This story is NUTS. A southern sheriff celebrated as a folk hero (and memorialized in the Walking Tall movies) almost certainly murdered his wife, faked his own shooting, then blamed it all on an ambush by the "Dixie Mafia" he was investigating. His fans today refuse to believe it—or don't care!

Will be on the @11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social tonight talking elections, tariffs, and more—you might even hear me say moderately nice things about SCOTUS (no promises)

My take on today’s tariff arguments at the Supreme Court. Short version: LOL slate.com/news-and-pol...

If I had to guess right now (and it is premature!) I'd say the Supreme Court is going to strike down Trump's tariffs. All three liberals are clearly against the government. Barrett too. Roberts leaning that way. And we haven't even gotten to tax-hater Gorsuch yet.

I once again look forward to the amended captions that will now come from Virginia’s withdrawal from a whole spate of MAGA briefs and lawsuits.

Just watched Virginia AG Jason Miyares' concession speech and it is astounding to hear him claim he made Virginia safer when he actively tried to make mass shootings worse. He battled even modest restrictions on "pistol braces"—a device that helps you shoot more people with an AR-15 faster.

Last night's elections are over. This morning's Supreme Court arguments in the tariffs case are about to begin at 10 a.m. IT NEVER ENDS! There is simply no principled way for the Republican-appointed justices to uphold Trump's tariffs ... and yet, they still might! slate.com/news-and-pol...

Pains me to say it but I think this is true. Some of my colleagues in the media who’ve stayed on X don’t even realize how badly its noxious algorithm is skewing their perception of politics and reality. Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.

It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.* The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.

This is one of the greatest threads of all time

Brett Kavanaugh's behavior during today's second oral arguments has been incredibly obnoxious and rude. He is so eager to kill a service member's lawsuit against a negligent government contractor that he keeps interrupting other justices, raising his voice, and getting emotional. Weird and erratic.

"If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter." --Brett Kavanaugh, Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/03/c...

Spotted a real National Guard patrol in Dupont Circle (left) this morning … then an individual in ill-fitting fatigues and gear (right) shortly thereafter. Is this an actual guardsman? Did not appear to be a Halloween costume. It’s increasingly difficult to tell who’s legit, which seems dangerous.

A friend is raising money for Legal Services of North Florida, where he offers pro bono civil representation to low-income and vulnerable individuals. I volunteered with LSNF years ago and can confirm they do vital work. Would be grateful if you could chip in a bit: secure.qgiv.com/event/legals...

A truly extraordinary document. Judge Rodriguez throws out the indictment because "the Government’s conduct is so shocking to the universal sense of justice that it should be deprived of the opportunity to prosecute the Defendant." Hard to count all the different ways ICE lied throughout this case.

When Congress pushed back the end of Daylight Saving Time in 2005, it ensured that our annual plunge in to darkness will almost always occur just before the November election. I am CONVINCED this is voter suppression—quite possibly to the persistent benefit of Republicans! slate.com/news-and-pol...

Happy Halloween!

Beautiful fall queen 🥲

This suggests that a majority is at least skeptical of Trump's argument that his deployment of the Guard is totally unreviewable in court, which is a relief. Seems the justices are debating the meaning of the statute—not whether its limits can be enforced against the president in the first place.

BREAKING: SCOTUS defers any ruling for now in DOJ's request in the Nat'l Guard deployment case out of Illinois. Instead, the court asks for briefing about the term "regular forces" in Section 12406 — a matter raised by @martylederman.bsky.social. The means the TRO stays in effect for now.

Much of America is afraid. Afraid of the government. Afraid of their fellow citizens. Afraid America’s legal and judicial institutions will no longer protect them. If Americans don't wake up, organize, and fight harder to defend the rule of law, we'll find ourselves living in an authoritarian system

Will be on MSNBC at 3 pm to discuss Kim Davis' zombie SCOTUS appeal, which the justices will consider at conference next week. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Struggling to imagine the chutzpah it takes to say that someone "doesn't understand New York culture" because they're an immigrant.

Remember when the Supreme Court gave a pass to a state that created a private right of action crafted with the purpose of evading federal law and judicial review? States should experiment with a similar law to allow damages actions against federal agents in state court. That'll go over well.

In fairness, the Supreme Court’s Republican appointees regularly “hallucinate” bogus facts without using AI. The praying coach ruling shows that Gorsuch doesn’t need a sloppy robot to make shit up that’s directly refuted by the record!

