Today’s “One First” looks at the status of the birthright citizenship cases—and their broader lessons for what we miss when we ignore the cases in which the Trump administration is both (1) losing; and (2) *not* seeking emergency/expedited appellate relief. It turns out that those are the majority:

“There is a connection between…contemporary tragedies and the fire-eaters of the pre-Civil War period: similar rhetoric.” My latest in @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/beware-tod...

Gift Article - @peterbakernyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/u...

From Yale Law professor and First Amendment expert Robert Post: verfassungsblog.de/turn-against...

Breaking wapo.st/4pDYmV0

Gift article. Trump Demands That Bondi Move ‘Now’ to Prosecute Foes His demand came a day after he ousted the federal prosecutor who failed to charge two of his most-reviled adversaries, Letitia James and James B. Comey. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

Gift article. Trump Demands That Bondi Move ‘Now’ to Prosecute Foes His demand came a day after he ousted the federal prosecutor who failed to charge two of his most-reviled adversaries, Letitia James and James B. Comey. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “I got to know Redford over friendly lunches and dinners and interviews for The Times and at Harvard’s Kennedy School,” our columnist Maureen Dowd writes. “And that rarest of things happened: He was everything you hoped he would be.”

Breaking News: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that prohibits federal immigration agents from wearing masks in California.

“Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors."This doesn't just constrain Democrats. It applies to all officeholders, including you. You took an oath to the Constitution not to Donald Trump.

Breaking wapo.st/4nJSE26

Hey Brendan "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" Carr: Last year in National Rifle Association v. Vullo, the Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed this fundamental principle of our constitutional republic:

I’ve been asked to speak many times about gun violence over the last decade….and here are some thoughts on my experience @wbur.org @cogwbur.bsky.social www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Gift Article: In Pressuring ABC Over Kimmel, Trump May Have Crossed a Constitutional Line The Supreme Court has distinguished bully-pulpit persuasion, which is permissible under the First Amendment, from coercion and threats, which are not. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...

Worth remembering this interview with Kay Graham and how she handled publication of the Pentagon Papers. They had just taken the paper public. And they owned tv stations which faced licensing pressures. www.npr.org/2017/12/15/5...

Was on Colbert discussing the First amendment and government pressure against speech and speakers it doesn’t like youtu.be/6KXiVt1Yc64

“If We Do Not Have The Ability To Criticize Our Leaders, We Are No Longer...” @jaketapper.bsky.social m.youtube.com/watch?v=6KXi...

Can Trump Actually Designate Antifa a Terrorist Group? Here Are the Facts. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...

New: A federal judge on Friday struck Donald Trump's $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times (NYT.N), opens new tab over its content, calling it a "decidedly improper" effort to attack an adversary. www.reuters.com/business/med...

Gift Article www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/b...

“Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100%,” Colbert told his audience at “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” “This is blatant censorship,” he said, adding that “Tonight, we are all Jimmy Kimmel.” https://cnn.it/4mp2wNw

NEW: The Defense Department has tightened cybersecurity requirements for its cloud services providers. The changes come after ProPublica revealed how Microsoft’s use of China-based engineers left sensitive government data vulnerable to hacking. By @reneedudley.bsky.social

Late-night television host Stephen Colbert gave a full-throated defense of Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday night and called President Donald Trump an “autocrat.”

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

New: Jimmy Kimmel’s sudden suspension shocked his staff — and celebrity guests who were en route to appear on the show @elizabethwag.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/09/17/e...

WGA Statement on ABC’s Decision to Pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Breaking - ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel show “indefinitely” www.cnn.com/2025/09/17/m...

Breaking: One of the country's biggest owners of ABC stations, Nexstar, says it will preempt Jimmy Kimmel's show "for the foreseeable future" because it "strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk." Via @brianstelter.bsky.social

New: FCC chair threatens ABC and Disney over Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk www.cnn.com/2025/09/17/m...

“It turns out that when kids aren’t allowed to doom scroll, take rude pictures of each other or rot their brains on TikTok during lunch hour or in study hall, they get bored enough to go to the library,” Jessica Grose writes.

Breaking

Tropical Storm Gabrielle formed over the Central Atlantic on Wednesday, ending an extended quiet period during what is normally the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. Track the storm's path.

NEW: Recently we reported on L.A. honor student and track star Nory Sontay Ramos and her mom Estela, deported after a routine immigration check-in. Weeks after we met them in Guatemala, where they were in hiding, Estela died suddenly. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/d...

Tests by two foreign laboratories show that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned before his death in an Arctic penal colony last year, his wife says.

Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream brand, has stepped down from the company he started 47 years ago citing a retreat from its campaigning spirit under parent company Unilever.

Trump’s aggressive moves to target only his political opponents is a continuation of his attempts to wield power to punish people and institutions that power the political left or that he believes wronged him. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/u...

From @theathletic.com: “The Natural” is not a kids' movie, not like “Little Big League” or “The Sandlot.” The success of the film revived the genre. Much of its power came from Robert Redford's credibility as an athlete on screen. nyti.ms/42xTVkk

“.. There has to be a line between crime and war,” said John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush. @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

The triple threat… a brilliant actor, director and filmmaker… May his memory be a blessing and our love goes out to his family www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/e...

NPR is tracking the record number of lawmakers in Congress who have already announced they don't plan to run for reelection ahead of the 2026 midterms.

JUST IN: Trump launches a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times — naming reporters Peter Baker, Michael Schmidt, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner — because he doesn't like what they have written/reported about him. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...