Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Gautam Hans

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 16h

really striking the degree to which not a single person working in the trump administration appears to be interested in serving the american people

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Deborah Pearlstein @debpearlstein.bsky.social · 1d

Of all the news in this NYT survey of sitting federal judges - incl 47 of them think the SCt is mishandling its emergency docket - maybe the biggest is that 65 sitting fed judges (37D, 28R), folks circumspect for a living, responded to a NYT survey. Stunning. And a sign that something is very wrong.

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

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Gautam Hans @gshans.bsky.social · 1d

Jameel and the entire KFIA staff remain important, inspiring leaders and litigators amid this crisis.

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 1d

This is a perilous moment for democracy in the United States, but I couldn’t be prouder of the Knight Institute’s work right now, and I don’t take for granted that we have the freedom and resources to do it. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This free speech group at Columbia is taking on Trump when the university won’t – and winning

The Knight Institute is defending free speech at a school now synonymous with compromising on it

www.theguardian.com

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 6d

Listeners' Choices Online is now online. I hope you will choose to listen to it!

james.grimmelmann.net/files/articl...

james.grimmelmann.net

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 1d

My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.

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Gautam Hans @gshans.bsky.social · 2d

In for a penny in for a pound I guess.

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Lee Kovarsky @kovarsky.bsky.social · 2d

One thing people miss (that Linc captures) is that it’s not clear at all that Roberts is trying to help Trump in some crass political way.

It’s instead the endless sanitizing of T’s conduct so that Roberts doesn’t have to confront that his normative view of the presidency is a governance disaster.

Hopefully Hypervigilant (a.k.a. Libby Milliken) @hpfllyhyprvglnt.bsky.social · 2d

www.harvardmagazine.com/legal/suprem...

What Trump Means for John Roberts's Legacy | Harvard Magazine

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

www.harvardmagazine.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d

What if the guy who inspires fear of reprisal for not winning does not actually deserve the Peace Prize?

headlines describing Norway shitting itself for when Trump does not win.

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Gautam Hans @gshans.bsky.social · 2d

“When I speak, especially when I speak with emotion, I am characterized by those same rivals as being a monster, as being at the gates—language that describes almost a barbarian looking to dismantle civilization.” As another bearded brown man with feelings—I get it. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

What Zohran Mamdani Knows About Power

The thirty-three-year-old socialist is rewriting the rules of New York politics. Can he transform the city as mayor?

www.newyorker.com

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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 2d

I believe that should be REEKING

Politico @politico.com · 2d

REAKING: New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ.

She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ

She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.

www.politico.com

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 2d

Any university that agrees to this outrageous “compact” is a full participant in Trump’s assault on democracy. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

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Jennifer Szalai @jenszalai.bsky.social · 3d

And one more thing: It’s good to see a Hungarian who isn’t Orbán make international news.

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 3d

‘His books concern people on the margins, at the edges of empire or of their sanity, and the great powers and promises that exert their centripetal pull.’

Jennifer Szalai on László Krasznahorkai’s Hungarianness, from 2012

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v3...

Jennifer Szalai · Where Forty-Eight Avenue joins Petőfi Square: László Krasznahorkai

www.lrb.co.uk

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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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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 3d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 3d

he's going to come after you either way, so you might as well act with integrity

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Gautam Hans @gshans.bsky.social · 4d

Entrepreneurship Clinic / Civil Litigation Clinic / Movement Lawyering Clinic

Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 4d

Unfortunately I might go with Associate Professor / Adjunct Professor / Full Professor / Assistant Professor

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 4d

Associate Professor / Full Professor / Assistant Professor

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 4d

glad to be born at a time when i got to see what life was like before the internet and will be dead before AI completely destroys humanity

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Jennifer Szalai @jenszalai.bsky.social · 4d

I was struck by that line too. I reviewed Walter’s book “How Civil Wars Start” when it was published way back in 2022. her analysis was incisive; I was hoping it wouldn’t be prescient:
www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/b...

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 4d

“We’ll schedule it as soon as she wants”?

She’s been demanding it for weeks but Republicans keep blocking her.

They really really really don’t want the files to come out

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

RAJU: You swore in 2 GOP members during pro forma session. Why not swear in Grijalva? Does it have to do w/her signature on Epstein petition?

JOHNSON: It has nothing to do with that. We'll swear her in when everybody is back

R: Why not now?

J: Uh - we'll schedule it, I guess, as soon as she wants

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onekade @onekade.bsky.social · 4d

New: Records obtained by the @aclum.bsky.social show police across the state are conducting dragnet surveillance of motorists and sharing their location information with cops in states that have banned abortion and gender affirming care, and those that work w/ICE data.aclum.org/2025/10/07/f...

Flock Gives Law Enforcement All Over the Country Access to Your Location – The Data for Justice Project | ACLU of Massachusetts

data.aclum.org

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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 4d

The conservative Supreme Court justices sincerely believe that discrimiantion against Christians is the most urgent civil rights crisis of our time, and they are going out of their way to take and decide cases that allow them to correct these injustices

The Story of This Supreme Court Term Is Already On YouTube

How conservative activists are building a shared cultural understanding about who deserves the law’s protections, and who does not.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Chris Sprigman @cjsprigman.bsky.social · 4d

My friend @sivav.bsky.social with a sharp essay in the New Republic explaining why universities that sign Trump's noxious "compact" are not only cowards but utter fools. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 5d

alright literal lol at the shitty lawyer responding to a question from Sotomayor like 'this is similar to this other fuckedup case, the Court here should do what it did there' and Sotomayor saying 'remember I dissented in that case'

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 5d

Very nice piece from my colleague @stevevladeck.bsky.social in today's Times on the illegality of Trump's troop deployments to American cities. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Opinion | No, Trump Can’t Deploy Troops to Wherever He Wants

www.nytimes.com

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Megan Greenwell @greenwell.bsky.social · 5d

gotta say I don't think it's a great sign for society that the top editor of a major American news outlet thinks we're in a "fight for the West." (against WHOM, Bari?)

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 5d

bellissima

We're thrilled to announce that Anduril founder Palmer Luckey will join Bari Weiss live in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, October 8, at 7:00 p.m. for a conversation on the future of American power-and the fight for the West.
Tickets are LIVE- get them here!

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