Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 1d

As we all should!

Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 2d

My hot take is that I don’t think you need to have decades of litigation experience to be a good judge—even a good trial judge. It’s an entirely different function. (Which isn’t a comment on this judge!)

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 2d

Nachmanoff's bio looks like a judge's should: private criminal defense for 6 years, public defender for 13 years, magistrate judge for 6 years, then federal judge.

As compared to Trump nominees, which are like "I'm 35, never had a real client or been in court, got paid to write anti-LGBTQ blogs."

Jamie Gangel @jamiegangel.bsky.social · 2d

Meet the judge who will be presiding over the James Comey case…

www.cnn.com/2025/10/08/p...

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Reposted by Noah Chauvin

Anna E. Carpenter @annacarpenter.bsky.social · 5d

@uofoklahomalaw.bsky.social Professors Noah Chauvin (@noahchauvin.bsky.social) and Michael Smith (@msmith750.bsky.social) recently presented their work at a Junior Faculty Workshop at the Univ. of Tulsa College of Law alongside faculty from Arkansas, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City University.

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 5d

Reflecting on how lucky I am to live in a country with such extraordinary material wealth that we just leave food products out to rot as decoration.

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Amy Kristin Sanders @amykristinsanders.bsky.social · 6d

Know a law student interested in Communication/Media Law?

Applications are open for the Forum on Communications Law's Annual Conference and Media Advocacy Workshop scholarships to attend the February 2026 conference in Phoenix.

Application information available on the Forum's website.

Media Advocacy Workshop 2025-2026 Law Student Scholarship Program

Now in its 31st year, the American Bar Association’s Forum on Communications Law is pleased to invite law students to apply for financial support to attend its Media Advocacy Workshop and Annual Confe...

www.americanbar.org

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Reposted by Noah Chauvin

Matt Martin @mattjmartin.com · 9d

The call for papers for the 11th Emerging Scholars Conference in Public Law at UT Austin is now open! This year’s theme is "Bastion of Democracy: The Role of Courts in Navigating Democratic Governance."

The deadline is Wednesday, October 15. Submit your abstract here: lnkd.in/gxyZ6SCRhttp...

The call for papers for the 11th Emerging Scholars Conference in Public Law at The University of Texas at Austin is now open!

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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 9d

10/10 agree with the outcome
1/10 I do not like the opinion.

Its seriousness is undermined because it reads like a weapon in search of a target. It’s a dire warning I agree with. But this should’ve been sober but damning analysis.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 9d

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment by deporting noncitizen student activists. nyti.ms/4mG1pck

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 10d

A good piece from Joseph Margulies on the way in which debates about legality can substitute for the real issues.

This is something I try to have my national security lawyering students to wrestle with in thinking about the proper role of government attorneys.

www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

The Moral Stupefaction of the American Public - Boston Review

Trump’s actions are illegal, yes. Worse than that, they are wrong—precisely what the legality debate is meant to obscure.

www.bostonreview.net

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 10d

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

Nick Fleisher @nickfleisher.bsky.social · 10d

30% drop year over year!

Amid visa restrictions, international freshmen enrollment plummets at UW-Madison

This year’s number of international freshmen is the lowest recorded since at least 2015.

www.jsonline.com

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Reposted by Noah Chauvin

Cato Institute @cato.org · 10d

President Trump’s new order to “counter political violence” is really a mandate to police speech. Protected advocacy becomes “radicalization.” Criticism becomes “justifying violence.”

This is an attack on the First Amendment, not on political violence, argues @walterolson.bsky.social:

President Trump Plans To Investigate and "Disrupt" Opposition Speech

A new executive order signals the White House’s intent to use law enforcement to investigate and disrupt networks and organizations Donald Trump and allies consider responsible for encouraging political...

www.cato.org

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 13d

I get that, but I worry that principle could be used to justify a whole lot of mischief. (Though I support the underlying goal in this instance.) Part of my hesitance may be that I don’t think this is a particularly close case, though:

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

Can States Force ICE to Take Off the Masks?

No. But that does not mean they are entirely powerless to combat the practice.

papers.ssrn.com

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Reposted by Noah Chauvin

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 14d

California lawmakers can and should, by use of their rightful constitutional powers, restrict state and local law enforcers' use of masks. But ICE is a federal agency, which means the Supremacy Clause bars states from ordering it to unmask. Federal action is needed; let's start preparing for it now.

Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 14d

A good piece from Prof. Vikram David Amar on why California's No Secret Police Act is, as he puts it, "constitutionally dead on arrival."

verdict.justia.com/2025/09/24/a...

Absent Federal Consent California Cannot Regulate ICE’s Use of Masks

UC Davis Law professor Vikram David Amar discusses California’s new law, SB 627, which bans masked law enforcement, including federal agents like ICE, from covering their faces in public interactions,...

verdict.justia.com

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 14d

When I was at DHS, I’d have calls with lawyers from the components (especially CBP and ICE) in which they’d refer to things “DHS” wanted them to do as of we didn’t have the same boss. The lack of a coherent identity is a nightmare for any DHS Secretary trying to reform (or control) the Department.

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 14d

Aside from everything else wrong with it, DHS is a random grab-bag of agencies and missions thrown together less because they have any coherent common purpose and more because they were the ones who didn't have enough political pull to successfully resist being put somewhere nobody wants to be.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 14d

DHS is barely 20 years old. It was thrown together by a bunch of unsupervised interns in the chaotic wake of 9/11 (that's barely an exaggeration if you read about how inexperienced so many of its creators were).

It can easily be disassembled as well.

We don't have to live like this.

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you, and I agree. I just want states to focus on strategies that will work!

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Reposted by Noah Chauvin

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 14d

I ageee with @noahchauvin.bsky.social and Vik Amar. This is the correct test, though sympathetic as I am to the California legislation.

Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 14d

A good piece from Prof. Vikram David Amar on why California's No Secret Police Act is, as he puts it, "constitutionally dead on arrival."

verdict.justia.com/2025/09/24/a...

Absent Federal Consent California Cannot Regulate ICE’s Use of Masks

UC Davis Law professor Vikram David Amar discusses California’s new law, SB 627, which bans masked law enforcement, including federal agents like ICE, from covering their faces in public interactions,...

verdict.justia.com

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 14d

A good piece from Prof. Vikram David Amar on why California's No Secret Police Act is, as he puts it, "constitutionally dead on arrival."

verdict.justia.com/2025/09/24/a...

Absent Federal Consent California Cannot Regulate ICE’s Use of Masks

UC Davis Law professor Vikram David Amar discusses California’s new law, SB 627, which bans masked law enforcement, including federal agents like ICE, from covering their faces in public interactions,...

verdict.justia.com

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Reposted by Noah Chauvin

Alan Rozenshtein @alanrozenshtein.com · 14d

Not just a high stakes position. Before I started as a junior DOJ attorney, a mentor told me to prewrite my resignation letter and put it in my desk drawer. I never had to use but it’s advice I’ve given ever since to my own students.

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 14d

Anyone who takes a high-stakes government position needs to have in the back of their mind the orders they would sooner resign than comply with. A directive from the president to prosecute a political enemy should be one of them. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

Justice Dept. Official Pushes Prosecutors to Investigate George Soros’s Foundation

www.nytimes.com

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 14d

I did the same as a junior lawyer at DHS, and had this discussion with my students the other day when talking about the law surrounding enhanced interrogation techniques.

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 15d

*Another* motor vehicle theft on campus (someone boosted a scooter)

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Anna E. Carpenter @annacarpenter.bsky.social · 18d

Professor Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social, one of the newest @uofoklahomalaw.bsky.social faculty members, recently presented at the Belmont Law Review symposium on Contemporary Issues in National Security and the Law.

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 18d

Thanks! Would love to hear what you think.

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 18d

I agree! As I said in the paper, I think that’s something states *should* do! With the rash of crimes that’ve been perpetrated by people pretending to be LE, no need for cops to take someone at their word when they say they’re ICE.

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 18d

The reason it irks me is that I want states like California to devote their energies to strategies that will work. But I take your point!

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Michael Smith @msmith750.bsky.social · 18d

For more on this point, see this recent essay by my colleague, @noahchauvin.bsky.social:

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

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Noah Chauvin @noahchauvin.bsky.social · 18d

FWIW, Erwin Chemerinsky doesn’t:

www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-e...

California law targets ICE agents’ use of masks. Is the practice constitutional? | Opinion

“Wearing masks is not necessary for ICE to perform its functions,” writes UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

www.sacbee.com

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