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Adam Bonin

@adambonin.bsky.social

13K followers 1.1K following 9.8K posts

Philadelphia-based 91st Most Powerful Lawyer in Pennsylvania (City and State PA, 2023) specializing in political law. Opinions are mine alone.

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Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 11h

She literally did not know that it had been nominated, and now there's a ceremony at the Court on November 3, which is both Election Eve and my birthday. I am hoping I can join her.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 11h

Thrilled thrilled that my wife's article Cancelling Appellate Precedent (on SCOTUS's rising use of Munsingwear vacatur), co-authored with Michael Risch, has won the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers' annual Eisenberg Prize for best appellate law article. www.appellateacademy.org/wp-content/u...

Awards - The Academy

The Eisenberg Prize About the Award The Academy created the Eisenberg Prize to recognize the publication of high-quality articles in the field of appellate practice and procedure. The award is named i...

www.appellateacademy.org

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 12h

Even after 1/6, there were only a couple polls which had him as low as the mid-30s. www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approv...

Reposted by Adam Bonin

opadit @opadit.bsky.social · 12h

tell me you never attended one of your children's well-baby appointments without telling me you never attended one of your children's well-baby appointments

Screen snip of Acyn on X, embedding a short video of RFK Jr, some guy I can't identify, Marco Rubio, and the president sitting at a table:

"Trump on Autism: Obviously, something that is artificially induced, whether it's the vaccines in terms of these massive vaccines twice the size of a jar like that, a glass of water like that, into a baby's body."

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 12h

"Charlie Rose"?

a man with a beard says that 's a name i ve not heard in a long time

ALT: a man with a beard says that 's a name i ve not heard in a long time

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Adam Bonin

Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 13h

A 2024 detail I keep thinking about... the Trump campaign saw a growing problem where voters thought he'd be obsessed with revenge if he got back into office. They fixed this w a Fox town hall (campaign got Qs in advance) where he said of course he wouldn't do that. www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/u...

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 15h

What a fascinating topic. Has Nicholson himself been helpful?

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 15h

No, he did. It was the entire premise of the campaign. He talked about promising "stability and caution."

Conor Lamb Had All the Makings of a Front-Runner. So Why Is He Struggling? (Published 2022)

www.nytimes.com

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 15h

He lost by 15,000 votes in a year where the top of ticket lost by 120,000. I think someone else from Scranton is much more at fault.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 15h

There's a counterfactual here, though: if McCormick is the nominee, is there more pressure on Fetterman to withdraw from the race? Because a lot of how he won was how effectively Fetterman's campaign was able to define Oz as an unacceptable, weird choice -- over and over again.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 15h

Sorry, no. Those of us who were here for the 2022 primary remember that Lamb's campaign was premised on his "electability" and attacking Fetterman for being too liberal, classic hippie punching. Malcolm Kenyatta was the superior candidate.

Lamb has learned since then, but he's owed no apologies.

Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 16h

I will personally lead the Connor Lamb apology tour on behalf of the citizens of Pennsylvania.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17h

FOX: Do you think Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?

FETTERMAN: If this sticks. I think the whole point of having a Nobel Peace Prize is for ending wars and promoting peace. And if he brings the Ukrainian war to its end, I will be the Democrat leading the committee for his Nobel Prize Peace.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 16h

The court determined that in this case, looking at the overall ordinance, they were trying to regulate the gun trade itself, so even the provision about not being near schools was preempted.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 16h

In a 5-2 decision today, the PA Commonwealth Court struck down a Lower Merion ordinance regulating the location of gun shops as being preempted by state law, as the Court determined it was more of an attempt to regulate guns than zoning.

www.pacourts.us/assets/opini...

We agree with Appellants that state law expressly preempts the ordinance. Per statute, municipalities may not “in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, [or] transfer . . . of firearms,” 18 Pa.C.S. § 6120, nor may they “enact any ordinance . . . dealing with the regulation of the transfer, ownership, transportation or possession of firearms,” 53 Pa.C.S. § 2962(g). The Township’s ordinance here is clearly intended to regulate the sale of firearms, rather than to regulate zoning. It is a gun regulation, not a zoning regulation. The trial court recognized as much when it found most of the conditional use criteria unlawful because they regulate “the method in which [the sale of firearms] is conducted.” Trial Court Op. at 15 We decline to sever conditions 1 through 3 from the blatantly firearmfocused nature of the ordinance overall. Condition 1 prohibits FFL businesses within 1,000 feet of a school. That condition appears to be directly lifted from the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(A), a federal gun regulation. See United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 551 (1995). Conditions 2 and 3 are focused solely on compliance with firearms regulation. Even the parts of those conditions that are stated in terms of neutral zoning regulation are part and parcel of the ordinance’s intent overall, which is to regulate guns and gun transfers.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 16h

You're eight months late.

(Full disclosure: he and I have been friends for 30+ years, since the college debate circuit and then law school. I haven't let the fact that he ruined the Internet affect that more than it should.)

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · Feb 7

Between this, the CBS News/60 Minutes inquiry, and the attacks on NPR/PBS, I think we're at that point now.

Former FCC Chair Ajit Pai (R). Look, full disclosure: I've been friends with Ajit since we were on the college debate circuit together, then three years in law school. He's incredibly wrong on a lot of fundamental policy issues -- he's a Chiefs fan, too -- but he was certainly more protective of free speech than Carr is.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 16h

Judge: Kilmar Abrego is entitled to discovery from the government to substantiate his plausible claims of vindictive prosecution. Here's a good list of things he's probably entitled to.

