Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Trump’s Move to Kill the Clean Air Act’s Climate Authority, Forever

Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Aug 7

Got an hour? Sharing this fairly nerdy & somewhat depressing but also very fun podcast ep on the Trump EPA proposal to end federal climate rules - a cross-over ep from Shift Key & CleanLaw, with me, Jesse Jenkins & Rob Meyer of HeatMap News!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Podcast Episode · Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins · 08/06/2025 · 1h 9m

podcasts.apple.com

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Aug 5

Sharing my piece out today on the Trump administration proposal to rescind the scientific "endangerment finding" and surrender EPA's role fighting climate change. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Contributor: Trump's EPA proposes to end the U.S. fight against climate change

How much damage will Americans suffer as climate-denial politics masquerade as good policy?

www.latimes.com

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jul 24

The Trump EPA is planning to eliminate ALL federal climate rules by reversing the scientific finding that climate pollution harms people. By their calculation, our powerplants & cars emit too small a share of global emissions to warrant doing anything. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/c...

E.P.A. Is Said to Draft a Plan to End Its Ability to Fight Climate Change

EPA puts 139 employees on leave after they publicly criticized Trump's environmental policies

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jul 7

This just in from the Department of Thin Skin.

EPA employees placed on leave for criticizing the administration.

www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-env...

Suspended EPA employees signed a letter accusing the Trump administration of weakening environmental protections and disregarding science.

www.cbsnews.com

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jul 7

The Budget Congress passed nearly triples ICE's budget to build out detention centers (including for
families) & more
- a 62 percent larger budget than the entire federal prison system. A super-charged internal police force is concerning. My post on this: www.linkedin.com/posts/jody-f...

💰 The full text of the budget is here and worth scrolling through 👇 | Jody Freeman

💰 The full text of the budget is here and worth scrolling through 👇 https://lnkd.in/gHhbsS4q 💰 It includes billions of dollars in additional funding for ICE, a build-out of detention centers, and ...

♦️ Below is a terrific graphic from the NYT that captures the federal research grants at Harvard that have been terminated by the administration. | Jody Freeman

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jul 7

Hugely important research on cancer, opioid addiction, heart disease, children's health & more being cancelled as punishment to Harvard. www.linkedin.com/posts/jody-f...

♦️ Below is a terrific graphic from the NYT that captures the federal research grants at Harvard that have been terminated by the administration. ♦️ They include research on cancer, stroke, heart dis...

💢 Some people have asked, so I am passing on information about the rules that apply to ICE immigration raids and detention. | Jody Freeman

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jul 7

Here's a convenient source explaining rules governing what ICE can & can't do during raids, vehicle stops, in public & at homes. Enforcing them is a different matter.
www.linkedin.com/posts/jody-f...

💢 Some people have asked, so I am passing on information about the rules that apply to ICE immigration raids and detention. 💢 Although I teach administrative law and due process, immigration law isn...

♦️ Following up on earlier note I posted, about the administration's chilling threat to strip naturalized citizens of their citizenship. | Jody Freeman

Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jul 7

In a DOJ memo, the administration has threatened to strip naturalized citizens of their citizenship relying on a broadly worded statute used against communists in the McCarthy era & asserting power to do so for what sounds like virtually any reason.
www.linkedin.com/posts/jody-f...

♦️ Following up on earlier note I posted, about the administration's chilling threat to strip naturalized citizens of their citizenship. There is a DOJ Memo directing lawyers in the civil division...

Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jun 17

The EPA has proposed to eliminate climate rules for coal-fired power.

Its rationale? American power plants don't contribute significantly enough to climate change to warrant regulation.

Expect a torrent of comments arguing that this can't withstand scientific, economic & legal scrutiny.

www.epa.gov

Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jun 15

Only saying where people threw rocks, set cars alight etc, it's appropriate for local law enforcement to handle. No need for Guard let alone Marines. For 1st Amendment. For peaceful protest. For restraint. Against violence.

