Boy are all these ICE stormtroopers going to be surprised when they learn that murder and kidnapping are also state crimes that can’t be pardoned by the president

Tag yourself, I’m literally “nasally voiced Ivy League regulatory lawyer” lol (The Heritage Foundation can go pound sand, it’s darkly ironic that they’re calling anyone else the “least impressive” anything)

Kat Abughezaleh and her colleagues are being prosecuted for political speech. It’s abhorrent and embarrassing, and I hope they (1) win an acquittal, and then (2) sue everyone involved for violating their first amendment rights.

Congressional Democrats should start holding shadow Congress during the shutdown. Get together daily. Have an oversight committee do hearings on Trump corruption and crime. Ways and Means details the budget they would pass. Talk about a new infrastructure bill, a new jobs act. Show what govt can be.

It’s like he got bored of breaking the obvious laws, like the laws against murder and kidnapping and bribery, so he’s moving on to the Anti-Deficiency Act Lawbreaking like it’s Pokémon, gotta break em all

The next head of the Civil Division of the DOJ should and must, on Jan 20, 2029, file a TRO for a complete asset freeze / civil forfeiture for every penny Trump and his family have taken from the government. Every single corruptly-taken penny.

I absolutely cannot fathom why Dems don’t just … give her the oath and swear her in. There’s no law or regulation that says the Speaker must administer the oath! She should just say the oath and that’s it!

It would be (darkly) fascinating to see a breakdown of which of Trump’s enablers: (1) know he’s a demented infant but they’re cynically playing along to amass their own power versus (2) are so dumb or Fox News brain-rotted that they actually think he’s doing a good job

He’s figuratively portraying himself as a king shitting on Americans He’s literally tearing apart the White House I’m not sure how the symbolism could be any more clear

The fact that major media outlets don’t report on the president posting a video of himself as a king shitting on Americans because it’s too horrible and offensive …

Happy Columbus Day

Proud of MIT (where I’m currently paying tuition…) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

Also: when a government acts brutally and lawlessly and immorally, but tells you that pointing those things out incites violence and terrorism, that government and its agents are entitled to no respect or credence.

The Supreme Court is absolutely 100% dependent on good faith; the notion that lower courts will respect and follow their rulings. If lower courts lose respect for the Supreme Court, as is very obviously happening, they will no longer feel bound. At that point, we’re in a really new era.

Old English and Beowulf nerds cry softly (sniff)

To all the people on the right who were railing against Critical Legal Studies: Kavanuagh’s concurrence yesterday, approving arrests and harassment of Latinos because they look Latino or speak Spanish, is *exactly* why Critical Legal Studies is, well, critical.

I was born in Colo. Springs. It’s a deep deep red dot in a purple state. Trump moving Space Command out of the Springs to Alabama because he’s mad at Colorado goes to show: You can never have enough fealty to a dictator. He’ll screw you anyway, whenever he wants, if he’s mad at something else.

When your programming skills are too old

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

I believe in old testament justice An eye for an eye; a life for a life; and that guy should be sentenced to have a sandwich thrown at his chest (Charging him with a felony is ridiculous)

the thing everyone is going to have to accept is that the post-trump period, whenever it comes, will not and cannot be a project of national unity, it must be a project of partisan project of renewal, in the same way that reconstruction and the new deal were partisan projects of renewal.

More assaults and kidnappings have been committed in America by ICE than Tren de Aragua. And it isn’t particularly a close call. And TdA members have been arrested and charged. ICE operates with total impunity, with the abuses that inevitably result. americasquarterly.org/article/how-...

The scam text reachouts get weirder and weirder. I just got one that simply asked "do you believe in the afterlife," and man, I'm not even convinced of this one

I don’t think people really understand how disastrous bad governance can be. Americans tend not to really grasp the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, the Holodomor, the Great Purge, even the Nazis (despite pop culture knowledge). We just assume “it can’t happen here.”

