Summary of this morning's initial case management conference in Columbia St. v. Cambridge, the inclusionary housing challenge. We have a schedule:

Judge sets schedule for inclusionary housing lawsuit Fact discovery deadline in Columbia Street LLC v. Cambridge is Nov. 13; trial won't start until 2027.

My writeup of Wednesday morning's Land Court hearing in Columbia St LLC v. Cambridge for @cambridgeday.com: www.cambridgeday.com/2026/04/02/s...

Summary of this morning's initial case management conference in Columbia St. v. Cambridge, the inclusionary housing challenge. We have a schedule:

I'll do updates on this morning's Columbia St. v. Cambridge hearing in the existing thread (linked below) unless things get extra-spicy.

As to Mahmoud Khalil's en banc rehearing petition before the 3rd circuit filed on Tuesday, we now add: Motion filed by Appellee Mahmoud Khalil in 25-2162, 25-2357 to recuse Hon. Judge Emil Bove III. So it begins?

Thirteen (13) people in line for public comment at tonight's #cambma City Council meeting. [ That's double the number for the past two weeks, which was 7. ] Also, my ref. time is 15 minutes late this week, sorry for that.

Just 7 people in line for tonight's #cambma City Council meeting. I hear the housing advocates (later this week) and the anti-upzoning group (tonight as well as later) both are encouraging speakers, but I guess that's not what is happening. $75 parking still on the "table." I dunno.

To be more explicit: "For the reasons set forth above, the Government’s motion for a protective order is DENIED, and the temporary restraint imposed by the Court’s March 13, 2026 interim order is hereby DISSOLVED." DOGE deposition videos can go back up on Youtube, Judge McMahon rules.

Additional detail: Judge Stearns ruled that the Title VI claims against Harvard in Kestenbaum could proceed. (He thought the case differed from the one against MIT, which he had dismissed a week before, pp. 18-19 of link.) Harvard settled only after those claims had survived the motion to dismiss.

In re the Government's new lawsuit against Harvard today, it's assigned to Judge Richard G. Stearns. That is…probably not a great draw for Harvard. Stearns is a Clinton appointee, but is to the right of many of his colleagues.

So I went to the 11am ACLS/Authors Guild hearing in SDNY (I was otherwise in town) and it was absolutely a hoot. Judge McMahon yelled at everybody, but especially at the Government.

Tonight's #cambma CIty Council meeting…I'm remote, but…a whopping 7 people in line for public comment (3 minutes each). I struggle to find much excitement on the agenda…#6 is residential construction/building permitting, not parking, don't be mislead.

I hear the folks talking about whether Judge Young's writing makes these cases vulnerable, but also, what's a more fitting summary of practicing in 2026 than "with every passing day the kaleidoscopic cacophony of unfolding events drives all but the legal issues into the long past history"?

So, Judge Young held a really weird hearing last month on whether to stay his AAUP v. Rubio decision before the First Circuit takes it up. The opinion is now out.

OK, so, I haven't talked much about the Guerrero Orellana class action appeal. I'll try to do some of that now/here.

Just under 20 people in line for tonight's #cambma City Council meeting, which includes 102 pages of annual surveillance reports as well as Aaa bond rating stuff. Will we break the 20-person threshold to reduce public comment from 3 minutes to two?

Any Lopez Belloza, the Babson student deported to Honduras by ICE over Thanksgiving (in violation of a court's do-not-remove-from-the-US order) when she tried to surprise visit her parents, loses her district court case. But her case is now ripe for appeal to the First Circuit.

As relevant to Guerrero Orellana in Mass., Sunshine Sykes' APA vacatur is administratively stayed outside C.D. Cal. by the 9th Circuit (as of 12:21pm Eastern today), so as of now Matter of Hurtado is still a thing in D.Mass, putting the ball back in Judge Saris's court as to APA vacatur. I think?

The #cambma Historic Commission's hearing on the demolition of MIT Bldg. 39 is up next, starting sometime in the 9 o'clock hour after Thorndike St. finishes:

#cambma City Council / School Committee budget roundtable meeting is about to start…rescheduled from last week's snowstorm. I am…not going to offer any meaningful live coverage.

Coming up shortly, the delayed-by-snowstorm hearing in Guerrero Orellana (ICE mandatory detention / bond hearings in the Boston area). Both the gov's motion to dismiss and the ACLU's APA vacatur partial summary judgment motion.

To raise it up out of the thread, the #cambma City Council ducked discussion of raising parking permit fees to $75 and will talk about it…at some time in the future, maybe/kinda/probably.

24 people in line for public comment at tonight's #cambma City Council meeting. If I had to guess, the big issue would be the resident parking permit fee increase proposal to $75? But maybe not! (Sorry, I'm 10 minutes late for my 5pm mark.)

