Valerie Hans
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jurygirl.bsky.social
Valerie Hans
@jurygirl.bsky.social

Cornell Law School professor working on torts, psychology & law, jury decision-making. Fan of Eagles, Steelers & Niners, which makes some games difficult.

Valerie Hans is an American legal scholar and psychologist. She is the Charles F. Rechlin Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and has been the editor of the Annual Review of Law and Social Science. Trained as a social scientist, her major areas of study are the jury system, jury reform, and the application of social science to law. .. more

Law 64%
Economics 12%

Very helpful context. Thanks for posting. I'm shocked at the high public support for the Kent State shootings!

Interesting!

Good luck! Have you considered a snowblower? We have an electric one.

Important to know about:

False Posts and Altered Images Distort Views of Minnesota Shooting www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/u...
False Posts and Altered Images Distort Views of Minnesota Shooting
www.nytimes.com

Excellent letter that clearly explains how the current federal government actions violate our laws. Thank you for coming together to make this statement and I wish you strength in the days ahead.

Both fantastic choices!

Great choice!!

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

The Trump administration's immediate rush to vilify ICE's victims and fully exculpate the federal officer perpetrators, regardless of contrary irrefutable video evidence, bespeaks a NO-bad-apples mentality. Or, more directly, ICE brutality is never an aberration. It's the policy. 3/ End of 🧵

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

That is not to say that the few-bad-apples excuse was always invoked in the past. For as long as there have been instances of police brutality, there have been people blaming the victims and excusing the perpetrators. But we now seem to have turned a corner. 2/

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

🧵I am struck by the near-disappearance from our political vernacular of the few-bad-apples trope. Law-and-order types used to routinely dismiss particular instances of excessive police force as the work of just a few bad apples (ignoring the proverbial wisdom about the bunch). Now not so much. 1/
Walz: "To Americans who are watching this, I've got a question for you: What side do you want to be on? The side of an all powerful federal govt that can kill, injury, menace, & kidnap its citizens off the streets? Or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such govt?"

Thank you for this statement.
The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.
Seen in Los Angeles

(Credit: Zurita Carpio)
The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.
Minnesota's state FBI-like bureau is suing Noem. It says before pre-emptively declaring the killing righteous and abandoning the crime scene, feds took exclusive custody of evidence, including "apparently seized cellphones."

MN asserts a sovereign right to investigate crimes within its borders.
#1 in Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension v. Noem (D. Minnesota, 0:26-cv-00628) – CourtListener.com
COMPLAINT against All Defendants (filing fee $ 405, receipt number AMNDC-12575332) filed by Hennepin County Attorney's Office, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Filer requests summons issued....
storage.courtlistener.com

The jury is made for this. Government crimes. Difficulty trusting officials. The people must decide.
Even as deferential as juries are to law enforcement, what happened to Alex Pretti is so clearly murder that you get this in front of 12 people in Hennepin County and even the cop apologists in the jury won't be able to excuse it. We're in Derek Chauvin territory here.
From Angry Catfish, independent bicycle shop in Minneapolis

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

And another declaration from a medical doctor who was on scene and attempted to treat the man who was shot. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
#109 in Tincher v. Noem (D. Minnesota, 0:25-cv-04669) – CourtListener.com
DECLARATION of Witness No. 2 re 108 Declaration in Support by John Biestman, Alan Crenshaw, Janet Lee, Abdikadir Noor, Susan Tincher, Lucia Webb . (Fisher, Caitlinrose) (Entered: 01/24/2026)
storage.courtlistener.com

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

Even as deferential as juries are to law enforcement, what happened to Alex Pretti is so clearly murder that you get this in front of 12 people in Hennepin County and even the cop apologists in the jury won't be able to excuse it. We're in Derek Chauvin territory here.

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

Judge Katherine Menendez's preliminary injunction could have taken down the temperature significantly, and provided a modicum of accountability for the ongoing lawlessness of federal officers. But the judges of the 8th Circuit entered an "administrative stay" less than 72 hours ago.

@schumer.senate.gov you are my senator; do something!
When will it be enough for you, @schumer.senate.gov and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social ? When will you be moved? You should be standing in the streets of Minneapolis. You should be shouting from the rooftops. What a pathetic pair of cowards.

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

We are aware of reports of another shooting involving federal law enforcement in the area of 26th Street W and Nicollet Ave. We are working to confirm additional details. We ask the public to remain calm and avoid the immediate area.
When will it be enough for you, @schumer.senate.gov and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social ? When will you be moved? You should be standing in the streets of Minneapolis. You should be shouting from the rooftops. What a pathetic pair of cowards.
CNN put together a clip of JD Vance claiming ICE agents have "absolute immunity" followed by him two weeks later claiming "I didn't say that officers who engage in wrongdoing would enjoy immunity"

25 below zero. This crowd!
More than 400 years of history and a decade of advocacy were torn down Thursday afternoon when National Park Service employees removed every single display at the President’s House.

🔗 What's next? We explain: www.inquirer.com/politics/nat...

Invitation to the city of Philadelphia to make this right!

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

Despicable.

Would love to see the City reinstall portions of the exhibit across the street from each and every local federal building.

www.inquirer.com/politics/nat...
The slavery exhibits at the President’s House have been removed following Trump administration push
President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered content at national parks that “inappropriately disparage” the U.S. to be reviewed and potentially removed.
www.inquirer.com

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

Censoring America's history of slavery is a betrayal of our nation's principles.

Living up to the ideals America was founded on demands being honest about our history — the good and the bad.

My full statement on Trump's censorship at Independence Hall:

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans

I wasn't sure what to expect from a group of Democratic state AGs, but I definitely was not expecting a long monologue about Ruby Ridge and the Boston Massacre www.theverge.com/policy/86588...