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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 2d

And, for the record, and to my great shame and dismay (but holding myself to account), no judge asked why they were hearing a stay motion for an appeal of a TRO, which isn't appealable in the first place.

We are truly living in cursed times.

Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 2d

I anticipate one of the first questions will be: wait, how can you appeal a TRO?

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 2d

“A more robust and effective damages regime obviously would not prevent unconstitutional conduct by government officers. But it sure would be an easy way to reduce its frequency—and it would also be a remarkably easy statute to write.”

Me in today’s bonus issue of “One First”:

Bonus 182: Damages as a (Missing) Deterrent

It's worth reflecting on how different things might look right now if federal officers—or the federal government itself—faced a meaningful specter of monetary liability for constitutional violations.

www.stevevladeck.com

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Institute for Constitutional Advocacy & Protection @icapgeorgetown.bsky.social · 2d

Today, we filed a brief in the Supreme Court opposing former County Clerk Kim Davis' meritless request that Obergefell be overturned. Marriage equality is the law of the land, and it's here to stay.

Read the full brief here: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

www.supremecourt.gov

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 4d

The federal government does and should have the authority to deploy troops into our cities—even without local consent—*when the circumstances actually warrant it.*

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com, me on why the real issue in Portland, Chicago, and elsewhere is the missing / contrived factual predicate:

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

www.nytimes.com

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 4d

Takes the "No Heckler's Veto" doctrine to a weird new place, doesn't it

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 4d

It's... a hard read right now, but this weekend I got to Cynthia Fountaine's article about the collapse of the legal system and the role of lawyers/courts during the rise of Nazism/Hitler in Germany. Worth reading and reflecting upon. commons.stmarytx.edu/cgi/viewcont...

commons.stmarytx.edu

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Guha Krishnamurthi @ggkrishnamoomoo.bsky.social · 5d

Earlier this summer, I presented Textualism Step Zero at the Harvard-Yale-Stanford Junior Faculty Forum

I begin with a confession of my failures and say something about a failure in textualism-hey, and this is different for me-even a way to fix that for textualism!

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

abstract of my paper Textualism Step Zero

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Georgetown Law @georgetownlaw.bsky.social · 5d

🎥 As the SCOTUS October Term begins, revisit highlights from the Supreme Court Institute’s recent Term Preview! Professors Aderson François and @stevevladeck.bsky.social reflect on the event’s value for students and the cases they were most eager to discuss with students.

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING: Illinois has filed suit to block Trump's deployment of the military to Chicago.

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

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

Howie Erichson @howarderichson.bsky.social · 5d

A depressing read, but useful to get the collective wisdom of Republican & Democratic lawyers on threats to the rule of law. Particularly sad to see the devastation of DOJ's reputation.

'Bow to the Emperor’:We Asked 50 Legal Experts About the Trump Presidency www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/m...

‘Bow to the Emperor’:We Asked 50 Legal Experts About the Trump Presidency

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Joseph Mead

John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 8d

“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits

A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

Free Enter. Fund v. Pub. Co. Acct. Oversight Bd., 561 U.S. 477, 491 n. 2 (2010).

Reposted by Joseph Mead

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 6d

Tweet less; research more.

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

I'm not sure what any of that has to do with anything?

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

To take seriously the suggestion, federal judges approve search warrants, sit on FISA court, retain special prosecutors, proscribe federal rules, and determine sentencing guidelines. They aren't adjudication of cases but have been determined to be sufficiently judicial. Is that his point?

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"The ability to sue to enjoin unconstitutional actions by... federal officers ... reflects a long history of judicial review of illegal executive action, tracing back to England." Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Ctr., Inc., 575 U.S. 320, 327 (2015) (Scalia, for the Court)

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

I haven't a clue.

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

The idea that Congress gave "judges" but not "courts" the power to do something is total gibberish.

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor..., who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest of Proofs of the Danger of standing Armies."

John Adams' on defense of Boston Massacre soldiers.

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"I have Reason to remember that fatal Night. The Part I took in Defence ... procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country."

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"burst into a flood of Tears, but said she was very sensible of all the Danger to her and to our Children as well as to me, but she thought I had done as I ought, she was very willing to share in all that was to come and place her trust in Providence.

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"and had devoted myself to endless labour and Anxiety if not to infamy and to death, and that for nothing, except, what indeed was and ought to be all in all, a sense of duty. In the Evening I expressed to Mrs. Adams all my Apprehensions: That excellent Lady, who has always encouraged me,

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"that I should ever go through the Thorns and leap all the Precipices before me, and escape with my Life. At this time I had more Business at the Bar, than any Man in the Province: My health was feeble: I was throwing away as bright prospects [as] any Man ever had before him

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"He must therefore expect from me no Art or Address, No Sophistry or Prevarication in such a Cause; nor any thing more than Fact, Evidence and Law would justify...I considered the Step as a devotion of my family to ruin and myself to death, for I could scarce perceive a possibility

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Joseph Mead @josephwmead.bsky.social · 5d

"the Council they preferred: But he must be sensible this would be as important a Cause as ever was tryed in any Court or Country of the World: and that every Lawyer must hold himself responsible not only to his Country, but to the highest and most infallible of all Trybunals for the Part....

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