I don't think it would be possible to overstate Blake's influence on the DNA revolution in criminal justice and the exonerations that followed. He genuinely changed the world for the better. Rest in peace. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/s...

1/ Today Boston senior federal judge William Young has issued a clarion defense of the 1st Amendment rights of non-citizens which may go down as the most notable decision of his 47-year career. It begins with an unheard-of preface *above the caption* which reproduces a threat he received in chambers

If there's a MI gov't shutdown after midnight tonight, and until further MI Supreme Court order, filing deadlines for the MSC, COA, and Court of Claims may be extended. Does NOT include statutory deadlines for filing a notice of intent or a complaint in the Court of Claims.

In a published op, the MI COA reverses aggravated-stalking & computer-crime convictions tied to probation-related texting to PO. Court applies a role-specific “reasonable person” lens (probation agent) & finds no significant emotional distress on these facts. Predicate fails → computer-crime falls.

Diligent background reporting by @bridgemi.com 👇

h/t to Judge Schlegel for drawing attention to this trial court ruling where self-represented plaintiffs submitted deepfake videos and altered images in support of their motion for summary judgment. cdn.prod.website-files.com/601987a724bd...

Pink Floyd v. Board of Education

Governance must shift from prevention to risk containment,” Dai said. “This means stronger human-in-the-loop processes, domain-specific guardrails, and continuous monitoring.”

A set of orders issued Friday moved the case forward to the high court. Story by @kdavidsonjrn.bsky.social michiganadvance.com/2025/09/19/m...

#legalwriting reminders from Judge Merryday: * Don't take 85 pages to allege "two simple counts". * Don't force your reader to "labor through allegations". * Don't force your reader to "endure" allegations. * Avoid often repetitive, laudatory, and superfluous allegations. * Skip protracted lists.

Hope there are no appealable issues that later require high-court review. Interesting procedural dynamics. www.wmur.com/article/supr...

🚨 SCAM ALERT: Fake texts claiming to be from Treasury are making the rounds. They say your refund will be forfeited unless you confirm banking info. It’s a scam. 🗑️ Delete the message. 📬 Treasury never texts for personal info. Learn more: www.michigan.gov/taxes #migov #scamalert #michigantaxes

"Abstruse" is my new word of the day. As in: “Here are some examples of the abstruse (but important) questions that the Court must answer.” Would have preferred a plain-language word that was easier for the public-reading audience. Maybe “complicated” or “complex”? #LegalWriting

Sending bat-signal to @judgedillard.bsky.social and @cpy87.bsky.social for this part.

May tune in! Looks interesting.

Reading a federal judge’s order via Google Scholar. Did the judge write “plaintiff's counsel is hot authorized”? No. The original scanned order uses “not”. Firmly in the camp of save-as-PDF from the source word processing file. ❌Hard printing and (poor) scanning threaten later readability.

"That is not how the Constitution works. You can't take away a constitutional right so that the people get to vote on it.” @barbmcquade.bsky.social not playing Calvinball.

Opinion: Summize CEO Tom Dunlop discusses how firms should evaluate its legal technology and whether it’s helping legal professionals drive business outcomes. He writes: The conversation has shifted from “Should we use #AI?” to “Which AI tools belong in our stack and how fast can we scale them?”

The warning in the MIT report was blunt: ChatGPT was outperforming a specialized AI legal technology tool that cost thousands of dollars more.

Oh, hey, have you signed up yet for my @storystudiochicago.bsky.social online copyediting (but not just copyediting) series? It's going to be, if I say so myself, super-duper fun.

"In 2024, the Postal Service recorded over 52,000 high-volume mail theft attacks, up an astonishing 2,238% since 2010. These are coordinated strikes on mail in USPS custody...collection boxes and relay boxes...neighborhood units, apartment panels, postal trucks, loading docks, even...pushcarts."

@ellecordova.bsky.social is so good! Em dash responds to the ChatGPT allegations. youtube.com/shorts/XKsPa...

