Tuesdays with Mary

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 There is something special about being in the courtroom, including before the arguments ever begin. For me it’s a blend of awe and tension.  The quiet conversations, the shuffle of papers, the sense that everyone knows the stakes are high; even as the room feels measured and restrained.  And yes, the room feels majestic, too. When argument began in Pung v. Isabella County, it felt (at least at first) like a difficult morning for Pung’s counsel. The early questions pressed hard on theory and remedy. There were moments when the bench seemed very skeptical of how [...]

Tuesday, February 24, 2026 We’re headed back to SCOTUS this week to cover the oral arguments in Pung v. Isabella County.  For me, one of the best parts of any visit to the court is always the building itself.  Thomas Jefferson said of the Library of Congress that it was designed as a temple to knowledge; and honestly it feels just like that. Architect Cass Gilbert designed the Supreme Court building in a classical style, meant to suggest a temple of justice. In my estimation, mission accomplished. Surprisingly, the Supreme Court did not have its own building until 1935. For [...]

Tuesday, February 17, 2026 Land, Title and Ownership in America at 250 series In 1705, before there was a United States, a Supreme Court, or anything resembling modern federal Indian law, a land dispute began in Connecticut that would stretch nearly 70 years…and would not be fully resolved for another 220 years. Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut doesn’t come up often in casual conversation. It isn’t a dramatic courtroom story. There’s no single sweeping opinion to quote. What it offers instead is something understated and, in some ways, more telling: a glimpse of how unsettled land ownership really was in early America. [...]

Tuesday, February 10, 2026 Land, Title and Ownership in America at 250 series In its earliest days, the Massachusetts Bay Colony operated under English common law in most matters of property and civil governance. When it came to coastal land, private ownership generally extended only to the high-water mark, while the land below (the foreshore) remained the property of the Crown. Certain public rights, like fishing or navigation, could be granted and exercised there, but ownership stayed with the sovereign. That division of upland and foreshore shaped nearly every early dispute over waterfront property and would become the point of [...]

Tuesday February 3, 2026 One of the lesser acknowledged facts about today’s housing market is that scarcity isn’t universal. In many rural areas and small towns, a robust housing supply exists. Inventory is widely available. Prices are (often dramatically!) lower. What’s often missing isn’t housing itself, but the ability for people to live in those homes and connect to reliable high-speed broadband to remain economically productive. Said differently, the shortage in the housing supply today isn’t just about what’s built; it’s about what’s usable. And increasingly, usability depends on whether people can participate in the information economy from where they [...]

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 For years, conversations about housing have circled the same drain. Prices are too high. Inventory is too low. Younger buyers feel locked out. Renters feel stuck. Policymakers promise relief, often through subsidies, credits, or new rules layered on top of old ones. What’s changing, is that a growing number of influential voices are starting to say the part out loud that often gets skipped. If there is a housing shortage, the primary cure is to build more housing. That idea sits at the center of what’s increasingly being described as an abundance agenda and a key [...]

A new year means a new slate of both challenges and opportunities. It’s also an opportunity for reflection on the lessons learned from the year before. Guest blogger Chris Morton, CEO of the American Land Title Association, did just that, looking back at what 2025 taught us about how critical title insurance’s real protections are in the 21st century. I’ll be back next week, but until then, I’ll let Chris take it away. Thanks, Mary! If 2025 taught me anything as I stepped into the role of ALTA CEO, it’s that the title industry continues to prove its value with [...]

Series: Land, Title, and Ownership in America at 250 Tuesday, January 13, 2026 Before there was an American nation, there was already a land problem. England didn’t arrive in North America with a single, unified system for land ownership. What it brought instead was a mix of traditions, assumptions, and paperwork — charters issued thousands of miles away, vague descriptions of boundaries, and a firm belief that land could be claimed, granted, and transferred by authority of the Crown. That belief mattered more than precision. Colonial landownership began with royal charters, many of which were breathtakingly broad. Some granted territory [...]

Tuesday, January 6, 2025 In 2026, the United States turns 250. That milestone invites all kinds of reflection; on independence, on institutions, on how a collection of colonies became a country. This year, I want to spend some time on an aspect that won’t be honored with splashy fireworks or trumpeted during celebrations - but that was entirely elemental and fundamental to this nation’s birth and its endurance: land. Who owned it. Who didn’t. Who thought they did. And what happened when those answers didn’t line up. Long before there was a Constitution, there were land disputes. Deeds overlapped. Boundaries [...]

Tuesday, December 30, 2025 When I was a kid, my grandfather had an answer for nearly every question I asked. “Go look it up.” I found this endlessly frustrating. I didn’t want a project. I wanted the answer. Just tell me. But it wasn’t a dismissal; it was an invitation to engage more deeply. Instead, he’d send me to the encyclopedias. I’d flip through the heavy volumes, find what I was looking for, and come back; sometimes satisfied, sometimes more confused than when I started. That’s when he’d ask the real questions: What did you find? What surprised you? What [...]