Devin Watkins

Attorney at U.S. Department of Energy. Views expressed are my own.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

Supreme Court was very clear in Brown v. United States, 359 U.S. 41 (1959) that you can be compelled to testify over things which you you have immunity for. Seems to me Fauci just exposed himself to a charge of Contempt of Congress.
https://t.co/ayrYEad4rD

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@Thomas_A_Berry I think you got to give effect to both statutes if possible. The judges can appoint and the President can remove.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@scotus_wire @CaseyMattox_ With the Supreme Court taking up this issue, the Seventh Circuit decision is going to have little impact in the long run.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@dilanesper Just because it hadn’t happened in half a century doesn’t mean it never happens.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@EWess92 I mean, I could see an argument that something like felony murder where someone dies of a heart attack might not be violent. But, yes, otherwise….

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

Looks like I got this right, at least on the constitutional question the Court was 5-4.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@pjaicomo I think this case will be a lot closer than you imagine. The Court might strike it down, but I wouldn't be surprised if this went 5-4 either way. This is one piece of the evidence that subject to the jurisdiction excluded those that have allegiance to a foreign power.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

You will be missed.

[Seth Cohen @OverReactor1776]

Now that I’m out of government, I can finally respond for myself: Get bent, soyboy. We didn’t do this for “Silicon Valley . . . companies.” We did this for you, for your family, your community, your state, your nation, and your species.

Nuclear energy provides the safest, highest density, reliable power available on our planet. My career colleagues at DOE and NRC inspired me to think about nuclear as a way to forge American steel and electrolyze aluminum without releasing particulate matter, to desalinate water in the Middle East and save humanity from resource wars. By rejecting the false narratives and Cold War hysteria, we can secure the next American century while raising whole countries out of poverty.

Do you really think I left an incredible career at Kirkland, paid out of pocket for an apartment in DC and dozens of cross-country trips, and left my family on the west coast because I wanted to enrich people I never met before taking this job? I came to D.C. to do something that mattered, to satisfy a driving curiosity (more on that later), and, most importantly, to serve.

As I learned more about nuclear energy and its history, I developed a conviction that one nuclear’s biggest issues was a culture of cynicism: nothing new or exciting could happen because it would end in disappointment, and that militated against rocking the boat even a tiny bit. The career staff in government and their industry counterparts lived through dark winters before and stopped believing that warm springs could bloom into summers.

I have two core philosophies. First, I believe in ruthless optimism. Rational decision making requires detached risk analysis. But we also cannot win if we believe we can lose. Merging the two requires orienting teams around driving missions. That way, when a real opportunity presents itself, you can take a huge swing.

If I take credit for anything—honestly, almost all of the success belongs to the incredible and dedicated people at @ENERGY and @NRCgov—it’s countering the cultural rot and morass that risked forfeiting American excellence. My colleagues and I gave cover to the scientists and engineers, which freed them up to focus on delivering safe power. And, as success materialized, they started to dream again. That’s why the pilot program succeeded, and why I feel confident about the future of NLICs and NRC reform. Nobody needs me anymore because they can innovate on their own.

My second core philosophy is to assume positive intent. Avi, I know that you heard about my real motivations from multiple people you interviewed when preparing your hit piece on me. Rather than telling that story, one which could help inspire another generation of people to use their talents for the greater good, you ignored them. Instead, you implied that Peter Thiel recruited me for nefarious purposes. (I’ve never met him, but, @peterthiel, if you’re reading this, I’m a huge fan!)

Nuclear regulation starts and ends with safety. I promised everyone I worked with that I would resign before doing or pushing for anything that could compromise public safety. But I also distinguished between real safety and performative bullshit. That’s what the careers came to embrace, too. We love nuclear, why would we do anything that could risk threatening its future?

America faces a crossroads. We can either trod a road of cultural decay or hike our way back to the peak of global innovation. Join me on the latter path. Correct the fear mongering and conspiracies and tell the story of America’s great reindustrialization. Tell the story of our public servants, our great entrepreneurs, our scientific dominance. Tell the real story about how DOGE went nuclear.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@EWess92 @JamesUthmeierFL @KenPaxtonTX Seems crazy to me. (1) serving someone in a jurisdiction does not create personal jurisdiction, if it did it would upend the entire system, (2) Younger abstention doctrine prevents just this kind of federal interference in state proceedings.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@dmmsell What you want is some way you can push something from the inside and it will expand and make it harder to be unscrewed. You could still dig it up, but at least it would be harder.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@usanewshq In what frame of reference? Relative to the car, its stationary. Relative to the planet's surface its 50kph. Relative to the sun 67k mph. Relative to the galaxy 450k mph. And so on.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@Vibutler_ Even old cases can be reversed. Stare decisis generally only applies strongly to panels. If you don't like a circuit precedent, ask the court en banc to overturn it.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@JudiciaryDems Katie Lane was the Deputy Solicitor General of Montana. That seems qualifying to me. I think you just don't like her because she was senior litigation attorney for the Republican National Committee.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@ishapiro Congress could try to require the Supreme Court to take certified questions from courts of appeals. That would be hard to dodge (although they could still have minimal opinions).

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

Hawaii SB2471 is never going to hold up in court. Maybe HI can limit the power of locally created corporations, but it can't limit the power of out of state corporations merely because they do business or own property in HI. That violates the 1st amd rights of those corporations.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@JesterJum States can tax wealth or unrealized gains. The federal government cannot without apportionment.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@DeTahmineh It does happen https://t.co/A5o0qV32hx

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@pjaicomo I see that, but I would think it should extend to all penal statutes. While a state might punish someone by putting them in jail, stripping their ability to practice their profession is a rather steep punishment too.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@micyoung75 We all hope that officials bring prosecutions for the public interest rather than personal interest. But whose to say that the AG is any better at that than the President? At least the President was selected by the American people.

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@amandalitman Almost exactly what FDR tried to do to the Supreme Court that went down in flames. As Justice Ginsburg said, "If anything would make the Court look partisan, it would be that."

[Devin Watkins @LibertyDevin]

@RickPildes The only party that lost in that case claimed that they must wait until after the election. It has therefore waived that argument and is estopped from asserting the contrary now.