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Elizabeth Joh

@elizabethjoh.bsky.social

15K followers 610 following 870 posts

Law Prof at UC Davis Law; co-host of the 99pi Breakdown of the Constitution https://99percentinvisible.org/book-club/

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Elizabeth Joh @elizabethjoh.bsky.social · 15d

And we’re back with the @99pi.org Constitution Breakdown! @romanmars.bsky.social & I talked with Rep. Sharice Davids, plus-what do smut and tariffs have in common? Listen & tell your friends!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...

Constitution Breakdown #2: Rep. Sharice Davids

Podcast Episode · 99% Invisible · 09/27/2025 · Bonus · 1h 17m

podcasts.apple.com

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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 14h

Attacks on the federal workforce are also attacks on Black workers, who are overrepresented in the public sector.

Black unemployment is 7.5%. I'm reminded of Coates' observation that Black Americans regularly experience conditions that would be considered a crisis if whites faced them.

Black Unemployment Is Surging Again. This Time Is Different.

www.nytimes.com

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 15h

“Who was president in 2020?” remains one of the most pertinent questions in American politics—absurd, yes, but here we are—and that extends to “who was president January 1 - 19, 2021?”

Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 16h

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 1d

The Trump administration on Saturday scrambled to rescind layoffs of hundreds of CDC scientists who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error

www.nytimes.com

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 2d

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 2d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Dan McCrum @mccrum.bsky.social · 1d

This isn’t funny. Judges only speak to the press when they’re in extreme distress

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 1d

More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

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Elizabeth Joh @elizabethjoh.bsky.social · 1d

“If they can be cops”

San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · 1d

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that President Trump should deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to combat crime: “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it.”

Marc Benioff says Trump should send National Guard to San Francisco

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that President Trump should deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to combat crime: “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it.”

bit.ly

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Jennifer N. Victor @jenvictor.bsky.social · 1d

Last night’s “Friday night massacre” at CDC will of course have potentially devastating repercussions for public health—that is probably a temporary outcome. But there is also permanent damage in the loss of public trust for government health data. We are all less safe now and for many years.

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 1d

The editors of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) were apparently fired today.

The precursor to MMWR began in 1878 to address emerging public health threats rapidly.

We are not “great” without it. We are vulnerable to threats from sporadic foodborne illness to bioterrorism.

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

Trump’s immigration crackdown is risking higher food prices for Americans, according to the Trump admin itself.  DOL warned in an obscure document last week that “near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens” is threatening “stability of domestic food production and prices for US consumers.”

Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices

U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 1d

Military families on day 9 of the shutdown lining up at the food bank

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 2d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Elizabeth Joh @elizabethjoh.bsky.social · 2d

*screams in Word*

Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 2d

Someone gonna get fired …. @kenwhite.bsky.social @annabower.bsky.social

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d

Third Amendment reference!

Moreover, two of the Constitution's first ten Amendments articulate safeguards against the military: the Second Amendment-with its assurance that well-regulated militias would be prepared and armed to fight for the security of the states and the Third Amendment, with its prohibition on quartering of soldiers in times of peace.

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Conor Sen @conorsen.bsky.social · 2d

House GOP just said they won't be back in Washington next week, so the shutdown probably goes at least until the week of Oct 20th.

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Sarah D. Wire @sarahdwire.bsky.social · 2d

OMB Director Russ Vought saying on Twitter that mass layoffs of federal workers has begun

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 3d

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 3d

Important discovery fight taking shape in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's criminal case.

The question: Can the government assert privilege to avoid handing over documents that may be relevant to a defendant's vindictive prosecution claim?

Abrego's counsel says no.

www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

www.documentcloud.org

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Old White Nepo Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 3d

I’ve never seen anything remotely this petty charged as bank fraud.

