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Reposted by Michael Froomkin

Jotwell @jotwell.bsky.social · 7h

Jotwell Contracts:
Eboni Nelson, “Consumer” Protection for Small Businesses, JOTWELL (October 9, 2025) (reviewing Rachel G. Ngo Ntomp, The Small Business Dilemma, 81 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1939 (2025)), contracts.jotwell.com/consumer-pro....

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Reposted by Michael Froomkin

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

Monstrous.

"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning."

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 1d

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 22h

Hmmm.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 23h

NOTE: Leavitt says Trump will "stop by for his routine yearly check up."

But…Trump had his annual check up already. 5 months ago. On April 11.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 23h

New — White House says Donald Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday.

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 22h

And they've already given in.

One trial balloon down in flames.

www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

On Tuesday, the Trump admin said furloughed feds were not guaranteed back pay. On Wednesday, it sent notices saying they were

Just one day after taking a different argument, the Trump administration notes federal law guarantees back pay for employees sent home during a shutdown.

www.govexec.com

Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 22h

Could it be that an underappreciated aspect of the transformation of the Washington Post into a near MAGA Fantasyland is to change the information that daily impinges on the less doctrinaire conservative Supreme Court Justices?

Or is that category also a fantasy?

Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Pritzker-Warnock 2028

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

BIG not "bug". Not my autocorrect day. (When is?) bsky.app/profile/mfro...

Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Signs of AI sentience: My autocorrect just changed "Congress" to "chickens".

Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

And, third, although it seems a little crazy, requiring government employees to work for free, especially with no employer intention to pay them, might be "involuntary servitude" in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment (although query how one gets damages). 4/4

Thirteenth Amendment

Section 1

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

2nd, if for some crazy reason GEFTA doesn't apply, then the workers would have donated their time. But that would violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1342, except for "emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property" other than "regular functions" of govt. 3/4

An officer or employee of the United States Government or of the District of Columbia government may not accept voluntary services for either government or employ personal services exceeding that authorized by law except for emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property. This section does not apply to a corporation getting amounts to make loans (except paid in capital amounts) without legal liability of the United States Government. As used in this section, the term "emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property" does not include ongoing, regular functions of government the suspension of which would not imminently threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property.

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

First, there's the obvious issue that it violates GEFTA, Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, 31 U.S. Code § 1341 (2)-(3). 2/3

(2) Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations, and each excepted employee who is required to perform work during a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for such work, at the employee’s standard rate of pay, at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates, and subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.
(3) During a covered lapse in appropriations, each excepted employee who is required to perform work shall be entitled to use leave under chapter 63 of title 5, or any other applicable law governing the use of leave by the excepted employee, for which compensation shall be paid at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates.

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Apparently the Regime is floating the idea (threat) of not paying back pay despite requiring "essential workers" to show up without compensation during the shutdown period. www.npr.org/2025/10/07/g... How is this legal? TL/DR: It's not. 1/4 🧵

White House floats no back pay for some furloughed federal workers despite 2019 law

A new draft White House memo suggests a 2019 law signed by President Trump that guarantees that federal employees get paid after a shutdown ends would not apply to furloughed workers.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Michael Froomkin

University of Miami School of Law @miamilawschool.bsky.social · 1d

Miami Law's 2025 Constitution Crisis Seminar Series, led by Prof. @mfroomkin.bsky.social, explores challenges to federal power and rights, with expert lectures on executive power, civil society, courts, and constitutional reform—all available online.

Bold New Course Explores Executive Power | University of Miami School of Law

Professor Michael Froomkin created the course and brought in an elite group of distinguished legal experts to explore the current interpretation of executive power.

news.miami.edu

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Signs of the times. Not the end of times but big steps towards naked and violent authoritarianism.

Beware those who practice or advocate collaboration with either this regime or its mega corporate enablers (looking at you, Paramount).

www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-...

Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next

We aren’t at the worst-case scenario yet. But if you squint, you can see it looming out there, just over the horizon.

www.thebulwark.com

Reposted by Michael Froomkin

Jotwell @jotwell.bsky.social · 1d

Jotwell ConLaw:
Andrea Katz, Falsifying the Unitary Executive: Popperian Empiricism and History’s Uses and Misuses, JOTWELL (October 8, 2025), conlaw.jotwell.com/falsifying-t....

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Signs of AI sentience: My autocorrect just changed "Congress" to "chickens".

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

This attitude of impunity explains threats to arrest Pritzker, to ignore the law on back pay for federal employees required to work without pay, and the plan to take tariff money and spend it how they like without bothering Congress for an appropriation. And all that was just yesterday.

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

"Bondi’s contemptuousness was designed to send a clear message: You have no power to stop us.

Refusal to even entertain the questions of committee Democrats should have been cause for bipartisan scandal. But committee Republicans seemed perfectly uninterested..."

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Bondi to Congress: 🖕

The attorney general came to the Hill to deliver a message to Democrats: Your ‘oversight’ couldn't matter to us less.

open.substack.com

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Bug win for @miamilawschool.bsky.social Innocence Clinic. Bravo! news.miami.edu/law/stories/...

Miami Law Innocence Clinic Helps Client Walk Free After 18 Years | University of Miami School of Law

After nearly two decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Lawrence Johnson walked free on September 26, 2025, thanks to the persistent efforts of the School of Law’s Innocence Clinic.

news.miami.edu

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Krugman with a scary idea: "if the Trump administration succeeds in politicizing the BLS, TIPS won’t be protected against inflation. They’ll only be protected against inflation the administration is willing to admit is happening."

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/ingots-we-...

Ingots We Trust

Are soaring gold prices telling us something important?

paulkrugman.substack.com

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Reposted by Michael Froomkin

Michael Ian Black @michaelianblack.bsky.social · 1d

"Dad, were you on the side that tried to help people snatched off the street or the side that shot priests?"

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s video of the incident

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Bullion

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 1d

Terrific open letter from The Steady State a group of more than 330 former senior national security and law enforcement professionals who served in a variety of administrations warning against the so-called "Compact" demanded from certain Universities by the Trump admin. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

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Reposted by Michael Froomkin

Jotwell @jotwell.bsky.social · 2d

Jotwell Adlaw:
Margaret Kwoka, Informational Accountability for the President, JOTWELL (October 7, 2025) (reviewing Jonathan David Shaub, White House Inspection, 103 Wash. U. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2026) available at SSRN (Feb. 25, 2025)), adlaw.jotwell.com/informationa....

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 2d

Surely just standing right in front of you would suffice?

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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 2d

Hate the voice. Love the message.

George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 2d

Love this. Superbly done. Please send this far and wide. @donwinslow.bsky.social

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Reposted by Michael Froomkin

SFDB @sfdb.bsky.social · 3d

Miami Beach had its rainbow sidewalk torn up brick by brick with backhoes yesterday.

It really is bonkers how scary rainbows are to the far right.

via wsvn

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