Author: Paul Caron
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AI and Faith
Following up on my previous posts on AI and Faith (links below): New York Review of Books, Against Slop: An Interview with Meghan O’Gieblyn: “The whole field of AI alignment—ensuring that machine intelligence can peacefully coexist with humanity—grew out of the pervasive anxiety that we might create monsters.” This is, Meghan O’Gieblyn argues in our June…
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Las Vegas Raiders’ Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza Find Common Ground in Their Christian Faith
Beliefnet, Kirk Cousins, Fernando Mendoza Find Common Ground in Christian Faith: Las Vegas Raiders quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza may be at opposite ends of their NFL journeys, but the two are already finding common ground in more than football. Cousins, 38, joined Las Vegas this offseason for his 15th NFL season, while Mendoza…
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WaPo: Would Jesus Like Waymo?
Washington Post: Would Jesus Like Waymo? Baptists Have Thoughts. (2026): Would Jesus like Waymo? The Rev. A. Michael Charles Durant doesn’t think so. “Jesus either walked or rode a beast,” Durant said in an interview at the Tenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, where he serves as pastor. “He would be opposed to technology that…
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How Often Are Articles in T14 Law Reviews Written In Part By AI?
Julian Nyarko (Stanford), How Often Are Articles in Top Law Reviews Written In Part By AI?: Over the last few weeks, there has been some interesting discussion around the use of AI in the writing of law review articles, with views among legal scholars varying quite widely. To me, the question of whether AI use…
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Gordon: Carbon Accounting as Tax Law
Jeff Gordon (Vanderbilt), Carbon Shelters: Carbon Accounting as Tax Law, 114 Cal. L. Rev. 351 (2026): This Article provides the first comprehensive account of the reconstruction of energy tax law that has occurred in the 2020s. In the past, federal energy policy offered carrots and sticks aimed selectively at specific sources of emissions (e.g., power…
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Trump Administration Blocks Iranian Students From Taking the LSAT
ABA Journal, LSAC Notifies Iranian Students that US Sanctions Prohibit Them from Taking LSAT: The Law School Admission Council has notified Iranian students that they are prohibited from taking the LSAT after the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed the suspension of several general licenses in its Iran Sanctions program.…
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Tax Advice and AI
Jay A. Soled (Rutgers) & Linda Galler (Hofstra), Tax Advice and AI, 100 Tul. L. Rev. 909 (2026): In the past, taxpayers’ choices in seeking guidance on tax return positions were limited to obtaining costly advice from trained tax professionals or conducting their own research in hopes of finding accurate answers. Either path might or…
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I’m an Evangelical Christian. My Faith Isn’t ‘a Cancer.’
Washington Post Awakenings: I’m an Evangelical. My Faith Isn’t ‘a Cancer.’, by Bonnie Kristian (Christianity Today; Author, In Defense of Evangelicalism: A Response to Its Cultured Despisers (Sept. 1, 2026)): I’m an evangelical woman and a frequent critic of President Donald Trump. I don’t believe evangelicals are above reproach. But legitimate criticism of their political choices…
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Beyond Religious Tolerance: Covenantal Pluralism
Dispatch Faith: Religious Tolerance Isn’t Good Enough, by Michael Reneau (Managing Editor, The Dispatch): Texas has become ground zero for the new wars of religious toleration, with Republicans and conservatives considering legislation barring Muslims from certain religious practices in the state. Religious tolerance has been an American creed since its founding, but what if tolerance is not enough? Religious scholar Iqbal…
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Grand Canyon University to Launch ‘Christian Worldview’ Law School in Fall 2027
Baptist News Global, Grand Canyon University Plans ‘Christian Worldview’ Law School: Grand Canyon University is the latest evangelical school to launch a law school, corresponding with increased interest in preparing “Christian worldview” students for legal careers. The Phoenix-based school announced Aug. 16 it plans to open a law school as early as fall 2027, pending approval…
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New Federal Law Student Loan Limits Did Not Hurt 1L Class Size—Yet
ABA Journal, New Financial Aid Rules Didn’t Hurt Incoming Law Class Size: The much-anticipated crisis brought on by changes in federal regulations regarding financial aid has not manifested—yet. That’s the conclusion of law deans contacted by the ABA Journal as well as officials at the Law School Admission Council and the AccessLex Institute. … Law…
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July MBE Scores Fall, Portending Declines in July 2026 Bar Exam Pass Rates, Despite Higher LSATs and UGPAs — Are AI and Increased Law School Exam Accommodations to Blame?
