Tormented🕷Abroad
@jjgass.bsky.social
6.3K followers 750 following 12K posts
US lawyer living in England. Previously lived in 日本, NL, France. Motorbikes, cricket, opera, etc. He/him. Jew.
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jjgass.bsky.social
A university student once, in my ex-wife’s presence, referred to Dutch as a “dialect of German.”

He’s lucky to be alive.
jjgass.bsky.social
I think it will. The press seems to be picking up on the fact that the district judge was a Trump judge after they got the first judge to recuse.
jjgass.bsky.social
I guess they felt they had to schedule oral argument because of the precedent from the California case. Personally, I’d dismiss & tell them to come back when they have an appealable order. This isn’t a PI, & it isn’t appropriate for mandamus.
jjgass.bsky.social
(I speak as the ex-husband & father of Presbyterians. I’ve spent a lot of time in Presbyterian churches, & I’m happy about that.)
jjgass.bsky.social
Seems a waste of time. Presbyterians are usually at war with each other. Why do you think he had to specify “Presbyterian Church (USA)?”
gwensnyder.bsky.social
ICE now very literally at war with Presbyterians
jackjenkins.me
Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.
jjgass.bsky.social
If you’re not familiar with Prigg v. Pennsylvania, this is not a compliment.
anthonymkreis.bsky.social
The Kavanaugh Stops will continue until we have racially segregated every middle-lower class bulding’s residential population in every major city.

Congratulations, Brett. You’ve done a Prigg v. Pennsylvania.
dlknowles.bsky.social
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...
jjgass.bsky.social
Torn between two gifs: (1) that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time; (2) I understood that reference.
jjgass.bsky.social
That’s kind of how a TRO works. Which is one reason why you normally can’t appeal a TRO. You come back for the PI hearing & get to make a proper record.

This is just dumb.
jjgass.bsky.social
At least he didn't have a gavel
seanjones.org
It wasn’t even a judge’s wig.
Reposted by Tormented🕷Abroad
akalhan.bsky.social
Does she like beer though
jjgass.bsky.social
By rewarding Brett Kavanaugh's ranting, Republic members of the Judiciary Committee paved the way for Bondi's ranting & her responding to legitimate questions by attacking the Senator asking or bringing up irrelevant issues.

If you don't enforce norms of behavior, you don't have them.
jjgass.bsky.social
The likes of Senators Cruz or Kennedy may be OK with this when it's Trump's lackey refusing to provide oversight information.

They shouldn't be.

Senators need some loyalty to the institution, not just partisan interests. This is not how an executive officer should treat the Article I branch.
jjgass.bsky.social
By rewarding Brett Kavanaugh's ranting, Republic members of the Judiciary Committee paved the way for Bondi's ranting & her responding to legitimate questions by attacking the Senator asking or bringing up irrelevant issues.

If you don't enforce norms of behavior, you don't have them.
jjgass.bsky.social
Pam Bondi's performance was awful & should be denounced.

Cheap misogyny isn't the way to do that. Even if you think you're really clever for thinking of the metaphor.
jjgass.bsky.social
Rick Wilson is one of the best reminders that the enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend.

He was a piece of shit when he ran campaigns for Republicans, & he's a piece of shit as a never-Trumper.

It's better that he's on the right side at the moment; that's the most I can say for him.
ablativmeatshld.bsky.social
Who the fuck told this asshole this was a good idea?
therickwilson.bsky.social
Pam Bondi's Fake Orgasm
And she made Epstein worse for Trump.

open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
jjgass.bsky.social
IDEALLY, it does resolve disputed issues on the basis of the law.

But evidence? Forget it. Justices of all ideological stripes have for decades made factual assumptions or accepted factual assertions with no regard for the record.

Today’s right-wing majority is especially cynical but not unique.
jjgass.bsky.social
I’ve said it before:

Facts are for trial courts.
The record is for appellate courts.

Neither matters to the Supreme Court.

It is not a court at all in certain senses of the word, one of those senses being an institution that resolves a dispute between specific parties on the basis of evidence.
tomscocca.bsky.social
It's not just that they're going to strike down a law against conversion therapy, it's that they're going to do it on behalf of made-up claims from a straw plaintiff who can't honestly show the law affected her at all
tomscocca.bsky.social
One thing about American's widespread distrust and disapproval of the Supreme Court is that mainstream news coverage mostly doesn't dwell on stuff like standing, so people don't even begin to grasp how rigged the Court truly is www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...
jjgass.bsky.social
C-O-N-T-E-M-T

Find out what it means to thee

The spelling is covered by my poetic license. No, I’m not telling you which authority issued it.
jennburrill.bsky.social
During combative Senate Judiciary hearing, Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions about:

✔️ convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
✔️ dropping a criminal investigation into President Trump’s border czar
✔️ legal authority for bombing boats allegedly carrying drugs

🎁 @nytimes.com
Trump Administration Live Updates: Defiant Bondi Testifies in Combative Senate Hearing
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Tormented🕷Abroad
jjgass.bsky.social
In the noble tradition of OLC's torture memo.

No one associated with this (if we ever find out who they are) should be welcome at a professional event or institution for the rest of their lives.
jjgass.bsky.social
It depends. Sometimes, an individual has personal objections, & then it just goes to the next person. (Bondi’s DOJ said they were stopping that practice months ago; I don’t know how it’s going.)

But in high-profile cases where a Deputy AG is in court because no one else will do it? Yes.
jjgass.bsky.social
I love when I get the chance to speak to or teach a class.

But between you & Professor Levy, these are some very lucky students.
jjgass.bsky.social
You’ll never guess why ants are called things like “formica” in Romance languages
Reposted by Tormented🕷Abroad