Update on MIT's proposed near-complete demolition of Building 39: the #cambma Historic Commission's demolition memorandum is out.

MIT is going before the Cambridge Historic Commission seeking to demolish nearly all of Bldg 39 (Gordon Scott Brown building on Vassar St.), reaining "existing columns and slabs."

Whoa! MIT @mit.edu is poised to demolish Building 39 (except the columns and slabs)?!

Tonight the @cambridgedems.bsky.social voted their slate of nominees to the #cambma City Manager for election commissioner. Slot 1: Tom Stohlman (incumbent) Slot 2: Patrick Barton Slot 3: Sara Rivera There were four candidates. Gary Mello received no votes for any of the three slots.

In sum: mixed result for Petrova. She isn't getting the deposition of the CBP officer she wanted, but it's not clear how necessary that is to her APA claim, & she is going to get some additional documents to develop the record and some targeted requests for admissions directed to that CBP officer.

GR: MS. PETROVA IS BACK IN THE LAB AND SHE DOES HAVE EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION.

Hello from yet another discovery clash in Kseniia Petrova's wide-ranging litigation. Last week in D. Mass, but this week in D. Vermont.

The Knight Foundation filed a mandamus petition in the 11th circuit (arising from the '80101 US v. Trump) and…nobody is posting a link to it? The RECAP docket is missing the petition: www.courtlistener.com/docket/72289... lso from the district court: www.courtlistener.com/docket/67490... (&c.) ?

AUSA Anuj Khetarpal, D. Mass, who has been handling quite a few of the mandatory detention habeas cases (including the Guerrero Orellana class action case before Judge Saris) is calling it quits at the end of the month.

Mohsen Mahdawi gets the same kind of victory in immigraiton court as Rümeysa Öztürk! 28(j) letter and IJ's decision here: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

Marc Levy launches the Cambridge/Somerville Independent (csindie.com).

The immigration judge’s ruling, dismissing the govt’s attempt to remove Rumeysa Ozturk, has now been made public. Tbh, it’s not simple. 1st, the IJ seems to, in effect, follow district court rulings finding that the revocation was unconstitutional. ... 1/3 www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Yesterday, apparently, we learn Elianis Perez is out as Assistant Director of DOJ's Office of Immigration Litigation. "Undersigned counsel will no longer be employed by the U.S. Department of Justice"

Judge Dein will grant discovery into selective and vindictive prosecution in Kseniia Petrova's case.

Good morning from Boston federal court. Coming up at 10am, we have argument on Kseniia Petrova's motion to compel discovery. See below for some background.

My brief writeup of Rümeysa Öztürk's immigration court win for @cambridgeday.com : www.cambridgeday.com/2026/02/09/j...

AAUP v. Rubio appealed.

GOOD NEWS FOR ÖZTüRK: An immigration judge (on Jan. 29) found that Tufts grad student Rümeysa Öztürk's immigration removal proceedings are over, an immigration judge found the Government did not meet its burden.

More #cambma unrelated to the Council, DCR's "Riverbend Park" closure of Memorial Drive on Sundays (April–Nov.) is going to be cut in half this year, and the section from JFK to Gerry's Landing Road is not going to be available as a park due to construction.

A somewhat quieter #cambma City Council meeting tonight. Only a dozen folks for public comment (3 minutes each!).

At 4:46pm the DOJ appealed Öztürk (Tufts student grabbed by ICE in March)'s preliminary injunction restoring her student status.

Monday's #cambma City Council agenda carries a policy order (PN/CZ/JSW/MM) to triple the resident street parking permit fee from $25 to $75. cambridgema.primegov.com/viewer/previ... « I wonder if this feels more or less politically feasible when the street parking remains covered in snow. »

Hi from the MBTA's presentation to the Cambridge Transit Advisory Committee on a potential Alewife commuter rail stop They're really burying the lede and dragging out the presentation with caveats, but up front they predict an Alewife stop would have 800–1200 daily boardings, put it in the top 10

1/2 Supplementing the Cambridge #cambma (and other Boston-area Metro Mayor's Coalition) cities/towns announcements restricting the use of municipal property for immigration activities…

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang today issued an Executive Order Prohibiting the Use of City Property for Civil Immigration Enforcement Activities & Affirming the City's Welcoming Community Ordinance & Commitments to Public Safety & Public Trust. More: https://camb.ma/3MgMnO1

Tom Sieniewicz to MIT at the annual #cambma Town/Gown reports meeting: "Where are the hacks? There used to be hacks at MIT." (I think this is a more astute question than Tom realizes?)