Catherine Crump
@catherinecrump.bsky.social
Clinical Professor @BerkeleyLaw focused on the impact of emerging technologies on civil liberties
Exactly this--having to deploy the police to protect the National Guard reduces police resources for combatting crime, the supposed rationale for the Guard present in the first place.
The National Guard troops were going to free up DC police to have more capacity to fight crime, but now the police are going to patrol with the Guard to protect them? Maybe just remove the Guard - we are wasting resources and putting troops at risk for show.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
D.C. police to begin patrolling with National Guard after fatal attack
If enacted on a long-term basis, the change would significantly shift the way National Guard troops have worked with law enforcement in the District since their arrival.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Exactly this--having to deploy the police to protect the National Guard reduces police resources for combatting crime, the supposed rationale for the Guard present in the first place.
Agree that this use of AI in policing is probably premature, but I like that officers are thinking about how to use AI to increase officer compliance with policies. We should be supportive of that instinct.
"Basically, he said that it’s a tool that isn’t going to be used — and if it is used, then 'you’re failing in the training department, big time.'"
www.aclu.org/news/privacy...
www.aclu.org/news/privacy...
Another Police Use of AI | ACLU
Axon’s “Policy Chat” product seeks to give officers guidance on department policies and procedures
www.aclu.org
December 1, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Agree that this use of AI in policing is probably premature, but I like that officers are thinking about how to use AI to increase officer compliance with policies. We should be supportive of that instinct.
Reposted by Catherine Crump
"I do think there's a measure of individual responsibility people need to take. They need to be mindful of what an AI chat is. And it's a word-association machine," Professor Catherine Crump told @people.com https://bit.ly/4pw0QUe #BerkeleyLaw #AI @catherinecrump.bsky.social
ChatGPT Questions Are Getting People Arrested, Authorities Say: Experts Break Down What Not to Type
In recent months, authorities allege, multiple Florida teenagers have conducted searches on ChatGPT that led to them being in the crosshairs of law enforcement or facing criminal charges
people.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
"I do think there's a measure of individual responsibility people need to take. They need to be mindful of what an AI chat is. And it's a word-association machine," Professor Catherine Crump told @people.com https://bit.ly/4pw0QUe #BerkeleyLaw #AI @catherinecrump.bsky.social
If you need a break from the news, I highly recommend this story about the 1995 Cal vs. Stanford mascot brawl. Bear v. Tree! www.sfgate.com/collegesport...
What really happened the night Oski beat up the Stanford Tree
"I must've been 18 beers deep at that point. I was in big trouble."
www.sfgate.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:27 PM
If you need a break from the news, I highly recommend this story about the 1995 Cal vs. Stanford mascot brawl. Bear v. Tree! www.sfgate.com/collegesport...
What she said. I mean, do we even have to argue about this? A professor who asks a convicted sex offender for advice on seducing a mentee has no place in a classroom. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdsa...
'Larry Summers Should Not Be Trusted': Elizabeth Warren Blasts Former Treasury Sec. For Epstein Link
YouTube video by Forbes Breaking News
www.youtube.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:56 PM
What she said. I mean, do we even have to argue about this? A professor who asks a convicted sex offender for advice on seducing a mentee has no place in a classroom. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdsa...
Another angle on free speech at UC Berkeley: The Law School @fedsoc hosted "Why Israel Won" featuring (among others) John Yoo. Law Students for Justice in Palestine protested outside. The event proceeded undisrupted, the protesters expressed their views, all were heard. That's how it should go
November 18, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Another angle on free speech at UC Berkeley: The Law School @fedsoc hosted "Why Israel Won" featuring (among others) John Yoo. Law Students for Justice in Palestine protested outside. The event proceeded undisrupted, the protesters expressed their views, all were heard. That's how it should go
Caught the AFSCME union workers protesting this morning—peaceful and loud in the best way. Fingers crossed the rest of today's speech events on campus go forward with the same respect for the rules of engagement.
November 18, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Caught the AFSCME union workers protesting this morning—peaceful and loud in the best way. Fingers crossed the rest of today's speech events on campus go forward with the same respect for the rules of engagement.
Following up on a Daily Cal report from last week: 4 @UCBerkeley students were arrested for felony vandalism. Their protest against Charlie Kirk reportedly involved displaying posters w/ his quotes & attempting to hang a cardboard bug on Sather Gate. 1/4
November 17, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Following up on a Daily Cal report from last week: 4 @UCBerkeley students were arrested for felony vandalism. Their protest against Charlie Kirk reportedly involved displaying posters w/ his quotes & attempting to hang a cardboard bug on Sather Gate. 1/4
I love the Wayback machine.
This piece is a lively and fun overview of the @internetarchive's history and current work, including its race to keep up with new forms of media, like AI outputs and ephemeral social content.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/t...
This piece is a lively and fun overview of the @internetarchive's history and current work, including its race to keep up with new forms of media, like AI outputs and ephemeral social content.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/t...
