This is exactly right from @barryfriedman1.bsky.social and @stevevladeck.bsky.social . Creating a federal cause of action is a must--but it's the longterm strategy. In the meantime, local police and prosecutors should be building their cases *now*

“Freedom is not free. We have to work at it. Nurture it. Protect it. Even sacrifice for it.”

Abolish ICE is now the moderate minimum position, Prosecute ICE is where Dems should be at next.

*These* are the people you want to let into homes without a judicial warrant?

This guy went to work today, put a mask on, kidnapped a 5 year old child, and then used him as bait so both he and his father could be sent behind bars

This is irredeemable. My youngest is just a year older than this little boy so this photo is going to stick with me for a while.

The world is terrible but this morning I ran my first half marathon at 42 years old and I’m feeling pretty great about that. (Oh and my bib number was 1776 #NoKings)

Can’t wait to hear Kavanaugh’s take on why pumping gas while being a person of color gives rise to reasonable suspicion for a stop.

I wrote a bit for McSweeney's about Isaac Chotiner interviewing Santa Claus. Just a little something for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Law Profs teaching First Amendment: I have put together a FREE, recently updated, and easy to use casebook for use in free speech classes. If you are interested in using such a casebook, send me an email or DM and I would be happy to share!

pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.

Multiple accounts on ICE Watch Facebook pages are reporting that agents pulled a couple out of their vehicle in Aurora, Illinois, arrested them, and then abandoned the couple’s toddler in the backseat.

I know it’s too much to expect them to know their history, but if the American Revolution had a motto, it definitely would not have been “immigrants go home.” It would have been “get your fucking soldiers out of our cities.”

The energy we need is this suburban dad standing out in the street -- barefoot with Blackhawks pajama pants on -- screaming at the masked goons to get the fuck out of their neighborhood.

Old Soviet joke: Why do ICE agents travel in groups of three? One can read, one can write, and the third keeps an eye on the two intellectuals

Never too early to teach kids about democracy. #NoKings

Kavanaugh stop

Nothing says “land of the free” like armed agents of the state saying “show me your papers if you want your daughter back” bsky.app/profile/nbcb...

Sincerely wondering: what remedies does Justice Kavanaugh believe are and should be available in federal court these days for excessive force violations by federal immigration officials?

This is unconscionable. Our entire profession should be up in arms. Masked law enforcement and now anonymous lawyers. Our courts are open as is our legal system. If you can’t put your name to your representation as a lawyer then you should not be allowed to appear in court. @americanbar.org

Well, I guess it’s never too early to post this again —

Christy Lopez and I on why it is completely unacceptable for law enforcement, including ICE, to be masking: www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Just some creepy armed Mad Max guys trying to gain entry to Dodgers Stadium. ICE says it wasn’t them. DHS says they were Border Patrol. But honestly who the hell knows? They’ve given permission for any psycho to put on a ski mask, point a gun, grab people & throw them into an unmarked vehicle.

Make this go viral.

Tonight, I'll go home and sleep in my bed. I have a lawyer, I'll get due process. But Edgardo, whose arm was ripped from mine by ICE agents, has none of those things. That's why I'll keep coming back to court, week after week, to make sure that people's rights are protected.

1/2 This is appalling in principle—and shocking in detail, if you Zoom in on specific parcels offered for rush sale. www.wilderness.org/articles/med... Eg (shown in dark green) Forest Service land people use for hiking, camping, horse-riding, general outdoors-ing in San Bernardino Mountains.

Move to hold the agents who assaulted a sitting senator in contempt of Congress. Call for articles of impeachment against Noem. Stop working on crypto legislation. Demonstrate the stakes of what is happening in LA with your actions.

Every elected Republican should be asked if they think the president has the power to send in military in to “liberate” a state or city from its elected government.

This is a US Senator, one of two representing nearly 40 million people from nation's most productive, populous, and *tax paying* state, being physically roughed up by goons at behest of deranged president and out of control cabinet secretary. HEY GOP SENATORS. You'll swallow even this?

Weird they're showing Swan Lake on Fox right now

The real problem with the Supreme Court’s expected Fed carve out is not that it lacks a principle but that the real principle isn’t articulated. The reason it will carve out the Fed is functional but it won’t say that. And its jurisprudence doesn’t leave room to ventilate the functional arg.(1/8)

This is fascism. This right here. No one who says it’s not deserves a moment of your respectful consideration.

This is an absolute horror show.

I don't really care what the "political consequences" are of fighting for the proposition that *everyone* is entitled to due process before they are removed from the United States and sent to a Salvadoran prison. It's not really a principle if you only adhere to it when it's politically expedient.

A very old Soviet joke, from an especially dark time: Foxes are fleeing the USSR in droves. Q: Why are you running away? Fox: The Soviets passed a new law that they’re going to arrest all camels. Q: But you’re foxes! Fox: Yeah, why don’t *you* try proving to the NKVD that you’re not a camel.

Late to this but incredibly grateful @stevevladeck.bsky.social did this explainer on the administration's terrifying, shocking conduct related to/disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil. www.stevevladeck.com/p/131-five-q...

the sound of all my English professors crying out at once

Amidst all the chaos, was delighted to get these in the mail. My latest, Some Realism About Criminal Justice Localism now in print from U Penn Law Review! scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_rev...

Here’s a good model for responding to this dipshit’s letters:

Users: We just want precise, Boolean searching. Or like, maybe just pull up the case when we type in its exact name. Lexis/Westlaw: Okay, here is an AI assistant!

I couldn’t be happier to see President Biden right these wrongs. No one should serve a sentence that wouldn’t be given today. I hope Congress in the future makes reductions retroactive as a matter of course, but grateful to have clemency as a fix today. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/u...

Working outside in the sunshine at my favorite coffee shop, thinking it’s a pretty great day to be at Texas Law, too

Absolute legend.

Huge news: “I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Monday. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

Husband at the rental car : “stay with the kids, I’ll go pick out the car.” The car:

HORNS UP!!

New nightmare unlocked.