Tagging @abeeinthebonnet.bsky.social Being thought of in the other place.

Hope someone let’s me know when a judge includes a Taco Bell AI analogy. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Anthropic is making some major changes to how it handles user data. Users have until September 28 to take action.

“In all, Dugan’s arguments require further evidentiary analysis of the disputed facts that simply cannot be resolved on a motion to dismiss, according to Adelman. Adelman will preside over a jury trial to be scheduled next week.”

Tonight, a way up north Michigan bail bond company posted on their social media an alert of someone who cut off their tether and is at large. Not long after, the person of interest starts engaging with them on the post. The eventual bond revocation hearing will be . . . something.

Unexpected analogy: Judge cites AI-assisted colonoscopy study about "deskilling" to warn pro se litigants & counsel about risks of over-relying on AI research. “There can be no substitute for actually reading, analyzing, and distinguishing cases in fulfilling one’s obligation as a litigant . . . .”

Pro se litigant relied on ChatGPT Ai4 in her motion to recuse a federal senior district court judge. On reconsideration (and still denying the motion), the chief district court judge deems its faulty use/output as "irrelevant" and "of no moment".

Michigan Court of Appeals not having it in this appeal: Petitioners appeal by right the probate court’s order granting in part respondent’s motion for sanctions and imposing a sanction of $105,136 on petitioners, jointly and severally. We affirm. www.michbar.org/Portals/0/op...

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Kudos and appreciation to @bridgemi.com for sharing its Policy to Guide Use of Artificial Intelligence in its newsrooms. Practical, outlined commitment to high transparency, accuracy, accountability, and ethics. bridgemi.com/artificial-i...?

The event at the Waltonwood senior living facility was part of an initiative to ease shelter strain.

An interesting read. www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/11/1...

Whoa! www.psu.edu/news/enginee...

Defendant charged with a felony (ably represented by a public defender at a first court hearing) becomes agitated, starts arguing his own case with the judge, and ignores the judge's instruction to settle down (2x). Rather than hold ∆ in contempt, the judge has the bailiff escort him out. 1/

Did not realize AOL dial-up was still a thing. Will be discontinued on September 30, 2025. help.aol.com/articles/dia...

"But even when a practice guide provides clear instructions on how to apply the law, LLMs often fail to correctly answer straightforward legal questions * * * *. Performance varies considerably and unpredictably across different language models and legal subject areas."

Ever wonder why Michigan law requires judges to assess a crime victim rights fee on so many criminal case types? Here’s an example of how the money that’s forwarded to Lansing is used. upnorthlive.com/news/local/c...

A report on the death of five people in the Titan submersible blames design, maintenance, and inspection flaws for its failure. “It all came back to Mr. Rush,” the head of the investigation told WIRED. www.wired.com/story/us-coa...

When they say "ChatGPT can summarize contracts too": "You're absolutely right ChatGPT can summarize contracts. Just like a Swiss Army knife can cut bread. But would you trust it to perform surgery? #ai #buildinpublic #saas #founders #microsaas #startup #legaltech #productivity

Remembering Gloria Steinem’s story about asking the turtle before moving it but knowing that I don’t speak turtle, I left this fella alone when I saw him on someone’s lawn during today’s walk.

Emphasis Added A first time for everything, I suppose.

Your public ChatGPT queries are getting indexed by Google and other search engines

I LOVE seeing helpful tools emerge to study state constitutions! Carrie Ann Donnell highlights stateconstitutiontool.org in a new piece in @statecourtreport.org. Read up on what it does and how to use it! statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

Thorough reporting ⤵️

Judge big mad. Also seems confused why Alabama as a client doesn't care.

I enjoyed writing this piece for the ABA’s Human Rights Magazine, in which I revisit (and update) my disability documentation work.

All court cases are important, of course. But to see this happen in a parental rights termination matter is especially unsettling.