Mark McKenna
@markpmckenna.bsky.social
UCLA Law Prof., Of Counsel, Lex Lumina PLLC
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Jack Smith: "The people who assaulted police officers and were convicted after trial in my view and I think in the view of the judges who sentenced them to prison are dangerous to their community. Some of these people have already committed crimes against their communities again."
January 22, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Jack Smith: "The people who assaulted police officers and were convicted after trial in my view and I think in the view of the judges who sentenced them to prison are dangerous to their community. Some of these people have already committed crimes against their communities again."
Reposted by Mark McKenna
This is the sixth death in ICE custody in 18 days. This isn’t enforcement, it’s a system that cages people, outsources care, and shrugs when they die. Abolish ICE.
January 18, 2026 at 9:29 PM
This is the sixth death in ICE custody in 18 days. This isn’t enforcement, it’s a system that cages people, outsources care, and shrugs when they die. Abolish ICE.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
In a forthcoming paper, legal scholar Spencer Overton says the Trump administration's AI policy is another critical arena for its efforts to advance ethnonationalism, ensuring that problems such as algorithmic bias and discrimination are encoded into the systems that will shape the future:
How Trump's AI Policy Promotes Ethnonationalism
A conversation with George Washington University Law School scholar Spencer Overton about his forthcoming paper, "Ethnonationalism by Algorithm."
www.techpolicy.press
January 18, 2026 at 5:48 PM
In a forthcoming paper, legal scholar Spencer Overton says the Trump administration's AI policy is another critical arena for its efforts to advance ethnonationalism, ensuring that problems such as algorithmic bias and discrimination are encoded into the systems that will shape the future:
And when that happens, you can take it to the bank that the Court will then say exactly the opposite of what they’re saying now.
The next president (and the next Congress) might really use that power in a way the right-wing wackos on the court won’t like.
December 10, 2025 at 3:50 AM
And when that happens, you can take it to the bank that the Court will then say exactly the opposite of what they’re saying now.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
They’re all just looting the treasury now
November 14, 2025 at 6:07 PM
They’re all just looting the treasury now
US citizen shot from behind as he warned ICE agents children would be coming to get bus, lawyers say
U.S. citizen shot from behind as he warned ICE agents about children gathering at bus stop, lawyers say
Lawyers for Carlos Jimenez said he was in fear after an agent threatened him with chemical spray, then pointed a gun at him.
www.latimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:43 AM
It’s much worse than that. They are executing alleged drug smugglers with zero process. Even if we had the death penalty for smuggling, this would be an outrageous violation of the law.
Rep. Adam Smith: "This country has not agreed to have the death penalty for drug smuggling. If we want to have that policy conversation, we can have that policy conversation, but the president has unilaterally decided that lethal force is going to be applied. It's an enormous expansion of power."
October 31, 2025 at 8:31 PM
It’s much worse than that. They are executing alleged drug smugglers with zero process. Even if we had the death penalty for smuggling, this would be an outrageous violation of the law.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Perfect response from @neguse.house.gov here. Watch this.
October 31, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Perfect response from @neguse.house.gov here. Watch this.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.
October 31, 2025 at 5:57 PM
On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Great @jotwell.bsky.social piece by @rtushnet.bsky.social reviewing Dustin Marlan's piece on trade dress in the Supreme Court (and the mysterious tertium quid) cyber.jotwell.com/distinguishi...
Distinguishing Marks - Technology Law
Dustin Marlan, Servicing Trade Dress: Demystifying the Tertium Quid, 58 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1513 (2025).Rebecca TushnetIt is rare in legal scholarship to be both novel and clearly correct at the same t...
cyber.jotwell.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Great @jotwell.bsky.social piece by @rtushnet.bsky.social reviewing Dustin Marlan's piece on trade dress in the Supreme Court (and the mysterious tertium quid) cyber.jotwell.com/distinguishi...
Reposted by Mark McKenna
“We found over 35 cases in which the judges have specifically said what the government is providing…false information. It might be intentionally false information, including false sworn declarations time and again," says Ryan Goodman, law professor at New York University.
October 19, 2025 at 11:43 PM
“We found over 35 cases in which the judges have specifically said what the government is providing…false information. It might be intentionally false information, including false sworn declarations time and again," says Ryan Goodman, law professor at New York University.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
According to Trump judges, whatever Trump says goes. I mean, he’s such an honest broker.
🚨BREAKING: A federal appeals court Monday all but cleared the way for President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Appeals Judges Greenlight Trump's Portland Military Deployment
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
October 20, 2025 at 8:01 PM
According to Trump judges, whatever Trump says goes. I mean, he’s such an honest broker.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
The most reckless, stupid administration E-V-E-R. Nothing comes close.
October 19, 2025 at 11:33 PM
The most reckless, stupid administration E-V-E-R. Nothing comes close.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
For the last panel today, we’ve got a panel on how IP rights do and don’t serve as a signal to consumers, covering patent, copyright, trademark, and false advertising, with Chris Cotropia, @jnvictor.bsky.social, @markpmckenna.bsky.social, @rtushnet.bsky.social, and me #conspicuousconsumers
October 16, 2025 at 7:46 PM
For the last panel today, we’ve got a panel on how IP rights do and don’t serve as a signal to consumers, covering patent, copyright, trademark, and false advertising, with Chris Cotropia, @jnvictor.bsky.social, @markpmckenna.bsky.social, @rtushnet.bsky.social, and me #conspicuousconsumers
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Since taking office for his second term, Trump has been federalizing the National Guard by sending its troops to largely Democratic-led cities. His latest target? Chicago.
Here’s where things stand with his deployment of troops to the Windy City👇
https://bit.ly/4q4KEL4
Here’s where things stand with his deployment of troops to the Windy City👇
https://bit.ly/4q4KEL4
Illinois Sues to Block Trump’s Deployment of Texas National Guard in Chicago
Read more here.
bit.ly
October 10, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Since taking office for his second term, Trump has been federalizing the National Guard by sending its troops to largely Democratic-led cities. His latest target? Chicago.
Here’s where things stand with his deployment of troops to the Windy City👇
https://bit.ly/4q4KEL4
Here’s where things stand with his deployment of troops to the Windy City👇
https://bit.ly/4q4KEL4
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Kavanaugh stop.
American citizen, read this. www.koin.com/news/portlan...
October 9, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Kavanaugh stop.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Michigan Avenue right now.
October 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Michigan Avenue right now.
Reposted by Mark McKenna
@hartzog.bsky.social and @markpmckenna.bsky.social argue for more precision in their references to “scale” in regards to technology. Differentiating between “scale as more” and “scale as different” H & M suggest they have different implications for regulation papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Taking Scale Seriously in Technology Law
<p>Issues of scale—the relationship between the amount of an activity and its associated costs and benefits—permeate discussions around law and technologies. In
papers.ssrn.com
September 26, 2025 at 2:55 PM
@hartzog.bsky.social and @markpmckenna.bsky.social argue for more precision in their references to “scale” in regards to technology. Differentiating between “scale as more” and “scale as different” H & M suggest they have different implications for regulation papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Mark McKenna
More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site
As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.
www.miamiherald.com
September 23, 2025 at 5:39 PM
More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Fact-checker @glennkessler.bsky.social takes apart Trump's delusional United Nations speech with, well, facts.
open.substack.com/pub/glennkes...
open.substack.com/pub/glennkes...
Trump’s U.N. Speech: A World of His Own
False claims, imagined triumphs, and a fantasy take on global affairs.
open.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Fact-checker @glennkessler.bsky.social takes apart Trump's delusional United Nations speech with, well, facts.
open.substack.com/pub/glennkes...
open.substack.com/pub/glennkes...
Sadly, it apparently is our policy
Rand Paul: "The reason we have trials & we don't automatically assume guilt is what if we make a mistake and they happen to be people fleeing the Venezuelan dictator? ... off our coast it isn't our policy just to blow people up ... even the worst people in our country, they still get a trial."
September 4, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Sadly, it apparently is our policy
Reposted by Mark McKenna
I know, I know, but: The president of the US saying, literally, "we're going in" in reference to sending the military to an American city for no reason beyond terrorizing the local population should be the most immediately impeachable shit imaginable
September 2, 2025 at 8:57 PM
I know, I know, but: The president of the US saying, literally, "we're going in" in reference to sending the military to an American city for no reason beyond terrorizing the local population should be the most immediately impeachable shit imaginable
Reposted by Mark McKenna
Thrilled that my article with @markpmckenna.bsky.social on "Amazon's Quiet Overhaul of the Trademark System" is now out in the California Law Review @califlrev.bsky.social
Amazon’s Quiet Overhaul of the Trademark System — California Law Review
Amazon’s dominance as a platform is widely documented. But one aspect of that dominance has not received sufficient attention—the Amazon Brand Registry’s sweeping influence on firm behavior, particula...
www.californialawreview.org
August 31, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Thrilled that my article with @markpmckenna.bsky.social on "Amazon's Quiet Overhaul of the Trademark System" is now out in the California Law Review @califlrev.bsky.social
Indeed, that is making “cause” mean the same thing as “at will.”
DOJ says that "The President’s judgment about what constitutes 'cause' [for removing a Fed governor] is not subject to judicial second-guessing."
If that's true, then the Federal Reserve Act's removal clause offers absolutely zero protection.
That just cannot be the case.
If that's true, then the Federal Reserve Act's removal clause offers absolutely zero protection.
That just cannot be the case.
August 30, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Indeed, that is making “cause” mean the same thing as “at will.”