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Austin Sarat

Austin Sarat

Salon

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Is withholding federal counterterrorism funds from states – as FEMA has threatened – legal?

Is withholding federal counterterrorism funds from states – as FEMA has threatened – legal?

Legal scholars argue that when executive branch agencies impose conditions on federal funds, courts should give these cases special scrutiny.

yesterday 0

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

Supreme Court’s tariffs ruling reveals two political orders

Like the country itself, the justices are divided between democracy and authoritarianism

previous day 80

Salon

Austin Sarat

The FBI’s refusal to investigate ICE makes it a co-conspirator

The bureau's refusal to investigate cases involving federal immigration officers makes it a partner in cover-up

previous day 1

Salon

Austin Sarat

College professors face an emerging challenge: We know students are no longer reading entire books

College professors face an emerging challenge: We know students are no longer reading entire books

Some teachers increasingly are shifting their approach to reading, assigning fewer books than they once did.

previous day 2

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

The everyday injustices of the plea bargain

Plea bargaining. Can’t live with it; can’t live without it.

20.07.2026 3

The Hill

Austin Sarat

How old is too old to be executed?

Florida’s spree of executing the elderly is indecent and unnecessary.

13.07.2026 6

The Hill

Austin Sarat

Justice Jackson’s birthright citizenship opinion includes Black Americans in the story of the nation’s search for equality

Jackson’s concurrence traces the 14th Amendment to work done by people ‘beyond Congress’ and Black Americans who ‘helped galvanize the push...

09.07.2026 10

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

'Dignity' is a poor excuse for blocking press access to state executions

There is, of course, something odd about using the word dignity to describe what happens when the state kills one of its citizens.

06.07.2026 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat

A Clarence Thomas Protégé Defied a Landmark Supreme Court Ruling. His Mentor Would Be Proud.

This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. Keep up with all of our Supreme Court coverage and...

01.07.2026 10

Slate

Austin Sarat

Supreme Court ties the Constitution in knots to avoid taking guns away from drug users

The Supreme Court’s decision is a boon for drug users and gun owners, but not to those who want the Constitution to be as relevant today as it was...

29.06.2026 9

The Hill

Austin Sarat

47% of Harvard seniors admit to cheating — and the problem existed long before ChatGPT

My colleagues and I recently spoke with a group of talented, interesting students who just completed their first year of college about using...

23.06.2026 7

Fortune

Austin Sarat

Should Graham Platner’s personal life matter?

Our history has been marked by cycles in which concerns about the personal character of leaders were ascendant, followed by others in which a more...

22.06.2026 9

The Hill

Austin Sarat

Many college students already have well‑formed cheating habits – that, not AI, is the real problem

Some students might arrive at college with already formed cheating habits, and a mentality that justifies the practice.

17.06.2026 10

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

What the ‘60 Minutes' fiasco reveals about press freedom today

If the legacy media are to be saved, we must not romanticize their work. Today, more than ever, journalists need our support and our help to keep the...

15.06.2026 7

The Hill

Austin Sarat

There’s an intensifying kind of threat to academic freedom – watchful students serving as informants

Restricting academic freedom is often thought of in terms of universities telling professors what they can and cannot do or teach. But that isn’t...

14.01.2026 30

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

Americans Have Lost This Key Way of Thinking. Here’s a Path Back.

03.01.2026 20

Slate

Austin Sarat

Trump’s latest attack on the Constitution — and Joe Biden

The president is trying to find a workaround to Biden's commutations — and the double jeopardy clause

30.12.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

Trump’s new security strategy endangers democracy

The president's retrograde National Security Strategy emphasizes profit and bluster at democracy's expense

09.12.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

Trump tried to interfere in 2020 — and he just got away with it

Trump demanded "11,000 votes" to change Georgia's election results. To pretend otherwise whitewashes history

27.11.2025 20

Salon

Austin Sarat

Trump absolves MBS of Khashoggi killing — and shames all of us

Is the ability to get away with murder the true measure of political power?

20.11.2025 20

Salon

Austin Sarat

US Executions May Reach Their Highest Rate Since 2010. Florida Has Had the Most.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed 15 death warrants this year in the state with the second-largest death row population.

14.11.2025 20

Truthout

Austin Sarat

SCOTUS won’t revisit marriage equality. But the fight isn’t over

Just like with Roe v. Wade, opponents of marriage equality are playing a long game

11.11.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

Under Ron DeSantis’ leadership, Florida leads the nation in executions in 2025

Florida leads the nation in executions in a year that has seen an increase in the number of inmates put to death nationwide.