#SCOTUS denies a stay of execution to Alabama death-row prisoner Anthony Boyd, over *quite* a dissent from the three Democratic appointees, written by Justice Sotomayor, about the problems with nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

The "pro-weed" gun case is a trap for lefties. Yes, it's hypocritcal to take away guns from people who use weed, but not people who abuse alcohol. But the way to deal with that is to DECRIMINALIZE WEED, not expand gun rights. My latest in @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/soci...

The DC ACLU is suing on behalf of a man who was arrested by a National Guardsman and MPD officers for playing the Imperial March (from Star Wars) as an act of protest. www.acludc.org/app/uploads/...

Baltimore-area friends: I'm moderating this amazing discussion tonight about what happens when courts are ignored. You can join in person, and anyone can stream it for free! Information and registration here: greattalk.org

An amazing story of this decade was the ADL turning all its fire on Israel critics while tech companies dismantled their censors and Hitler-lovers came roaring back.

North Carolina already one of most gerrymandered states. Now GOP passing new gerrymander giving Rs nearly 80% of seats in state where Trump got 51%. Specifically targets Black Dem Don Davis. This is preview of what post-Voting Rights Act America will look like www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This lawsuit, which demands that the House of Representatives finally seat Rep. Adelita Grijalva, has, um, fairly major implications for our democracy's survival in 2026 and beyond. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump Judge Ryan Nelson wants to end all judicial review over the president’s deployment of the National Guard into Democratic cities to suppress dissent. Why that’s (a) howlingly wrong on the law and (b) astoundingly dangerous on the ground: slate.com/news-and-pol...

Judge Nelson, a Trump appointee, amps up his campaign for a Supreme Court seat with a concurrence asserting that the president can, in effect, deploy the National Guard for any reason, regardless of statutory restrictions, because his decision is unreviewable. An astoundingly dangerous argument.

If you bash the ACA from the left because it failed to achieve truly universal health care, please read this thread. The law isn't perfect. (None are.) It still did a huge amount of good and saved many, many lives.

North Carolina Democrats can counter some of the damage of Republicans' looming post–Voting Rights Act redistricting by electing a progressive majority to their state Supreme Court. That starts with the reelection of Justice Earls next year.

I’m with Mark on this. The problem is not taking away guns from criminals, the problem is criminalizing habitual drug use.

Really good overview from @imillhiser.bsky.social of the paths to accountability for ICE in court—and how the Supreme Court has blocked off some (but not all) of them. I may be slightly more optimistic than Ian that the Federal Tort Claims Act remains a viable option. www.vox.com/politics/464...

An exceptionally great episode of Amicus this week: @dahlialithwick.bsky.social interviews Janai Nelson, who defended the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court last week. Fascinating, super insightful stuff on law, history, and litigation strategy: slate.com/podcasts/ami...

Posting late, but yeah: No kings; no Kavanaugh Stops; yes due process and the Fourth Amendment.

Good reminder that the Epoch Times is not a remotely legitimate news outlet and none of its reporting should be taken seriously.

The Supreme Court takes up ANOTHER gun case, asking whether the Second Amendment allows the government to disarm a person convicted of unlawful drug abuse. The 5th Circuit said no (of course); I think SCOTUS will say yes, disarming such a person is fine. www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-f...

The Department of Justice just requested an emergency stay from the Supreme Court allowing Trump to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, something lower courts have blocked as unlawful and unjustified. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

The Hatchetman and the MAGAdemic

Jeanine Pirro’s office tried three times to indict a woman on bogus felony charges of assaulting an ICE agent. A DC grand jury turned her down each time. So Pirro brought a misdemeanor charge instead. And now a trial jury has acquitted her of that. www.huffpost.com/entry/sidney...

The flip side of Callais: Blue states may soon be compelled to "unpack" their majority-minority districts drawn to comply with the Voting Rights Act. That could net 12+ House seats for Dems if they're ruthless enough. But at the very real cost of congressional diversity. slate.com/news-and-pol...

A very strong decision from a cross-ideological panel. I'm especially impressed that St. Eve, a Trump appointee, signed on. I think that boosts the odds, at least slightly, that SCOTUS sides against the administration if it asks for an emergency stay. (I'm still not super hopeful.)

Contrast this report with Brett Kavanaugh's recent description of ICE's raids. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Will be on @11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social shortly talking about this and more SCOTUS nonsense.

Judge Illston’s temporary restraining order against the shutdown layoffs is scathing. “It is also far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party …” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...