the contagion, when pressed by reporters. “We have measles outbreaks every year.”
Of course, people die every year. Does that mean we stop preventing preventable deaths?

2025-02-24 21:26:14

So we're all on the same page: DOGE has provided evidence of precisely zero government fraud.

2025-02-15 17:46:29

On the right (esp. in our current moment) but also on the left, there are a lot of cynical ignorant claims that science is meaningless or only enriches the rich (helps Big Pharma) etc.
While wealth maldistribution has increased in the last 50 years, and while scientific progress is no panacea for political struggle, let's keep in mind what science has done and continues to do:
1/n

2025-02-12 22:46:25

Mitch McConnell says ordinary Kentuckians can’t afford Trump’s tariffs
- Courier Journal

2025-02-12 13:58:14

Checkers in a 4D-chess world:
-- Ford CEO Farley says T's metals tariffs and attacks on EVs could force the company into layoffs. (NYT)
-- Inflation Rises to 3% in January (more than expected) (WSJ)
-- DHS arrests of immigrants in houses of worship lead religious groups to sue (NYT)
-- Egg purchase limits take effect at major US grocery stores (Fox)
-- $500 million of food is spoiling as it sits in ports, ships and warehouses after USAID funds were frozen (CBS)

2025-02-11 23:00:44

Adrian Vermeule has written an op ed in the baby Fox outlet (the WSJ) attempting to defend Vance's claim that the President can ignore the courts.
Vermeule nowhere notes that it was Vermeule's own writing that Vance relied on.

2025-02-11 01:23:33

Trump declares open season for extortion of US companies by foreign corrupt officials.

2025-02-09 23:37:05

It's okay that Tru,mp's watching a football game because Musk is running the country. Spread the word.

2025-02-07 15:42:07

The leopard's going to rip off *my* face, says the private equity industry?

2025-02-07 14:27:09

"Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina conceded that what the administration is doing 'runs afoul of the Constitution in the strictest sense.' But, he said, 'nobody should bellyache about that.'" -- NYT
To put a fine point on it: GOP now officially and openly fascist.

2025-01-22 01:26:06

“There were two musics progressing at one time, and they were utterly at variance. One was deep and wide and beautiful, slow and blended with immeasurable sorrow. The other achieved a unity of its own; but was loud, and vain, and endlessly repeated, with little harmony, rather a clamorous unison of many trumpets braying upon few notes. It tried to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but its most triumphant notes were woven by the other into its own solemn pattern.”

2025-01-22 00:27:33

The ADL has lost the thread.

2025-01-21 00:44:29

"What we call a mountain in Alaska is of little concern to me," says Alaska’s lone House member, pro-Trump freshman Republican Nick Begich. -- Politico

2025-01-21 00:16:54

In Trump's first act, the United States joins Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only four countries not party to the Paris climate accords. -- NYT

2025-01-18 22:07:15

#USMNT's non-European-club crew handily dispatches 47th best team in the world, suggesting it should have some depth come 2026 #FIFA #WorldCup.

2025-01-17 20:07:08

“what exists already secretes within itself the seeds of what ought to be”
- Terry Eagleton

2025-01-17 03:02:37

"SpaceX's Starship explodes in flight test, forcing airlines to divert..." -- Reuters
"Entertainment is guaranteed!" says world's richest man.

2025-01-13 01:13:35

Evil man says other evil man is "truly evil." Still trying to figure out if I have a view on this.

2025-01-03 13:04:45

Three GOP judges make up their own reality to vacate the FCC's net neutrality rule.
They cite Supreme Court's precedent-reversing decision in Loper Bright.
They view it as giving them carte blanche to decide not only what statutes mean but answers to complex factual questions in applying those laws.
None of the judges have any technical expertise or knowledge, and they veer from common sense.
Politics corrupting law thru creative fiction is the brave new world Leonard Leo has created.

2024-12-31 20:59:16

“Today, private equity firms own around 460 US hospitals, about 8 percent of all private hospitals and 22 percent of all for-profit hospitals.” - Boston Globe

2024-12-27 13:59:39

All the criminals in their coats and ties are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise, indeed.

2024-12-18 23:28:38

US News Rankings of law schools increasingly meaningless.
https://excessofdemocracy.com/blog/2024/12/updated-projected-2025-2026-usnwr-law-school-rankings-to-be-released-march-2025-or-so

2024-12-17 12:31:53

In men's college basketball, no low-ranked team has ever won the NCAA tournament. Compare men's college soccer, where a completely unranked team, #UVM, just did.

2024-12-17 03:58:31

Congrats to #uvm on winning men’s ncaa soccer tournament.

2024-12-12 17:09:26

- reply

@nprofile…2wfl When did “flip-flop” or “lie” get softened to “walk back”?

2024-12-07 15:38:04

Paul Atkins (2007):
"As unregistered funds, including private equity funds, have grown to play a larger role in the markets, the SEC legitimately has begun to pay greater attention to them."
Since then, the PE industry has grown 3x faster than the economy or the public capital markets.

2024-12-06 16:55:22

“Only about half of all murders in the United States are cleared or solved each year, according to the F.B.I.” - NYT

2024-12-05 17:26:56

I teach my law students that law’s most important purpose to address anger, where possible, in a socially functional way. The social media reaction to a cold blooded first degree murder suggests laws governing health care are not performing that task adequately.

2024-12-05 17:22:55

Last day in gun violence - more than one incident, news notwithstanding.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/601/371/894/544/551/original/a826a3399982ce4c.png

2024-09-06 10:48:12

"Trump plans to go much further on tariffs than he did in office, proposing levies of 10 to 20 per cent on all imports and 60 per cent on those from China."
-Financial Times
You may think international trade causes harms, and it does, but autarky (no trade) would cause more harm. It's also part of how we got WWII.

2023-10-05 13:49:59

How many ways is this creepy?
"Walmart[] ... has been using anonymized sales data to see if it can spot whether shoppers who have been prescribed the so-called GLP-1 drugs are cutting back on food [snacks, candy] purchases. Kellanova, the makers of Cheez-It and Pringles, is also closely watching."

2023-08-05 13:04:26

Trump et al. are alleged to have taken specific actions beyond lies:
"organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven targeted states, attempting to mimic the procedures that the legitimate electors were supposed to follow under the Constitution..."
1/5