Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 5h

I believe the couple is performing what’s known as a “Kavanaugh canter.”

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5h

Yeah, that is a tear gas canister being fired toward the retreating couple holding the baby

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 17h

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 1d

Sorta kinda the original originalism.

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 1d

Just west of Fort Qu’Appelle in Saskatchewan, the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation is working across the US border to revive centuries-old trade routes as part of a new Indigenous-governed trade corridor.

From our friends at @nationalobserver.com:

Indigenous nations plan a tariff-free trade corridor across the US-Canada border

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

www.motherjones.com

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 1d

THIS.

Much of the critical Voting Rights Act narrative critiques a strawman that doesn’t exist. The real VRA is relentlessly local, relentlessly fact-driven, and relentlessly effective in low-profile contexts.

That includes districts that never become cases, bc of compliance w/o litigation.

Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 1d

Although the Callais case at SCOTUS involves a high-profile congressional redistricting dispute, important to remember that most Section 2 cases (2/3!) continue to involve local government bodies like city councils & school boards. - mostly challenges to at-large systems.

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Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 1d

Also for all the Ds vs. Rs "political" stakes that people will play up over the next few days with Callais, important to remember that the overwhelming share of Section 2 cases involve non-partisan elections.

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Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 1d

Although the Callais case at SCOTUS involves a high-profile congressional redistricting dispute, important to remember that most Section 2 cases (2/3!) continue to involve local government bodies like city councils & school boards. - mostly challenges to at-large systems.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 1d

Sadly, tapping the sign.

Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · Nov 17

An awful lot of the Monday-morning democracy quarterbacks on here are imagining a team that didn’t have to run every congressional play through Joe Manchin.

I like the razzle-dazzle plays too, but you gotta have the personnel to execute them.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 1d

Given what you’re describing, it’s possible you spelled it right the first time.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 1d

I am breathlessly awaiting the next installment as if it were a Dickensian serial.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 1d

@colbertlateshow.bsky.social isn’t even going to have to change the channel to have enough material through the end of the season.

Fingers crossed that this gets lit up as much as it deserves.

Some NYPD officers worry about Mamdani becoming the NYC mayor, The Free Press reports

The Free Press spoke to several New York City Police Department officers who are worried about Zohran Mamdani becoming mayor. Olivia Reingold joins CBS News with more.

www.cbsnews.com

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

“Mine’s a three-part question”

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 2d

“Alito has the opinion”

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

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Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 2d

“Alito has the opinion”

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 5d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 3d

We will need Nuremberg-like trials

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻 @longtimehistory.bsky.social · 3d

ICE secretly kidnap autistic boy during bathroom break—never notify parents.

Mother reported him missing a week ago—turns out ICE had him detained the whole time.

He was helping sell fruit and asked to go to the restroom—by the time she was done helping a customer he was gone.

Houston, Texas

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Deborah Pearlstein @debpearlstein.bsky.social · 3d

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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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 4d

Indeed. I’m just saying, the bridge is out even at step one.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 6d

OK, so in the world where each institution will do literally anything the President wants, what’s the play, then?

(Or maybe there’s an in-between where different institutions have different failure points that we can work to shore up?)

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 6d

And the quickest way to get to “we’re all living in Russia already” is to invent a fictional world in which “we’re all living in Russia already”. I mean, giving up in advance saves all the emotional energy, dunnit?

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 6d

Wishcasting magical legalism is just an excuse to not bother acting in ways that change the real world.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 6d

Yeah, but by that logic, you can just skip all of the machinations that give this some veneer of a plan.

Step one: Trump declares himself an emperor.

Step two: SCOTUS agrees.

Much simpler. Just as legally sound. And neither one of them will happen.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 6d

Executive orders have as much legal force as a kids’ fast food placemat if there’s no underlying statute delegating power to the President.

This is not a thing.

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 6d

There’s a pretty significant problem with step one of the plan.

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 6d

"We took the freedom of speech away," says the president

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds."

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 6d

if blue state governors and mayors aren't already thinking about the reliability of various police forces nominally under their control, they should start immediately

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 6d

The situation in America is not great. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

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Justin Levitt @justinlevitt.bsky.social · 7d

Don’t look away.

bsky.app/profile/mske...

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 25d

CW: protester being struck in the head by a pepper ball

Footage I took earlier of the moment Reverend David Black, a regular protester outside of the Broadview Detention Center, was shot in the head with a pepper ball by ICE agents on the roof of the facility.

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💞Sabrina💞 @sabrinarina.bsky.social · 7d

Oregon National Guard Adjutant General, General Gronewold says if they are federalized, that he will advise the Title 10 commander to utilize National Guard Troops to PROTECT protesters at ICE facilities. This is the right answer.

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