Immergut opinion cool-headed and understated but absolute bullseye on most important question, and I mean in multiple settings, of deference to his findings, which Ninth Circuit says must be given. Still must be w/in a "range of honest judgment," and this isn't. Delicate way of saying he's a liar.

From Immergut opinion: "Pres is certainly entitled “a great level of deference ..But a great level of deference is not equivalent to ignoring the facts on the ground. Must reflect a colorable assement w/in a range of honest judgment. The President’s determination was simply UNTETHERED TO THE FACTS."

Really one of the cleanest best most eloquent opinions any district court has delivered since January. And she is a Trump appointee.

A really stirring opinion from Judge Karen Immergut (Boalt 87!) blocking Trump’s military assault on Portland, calling it, elegantly, “ untethered to facts.” “Whether we choose to follow what the Constitution mandates …goes to the heart of what it means to live under the rule of law in the US.”

bsky.app/profile/govp... Life during wartime. Chicago is now occupied territory.

Ferlinghetti: “Pity the nation whose leaders are liars Whose sages are silenced and whose bigots haunt the airwaves”

20 year DOJ vet lead counsel on critical terrorism case, fired b/c he once worked in career role for Lisa Monaco.They are simply strangling the DOJ. 1/3 of leadership has left. And the cost here has to be reckoned in public safety. Everything gets sacrificed to absurd views of loyalty and revenge.

going out of their way to say Trump Admin view of birthright citizenship is inane

here is a possible game changer for Abrego. and a very good augury for Jim Comey

It’s a rank first amendment violation unless they also fire any trainee who displays any “political signage,”including MAGA messages. Kash Patel fires FBI agent trainee for displaying gay pride flag

Nauseating. President Trump hailed the use of military force to police American cities, telling generals and admirals during a Tuesday address that it was important to quell “the enemy within.” “SF, Chicago, New York, LA, they’re very unsafe places and we’re gonna straighten them out one by one.”

Judge leaves room for Nevada US Attorney's office to revive cases after US Attorney disqualified. But can't do that in EDVA if Halligan's appointment improper. The statute of limitations ran yesterday at midnight! harrylitman.substack.com/publish/post...

Telling a group of generals there’s “an enemy within”—basically meaning the left – that must be “brought under control”? That’s straight fascist stuff.

Bodes ill for Halligan. open.substack.com/pub/harrylit... Judge Disqualifies Nevada’s Acting U.S. Attorney From Handling Cases www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...

TODAY at 8pm EST/5pm PST I'll be on the @talkingfeds.bsky.social Substack for our weekly LIVE Q&A for paid subscribers. Subscribe here (bit.ly/TFSubstack) and comment your questions below this post

Quite a jarring sendup of Meta, including plenty of surprises. @paulthedogman.bsky.social breaks it down here.

In “Comey Before the Storm,” Harry brings together @jonathanalter.bsky.social, #PaulFishman & @mimirocah1.bsky.social to parse the Comey indictment, the bribery scandal surrounding Tom Homan, and the hopeful return of Jimmy Kimmel to TV. bit.ly/ComeyTF

Here you have it—an ALL NEW @talkingfeds.bsky.social w/ @jonathanalter.bsky.social, #PaulFishman & @mimirocah1.bsky.social. We cover the Comey indictment, Homan bribery scandal, & Jimmy Kimmel’s return to the airwaves. bit.ly/ComeyTF

A shocking Comey indictment shakes the rule of law, a bribery scandal engulfs immigration czar Tom Homan, and Jimmy Kimmel returns to TV—a small respite for free speech. Bright & early Mon., Talking Feds breaks it all down.

A typically provocative and comprehensive discussion by @ianmastersmedia.bsky.social puts me through my paces of more or less evertything Comey and more. Thanks, @ianmastersmedia.bsky.social !

Halligan presented the Comey case herself to the Grand Jury, which is a) remarkable, b) hugely risky, and c) a poss indication that nobody in the office wants anything to do with the case. The real proof will come as she tries to staff the case-- Will the staff as a whole balk?

By the way, it’s axiomatic that the DOJ won’t reveal the name of someone under investigation, because they may prove innocent and it would harm their reputation. Here that’s actually part of the bounty and motivation for Trump— Dirty them up not withstanding no basis to charge

A grotesque & panoramic abuse of the DOJ is now unfolding before our eyes, w/ orders from top to investigate Comey, Soros's foundation, etc, all of whom have 2 things in common. 1) no evidence of wrongdoing; 2) Trump hates them. Looking forward to discussing on @allinwithchris.bsky.social at 8 PM ET

TODAY at 9pm EST/6pm PST I'll be on the @talkingfeds.bsky.social Substack for our weekly LIVE Q&A for paid subscribers. Subscribe here (bit.ly/TFSubstack) and comment your questions below this post

Going LIVE w/ @klasfeldreports.com at 3:45 PM ET to talk, among other things, about all the political intererference at DOJ. Join us on Adam's @substack live at @allrisenews.com.