Inside the old church where one trillion webpages are stored | CNN Business
The Internet Archive is preserving the web one page at a time, a job that’s more critical than ever as the internet evolves in the age of AI.
www.cnn.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I love the Wayback machine.
This piece is a lively and fun overview of the @internetarchive's history and current work, including its race to keep up with new forms of media, like AI outputs and ephemeral social content.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/t...
This piece is a lively and fun overview of the @internetarchive's history and current work, including its race to keep up with new forms of media, like AI outputs and ephemeral social content.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/t...
This seems right. But OMG, it seems terrible for us all that the cost of leading an academic institution these days is the inevitably shredding of your personal reputation.
My additional takeaway from this letter is that Jim Ryan, a personal friend from my days on the UVA Law faculty, is, by virtue of his moderate temperament and personal decency, unsuited to knife fights with people who have neither.
my takeaway from this letter is that glenn youngkin, rector sheridan and their flunkies on the board are deeply dishonest people who are engaged, with the trump administration, in a mob-style shakedown against the university of virginia
November 14, 2025 at 6:43 PM
This seems right. But OMG, it seems terrible for us all that the cost of leading an academic institution these days is the inevitably shredding of your personal reputation.
The argument in this academic freedom and funding case is starting right now! See the livestream link.
Tomorrow, Friday 9 AM: @BerkeleyLaw Dean Erwin Chemerinsky argues in the 9th Circuit in Thakur v. Trump. He will defend preliminary injunctions that restored ~$1 billion in research grants to the UC system. Watch the livestream: www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/live-o...
Live Video Streaming of Oral Arguments and Events
www.ca9.uscourts.gov
November 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The argument in this academic freedom and funding case is starting right now! See the livestream link.
This ACLU post details the deployment of Mobile Fortify, a face recognition app, by ICE. Critically, the program was rolled out with no specific congressional authorization or meaningful public debate, raising questions about executive agency accountability and oversight
A breakdown of the new “Mobile Fortify” face recognition program, including lists of
a) The reasons it’s problematic,
b) The vast array of data that the agencies can connect to
c) Some of the unanswered questions that remain about the program.
a) The reasons it’s problematic,
b) The vast array of data that the agencies can connect to
c) Some of the unanswered questions that remain about the program.
Face Recognition and the ‘Trump Terror’: A Marriage Made in Hell | ACLU
ICE and CBP are smashing their way not only through car windows but also through any constraints on the use of face recognition
www.aclu.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
This ACLU post details the deployment of Mobile Fortify, a face recognition app, by ICE. Critically, the program was rolled out with no specific congressional authorization or meaningful public debate, raising questions about executive agency accountability and oversight
The new @scotusblog survey makes me worry for its future. Their unique value isn't just covering SCOTUS, it's their singular focus on it, across all subjects. That's the one-stop resource I rely on.
November 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The new @scotusblog survey makes me worry for its future. Their unique value isn't just covering SCOTUS, it's their singular focus on it, across all subjects. That's the one-stop resource I rely on.
Tomorrow, Friday 9 AM: @BerkeleyLaw Dean Erwin Chemerinsky argues in the 9th Circuit in Thakur v. Trump. He will defend preliminary injunctions that restored ~$1 billion in research grants to the UC system. Watch the livestream: www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/live-o...
Live Video Streaming of Oral Arguments and Events
www.ca9.uscourts.gov
November 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Tomorrow, Friday 9 AM: @BerkeleyLaw Dean Erwin Chemerinsky argues in the 9th Circuit in Thakur v. Trump. He will defend preliminary injunctions that restored ~$1 billion in research grants to the UC system. Watch the livestream: www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/live-o...
Sometimes you just have to step back and marvel at the catastrophe. We are a country that can feed our people but won't. Your air traffic controller may have just gotten off a second job as a Lyft driver. A Fox News anchor is on a firing rampage through the Pentagon.
November 8, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Sometimes you just have to step back and marvel at the catastrophe. We are a country that can feed our people but won't. Your air traffic controller may have just gotten off a second job as a Lyft driver. A Fox News anchor is on a firing rampage through the Pentagon.
Wow. Even the FBI thinks ICE agents should identify themselves--and, now, that criminals posing as ICE officers are committing crimes. Great story by @dell.bsky.social and @carolinehaskins.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...
FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves
In a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, the FBI said criminal impersonators are exploiting ICE’s image and urged nationwide coordination to distinguish real operations from fakes.
www.wired.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Wow. Even the FBI thinks ICE agents should identify themselves--and, now, that criminals posing as ICE officers are committing crimes. Great story by @dell.bsky.social and @carolinehaskins.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...
Great that Boston's new police union agreement requires patrol officers to wear nametags. Basic accountability dictates that law enforcement agents be identifiable; otherwise, they can't be held responsible for their actions. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/03/m...
