I should add that this is exactly what @nkorpett.bsky.social and James Pearce predicted in their May 2025 @lawfaremedia.org piece, "The Law Firms’ Deals with Trump Are Even Riskier Than They Seem"

INBOX: Sens. Blumenthal, Raskin, & Schiff sent another letter to Skadden seeking records/info related to the law firm's "profoundly troubling agreement" with the Trump admin and reporting on apparent conflicts of interest related to the admin's 10% equity stake in Intel.

NEW: Today the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that the district court lacked the authority to release Mohsen Mahdawi in April 2025 following his arrest from his citizenship interview. The 2nd Cir vacates the order and remands to the district court to dismiss the petition.

NEW: Today, Rep. Garcia and Sen. Blumenthal requested DHS Sec Mullin provide info and records related to two recent fatal ICE shootings, incidents which raise questions about whether ICE made promised reforms "and how ICE is using the massive funding that Congress appropriated"

Major new report from PHR and @hrcberkeley.bsky.social documented 412 times between 06/25-26 that immigration enforcement officers used excessive force or misused crowd-control weapons on protesters. Nearly half of all victims had "explicit legal protections" or required "special caution."

Today in federal court, Mahmoud Khalil sued the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission, Betar, & senior Trump admin officials under the KKK Act of 1871, alleging they conspired to deprive him of his constitutional rights while carrying out a coordinated plan called "Project Esther."

Ruling in Trump v. IRS today, Judge Williams writes: "The nature of the suit [and] conduct of the Parties...make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity" to Trump affiliates and to earmark billions from U.S. taxpayers

NEW: On TUESDAY, July 14 at noon, Mahmoud Khalil will hold a press conference in Foley Square (NYC) to announce a new federal lawsuit. He will be represented by @ccrjustice.org and Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLC.

Many thanks to @carissaveliz.bsky.social for talking to me about her excellent new book “Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI,” which is as much a timely critique of Big Tech and surveillance capitalism as it is a treatise on living life well

"The sheer investigative chops...make it worth a listen but its most profound takeaway is also the ultimate ironic twist. A band of journalists managed to pierce the heart of an enduring local mystery only to discover that many people prefer the mystery to the truth." - @goodtape.com

Someone on the 6 train edited this AI advertisement

INBOX: @hindrajabfoundation.be & @ccrjustice.org sent a letter to NYAG Letitia James urging her to open a criminal investigation into Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ahead of his NYC visit July 7-8, alleging harm to NY residents by Israeli Prison Service among other accusations

I'm headed to the Aspen Security Forum July 14-17 and planning to record a series of interviews for the @lawfaremedia.org podcast — if any friends or colleagues also going would like to join me on the podcast, have guest ideas, or just want to grab a coffee, let me know!

INBOX: Sen. Blumenthal sent a letter to Acting AG Todd Blanche demanding information and documents related to the Trump administriation commuting David Gentile’s sentence and the "subsequent closure" of DOJ/EDNY's investigation into potential misconduct regarding that commutation

The Adrian Chilesification of media

Blumenthal, Merkley, Schiff, Murphy, Warren, & 12 more Dem senators urged the Senate financial services subcommittee to prohibit the CFTC from meddling in states' ability to regulate prediction markets, which "have led to underage gambling...addiction...and financial losses."

Reminds me of when @muira.bsky.social employed a clever yet, shall we say, *unorthodox* method—Tinder—to speak candidly with U.S. personnel stationed at the Guantánamo Bay detention center - from Muira McCammon's 2021 Logic essay, "Zoomers Versus the National Security State" (link below)

INBOX: Today, @weareoversight.bsky.social sued DOJ to expedite its FOIA request for documents related to Todd Blanche's role in 1) Trump admin's release of the Epstein files and 2) reported attempt to bury Special Counsel Jack Smith's report, ahead of Blanche's 7/15 AG confirmation hearing

I, too, was lucky enough to interview the talented and gracious Jasper Craven about his new book, "God Forgives, Brothers Don't: The Long March of Military Education and the Making of American Manhood" for the @lawfaremedia.org podcast — links to watch or listen below!

Just got the most amazing phishing email from "12 Elite naval personnel" of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit

Wild: to meet senior leader demands to sharply increase detention capacity, ICE & Army turned to a pool of contractors w/ no "prior experience providing detention services" to run Camp East Montana—then awarded a contract but "did not review the contractor's approach" beforehand

Full text of the Senate version of Blumenthal/Frost's bicameral Right to Record Act which would add new legal consequences for federal/immigration enforcement officers who prevent recording, observing, or peacefully protesting law enforcement activities (which is already constitutionally protected)

NEW: Watchdog @weareoversight.bsky.social submitted a complaint to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel alleging Kristi Noem may have violated the Hatch Act by taking a taxpayer funded trip to a Republican event in June 2025 and DHS's use of its official Flickr to publicize Noem's attendance.

Read @lukebroadwater.bsky.social's @nytimes.com coverage of @lawfaremedia.org's Jan. 6 clemency study here: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/u...

