The short arc of Sean Dunn’s sandwich throwing case ends with a not guilty verdict today. Our fresh recap:

"Sandwich Guy" found not guilty of assault ---- Gift Article by @zjmontague.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

Jurors in the sandwich thrower trial (Sean Dunn) have sent a note asking for a definition of "bodily harm" and how they should understand "injury" in the context of this case. Judge Nichols plans to prep a response by 11:15. Deliberation has now been going on for about three hours since yesterday.

NEVER MIND THAT TRUTH: Despite Trump's about-face on SNAP, Justice Department attorneys say USDA is complying with and not defying court order to make partial SNAP payments to states. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

not to bring the vibe down, but my guess is that after tonight Trump will probably double down on gerrymandering, voter suppression, and intimidation as tactics to disincentivize Dem turnout ahead of next year‘s midterms. (with margins like these, it won’t matter, but it’s a time to be vigilant)

The trial of Sean Dunn has so far included testimony by the CBP agent who got hit with the Subway sandwich about what that experience was like, and a defense by Dunn's attorneys that throwing the sandwich was an "exclamation point" on protected, political speech in protest against the DC takeover.

Not just Kavanaugh stops. Kavanaugh ransacking of apartments. open.substack.com/pub/migranti...

A few belated notes from jury selection today: - all of voir dire was done with the husher on, so no way to know who was disqualified or on what grounds - that drew a motion to do it over from Dunn’s atty citing 1st and 6th amendment concerns - Nichols said a do-over seemed “drastic” and denied

This is true

The liberal justices are not only outnumbered – they’re divided on strategy/tone. Here’s my reporting on their thorny dilemma, the tensions that have arisen, and the Kagan/Jackson divide. Thank you so much for reading, and as always, curious to hear reactions. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/u...

NEW: More than 100 federal judges have now rejected the Trump administration’s new policy to lock up nearly everyone facing deportation — including 12 judges appointed by Trump, according to a POLITICO analysis. Only 2 judges have sided with ICE. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Alex Berenson argued in federal court that the unvaccinated are a “protected class,” akin to racial and ethnic minorities and other groups who have historically faced discrimination. The judge disagreed. www.importantcontext.news/p/federal-co...

Ciattarelli is promising to work closely with the Trump Administration on immigration enforcement. Asked if the ICE raids in New Jersey this year give him any pause, Ciattarelli responds: “I have not seen ICE raids in New Jersey." time.com/7329831/jack...

Another indictment of the Biden admin’s concerns about the image of the DOJ eclipsing mission-driven work

SCOOP: After being cleared by three grand juries and acquitted by a trial jury, Sidney Reid breaks her silence on @allrisenews.com. She tells Trump that Jeanine Pirro's prosecutions are the epitome of waste: "Cut her." Exclusive www.allrisenews.com/p/exclusive-...

The Habba-ing continues: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

NEW: We just filed a lawsuit alongside 25 states to restore SNAP food assistance during the federal shutdown. 141,000 DC residents rely on SNAP to afford their meals — including 47,000 children and 24,000 seniors. We will do everything in our power to prevent DC families from going hungry.

The GOP has been extremely effective at shaping perceptions of the Democrats, claiming they support policy positions they don't actually support If your strategy, as a Dem, for winning in 2028 *STARTS* by buying their spin and lies, then you've already lost www.gelliottmorris.com/p/the-strate...

"ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds." www.wired.com/story/chatbo...

Gift link The Peril of a White House That Flaunts Its Indifference to the Law The White House has made no legal argument explaining its bald claim that the president has wartime power to summarily kill people suspected of smuggling drugs. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...

Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.

I’m back at the Boston Globe, writing for the Ideas section. My first piece is about how we can still lose our freedom even if legal protections like the First Amendment remain intact: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/19/o...

NBC News finds that: -- ICE has shortened its training from 13 weeks to six. -- Nearly half of recruits couldn’t pass an open-book written exam. -- Recruits "are supposed to attest" they can pass the physical-fitness test, which requires them to run ... 6 mph. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

The changing face of the ninth circuit really on display in all the senior judges who joined the dissent

EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification. I glanced down at the message. “Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began. So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...

