SEPTEMBER 11, 2026, "Jürgen Habermas: Public Intellectual and Engaged Critical Theorist" (Columbia University Press 2026). 
Book Abstract: The late Jürgen Habermas was Germany’s most important postwar philosopher, the leading figure of the Frankfurt School in this period. He was best known for the concept of the public sphere, which forms the basis of his communicative understanding of democratic politics. Habermas not only theorized the public sphere—he also took part in it through frequent commentary on current social, political, and cultural issues. Yet since Habermas’s extensive public-facing writings have been greatly overlooked, his philosophy has often been criticized as apolitical. Verovšek's book transforms our understanding of Habermas by focusing on his work as a public intellectual, showing how he shaped debates far beyond the ivory tower. Verovšek argues that while Habermas maintained a strict separation between his academic and his public-facing writings, he also ensured that these two aspects of his work were part of a consistent whole.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2026 "Laws of Motion or Law in Motion? On Capitalism and the Law"
Abstract: In recent years, after a long absence, the term ‘capitalism’ has returned to public debate. Triggered in part by the 2008 financial crisis, the long austerity which followed and political movements contesting both, capitalism has become a central element in describing the world and how it needs to change.  Alongside this, the uneven results of capitalisms’ crises have helped undergird new attention to its relationship to race and racialisation.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2026
Legal Realism and CLS from an LPE Perspective What is the role of law in political economy?
Abstract: And what is the role of political economy in law? And in both cases when we speak of “law” and “political economy,” are we speaking of academic disciplines or social realities? This tangle of questions constitutes the orienting research agenda of the emerging “law and political economy” movement in legal academia. Questions concerning not so much the interaction as the interrelation of law and political economy, with each of these understood simultaneously as fields of study and arenas of social life. And within that agenda the legacy of two prior efforts at grappling with these questions—Legal Realism and Critical Legal Studies (CLS)—looms large. This article seeks to take stock of that legacy, and to advance a critique of central aspects of the received traditions of Realism and CLS, for the sake of developing new foundations for the analysis of both law and political economy.

OCTOBER 16, 2026
Predetermined Purchasing Power: The Convergence of Algorithmic Wages and Prices
Abstract: Through machine-learning systems, firms increasingly mediate both consumer prices and worker wages, but legal scholarship has largely treated algorithmic price discrimination and algorithmic wage discrimination as separate phenomena. This Article argues that the spread and convergence of these practices may produce a distinct political-economic condition: predetermined purchasing power. The convergence—which does not necessarily involve active coordination among firms—arises from a common data and computational logic: systems governing wages and prices draw on similar and, even sometimes, overlapping records of economic life, using past behavior and present circumstances to infer the terms a person or banded group is likely to accept. 

OCTOBER 23, 2026
Contracting Around Captivity: Private Jets, Carceral Mobility, and the Anthropology of Law
Abstract: As a mode of transport, private jets provide enormous flexibility and discretion. For this reason, they are increasingly being used for two very different kinds of passengers: billionaires and captives (especially in deportations). As objects of conspicuous consumption, private jets are frequently leased out by their owners when not in use to recoup costs. As a result, it is not uncommon for the same jets to be used for luxury travel on one trip and captivity on the next. This paper engages in an ethnography of legal form to explore the relationship between contract, captivity, and capital in the use of private jets. It draws from the author's experiences in unsuccessful litigation against a private aviation contractor supporting the CIA torture program, juxtaposed with a set of billing disputes in over a plane used in the CIA torture program.

NOVEMBER 12, 2026
“Trauma-Informed’ Prisons? The Disability, Debility, and Death Behind Carceral Feminism”
Jess Whatcott (they/them) is an Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies. Whatcott’s book Menace to the Future: A Queer and Disability History of Carceral Eugenics describes how California institutions segregated disabled, mad, and neurodivergent people in the early twentieth century. Whatcott theorizes that this was a practice of “carceral eugenics,” that is on-going in psychiatric hospitals, prisons, and immigrant detention centers. They have in the past written about representations of institutions, prisons, and eugenics in speculative fiction, focusing on work by Ursula K. LeGuin and Octavia Butler. Whatcott’s current research examines the history of disability in immigration and border policy in the US.

In Post 57, UB School of Law Assistant Dean Patrick Long examines competing conceptions of justice and the rule of law in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. He observes, “Shakespeare’s troubling play ends with Isabella’s anguished plea for ‘justice, justice, justice, justice!’ This novice nun, so wronged throughout the play, has witnessed the collapse of the legal system in Vienna. Disease and disorder have torn the fabric of society. To save the city, two characters posit different theories of law. One, spoken by the saintly Isabella, gives the play its title and echoes the Sermon on the Mount. She believes law must be tailored to fit the individuals involved. The other is articulated by the hated Angelo. He argues that law must apply the same way to all, no matter the circumstances. When the curtain falls, we find our sympathies betrayed. While we share Isabella’s demand for justice, we also question whether she actually stands for the rule of law.” 

Tariff. A word that has become ubiquitous over the past few years yet remains mysterious to many. In President Trump’s second term, however, the word “tariff” seems to be in the news constantly – even as a verb. President Trump has imposed tariffs in 2025 by using an authority – the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – that has never before been invoked by a President to impose tariffs – and arguably does not authorize the President to do so. In Blog Post 56, Meredith Kolsky Lewis offers insight on the legality of President Trump’s Liberation Day Tariffs.