A Glimpse into the Mind of a YLS Professor

Bruce Ackerman, in The American Prospect:

November 2009: After a hard-fought victory the year before, the new Democratic administration has come out of the starting gates in good shape. With the airwaves full of brave talk of new initiatives, there is real hope of a new beginning.

Then the unthinkable happens. A small nuclear device rips the heart out of Pennsylvania Avenue: The White House is totally obliterated; Capitol Hill looks like a war zone. Most of the nation’s leaders are lost beneath the rubble. Under current constitutional provisions and law, here’s what happens next: The secretary of defense, safe in the Pentagon, seems to be the next in line under the presidential succession statute. After swearing to uphold the Constitution as acting president, he immediately puts the country under martial law, suspending habeas corpus until Congress once again comes into session.

And then? What is the second act of the new president, as the Republic teeters on the edge of chaos?

He re-staffs the Supreme Court.

You can't make this stuff up, folks.