Two Trump-appointed judges of the Ninth Circuit let Trump send the troops into Portland, pausing another Trump appointee's TRO. The only non-Trump appointee denounces the "political theater" behind the deployment, calling for an en banc review to stop it. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Now updated: The 'Presumption of Regularity' study. 1. Noncompliance with judicial orders: 20 cases 2. Courts’ distrust of DOJ information: 43+ cases 3. Courts’ findings of “arbitrary and capricious” conduct: 58 cases www.justsecurity.org/120547/presu...

A statement from The New York Times on the Pentagon’s press pass policy:

If Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act falls, Democrats might need to win the national popular vote by 5 to 6 points to take control of the House, via Nate Cohn www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

it also highlights a big point of the political project across social networks, which is to find ways to make this kind of dehumanizing and hatred less surprising and acceptable as a part of a culture. its why i've always felt weird about the mainstreaming of so much 4chan langauge and meme stuff

At the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, a Facebook group used by nearly 80,000 people to report sightings of federal immigration agents in the Chicago area has been taken down by the social media giant Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

NEWS: ICE gave a Rogers Park man a $130 ticket for not having his papers on him. They rounded him up last week and eventually let him go, but not without a fine that some critics say is un-American. Trump admin enforcing little-used law www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...

More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public.

Today’s “One First” looks at how #SCOTUS and its defenders have responded to criticisms of the Court’s behavior in Trump cases either by knocking down straw men or by attacking the critics—without meaningfully defending what the Court is actually *doing*: www.stevevladeck.com/p/183-the-mi...

Of all the news in this NYT survey of sitting federal judges - incl 47 of them think the SCt is mishandling its emergency docket - maybe the biggest is that 65 sitting fed judges (37D, 28R), folks circumspect for a living, responded to a NYT survey. Stunning. And a sign that something is very wrong.

More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

NEW: We talked to 65 federal judges about the Supreme Court’s use of the emergency docket during Trump’s 2nd term, how it impacts morale in the lower courts, and its effect on the public’s view of the judiciary. They had a lot to say. Free gift link … www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

George was just trying to get to work. ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process. This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.

BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook) Follow @heartlandsignal for more.

Tonight: Judge Zia Faruqui rejects attempts by prosecutors to forge ahead after failing to secure an indictment against a man swept up in Trump’s DC law enforcement surge Earlier today, he similarly expunged the record of a man arrested at Trader Joe’s for fiddling with his backpack.

WSJ: President Trump believed his Truth Social post demanding prosecutions of James Comey and other political foes was a private message to his attorney general, and "and was surprised to learn it was public." www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

NEW: While Qatar helps with Gaza talks, it's trying to mediate the US-Venezuela conflict. But Trump is cold on diplomacy. He has put 10,000 troops in the Caribbean and is continuing airstrikes on civilian boats. And Rubio pushes to oust Maduro. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Incredibly alarming—after the whole ridiculous antifa roundtable at the White House, as Mark was moving with his family to Europe after threats…

ICE is not only chasing down every random brown person in Chicago, they have a cameraman following them to film this for social media. Cruelty and inhumanity as content.

Pam Bondi yesterday followed the Trump administration’s practice so far of declining to confirm or deny whether Tom Homan ever accepted $50K from undercover agents. But if he did, it may be bordering on the impossible for a future DOJ to ever get that money back.

Just in: Planned Parenthood wins summary judgment in its case over new conditions for the Teenage Pregnancy Prevention program. New requirements added in July required grantees to update their curriculum materials to match the administration’s line on gender and scrub some references to safe sex

NEW: A 20-year federal prosecutor, fired abruptly this week even as he lead case against Abbey Gate bomber, warns his colleagues: the Trump administration is sacrificing national security to purge Trump's perceived adversaries. w/ @dnlbrns www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

They seem heartbroken over this

Will be very interesting/funny if the “trade school” Harvard will “operate” as part of this agreeement is actually its own already operating Harvard extension school

It's like a Choose Your Own Hatch Act Violation.