Boston’s largest police union extends labor contract by one year - The Boston Globe
The extension includes a handful of changes to the union’s previous contract, including 2 percent raises for all officers and a requirement that all patrol officers wear name tags.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Great that Boston's new police union agreement requires patrol officers to wear nametags. Basic accountability dictates that law enforcement agents be identifiable; otherwise, they can't be held responsible for their actions. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/03/m...
Glad that despite our return to harsh "law and order" rhetoric, experiments with alternative responders continue. It often makes sense to send a case worker not an armed officer to respond to someone in a mental health crisis. cbs6albany.com/news/local/a...
Albany Police program sees success with program targeting mental health crises
The Albany Police Department officially launched the Community Advocacy Response Team (CART) just one month after first introducing the initiative. The program
cbs6albany.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Glad that despite our return to harsh "law and order" rhetoric, experiments with alternative responders continue. It often makes sense to send a case worker not an armed officer to respond to someone in a mental health crisis. cbs6albany.com/news/local/a...
How can the public hold government accountable when its agents are unidentifiable and their vehicles are untraceable? Reports of ICE agents removing license plates, in addition to masking, are deeply alarming. I shared my concerns with @NPR for this new report. www.npr.org/2025/10/28/n...
October 28, 2025 at 9:08 PM
How can the public hold government accountable when its agents are unidentifiable and their vehicles are untraceable? Reports of ICE agents removing license plates, in addition to masking, are deeply alarming. I shared my concerns with @NPR for this new report. www.npr.org/2025/10/28/n...
Great news--a third university has rejected President Trump's compact on higher education, which undercuts academic freedom in the guise of purporting to restore it. Five more universities to go. www.latimes.com/california/s...
USC rejects Trump education compact aimed at shifting the university to the right
USC interim President Beong-Soo Kim said in a statement that he had sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education turning down the Trump offer.
www.latimes.com
October 16, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Great news--a third university has rejected President Trump's compact on higher education, which undercuts academic freedom in the guise of purporting to restore it. Five more universities to go. www.latimes.com/california/s...
This opinion temporarily halting the Trump Administration's mass firings of federal employees during the shutdown is worth 10 minutes of your time for its description of the shambolic, unprecedentedly partisan, and probably illegal way it's being carried out. www.courtlistener.com/docket/71502...
Order on Motion for TRO – #56 in American Federation of Government Employees, AFL CIO v. United States Office of Management and Budget (N.D. Cal., 3:25-cv-08302) – CourtListener.com
ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER; ENJOINING SHUTDOWN- RELATED RIFS; AND SETTING SCHEDULE FOR HEARING ON MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION granting 17 Motion for TRO; granting 38 M...
www.courtlistener.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:15 PM
This opinion temporarily halting the Trump Administration's mass firings of federal employees during the shutdown is worth 10 minutes of your time for its description of the shambolic, unprecedentedly partisan, and probably illegal way it's being carried out. www.courtlistener.com/docket/71502...
"As the mother of grade-school children, I share Jean Twenge’s frustration with kids’ endless capacity to circumvent poorly built parental controls. As a First Amendment expert, however, I don’t believe that government-mandated age verification is the answer." Read my letter (link in comment)
September 29, 2025 at 4:19 PM
"As the mother of grade-school children, I share Jean Twenge’s frustration with kids’ endless capacity to circumvent poorly built parental controls. As a First Amendment expert, however, I don’t believe that government-mandated age verification is the answer." Read my letter (link in comment)
Reposted by Catherine Crump
I am trying to get back to posting regularly on Legal Planet, the UC Berkeley / UCLA environmental law blog. Here's my take on the Trump administration's response to the International Maritime Organization's greenhouse gas reduction framework.
legal-planet.org/2025/09/03/t...
legal-planet.org/2025/09/03/t...
legal-planet.org
September 3, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I am trying to get back to posting regularly on Legal Planet, the UC Berkeley / UCLA environmental law blog. Here's my take on the Trump administration's response to the International Maritime Organization's greenhouse gas reduction framework.
legal-planet.org/2025/09/03/t...
legal-planet.org/2025/09/03/t...
I have an opinion piece in The Hill today arguing that the Trump Administration’s work to break down “information silos,” far from promoting efficiency, is creating a data dragnet that can be used to target political enemies and risks ensnaring innocent people. thehill.com/opinion/whit...
thehill.com
August 28, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I have an opinion piece in The Hill today arguing that the Trump Administration’s work to break down “information silos,” far from promoting efficiency, is creating a data dragnet that can be used to target political enemies and risks ensnaring innocent people. thehill.com/opinion/whit...
This one's for you, grammar nerds. My students are no longer putting periods at the end of the terminal sentences in their paragraphs. Do we:
April 21, 2025 at 6:16 PM
This one's for you, grammar nerds. My students are no longer putting periods at the end of the terminal sentences in their paragraphs. Do we: