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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin
@lawofruby.bsky.social
74K followers 27 following 100 posts
@msnbc.com legal correspondent & recovering litigator; former off-air legal analyst @maddow.msnbc.com. Don’t let the pearls fool ya.
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jul 31
NEW: DOJ says the ongoing dispute over Alina Habba is one about titles, not authority. What does that mean? And why is their fallback position more frightening for the rule of law than their insistence on keeping her as Acting U.S. Attorney? Read here:

www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
Was former Trump lawyer Alina Habba ‘validly appointed’ to her DOJ post?
Whether or not she is legitimately serving as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney, DOJ’s fallback position is even more concerning.
www.msnbc.com
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jul 17
NEW: In an email to her now-former colleagues today, veteran SDNY prosecutor Maurene Comey says she was “summarily fired” by “Main Justice” and urges that fear not “seep into the decisions of those who remain.” Read her whole email here:

www.msnbc.com/top-stories/...
Read Epstein prosecutor Maurene Comey’s letter to colleagues after DOJ firing
“Fear is the tool of a tyrant,” wrote the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, a frequent target of President Donald Trump.
www.msnbc.com
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Reposted by Lisa Rubin
msnbc.com
MSNBC @msnbc.com · Jun 27
Democratic state AGs have filed dozens of lawsuits against the Trump admin. and are showing no signs of stopping.

MSNBC's @lawofruby.bsky.social sits down with three of them to discuss their role in combating Trump 2.0 in a new episode of "Can They Do That?"

WATCH: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIz_...
Trump facing endless legal NIGHTMARE: 'Keep on suing'
YouTube video by MSNBC
www.youtube.com
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 20
Pete Hegseth's not the only Trump ally nor the only Trump nominee to express doubts that the executive branch should follow court orders, full stop. It's a disturbing trend, especially when the doubters are themselves federal judicial nominees. My latest for @msnbc.com: msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
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Reposted by Lisa Rubin
lastword.msnbc.com
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell @lastword.msnbc.com · Jun 18
TONIGHT: @lawofruby.bsky.social joins @lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com on The #LastWord at 10pm ET.
Promotional graphic for MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell featuring MSNBC Legal Correspondent Lisa Rubin
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 6
The court battles between the Trump administration and Harvard are now so extensive and critical to Harvard that, as I just said on @msnbc.com, collectively, they remind me of this scene.
trumpbootedout.bsky.social
tRUMP Booted Out! @tRUMPBootedOut @trumpbootedout.bsky.social · Jun 6
@lawofruby.bsky.social
youtu.be/gsEjZwTfNT8?...
Footloose (1984) - Hero Tractor Chicken Scene | Movieclips
YouTube video by Movieclips
youtu.be
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 5
The Trump memo launching an investigation into the Biden White House’s use of the autopen allegedly to conceal his mental state is something else. Why is the White House Counsel in charge of this investigation? That is one indicator that something is awry.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reviewing Certain Presidential Actions
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERALTHE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT:       Reviewing Certain Presidential Actions By the
www.whitehouse.gov
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 5
NEW: I watched today’s nomination hearing for the first of Trump’s judicial nominees, and spoiler alert: they are willing to go places unthinkable for legal conservatives even 4 years ago. My latest for MSNBC.com:

www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 4
Lisa Rubin is going home to her daughters and take-out.
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 4
NEW: The first judicial nominees of Trump 2.0 get a Senate Judiciary hearing this morning starting in 2 min. Watch along with me?

www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-ac...
Nominations | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
www.judiciary.senate.gov
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 3
NEW: Everyone's got a hot take on Trump's beef with the Federalist Society. Mine? Trump wants to eliminate both FedSoc and the ABA's influence over judicial nominations so he's the sole arbiter of nominees' qualifications & fitness. My latest for MSNBC.com: www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
As law firms and clients push back against Trump, he shifts focus to judicial 'vetters'
In cutting off the American Bar Association's access to judicial nominees and attacking the Federalist Society, Trump seeks to become the sole arbiter of judicial quality.
www.msnbc.com
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · Jun 2
NEW: Pam Bondi & Kash Patel are under increasing pressure to release more info about Jeffrey Epstein’s life and death. But putting aside our own curiosity, doesn’t federal law enforcement owe his victims a review of their own failure to act? My latest at MSNBC.com:

www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
Victims' lawsuits show FBI and DOJ's focus on Epstein files misses the mark
Instead of devoting thousands of hours to document redactions, the agencies should determine how to more effectively — and emphatically — respond to sex abuse victims.
www.msnbc.com
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 28
NEW: Are the courts holding in Trump 2.0? Well, that depends. No court can hold if its orders are flouted—and one immigration case highlights how willing the administration seems to disobey. My latest for MSNBC.com:

www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 20
NEW: The audio of Biden's interview with Robert Hur matters less for what he said than how he said it--and underscores, like the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial, why there's often no replacement for actually hearing a witness's account. My latest for @msnbc.com: www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
The significance of Biden’s Hur audio isn’t what he said. It’s how he said it.
The release of the Biden audio amid the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial underscores why the public’s ability to watch and listen to court proceedings matters.
www.msnbc.com
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 14
And why was she arrested the same day that a federal judge in another court expressed doubt that customs officials had authority to revoke her visa? Something smells off here -- and it's not the "biological material" Petrova failed to declare on her customs forms.
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 14
Petrova was detained at Logan Airport on February 16. If the case against her is righteous and just, why did it take the feds two months after detaining her to file so little?
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 14
In the meantime, the charging papers are little more than an affidavit from a Homeland Security Investigations agent and this criminal complaint.
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 14
At some point today, the administration moved to unseal its criminal complaint against Petrova in a Massachusetts federal court and represented she has been arrested:
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 14
The administration told that judge, Christina Reiss, that they intend to send Petrova back to Russia, despite her fear of arrest because of her support for Ukraine. Reiss scheduled a bail hearing on May 28, "potentially setting the stage for Ms. Petrova’s release":

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/h...
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 14
Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova has been charged criminally with smuggling goods -- e.g., frog embryos and samples thereof on slides, etc. -- into the United States on the same day the judge overseeing her habeas case questioned the government's authority to revoke her visa.
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 14
NEW: Beyond detailing the horrors she alleges she suffered at Sean Combs' hands, Cassie Ventura has dropped some other important details: the names of Combs' alleged enablers (aka co-conspirators). I break down why that matters in my latest for @msnbc.com: www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
Why it matters that Cassie Ventura named names
While the public focuses on the sexual and physical abuse that Ventura allegedly suffered at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ hands, the charges necessitate proof of who enabled his conduct.
www.msnbc.com
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 11
So just to be clear, DOJ policy prohibits personnel from offering “any opinion as to the defendant’s guilt” except during the proceeding itself or after a conviction. There is no exception for media appearances. FIN.
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 11
And yet, in service of what they call responding in kind, this DOJ doesn’t seem to care a lick about complying with the department policy they claim the preceding administration ignored. 4/
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 11
That claim was thoroughly dismantled by a federal judge, even after the Justice Department scoured prosecutors’ emails and texts for proof of their purported misconduct. 3/
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lawofruby.bsky.social
Lisa Rubin @lawofruby.bsky.social · May 11
Weren’t the public statements of then-SDNY U.S. Attorney Damian Williams a large part of their claim that the charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams were politically motivated? 2/
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