Robert L. Tsai

@robertltsai.bsky.social

15K followers 610 following 2.7K posts

Author of DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE (@WWNorton.com), amzn.to/45LFzNg | Next: BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF COAL COUNTRY (NYU) | Prof & Harry Elwood Warren Scholar, Boston U | constitutional law & politics, legal history, democracy | https://linktr.ee/roberttsai .. more

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Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · Dec 15

Just a photo of me with my 2024 spring child

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5h

What we want and what we need
Has been confused

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Marc Lynch, Ben H. Ansell , and 22 more Anna O. Law, Marc Lynch, Ben H. Ansell, Julie L. Lockwood, Scott L. Greer, Robert W. Wallace, Rosemary A. Joyce, James Grimmelmann, Felicity Callard, Rebecca Tushnet, Alan Richardson, Jacob T. Levy, Beatriz Gallardo Paúls, Jason Dittmer, Samantha Brennan, Jennifer M. Urban, Greg Linden, Georg Weizsäcker, Daxton R. Stewart, Robert L. Tsai, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Aviel Roshwald, Susan D. Amussen, Stuart Shapiro, David Darmofal

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 20h

This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.

The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:

Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement

The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...

www.latimes.com

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 2d

“since the pandemic, the right-wing plutocrats have grown ever more outspoken as advocates of unregulated entrepreneurialism, defenders of social inequality and relentless critics of any liberal effort to level the playing field on behalf of those with less”

Opinion | Affordability and the ‘Epstein Class’ Will Define American Politics

www.nytimes.com

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 2d

If true—and this is a big IF—this is a win for civil society groups

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 2d

BREAKING: Federal authorities announce the end of an immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths.

Federal authorities announce an end to the immigration crackdown in Minnesota

Federal officials have announced an end to an immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths.

bit.ly

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 2d

Absolutely bizarre behavior

Nikki McCann Ramírez @nikkimcr.bsky.social · 3d

Pam Bondi starts ranting about the DOW and S&P in the middle of questions about the Epstein files.

Reposted by Robert L. Tsai

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 2d

BREAKING: Federal authorities announce the end of an immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths.

Federal authorities announce an end to the immigration crackdown in Minnesota

Federal officials have announced an end to an immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths.

bit.ly

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 2d

My former colleague @raskin.house.gov to AG Pam Bondi: “You’ve turned the people’s Department of Justice into Trump’s instrument of revenge. Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza and you deliver every time.”

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts, Robert L. Tsai

Nikki McCann Ramírez @nikkimcr.bsky.social · 3d

Pam Bondi starts ranting about the DOW and S&P in the middle of questions about the Epstein files.

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 3d

Indeed

Reposted by Nora V. Demleitner

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 3d

The correct decision by our fellow citizens

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d

Breaking News: Prosecutors failed to secure an indictment against six Democrats who posted a video reminding members of the military to refuse illegal orders.

Prosecutors Fail to Bring Charges Against Democrats Involved in Illegal Orders Video

The rejection was a remarkable rebuke, suggesting that ordinary citizens did not believe that the lawmakers had committed any crimes.

nyti.ms

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Ryan Enos, David R. Miller , and 3 more Lisa W. Fazio, Ryan Enos, David R. Miller, Robert L. Tsai, Stella M. Rouse, Nathan P. Kalmoe

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d

Breaking News: Prosecutors failed to secure an indictment against six Democrats who posted a video reminding members of the military to refuse illegal orders.

Prosecutors Fail to Bring Charges Against Democrats Involved in Illegal Orders Video

The rejection was a remarkable rebuke, suggesting that ordinary citizens did not believe that the lawmakers had committed any crimes.

nyti.ms

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 4d

Racial justice acts represent citizen repudiation of Supreme Court rulings like McCleskey v. Kemp, which insulate criminal justice systems from racial discrimination challenges.

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 4d

“Tsai argues that a public defender movement ought to be revived; racial justice acts need public support; and a lot of work can be done to end the death penalty.”

Pursuing Equal Justice: Robert Tsai

Podcast Episode · Future Hindsight · 06/20/2024 · 45m

podcasts.apple.com

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

Love being back in my office @bulaw.bsky.social

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

It’s a Seahawks celebration 💙💚🏈

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 5d

Best Seahawks D of my lifetime

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 6d

D.A. Joe Briley put some 40 people on Georgia's death row. Steve Bright and Southern Center for Human Rights showed how Briley exploited the unequal justice system to do so, manufacturing all-white juries and defeating overmatched court-appointed lawyers. #DemandTheImpossible

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 6d

This is a populist message and alternative to MAGA that can form the basis of constitutional renewal

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 7d

Ossoff: We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class. They are the elites they pretend to hate.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 7d

Reposted by Michael E. Mann, Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings , and 5 more Michael E. Mann, Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings, Michael D. McDonald, Barry Friedman, Simon Lester, Robert L. Tsai, David Darmofal

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7d

SEN. OSSOFF: “.. why are roving gangs of masked men — who look like they couldn’t pass the Army physical exam — dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators, on our streets, demanding papers, dragging people from their cars, and shooting people to death?”

@acyn.bsky.social

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 7d

“This $45 billion increase, published just weeks ago, converts the U.S. into a ‘geographic region’ for expeditionary military-style detention. It signals a massive, long-term escalation in the government’s capacity to pay for detention and deportation logistics.”

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 7d

Judges won’t save democracy

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 7d

BREAKING: A 5th Circuit panel has backed ICE's mass detention policy, a decision that clears the way for the administration to lock up people who are in immigration proceedings

It's a 2-1 ruling
Majority: Jones (Reagan), Duncan (Trump)
Minority: Douglas (Obama)

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Robert C. Richards, Robert L. Tsai

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 7d

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 8d

But as I’ve written, it’s not just demographic and cultural shifts Trumpism is seeking to slow down. It’s also a legal assault by all means necessary (including via emergency governance) upon the civil rights settlement of the 1960s—which encompassed immigration reform. bit.ly/3IhlIyd

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 8d

She’s right that Miller and his allies admire the 1924 Immigration Act. Here is my take on Miller’s closest progenitors, and how the GOP rallied around immigration restrictionist—and for many—cultural exclusion as the one right to bind all members of the party. @bostonreview.bsky.social

Trumpism Before Trump

We can’t fully appreciate the current anti-immigration moment without understanding the decades-long investment by right-wing movement politics.

bit.ly

Robert L. Tsai @robertltsai.bsky.social · 8d

Jia Lynn Yang: “From the start of Trump’s first term, the president’s immigration agenda was always about more than the border. It was a project to rewrite who can be considered American.”