I think this might be one of the most incredible, unsettling and symbolic photos of today’s America I’ve ever seen. I can’t stop looking at it. From Reuters, published on the Guardian website.

I hope Mexico beats England today as revenge for Mexico week on the Great British Bake-off

“.. Members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in Washington, D.C.” @reuters.com

Especially after the birthright citizenship decision and the once settled notions of American equality now being openly challenged, I’m resharing my blog of last year about equality, Gettysburg, and July 3rd.

On Birthright Citizenship and the Reconstructed Constitution

Happy “liberal arts professor helps save the Union” day to all who celebrate

This is absolutely correct. T v Barbara is only round 1. Whether it’s debating the def or scope of citizenship, or the rights that make it meaningful, the fight continues. Some don’t want a multiracial democracy and are fighting it. We too must fight — *for* equality and the reconstructed America

Iconic line from @stevevladeck.bsky.social here in response to Will Baude’s SCOTUS boosterism www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/o...

NEW: Delaware and New Jersey lawmakers have passed state-level voting rights acts that are now waiting for governors’ signatures, two months after the U.S. Supreme Court further weakened the federal Voting Rights Act DE: legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?L... NJ: www.njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/...

My latest @npr.org story: There’s a ban on most states systematically purging voter rolls within 90 days before Election Day. Republicans are pushing courts to reinterpret that longstanding protection for eligible voters www.npr.org/2026/07/01/n...

Birthright citizenship as we know remains the law of the land!!! In my quick read, I think the key point comes in Justice Jackson’s concurrence explaining the deeper meaning of upholding birthright citizenship and the ramifications of the dissent’s retrograde views:

NEW: The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the Trump administration to weigh in on a lower court ruling that found it violates the Constitution to not count Pennsylvania mail ballots that arrive on time but are missing handwritten dates on their envelopes www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld grace periods for mail-in ballots, @ashleynpr.bsky.social reports www.npr.org/2026/06/29/n...

NEW: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an Arizona-based case about the scope of the National Voter Registration Act's longstanding ban on mass voter roll purges within 90 days before Election Day, among other issues www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

My brain every few days

Welcome to the New Voter Intimidation: www.ms.now/news/ohio-pr...

More bad research on academia. WHY?! You don’t publish conclusions without any data or evidence to back them up.

My latest @npr.org story: After a major Supreme Court ruling, state-level voting rights acts and redistricting strategies in Democratic-led states are among the limited ways left for protecting racial-minority voters’ power www.npr.org/2026/06/05/n...

The strange world we live in right now

BREAKING: The Supreme Court rules for a Black death row inmate from Mississippi who says there was racial bias in the makeup of the jury that convicted him.

ICYMI here is a round up of my commentary on the meaning and impact of the Callais decision -- with thanks for the opportunity to @NPR, @NPRPolitics, @WGNRadio, and @CNN and @CNN-I http://atibaellis.com/2026/05/28/callais-media-roundup/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

In a victory for voters and the rule of law, a federal court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking voters’ sensitive, private information in Maine. Trump's DOJ is now 0-8 in lawsuits trying to seize voter data.

I will be giving a talk for the Wisconsin Association of African American Lawyers on Wednesday, 5/27 at 5:30. If you're in or around Milwaukee feel free to join. Registration is available at:… http://atibaellis.com/2026/05/26/waal-talk-on-voting-rights-in-milwaukee-wi-wed-may-29-2026-at-530-pm-cdt/

Pope Leo XIV called for robust regulation of artificial intelligence and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit, issuing a sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind as the technology impacts everything from work to war.

BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery and for failing to condemn it for centuries.

Excited for this conversation about the community impact of Louisiana v. Callais. If you are on Instagram you can see the livestream starting at 6:20 pm EDT @ulgc_yp (or watch the recording after it’s over).

My latest @npr.org story: After recently weakening the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court avoided for now taking up a legal question that may severely limit enforcement of the law's remaining protections for minority voters www.npr.org/2026/05/18/n...

Turtle Mountain v. Howe (whether Section 2 of the VRA can be privately enforced) is vacated and remanded in light of Callais. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

In these personal remarks on my receiving the Shanker Professorship at CWRU Law, I reflect on this moment in American democracy and its place in the cycle of history -- as well as on hope and possibilities. http://atibaellis.com/2026/05/18/cycles-of-history-frustration-and-hope/

I mean this as a sincere yet skeptical question: what “ideas” are not present in legal education because they are stymied by the existence of a diverse student population?

Purr review?

It just hit me that THIS observation from @Torrey Dolan gets at how the S.Ct is making the same anti-democratic maneuver it did in Giles v. Harris over a century ago — and frustrating democratic striving as a result.

A good read for today from @jessicawolfendale.bsky.social

It is a cruel jurisprudence to point to the democratic process as the means for disempowered people to secure their rights, only to turn around and invite states to destroy electoral viability by destroying the Voting Rights Act.

My Choctaw great-grandfather lived through the allotment era, Oklahoma statehood, served in WWI, was alive when the Indian Citizenship Act was passed, was also alive during ratification of the Voting Rights Act and lived through the Moon Landing.

Important and insightful commentary from my friend Atiba this morning.

My commentary on @cnn.com re redistricting post Callais

An “accessory.” Justice Marshall delivered it raw and real.

This "racism is over" rhetoric from the Court to justify striking down or limiting civil rights statutes is something I've thought about and written on in other contexts, but it's important context to understand what happened in Callais yesterday.

Clearly I'm not the only one seeing the "racism is over" rationale in Callais.

This "racism is over" rhetoric from the Court to justify striking down or limiting civil rights statutes is something I've thought about and written on in other contexts, but it's important context to understand what happened in Callais yesterday.

My latest @npr.org story: The Supreme Court has paved the way for the largest-ever drop in representation by Black members of Congress by weakening Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination in redistricting www.npr.org/2026/04/30/n...

Watching history repeat itself is indeed disheartening. The Callais decision is going to frustrate American democracy for decades to come. I gave some initial thought about the decision’s meaning in this coverage for NPR. www.npr.org/2026/04/29/n...

the fact of the matter is those amendments write a principle of anti subordination into the constitution and empower congress to do whatever is necessary and proper to uproot subordination and its effects.

I’m out of words today. I’m mostly filled with sadness. The Voting Rights Act was so aspirational and had so much potential it hadn’t yet reached. In 13 years, bipartisan consensus, democratic aspirations, and a hope of multiracial democracy all destroyed by the Roberts’ court.

ICYMI as we wait again for SCOTUS decisions at 10 a.m. ET: The Supreme Court could usher in the largest-ever drop in representation by Black members of Congress, depending on how it rules in Louisiana v. Callais, a closely watched redistricting case about the Voting Rights Act

In light of Callais, let me pass along @jpygold.bsky.social's reshare of our December conversation, which includes our thoughts on the fragility of multiracial democracy in the US, racialized political violence (from my POV), and the stakes of what decisions like today's represent.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has weakened Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination in redistricting www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...