NEW: A stunning new project from @lawfaremedia.org's @katherinepomps.bsky.social finds that 97 Jan. 6ers who received clemency for their role in the Capitol riot then got arrested, charged, and/or convicted with subsequent crimes—a number much higher than previously reported.

At the end of May, the Justice Department deleted thousands of press releases related to the Jan. 6 insurrection and other matter. This is the record DOJ is trying to delete, from @tylermcbrien.com, @michael-feinberg.bsky.social, and @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org.

NEW: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has AFFIRMED the District Court of Montana's dismissal of Lighthiser v. Trump—the constitutional climate case led by 22 young Americans challenging the Trump administration's fossil fuel orders—for lack of Article III standing.

If you missed last month's "Deportation, Inc." screening and panel discussion at @eflux.bsky.social, you can now watch it on the Architectural League of New York's website or their Youtube channel, link below:

On Lawfare Daily, @tylermcbrien.com sat down with Emily Bazelon to discuss her reporting on the experiences of current and former government employees navigating the upheaval of the second Trump administration from the inside. youtu.be/5REztvDsREc

Kevin Trudeau—TV personality and author convicted of fraud, larceny, and contempt of court in addition to FTC cases—moved to intervene in DUNN v TRUMP, the police officers suing to block Trump's Anti-Weaponization slush fund, based on his outstanding claim for $10 million from it

"I can help you navigate your evening without getting zapped!"

More great reporting based on habeas filings. Latinos way disproportionately targeted for ICE street arrests in NY and NJ. projects.thecity.nyc/ice-street-a...

The Justice Department tried to erase the history of Jan 6. We restored if. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

NEW: The Trump administration's DOJ has been systematically removing materials from its websites regarding the many indictments and convictions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In response, @lawfaremedia.org has been systematically restoring them:

INBOX: Ahead of Pam Bondi's testimony tomorrow before House Oversight Cmte, watchdog @weareoversight.bsky.social sued the DOJ and FBI for previously FOIA'd records related to the government's review and release of the Epstein Files following the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act

NEW: Today, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals GRANTED Mahmoud Khalil's motion to stay the mandate that would have left him at risk of detention and removal, as his legal team petitions for cert with the Supreme Court.

The rest of the world is watching—and they have thoughts. Eve Fairbanks and @mmschwartz.bsky.social join @tylermcbrien.com to discuss their new anthology on how journalists around the globe are making sense of Trump's America.

Huge thanks to Eve Fairbanks & @mmschwartz.bsky.social for joining me on the @lawfaremedia.org podcast to discuss @thedialmag.bsky.social's "How We See It: The World Looks at America in the Age of Trump"—an essay collection from journalists probing their home countries' relationships to the U.S.

NEW: A federal judge in Tennessee has GRANTED Kilmar Abrego Garcia's motion to DISMISS for vindictive prosecution. (h/t @pwbeck.bsky.social) Read the full opinion here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Wild: Colorado law enforcement officials warned that ICE/DHS social media posts could convince “white supremacist violent extremists to attempt to join or infiltrate ICE and engage in bias motivated violence, endangering the public, other ICE personnel, and local law enforcement.”

NEW: Quoting George Orwell's 1984, a federal judge in D.C. granted in part the American Historical Association's motion for preliminary injunction and ordered the Trump administration to comply in full with the Presidential Records Act, effective 5/26 at 9:00 a.m.

NEW: Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee blocked an amendment to prevent Trump's new $1.8b fund—created after dropping his IRS suit—from making payouts to five Jan. 6 rioters convicted of sexually abusing children after Trump's pardon.

BLANCHE: "The United States...is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing...examinations or similar or related reviews" against Trump "or related or affiliated individuals," including family members or related companies and trusts.

INBOX: Sen. Blumenthal called on DOJ Deputy Inspector General William Blier to investigate: 1) allegations of FBI Director Kash Patel’s "excessive drinking" and its impact on public safety; and 2) allegations that Patel is "manipulating...arrest statistics" and the FBI’s Most Wanted list

Thanks again to everyone who has reached out, keep 'em coming! I updated CA, PA, MI, MN, and KY, and added HabeasDockets.org to the nationwide databases. And for smaller states/territories (looking at you DC!), I added a "jump to state" dropdown list next to the search bar.

I used to get messages from this guy who is convinced that Elon Musk is bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. I thought the John Carreyrou story would put it to rest, but my sleuth is back with such ironclad evidence as "British-American background," "interest in Japanese culture," & "in his 50s"

Lawfare has obtained a large tranche of materials from the Fulton County election interference investigation into President Trump and his allies. These materials offer the most detailed insight yet into what investigators uncovered. View the documents and recordings, from @annabower.bsky.social.

UPDATE: The redacted opinion in CSI Aviation, Inc. v. Salus Worldwide is out. Chief Judge Solomson (a Trump appointee) dismissed the case for lack of standing, writing that the plaintiff CSI Aviation's "fatal problem..is that it neither alleged nor proved that it could perform the contract."