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 3d

NEW: Here's the two-count indictment against NY AG Letitia James. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

INDICTMENT
October 2025 Term - at Alexandria, Virginia
THE GRAND JURY CHARGES THAT:
GENERAL ALLEGATIONS
At all times relevant to this Indictment:
1. Letitia A. James ("JAMES) was a resident of Brooklyn, New York, and the borrower on a
Fannie Mae-backed mortgage loan for the property located at 3121 Peronne Avenue,
Norfolk, Virginia.
2. OVM Financial (also known as Old Virginia Mortgage / AnnieMac) was a mortgage lending business located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, engaged in the business of originating and underwriting residential mortgage loans, including those backed by the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"). OVM Financial qualified as a "financial institution" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 20(10).
3. Fannie Mae was a federally chartered corporation that purchased and guaranteed mortgages,
operating as a government-sponsored enterprise under the oversight of the Federal Housing

Finance Agency ("FHFA").
4. First Savings Bank was a state-chartered, FDIC-insured financial institution (Certificate
#29961), headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana, which acquired mortgage loans through assignment or acquisition. First Savings Bank qualified as a "financial institution" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 20(1).
5. On or about August 17, 2020, JAMES, as sole borrower, purchased the three (3) bedroom,
(1) bathroom property located at 3121 Peronne Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia 23509 (the
"Peronne Property"), for approximately $137,000, financed with a mortgage loan of approximately $109,600 (Loan #4430025978) backed by Fannie Mae.
6. The loan was originated by OVM Financial under a signed Second Home Rider, which required JAMES, as the sole borrower to occupy and use the property as her secondary residence, and prohibited its use as a timesharing or other shared ownership arrangement or agreement that requires her either to rent the property or give any other person any control over the occupancy or use of the property.
7. Despite these representations, the Peronne Property was not occupied or used by JAMES as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental investment property, renting the property to a family of (3).
8. This misrepresentation allowed JAMES to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties, including a note rate of 3.000% (avoiding a 0.815% higher
comparable investment property rate of 3.815%, resulting in approximately $17,837 in rate savings over the life of the loan), a seller credit of approximately $3,288 (exceeding the seller credit for investment properties by approximately $1,096), for total ill-gotten gains of approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan.
9. JAMES' Universal Property application for homeowners' insurance indicated "owner-

occupied non-seasonal use," further misrepresenting the intended use of the property.
10. JAMES filed Schedule E tax forms), under penalties of perjury, treating the Perrone Property as rental real estate, reporting fair rental days, zero personal use days, thousand(s)
of dollars in rents received, and claiming deductions for expenses relating to the property, further contradicting the second home classification.
11. The loan was acquired by or assigned to First Savings Bank by March 2021, exposing it to risks associated with the misrepresented loan.
12. The acts described herein occurred within the Eastern District of Virginia.
COUNT ONE
(Bank Fraud - 18 U.S.C. § 1344)
13. The allegations in paragraphs 1 through 12 are re-alleged and incorporated herein.
14. From on or about August 7, 2020, through at least January 2024, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the Defendant, LETITIA A. JAMES, did knowingly execute and attempt to execute a scheme and artifice to defraud OVM Financial and First Savings Bank,
financial institutions, and to obtain moneys, funds, and credits owned by and under the custody and control of OVM Financial and First Savings Bank by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.
15. The scheme involved falsely representing the Peronne Property as a secondary residence to obtain favorable mortgage terms, while using it as an investment property with no intended
or actual personal occupancy or use by her.
(In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344).
COUNT TWO
(False Statements to a Financial Institution - 18 U.S.C. § 1014)
16. The allegations in paragraphs 1 through 12 are re-alleged and incorporated herein.