This month’s Molly Mashup is here. @mollyjongfast.bsky.social & Harry swap questions on Trump’s authoritarian bent, DOJ in freefall, Kimmel & censorship, and RFK’s dangerous anti-science play. Sharp, funny, and sobering in equal measure. Listen here: bit.ly/TFMollyXI

Here's a neat trick EDVA USATTY Halligan could try. Insist that either Todd Blanche – remember who did it in the Adams case – or Pam Bondi sign any indictment of Comey and put their licenses on the line. Too bad it's a little late for Emil Bove...

Hooray for my brave old colleagues in the EDVA US attorneys office. They've apparently produced a memo laying out while there's no PC to indict Comey. If Trump flunky Lindsey Halligan goes ahead and indicts him anyway, she could be looking at severe professional sanctions even possibly disbarment.

With the US Attorney out of the way and Trump sycophant in office, they actually seem to be gearing up to indict Jim Comey mey in the EDVA in the coming days. Supposedly for perjury to Congress in 2020 (statute due to expire). An absolute outrage and you have to hope it ends in humilation for them

How exactly does it work for a country to go to hell? Do all the soil and the buildings and the parks all go to hell? Do they need to build a huge new annex to hell to jam the countries in with the incorporeal spirits of the condemned? Asking for a friend.

Kimmel: "This show is not important. What’s important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”

It’s going to be hard to keep the tape bottled up, and once it comes out, the “I did nothing illegal“ posture will not play well Trump Administration Live Updates: Democrats Open Inquiries Into Handling of Homan Investigation www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

By the way, when Ingraham asks Homan about the 50 K in a bag, and he doesn’t deny it but just says I did nothing illegal, it’s pretty obvious that it or something very much like it happened. And if it did, crazy to shut down investigation so soon. Pretty clear administration isn’t being straight.

Leavitt is now saying this didn’t happen. Another collision course with the truth. And assuming it did happen, closure of case completely premature n/w/s legal Q’s. Fasten seat belts. Trump Justice Dept. Closed Investigation Into Tom Homan for Accepting Bag of Cash www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

Ugh. Court in shadow docket decision, agrees to reconsider Humphrey's Executor and permits Trump to violate it in the interim. Kagan in dissent: “Our emergency docket should never be used, as it has been this year, to permit what our own precedent bars." Or to transfer power from Cong to Exec.

After Trump's championing of the decision to yank Kimmel, should be really interesting to see how they react to his return to the air and how they try to position it in terms of popular sovereignty. Absent some duty on the part of Disney to cowtow to Trump, what is the possible pushback?

With Trump so focused on self-aggrandizement, and so indifferent to law and the Constitution, the ability of popular sovereignty to push back is perhaps the most important weapon of the resistance. In that respect, Kimmel's return to ABC on next Tuesday is a positively huge development.

HOLY COW! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Great great great. Jimmy Kimmel’s Show to Return to ABC on Tuesday Night www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/b...

In “Autocracy Live!” Harry is joined by @juliettekayyem.bsky.social & @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social to assess Trump’s removal of Jimmy Kimmel & other critics, his bid to shatter Fed independence, and the controversies piling up around FBI Director Kash Patel. bit.ly/AutocracyTF

Here you have it—an ALL NEW @talkingfeds.bsky.social w/ @juliettekayyem.bsky.social & @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social. We take stock of Trump’s purge of comedians, his assault on Fed independence, & the checkered tenure of FBI Director Kash Patel. bit.ly/AutocracyTF

“Free speech is ultimately instrumental. It ensures accountability, fosters wisdom, protects against civil violence, and more; in essence, it underwrites every other liberty.” open.substack.com/pub/harrylit...

“Take this as me shouting from the rooftops: there is no greater abuse—none—than forcing a prosecutor to bring charges against the president’s political enemies without adequate evidence.” open.substack.com/pub/harrylit...

Actually, yes, or at least many people think so. That’s a principal theme of the behind the Iron Curtain fiction of the Cold War years. More generally, it’s important to realize that autocracies are basically boring, and people still go to cafés. But something very precious has been lost.

And when the selective prosecution claim are brought by Trump’s enemies such as James, look for district courts to resolve on express constitutional grounds to bar re-trial. Although that wouldn’t prevent courts of appeals from reversing and permitting re-trial.

Selective prosecution is an inordinately difficult defense to make. But a finding of inadequate evidence, followed by a firing of the US attorney who made that finding, followed by a presidential command to the Attorney General to prosecute his enemies is the strongest possible footing. Look for it.

America is starting to look like a classic autocracy: Jimmy Kimmel yanked from TV for displeasing Trump, Trump targeting the Fed’s independence, and Kash Patel’s FBI in turmoil. Bright & early Mon., Talking Feds breaks it all down.

The burial of the Homan case — 50 k in cash in a cava bag??!!—would be strange and troubling even in a department of justice that enjoyed a presumption of regularity. In this department, which has lost that presumption, it stinks to high heaven and requires investigation.

Several people remarked I seem sober and serious in this hit w/ @chrislhayes.bsky.social. Got that right. There is no higher duty-none-for a prosecutor then not to indict when evid is insufficient. & there is no lower blow then firing a USAtty for discharging that duty. www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch...

The first principle ingrained in any AUSA it that you may not indict without sufficient evidence. The due process clause requires it. It’s as if the White House were telling Steibert to jump off a cliff. Looking forward to discussing with. @chrislhayes.bsky.social on @msnbc.com at 8:25 PM ET.