Trump DOJ: We continue to insist he is entitled to nothing.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

DEFENDANT KILMAR ARMANDO ABREGO GARCIA’S STATUS REPORT REGARDING DISCOVERY RELATED TO HIS MOTION TO DISMISS FOR VINDICTIVE AND SELECTIVE PROSECUTION In accordance with the Order entered on October 3, 2025 (Dkt. 140), Defendant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, by and through undersigned counsel, respectfully submits this status report and states as follows: 1. Agreed Topics for Discovery In accordance with the Court’s Order, Mr. Abrego’s counsel met and conferred with the government on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 7. Because the government would not commit to producing any documents whatsoever, the parties came to no agreement with respect to the scope of discovery. 2. Topics of Disagreement Notwithstanding the Court finding that Mr. Abrego is entitled to discovery (Dkt. 138 at 1), the government did not commit to producing any documents in response to the Court’s Order and Mr. Abrego’s requests. The parties’ topics of disagreement, therefore, start with whether the government will produce any discovery at all.

Mr. Abrego seeks communications and documents shared among decisionmakers—who he is not presently able to identify, but who presumably include high-level officials (or members of their staff) at the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and/or the White House—about the decision to reopen the investigation into Mr. Abrego and ultimately to prosecute him. He seeks communications for a narrow time period: from March 24, 2025, when Mr. Abrego challenged his unlawful deportation, through June 6, 2025, when his indictment was announced and he was brought back to the United States.1 In accordance with the Court’s instruction to narrow his requests for communications and documents relating to his return from El Salvador, (see Dkt. 138 at 15), Mr. Abrego seeks such communications only to the extent that they directly relate to, and/or expressly refer to, the decision to reopen the investigation and ultimately bring the charges in this case. The government’s position, as it was communicated to us at the meet and confer, is that even a narrowed version of the requests that the Court described as a “good place to start” (Dkt. 1As we explained in the meet and confer with the government, Mr. Abrego seeks communications extending through June 6, 2025 because a number of public statements highly relevant to the motion to dismiss were made in conjunction with the announcement of the charges against him that day, such as the statement from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on June 6 that the Court noted in its opinion “could be direct evidence of vindictiveness.” (Dkt. 138 at 7). Internal communications relating to those public statements are likely to provide relevant evidence of the intent of the officials making the statements. We note that there is ample evidence of vindictiveness—including in numerous public statements from high-level officials—post-dating June 6, but we propose this date limitation to ensure the discovery sought is appropr…

138 at 15) would be a non-starter: the government is not prepared to commit to produce any documents or communications in the possession of any part of DOJ, DHS, or the White House— not even documents in the immediate possession of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee. Indeed, though Mr. McGuire acknowledged that he has documents and communications in his possession likely relevant to Mr. Abrego’s motion—including communications with at least one attorney in the DAG’s office, and responsive internal communications with Mr. Schrader— Mr. McGuire could not commit to producing any of these apparently responsive documents. With regard to relevant and responsive documents in the possession of other components of the federal government, including DOJ, DHS, and the White House, Mr. McGuire confirmed that he had not communicated with the custodians of relevant documents, inquired as to whether such documents exist, or directed their preservation. Mr. McGuire informed us that he had simply “flagged” for the DAG’s office the Court’s Opinion and Order. But he confirmed that he has never asked any questions of anyone in Main Justice, DHS, or any other agency about either the substance of Mr. Abrego’s allegations of vindictiveness or about any evidence potentially relevant to those allegations.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 19h

Need to find other people on this platform who were neither awarded a MacArthur Foundation genius grant nor the Nobel Prize in Literature this week so we can bond over our shared miseries and grievances.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

If you want to understand why Philadelphia sports fans have been quiet about this tonight, it's not just because the Phillies are playing right now. No one knows better than us what it's like to have a Toronto team finish your team's season, and we don't wish that on anyone. Even New Yorkers.

Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 1d

Blue Jays are blasting Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” during their celebration

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

He was very into promoting instant runoff voting, and Howie Klein reached out to invite him to the panel IIRC. I had lunch with Krist and his wife afterwards; couldn't tell you a thing about what we discussed other than that I pointedly avoided bring up the band like the fanboy I obviously was.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

She was one of the founders. Her boyfriend later joined the movement.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

Meanwhile, Krist Novoselic, um ...

(Both he and Kyrsten Sinema were on my panel at the first Netroots/YearlyKos in 2006. I bear no responsibility for what followed.)

www.theguardian.com/music/2020/j...

Nirvana: Krist Novoselic praises Trump's 'strong and direct' protest speech

Following backlash over the post, the former Nirvana bassist locked his Facebook account and deactivated his Twitter

www.theguardian.com

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

The girlfriend of one of the founders of Antifa.

Maria and Georg von Trapp

Reposted by Adam Bonin

Third Summers Brother @hugetinymistake.bsky.social · 1d

Oh baby

This is bliss

Phillies get back up

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

My high school senior daughter was 11 months old. The one before that, I was in 2nd grade.

Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

I've been a Phillies fan my entire life.

livia soprano, don't expect happiness.

Reposted by Adam Bonin

Third Summers Brother @hugetinymistake.bsky.social · 1d

I wish the Lord would take me now - livia soprano