In the past year Tesla’s revenues are down 12% and its stock price is down 25%. If that performance earns someone $29 billion, then oh boy is something seriously wrong.

This is a graph of how much Trump raised your taxes

Any journalist writing about tariffs should note that the Constitution explicitly says "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises." Not the President. Congress. (Invoking IEEPA requires an "emergency." There's no emergency for any of these tariffs.)

A lifetime* appointment * until his arrest and prosecution for kidnapping and obstruction of justice

I’d go further: Judge Srinivasan should issue an order to show cause why the DOJ shouldn’t be held in contempt for filing a frivolous misconduct charge in an active case, which is an attempt to obstruct the proceedings or improperly influence the judge.

@asharangappa.bsky.social I would go further —in directing people to flout court orders to return a person from improper custody, I’d argue Bove is a conspirator in a literal kidnapping. A Democratic House can impeach (but the Senate won’t remove). A Democratic DOJ can, and should, *prosecute.*

NYT out here just doing Onion memes

It’s supposed to be a joke, either he’s (1) lying and making this up; (2) punching down at a blue-collar professional (or a man who had life issues that prevented his success); or (3) just being an asshole about the humanities degree that got him into Harvard Law School.

This article focuses on the effects of the immigration dragnet on the company that employed the immigrants. But we haven’t come close to dealing with all the terrible ripple effects that are already taking place. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...

I imagine that Todd Blanche understands that witness tampering is a crime that the next DOJ — and there will be one — can, should, and will prosecute.

This was money that Congress approved, and then Trump illegally impounded. Celebrating its release is like celebrating the return of a hostage: yeah it’s great it’s back, but thanking the kidnappers seems a bit silly. And it begs the question: what did you pay for its release?

More accurate headline: Trump makes Americans pay 15% more for Japanese cars, electronics Or Trump hikes Toyota, Honda, Sony prices 15%

We’re just a few days away from the right-wing media mouthpieces loudly telling us the Epstein stuff was so long ago it’s outside the statute of limitations anyway, time to move on

The massive tax cuts bill, with only tiny cuts in spending, will lead to a much higher deficit, debt, and inflation. It won’t start immediately (will lag a year or so) but will persist. It’s Trumpflation. Start calling it that. Trumpflation is inevitable.

For … the worse, right? Changed for the worse? Surely that’s what you mean? Or does building concentration camps for innocent minorities and covering up his relation with Jeff Epstein somehow represent… a step forward?

Re tariffs — Trump is trying really hard to raise your taxes, even after the courts told him that was illegal. He’s breaking the law so he can tax you more. It’s that simple.

It's become pretty clear over the past 3 weeks and/or 3 years that the "Democrats need to expand the Supreme Court right now" enthusiasts were correct in 2021, and that if and when Democrats regain power, they cannot get caught flat-footed again slate.com/news-and-pol...

It’s why fascist leaders make their lieutenants repeat obvious big lies; why violent gangs force initiates to commit a crime. It binds them; makes them complicit; demands absolute loyalty. You’re part of the criminal enterprise now; no going back. You have to mouth the criminal party line, or else.

I cannot wait for the next honest head of the Civil Division of the DOJ. Freeze and recoup everything stolen from the public coffers, everything obtained by corruption.

A large pot sits in plain sight. There’s a frog in it. Every day, Leader announces his plans to boil the frog. His campaign slogan was “BOIL THAT FROG.” He has already made at least one run on the stove. A man stirs the pot with a large stick. “It’s a metaphor,” he says.

Protect trans kids 🏳️‍⚧️

Thinking about military parades for some reason

The next head of the Civil Division of the DOJ should sue on day 1 to recover all of these assets — and obtain a freeze over the assets until repaid.

Happy pride month Protect trans kids 🏳️‍⚧️

Had the privilege of arguing today. Whatever the results may be, I’m always grateful for the rule of law. #appellateplaces #appellatesky