Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Colin

Sam Brunson @smbrnsn.bsky.social · 20h

The thing is, Roberts was an unmemorable, mostly mediocre, chief justice in ordinary times. Absent the Trump assault on role of law, he’d be remembered for preserving the ACA if he was remembered for anything.

But Trump happened. And Roberts will be remembered alongside Taney.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 21h

Roberts is presiding over, and driving, a stunning collapse in faith in the U.S. Supreme Court, not just among the public, but among federal judges.

What a failure. The Titanic captain of chief justices.

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 22h

“More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public.”

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 20h

A fantastic long listen.

Brett Zimmerman @b-zimm.bsky.social · 21h

And if you’re wondering how the eff we got to where we are today, the Bundyville podcast is artful and unflinching in its examination of the self-righteous, grievance-fueled sovereign citizen movement.

The persecution that never was.

longreads.com/bundyville/s...

www.opb.org/news/article...

Listen: OPB's 'Bundyville' Podcast

From Longreads and Oregon Public Broadcasting, “Bundyville” returns for a second season to pick up where the first season left off. "Bundyville: The Remnant" is a seven-part series th...

www.opb.org

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Reposted by Colin

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 21h

Luttig has it right here: “[T]he Supreme Court has given them no choice but to speak out.”

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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Reposted by Colin

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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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 3d

Good morning! Attack today with the unhinged confidence of Elizabeth Holmes posting a samizdat TedX from her prison cell.

And tonight you can drink with the grim determination of Elizabeth Holmes's legal team watching her call her fraudulent scheme "unfinished business."

Pinned tweet of Elizabeth Holmes, incarcerated former CEO of Theranos:

What did Theranos do and what's unfinished business?

Theranos recieved FDA approval on its hardware, software, and its first small sample chemistry test for HSV, along with a CLIA waiver to run that system and test in distributed locations. It began operating at retail on the first phase of its operations for just over a year. But after 15 years, hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D, and just as it prepared to introduce its technologies - and lower the cost of healthcare testing - nationwide, it never got to see its vision through. It never got to launch its FDA approved device. It is unfinished business. Because access to affordable health information is a basic human right.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 3d

Good morning! Attack today with the unhinged confidence of Elizabeth Holmes posting a samizdat TedX from her prison cell.

And tonight you can drink with the grim determination of Elizabeth Holmes's legal team watching her call her fraudulent scheme "unfinished business."

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 3d

In other conversations, you want to focus on calling it what it is, because that's worth focusing on. But you have to have an eye on the impact.

If it's not a message that will move voters, that doesn't mean you don't use it. But if it won't move voters and obstructs messaging that could?

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 3d

I'm a Dem running in the midterms. The short answer is that there's no single answer. Depends hugely on the specific race.

I'm running in a deep red rural area. Calling it "despotism" in some conversations makes it impossible to focus on the specific harms.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 4d

Lol, it's still up. At least Elon has something to train Grokipedia on.

www.conservapedia.com/Counterexamp...

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 4d

www.newscientist.com/article/dn19...

E=mc<SUP>2</SUP>? Not on Conservapedia

Einstein had a complicated relationship with religion Religious believers have quite the love/hate relationship with Albert Einstein. Some quote the physicist's comments about God not playing dice wit...

www.newscientist.com

Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 4d

They've been tilting at this evil liberal windmill since before Andrew Schlafly tried to take down the theory of relativity with Conservapedia.

www.newscientist.com/article/dn19...

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 4d

If only they'd had AI when Andrew Schlafly created Conservapedia to take down the theory of relativity.

Elon isn't the first screwball with a bone to pick with reality. He won't be the last, or even the richest in the final analysis.

We have to fight for facts forever. That's the deal.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19303-emc2-not-on-conservapedia/

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Reposted by Colin

Mark Zaid, Esq @markzaidesq.bsky.social · 4d

If you didn't realize this earlier, this latest action by the Administration amply demonstrates it does not have the back of federal workers.

www.govexec.com/pay-benefits...

OMB deletes reference to law guaranteeing backpay to furloughed feds from shutdown guidance

An Office of Management and Budget FAQ document now states that only excepted employees forced to work without pay are guaranteed backpay at the conclusion of a lapse in appropriations.

www.govexec.com

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Reposted by Colin

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 4d

I’m a career prosecutor who took a $25,000 check from an affiliated entity of Donald Trump’s while investigating Trump University and later left my lobbying firm to become Donald Trump’s personal impeachment lawyer, White House aide, and Attorney General. So don’t you DARE question my integrity.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Bondi to Blumenthal: "You lied. How dare you? I'm a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial."

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 5d

Love this. Distributing the trade power among more stakeholders is good for all of us, on top of the positive value of tribal sovereignty.

Deva Woodly @devawo.bsky.social · 5d

“We’re operationalizing our old corridors—taking ancient trade routes our elders told us about and articulating them in a modern context,” said Solomon Cyr, spokesperson for Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation.” — Love it when people take advantage of political opportunities.

Indigenous Nations Plan Tariff-Free Trade Corridor Across US-Canada border

“We’re not begging for crumbs anymore. We’re demanding what’s rightly ours."

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Colin

sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 5d

these mfers wanted to take guys away from their real jobs to do fascism for free 😭

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Reposted by Colin

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 7d

"a tradition"???

It's literally the law.

This matters because the law is not self-executing. If we treat it as non-binding, its constraints grow even looser.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

Maybe there's an existing grant of authority Trump could try to use. But maybe it doesn't matter. I suspect the Roberts court would find that it would cause irreparable harm for the president not to have his face on a gold coin.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

Note also that the Mint very specifically says, "Congress authorizes commemorative coins." That's because the Constitution is also very specific about this: "The Congress shall have Power To . . . coin Money".

Not the president.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

Are commemorate coins "currency"? Who knows what janky workaround they're planning--we could get the Trump version of Patel's challenge coin, and maybe not in that case.

But in general the US Mint makes legal tender commemorative coins. I don't see how a spendable coin isn't currency.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

God damnit NYT, cite the statute! People should read the laws their government is breaking.

31 USC 5114(b): "Only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities."

Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 8d

It is not clear that Mr. Trump’s image can be featured on a coin. An 1866 law enshrined a tradition that only deceased people could appear on U.S. currency to avoid the appearance that America was a monarchy. Trump admin is planning to do it anyway.
By Alan Rappeport

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...

Treasury Plans to Mint $1 Commemorative Trump Coin

www.nytimes.com

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

I dunno, I never took bankruptcy or ran across it much in my practice. I'm a bit at sea.

Mostly I'm curious why the trustee and even (to a lesser extent) the creditors have been so passive in this case. I would have expected a lot more aggressive push on Jones's shenanigans.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

And to prevent that, couldn't Jones argue that a company with (he says) assets worth millions should be used to offset his debt?

Obviously writing millions off of a billion-dollar debt doesn't do a lot, but he'd make some hay out of it. Claim he's paid the families millions, etc.

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

Sure, but IIRC FSS is no longer in bankruptcy--so if the way is cleared for the creditors to snap up the equity, don't they also acquire the assets?

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Colin @kolyin.bsky.social · 8d

Labor fights for America. Just that simple.

Zoe Tillman @zoetillman.bsky.social · 8d

The largest federal employees union filed a lawsuit accusing the Department of Education of violating the First Amendment by inserting partisan language into the out-of-office emails sent from accounts of furloughed workers during the government shutdown
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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