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jun 15

"The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of rebellion," district court judge Breyer wrote, in ruling that the president did not meet the legal test for mobilizing the National Guard. Worth a read: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

lnkd.in

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jun 15

It's terrifying to think that because ICE officials are not identifying themselves or following normal law enforcement protocol, now anyone can impersonate them and do horrifying things: just dress up in camo, put on a mask, jump out of a van and take people away. How does this make us safer?

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Jun 15

👋 Hello from Los Angeles where there is no rebellion or invasion. Dodger game last night, Farmer's Market this morning. Thanks to local law enforcement for handling small # of numbskulls causing violence among overwhelmingly peaceful protests. Not occupied, don't need liberation. Thanks anyway!

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · May 28

3 points on the administration's punishment of Harvard: 1. Groundbreaking research benefits all Americans, makes us stronger 2. No government of either party should try to micromanage our private universities or businesses.
3. The extreme measures aren't reasonable, fair law enforcement.

Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · May 25

Climate news: here's my take on the expected proposal from EPA to remove all limits on climate pollution from power plants, which produce 25% of US GHGs. It has no basis in science or logic & will run into trouble in the courts but the point seems to be performative
www.linkedin.com/posts/jody-f...

Documents Show E.P.A. Wants to Erase Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants | Jody Freeman

More climate news from the Trump administration: ✳️ EPA is reportedly planning to completely eliminate any greenhouse gas limits for power plants which produce about 25% of US total greenhouse gas e...

Documents Show E.P.A. Wants to Erase Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · May 24

Climate News: EPA's plans to rescind all GHG limits for power plants based on an eyebrow-raising argument that they aren't significant as a share of global emissions. If true it's headed for legal trouble. Even conservative lawyers w deep EPA experience are dubious: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/c...

Canada Election 2025 Live Updates: Mark Carney Wins New Term as Prime Minister

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · May 23

To all my foreign students & the world: I'm sorry this administration is taking its rage out on you. In the most nakedly vengeful move yet to punish a private university that it cannot bring to heel, Trump's DHS has barred Harvard from enrolling foreign students. Shameful, petty & un-American.

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · May 22

Congress just voted to block California from setting its own vehicle pollution standards - a major setback for public health & cutting climate-warming gases. Sad. It's part of the great unraveling of environmental progress that this administration & this Congress has set in motion with a vengeance.

standards.is

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · May 12

Stephen Miller saying the administration is "actively considering" suspending habeas corpus - the right to challenge government detention - is "factually and legally nuts" as Steve Vladeck explains. https://open.substack.com/pub/stevevladeck/p/148-suspending-habeas-corpus?r=6o6dh&utm_medium=ios

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Apr 29

🇨🇦And Congratulations Donald Trump!

You managed to take an almost certain Conservative Party victory in Canada and turn it into a Liberal Party win!🎁

May Mark Carney be the man for the moment - the man the Great White North needs. 🌂🌪️

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...

CBC/Radio Canada, the national broadcaster, projected a win for the Liberal Party in an extraordinary election that was dominated by President Trump’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty and its economy.

Opinion | A Road Map of Trump’s Lawless Presidency (Gift Article)

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Apr 29

A sober summary of the Trump
Admin's lawlessness based on input from many law professors across the political
spectrum. Despite ideological differences there's broad consensus that the Trump admin is a threat to basic American rights, the rule of law and democracy.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...

A diverse group of legal scholars flashes red warning lights about the future of America.

Trump Officials Blame Mistake for Setting Off Confrontation With Harvard

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Apr 22

🥊 Harvard is clearly playing to win in lawsuit against the Trump administration for its punitive actions after the university refused to comply with its unlawful demands.

HU has hired formidable legal talent.

Let's just say, not bringing a knife to a gun fight.

www.harvard.edu/research-fun...

www.harvard.edu

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Apr 19

Why I'm having the best weekend in 3 mths:
💥Judge Wilkinson's historic opinion in Abrego Garcia case saying administration's overreach shocks the conscience.
💥Lisa Murkowski admitting "We are all afraid" out loud.
💥SCOTUS blocking further Venezuelan deportations to check brazen noncompliance.

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Jody Freeman @jodyfreeman.bsky.social · Apr 19

Oh! Then...never mind.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/b...

An official on the administration’s antisemitism task force told the university that a letter of demands had been sent without authorization.