Press Release, NCBE Announces National Mean for July 2026 MBE: The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) announced today that the national mean scaled score for the July 2026 Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) was 140.7, a decrease of about 1.7 points compared to the July 2025 mean of 142.4. … 44,472 examinees took the July…
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Chronicle of Higher Education: Bob Jones and the DEI Tax
Chronicle of Higher Education, The Bob Jones Ruling Eats Its Own Tail: A DEI TAX: Go back to 1983. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Internal Revenue Service could revoke Bob Jones University’s tax exemption because the religious institution’s prohibition on interracial relationships flouted “fundamental public policy” against racial discrimination. The Bob Jones decision was hailed by those who sought racial…
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Florida International Faculty Balk at Trump Aide Named Interim Law School Dean
Following up on Kevin’s post yesterday: ABA Journal, Florida International University Faculty Raise Red Flags as Trump Aide Moves to Interim Law Dean Post: Faculty at Florida International University are raising red flags regarding the appointment of Daniel Z. Epstein as the interim dean of the law school, who started in the post last month. Epstein,…
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Living Constitutionalism, Originalism, and the 16th Amendment
Donald B. Tobin (Maryland) & Alex Tobin (Lippman & Ouellette, New Haven), Living Constitutionalism, Originalism, and the Sixteenth Amendment, 77 Ala. L. Rev. 511 (2026): The Supreme Court’s embrace of living constitutionalism in tax jurisprudence may allow it to avoid building the tax base on constitutional quicksand. In Moore v. United States, the Court eschewed…
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AI, Your Brain, and Faith
Christianity Today: How to Stop Technology from Rotting Your Brain, by Russell Moore: I was fascinated to read an essay by my friend David Brooks in The Atlantic about who will thrive—and who won’t—in the AI era. … The stakes are high for all of us as a society. David warns about what he calls a “cognitive underclass.” The kinds…
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Dolly Parton’s Theology
The New Yorker, Dolly Parton, Honky-Tonk Angel: Dolly Parton belonged to a beloved category: the outlaw Christian, who loved Jesus and refused to hate anyone else. Erick Erickson, Dolly Parton and the Two Commandments: I do not know what [Dolly Parton’s] spiritual condition was when she died. She grew up in the church, has openly…
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Born Jewish, Became a Christian, and Living in the Tension
Dispatch Faith: Born Jewish, Became a Christian, and Living in the Tension, by Michael Reneau & Corey Nathan: [W]hat each gets wrong about the other. … The day before Thanksgiving in 2000, I took the red-eye back to Jersey. At the time, I was a brand new Christian, maybe a month in, and hadn’t even been baptized…
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Blackman: AI Freezes The Law Professor’s Scholarly Voice
Josh Blackman (South Texas), AI Freezes The Scholarly Voice: I recently attended a workshop about how law professor are using AI. One professor said that he has trained AI on his writing style by reviewing all of his past publications. Thus, any text generated by the AI will be in the same sort of style…
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Professors Quit After Texas A&M-Victoria Required Them to be on Campus Monday-Friday 8-5 in Response to Texas Law Restricting Remote Work For Public University Faculty
Inside Higher Education, Faculty Quit as Texas A&M Victoria Requires Them On Campus 5 Days a Week: The new policy, announced in June, is a response to a Texas law restricting remote work for public university faculty. The Texas AAUP says it has prompted chaos and tears. A number of faculty members at Texas A&M…
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NY Times: The AI Token Tax
New York Times DealBook, The A.I. Token Tax: When Bill Gates warned of the dangers posed by A.I. this week, he also weighed in on a somewhat obscure debate among politicians and economists about the best way to tax the technology. Gates suggested taxing A.I. tokens. This month, Representative Greg Casar of Texas, who chairs the Congressional Progressive…
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ABA Accreditation Council Extends Test-Optional Admissions Variance by 3 Years
ABA Journal, ABA Legal Ed Council Extends Test-Optional Admissions Variance: Law schools can take three more years to determine whether they want to admit students without taking an admissions test. The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted at its quarterly meeting in Chicago on Friday to extend…
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Loper Bright Flip Flops on Chevron Deference: A Tax Lawyer’s Perspective
John A. Townsend (Houston), Loper Bright Flip Flops on Chevron Deference: A Tax Lawyer’s Perspective, 79 Tax Law. 323 (2026): This Article examines Chevron deference and the Supreme Court’s rejection of it in Loper Bright. The Article develops three central themes. First, Chevron deference required deference to the agency interpretation only when statutory ambiguity left…
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How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry
Christianity Today: How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry, by Russell Moore: Someone once came up to me, almost shaking in fear over one of Jesus’ Beatitudes. The one that troubled her was “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matt. 5:7, ESV throughout). Her problem was that she had once experienced what…
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Can Los Angeles Once Again Serve as the Epicenter of Evangelical Revival?
The Dispatch: Can Los Angeles Once Again Serve as the Epicenter of Evangelical Revival?, by Mark Kendall: [T]he storied history of evangelicalism in Los Angeles is older than Hollywood itself. From serving as the epicenter of Pentecostalism’s rapid ascent to hosting some of the nation’s first megachurches and 20th-century celebrity pastors, the city rose alongside…