11.11.2025 20

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

DOJ Had Its First Big Hearing in a “Trump Enemy’’ Prosecution. The Judge Was Not Pleased.

08.11.2025 10

Slate

Austin Sarat

“No Kings” missed the mark. Here’s how we can fix that

Opposing Donald Trump is not enough for No Kings to be truly successful

21.10.2025 20

Salon

Austin Sarat

Sonia Sotomayor’s Moral Clarity on One Particular Issue Has Been Striking

20.10.2025 10

Slate

Austin Sarat

What five scheduled executions in eight days tell us about the death penalty

Think the death penalty is for the “worst of the worst"? These cases will change your mind.

15.10.2025 10

Boston Globe

Austin Sarat

Texas Has Scheduled the Execution of an Innocent Man in One Week. Will Anyone Stop It?

09.10.2025 10

Slate

Austin Sarat

Brendan Carr defended free speech — until he went after Jimmy Kimmel

What happened to the FCC chairman is happening to America

19.09.2025 30

Salon

Austin Sarat

Ron DeSantis Plans to Execute an Intellectually Disabled Man This Week

16.09.2025 20

Slate

Austin Sarat

Federal judge tears into Trump on LA — and warns the rest of us

Like Paul Revere before him, Judge Charles Breyer has raised the alarm about what's coming

04.09.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

Trump’s war on the Smithsonian echoes the fight over its founding

Thanks to states' rights politicians, the institution nearly never existed in the first place

22.08.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

Wake up, Democrats — and hammer Trump on the cost of living

The party's winning message is staring them right in the face

20.08.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

The toxic brew that awaits professors this fall

I’m not ready to return to the classroom and face the bleak condition of higher education.

18.08.2025 60

Boston Globe

Austin Sarat

Trump isn’t “entitled” to Texas congressional seats

The 2026 midterms will not be free and fair if Trump can help it

07.08.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

A Rising Democratic Star Just Became a New Anti–Death Penalty Hero

19.07.2025 10

Slate

Austin Sarat

Rule of loyalists: Emil Bove would be the perfect Trumpian judge

A reckless judicial nominee who would serve Trump's agenda instead of the rule of law

16.07.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States

Catholic opposition to the death penalty is relatively new in the church’s history, but has helped shape public debate.

09.07.2025 10

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

Trump’s DOJ Launches Its Most Innovative and Menacing Assault on the Court System Yet

27.06.2025 20

Slate

Austin Sarat

Democrats should give Trump his due on the success of his Mideast gamble

Instead of beating the drums about yet another procedural problem, Democrats should give the president his due and change the subject.

26.06.2025 20

Boston Globe

Austin Sarat

With disbarment decision, John Eastman's downfall continues

California bar proceedings deliver another blow to election denialism

18.06.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat

How progressive critics paved the way for Trump’s attack on judicial supremacy

The perils of opposition party politics come back to bite

02.06.2025 20

Salon

Austin Sarat

Harvard draws the legal blueprint for how to fight back Trump's revenge campaign

Trump and his subordinates are using every lever at their disposal to make the university pay for disobedience

21.05.2025 20

Salon

Austin Sarat

Harvard draws the legal blueprint for how to fight back Trump’s revenge campaign

Trump and his subordinates are using every lever at their disposal to make the university pay for disobedience

20.05.2025 20

Salon

Austin Sarat

In Death Penalty Cases, the Quest for Justice is Not America’s Highest Value

Jimmie Christian Duncan learned in April 2025 that a Louisiana judge had dismissed his capital murder conviction and he would no longer face the...

13.05.2025 20

CounterPunch

Austin Sarat

A Progressive Justice Billed This Method of Execution as “Relatively Quick and Painless.” She Was Wrong.

13.05.2025 10

Slate

Austin Sarat

In death penalty cases, the quest for justice is not America’s highest value

The Supreme Court has ruled that executing the innocent does not violate the Constitution, but some states allow people convicted of crimes to bring...

12.05.2025 20

The Conversation

Austin Sarat

A Powerful New Judicial Ruling Lifts the Veil of Secrecy Around Executions

07.05.2025 20

Slate

Austin Sarat

Looking to Trump’s next 100 days: DOJ tees up process for jailing journalists

Democrats had a chance to stop this crackdown on press freedom before it happened

29.04.2025 10

Salon

Austin Sarat