Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling? Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it: www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf

160 faculty from all 5 UC law schools signed this open letter detailing why the Trump demands to UCLA are unlawful, unconstitutional, and wrong: sites.google.com/view/uclawfa... Great to work with @fishkin.bsky.social @blakeprof.bsky.social @seanashiffrin.bsky.social on this statement.

My new one @slate.com: "Gavin Newsom Just Proved It: Voters Want Democrats to Fight Fire With Fire" slate.com/news-and-pol...

The State Democracy Research Initiative is doing some of the most rigorous and important work out there, thinking through the power of states to check the federal government. Check out this analysis of the ability of states to criminally prosecute federal actors. 👇🏻👇🏻

Check out Staff Attorney Bryna Godar's Lawfare piece analyzing when states can prosecute federal officials for violations of state criminal law.

Editorial cartoon: Don't bread on me. Enjoy :)

A thing I wrote is out now in Ohio St. J. Crim. L.! It's a short essay on how Batson v. Kentucky came together based on the private papers of each of the Justices that term . . . . If you teach the case (or read it in class), you might find it helpful! moritzlaw.osu.edu/sites/defaul...

The Illinois legislature had passed the “Illinois Bivens Act,” allowing people to sue ICE agents in state court. Just waiting for Pritzker’s signature. dailynorthwestern.com/2025/11/03/c...

For one of my final stories with @wired.com, I teamed up with @peggylowe.bsky.social at KCUR to dig through a Kansas City, KS police hack Inside were some of the most disturbing misconduct files I’ve ever read—and a secret list of cops the department said couldnt be trusted Here are a few of them:

I know other profs say this all the time but it's so true: Hearing from terrific former students that they are enjoying their jobs & are doing well (all things considered) is an absolute highlight of the job - and a high point of any week that it happens.

Police officers almost never pay settlements & judgments against them, but are denied indemnification more often than payout data suggests. This great @themarshallproject.org story describes two recent cases & here's my new draft article examining this phenomenon 👇 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is set to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis. What you need to know, for @wttw.bsky.social:

New from me: Elite law firms, multiple media outlets, the D.C. attorney general, and a group of parents accused a teacher of molesting 15 kids. They were wrong. This piece is two-and-a-half years in the making. And as you'll see, it took some incredible turns, even as I was reporting it.

Today's "One First" explains why Stephen Miller is wrong that ICE officers have "federal immunity" from prosecution for all actions they take in their official duties, and that anyone attempting to prosecute them is committing a felony. Supremacy Clause immunity is a thing, but it's *not* absolute:

NEW: The Kavanaugh stop, 50 days later. "What a sick world." I asked Justice Brett Kavanaugh about his September 8 concurrence and the reality that has followed. Because he should be asked. He, unsurprisingly, did not respond. Today, at Law Dork:

“Over 170 U.S. Citizens are being arrested. Why? Because they look like me,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California said, referencing our reporting. “Or because they are suspected to not be a U.S. citizen, or because they are suspected of crimes they have not committed.”

A federal jury this week found a private company that runs detention centers liable for the 2015 death of an inmate in Louisiana and awarded the man’s family $42.75 million in damages.

A federal judge has ordered top Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino into court next week in what could be one of the most dramatic hearings yet over the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration campaign in Chicago. trib.al/B4GpXZo

This article does a nice job explaining how difficult it is to obtain financial accountability for federal government misconduct (if you are not the sitting president making fabricated allegations of wrongdoing), BUT the underlying message is wrong… www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...

Updating my LEGO White House

I’m excited for this! “Groundbreaking” is overused to describe legal scholarship, but in @rlopez.bsky.social’s case, it is apt.

I wrote about the "Kavanaugh stop" newrepublic.com/post/201888/...

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Amazing sign being held by a small child

Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents. I did it because the government isn’t. This is what I found.

More tremendous reporting from @propublica.org about the lack of guardrails and accountability for federal law enforcement. The states can step in if Congress and the Supremes won’t. @uwlawdemocracy.bsky.social is exploring what states can do. 👇🏻 statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu/featured/202...

this is truly invaluable reporting

Tremendous reporting by @nicolefoy.bsky.social @propublica.org- ICE has arrested & detained 170+ US citizens & many have harrowing stories. So many #KavanaughStops. I'm quoted for something I wish wasn't true: it's nearly impossible for people to sue the federal officers who violated their rights.

"For me, in Washington state, we make a pledge to the state and federal constitutions, but it is the state constitution that derives our power — not the (federal) Constitution,” Sanders said. @jesspish.bsky.social 1/ www.chronline.com/stories/sher...

Proud to join this group of 39 Brown University alumni who are law professors in urging the university to reject the Trump-Vance presidency's enforced loyalty "compact": drive.google.com/file/d/1COIp...

Terrific news out of California. Read the whole thread to learn just how nefarious Lexipol’s policy was, and how the California legislature shut it down. Hats off to @steelandballast.bsky.social for bringing this story to light.

need Sunday reading? explore what's on the ballot next month! I put together the 180+ key races you should know about, across 32 states. so explore, & find the ones that interest you the most, here: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the... and let me highlight three under-radar races, in 🧵 below. ⬇️

We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin. When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.

Important piece by Prof. Kate Andrias. This is why treating SCOTUS as the only word on the Constitution gives away our power as citizens. As I frequently say “we are founders and framers” of the next iteration of democracy in this country. GIFT LINK www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

I’m really looking forward to these conversations on Friday. Please register and come/zoom in! harvardlawreview.org/judicial-rev...

Whether you're a casual news reader or a breaking news reporter at the NYTimes, I implore you--please, please, please--do not believe or report DHS/ICE/CBP's side of events uncritically. End the state's monopoly on legitimate storytelling. They are not the objective arbiter of what really happened.

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds. Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

“State constitutionalism makes it easy to consider Roberts Court jurisprudence white noise,” Hawaii Justice Todd Eddins wrote in a recent ruling that assailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority.

THIS!!!

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below. It's especially for journalists covering this story! Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

BREAKING: A federal judge has granted a restraining order blocking President Trump's call-up of the National Guard in Portland. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Call for Papers for 15th Annual Fed Courts Junior Scholars conference is now up: law.ku.edu/junior-facul.... Lots of advanced notice, hope you will consider submitting! Will work on distributing this to various listservs and blogs, but please share if you are able.

Sorry to see schools placed in this situation but very glad Newsom is doing this. www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...

The "compact" is a threat, with the administration explicitly stating that it plans to disfavor universities that don't sign in areas from foreign student visas, student loans, federal contracts as well as grants, and even tax [501(c)(3)] status. It's a maximalist plan of 1st Amendment violation.

Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion. Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.

If you want to see how much a single local official can change things, look no further than Chicago, where the new prosecutor this year has ground exonerations to a halt by hindering the work of the commission that reviews wrongful convictions boltsmag.org/chicago-cook...

Good job Brett

the postcard cited in judge young's ruling isn't just at the top, it's a framing device. the whole opinion is a letter to the postcard writer. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...