Shadow it was and shadow it shall remain, more so the complaints from judges.

THIS is among the most important list of documents the public needs to see. www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

Thanks much, Leah. I think it's noteworthy that *no* Justices thought that the SG's unconvincing alternative argument that Trump had properly invoked the *rebellion* provision of 12406 was even worthy of discussion or refutation; and ... [1]

“I write separately to concur with the judgment but on narrower grounds and to ask you to stop calling me a racist.”

Justice Kavanaugh v. the Kavanaugh Stop

Interesting that Justice Kavanaugh decided he had to add footnote 4 to his concurrence, which addresses the "State’s underlying objections to the activities of federal immigration officers when they make immigration stops."

Marty Lederman to eat for free in Chicago for the rest of his life

Over public dissents from Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, #SCOTUS refuses to allow President Trump to deploy federalized National Guard troops into and around Chicago. This is a major loss for President Trump, even if, per Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence, it’s temporary and on narrow legal Q:

Kudos to @martylederman.bsky.social , who’s most responsible for this good result.

Seems clear that this decision was caused by @martylederman.bsky.social's amicus brief.

Big ups to Marty Lederman @martylederman.bsky.social who flagged this argument that SCOTUS relied on (that regular forces refer to military forces, not federal law enforcement).

Looks like @martylederman.bsky.social FTW.

Very honored this paper won an award! www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

this is insane to me. the doj had forever to look into this. now they're like liveblogging on x like they have no more information than a random person on social media

What @murshedz.bsky.social said.

What on earth? The admin’s argument is precisely that detainees are not entitled to judicial review and it has fought arguments to the contrary at every stage (and repeatedly lost)

We are talking about people who hand picked the current conservative majority. Abandoning an institution which they built. Because of its association with the people who make up the current admin’s base. Ok, I’m done.

Professor Wurman appears to have deleted his citation to the Courrier des États-Unis’s 1862 editorial, which by the way was a southern sympathizing newspaper, as evidentiary support against birthright citizenship with no follow up correction.

Someone wrote a response to The New York Times and said this opinion was hogwash, citing the common law rule!

1/ I see Ed Meese is back in the news. He played a key role in 1980s debate over original meaning of Free Exercise Clause, overseeing 178-page DOJ report concluding there is no right to religious exemptions from rules governing benefit programs, thus "Sherbert and Thomas were wrongly decided." p.73.

Ok two more things then I'm done: 1. Contrary to what is often said, it can be too late to do the right thing. if you wait too long, you're probably doing less good than you might have done, and for the wrong reasons 2. It is good when people stop aiding fascist projects, even in small ways

"Pulling the Supreme Court back from the cliff is something progressives should view as far preferable to the alternative—where it may not just be the Court that gets pushed over the edge and into oblivion, but our entire constitutional (and democratic) order." Me in today's issue of "One First":

A fantastic NYT report: Donors to Trump get pardons, jobs, & access - and benefited from regulatory decisions the Trump admin has made. SUPER timely as SCOTUS is about to kill agency independence & give POTUS more control over agencies (likely to donors' benefit) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

But “get the principals onscreen debating” has never been even remotely how 60 Minutes did journalism. What Weiss is saying here is “I’m burning down 60 Minutes and replacing it with Crossfire even if I keep the name.” //

Going where 60 Minutes fears to tread . . .

Guess who said it (and when)? "For some white men, preoccupation with oppression has become the defining feature of their existence. They have fallen prey to the very aspects of the modern ideology of victimology that they deplore." (Answer in the next post).

Great blog by ace Brookes colleague Lucy Vickers on proportionality tests to resolve tensions between religious autonomy and non-discrimination:

It sure looks like Bari Weiss is now acting as censor for an authoritarian regime, and getting rich for doing it. #Principles

Bari Weiss epitomizes the right wing "free speech" grift. Step 1: Spend years convincing ppl that college kids are destroying free speech thru their protests. Step 2: Gain massive govt &/or marketplace power to block dissent against, or facts inconvenient to the most powerful ppl on earth.

Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:

This is what happens when you allow the executive to have arbitrary power over "some" people: it instantaneously morphs into arbitrary power over EVERYONE, because one use of arbitrary power is to undermine the boundaries between status categories WE LEARNED THIS SHIT IN 1850, FOR FUCK'S SAKE

This WaPo piece weaves together an incredibly powerful story about the way Trump has devastated government and the dedicated people who wake up every day to serve the public. wapo.st/4b14KAy

We are in the maelstrom of a multi-century struggle for this nation. If we don’t understand that, then we will fail to understand what’s at stake. And we will under-react to the danger of this moment. That is why we need to know how history brings us here.

Hot dog guying intensifies

The Right to Exit Religion is finally out in the Georgetown Law Journal. For anyone interested: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The lengths Trump is going to to avoid releasing these files is EXTREME. I was not originally a believer that he had something massive to hide here but his behavior is pretty much proving the opposite. At this point we must conclude there's something damning there that he'll never let out.

Over no public dissents, #SCOTUS *denies* Trump administration's application for a stay in the immigration judges case (about whether the dispute should be in a district court or before the Merit Systems Protection Board). It's the Trump administration's first real loss at #SCOTUS since April.

For $10 extra they will omit The Rise of Skywalker.

Note 7 and accompanying text for the win.

By doing so here, the Trump Administration runs smack into the prohibition on Medicare and Medicaid regulating the practice of medicine (as opposed to deciding what they'll pay for). Congress recognized regulating the practice of medicine is a state function, not one for Medicare/Medicaid.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/u... Being unqualified, incompetent, and generally an absurd choice for a position is no barrier to working in this administration, but it does make it hard to actually do the job, and Bongino didn't like doing hard work. Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey

Now this 👇is how to write an obituary for a racist. "A man would carry such a prejudice to his grave has undoubtedly gone to hell, if there is such a place and if not, a hell should be made for his especial benefit."

Jim Geraghty, National Review

DHS gave a $1 billion contract to a politically-connected donor whose company had never received a federal contract before, in a process led by a political appointee to DHS who had held a senior position at a MAGA-linked org (the American First Policy Institute) which gave the guy an award in 2024.

I hope the candidates and strategists in my party read this careful, data-driven post by @gelliottmorris.com . open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...

The VF profile notes Wiles was incorrect about violent Jan. 6 defendants receiving greater-than-recommended sentences, but it doesn’t capture how wildly off base she was. I don’t think there was a single above-guidelines sentence given in a J6 felony case. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...

A vital read.

Supplements/corrections in the National Guard in Chicago case: In my amicus briefs in Trump v. Illinois, on the Applications Docket (No. 25A443), I cited a 1917 memo by esteemed Army JAG Enoch Crowder that appeared to confirm that the statutory term "the regular forces" refers to the Army. [1]

HOW 🤯