17. From on or about July 28, 2020, through at least August 31, 2020, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the Defendant, LETITIA A. JAMES, did knowingly make and cause to be made false statements and reports for the purpose of influencing the action of OVM Financial, a Fannie Mae-backed lender, upon an application for a loan, in that JAMES represented and affirmed in uniform residential loan applications and related documents that
the Peronne Property would be used as a secondary residence, when in truth and fact, as JAMES then knew, the property was intended and used as an investment property with no intended or actual personal occupancy or use by her.
(In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1014).
FORFEITURE NOTICE
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.2(a) and Title 18, U.S.C. §
982(a)(2)(A), upon conviction of the offenses in Counts One and Two, the Defendant, Letitia
A. James, shall forfeit to the United States any property constituting, or derived from, proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of such violations, including but not limited to a money judgment in the amount of $18,933.
If any of the property described above, as a result of any act or omission of the Defendant: (a) cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence; (b) has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party; (c) has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court; (d) has been substantially diminished in value; or (e) has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided without difficulty, the United States shall be entitled to a forfeiture of substitute property pursuant to Title 21, U.S.C. § 853(b), as incorporated by Title
18 U.S.C. § 982(b)(1).
(In accordance with Title 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) and 982(a)(1); Title 28, U.S.C. § 2461(c); and Title 21 U.S.C. § 853(p).)

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 3d

"The average listener is not under the impression that a diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation, conveying to the public factchecked verifiable content."

The forum here is a music recording, in particular a rap “diss track,” with accompanying video and album art. Diss tracks are much more akin to forums like YouTube and X, which “encourag[e] a freewheeling, anything-goes writing style,” than journalistic reporting. Sandals Resorts, 86 A.D.3d at 43 (quotation marks omitted). The average listener is not under the impression that a diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation, conveying to the public factchecked verifiable content.

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 3d

There are certain hypotheticals you simply never get to test out. This seems to be an exception. How will a judge and later a jury treat an indictment if you had to fire multiple prosecutors before you could find someone to bring an indictment. I guess we'll find out! www.cnn.com/2025/10/09/p...

Letitia James, the New York attorney general who defeated Trump in court, indicted by Justice Department | CNN Politics

New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted in federal court on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s Justice Department continues to pursue charges against his political opponents, two source...

www.cnn.com

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Lawrence Solum @lsolum.bsky.social · 3d

Please help me get the word out about the new websites for Legal Theory Blog and the Legal Theory Lexicon. Reposting here and on other social media sites is great. It would be especially helpful if law school faculty members could send an email to their colleagues with the new addresses.

Legal Theory Blog

Discover our latest articles and updates. Stay informed with recent posts that cover a variety of topics you care about!

legaltheoryblog.com

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 3d

HAPPENING NOW: A Ninth Circuit panel hears arguments on whether the Trump admin can deploy federalized National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.

The panel: Susan P. Graber (Clinton), Ryan D. Nelson (Trump), Bridget S. Bade (Trump)

San Francisco Courtroom 2 9:00 AM Thursday 10/9

YouTube video by United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

www.youtube.com

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Zoe Tillman @zoetillman.bsky.social · 3d

"The court is required to continue its constitutional functions"

US judges so far have rejected the Justice Department’s requests to delay more than a dozen legal challenges to Trump administration policies as the government shutdown enters its second week:
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 3d

invocation of the insurrection act will be the key moment for everyone. the white house, any state where it's invoked, especially the supreme court. all public officials are ultimately responsible for acting in line with the constitution. a false invocation of the insurrection act, itself a ...

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 3d

Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.

BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC

President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday

www.mediaite.com

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 3d

So yesterday a reporter asked Donald Trump about the writ of habeas corpus, and he had no idea what it was.

"I don't know," he said. "I'd rather leave that to Kristi."

Well, It turns out Sen. Hassan asked Kristi Noem about it in May, and this was Noem's response:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 20

HASSAN: What is habeas corpus?

NOEM: Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country

HASSAN: That's incorrect

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 4d

Quite a headline
www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

Trump to get a 'routine yearly' medical check-up — his second in 6 months

The White House said Trump would be at Walter Reed Medical Center and undergo a checkup after a planned meeting with service members in the facility.

www.nbcnews.com

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