John Q. Barrett
@johnqbarrett.bsky.social
1.4K followers 570 following 1K posts
Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law, St. John's University, NYC. Robert H. Jackson Center. Jackson biographer. Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Legal History, Nuremberg, SCOTUS. Iran-Contra & DOJ alum. Wisconsin native. #JacksonList
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
"No more time for foolishness."
--Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., quoting in 1998 a sign that he once saw on the bumper of a taxicab in Lagos, Nigeria.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
AUSAs Nathaniel Lemons and Gabriel Diaz should remember their oaths of office, their professional responsibilities, their good names, and the future knowledge of their children and grandchildren, and then, morally fortified, they should reconsider/refuse/resign from DOJ.
@jamescomey.bsky.social
annabower.bsky.social
Nathaniel (Tyler) Lemons and Gabriel Diaz both join the Comey case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

bsky.app/profile/anna...
annabower.bsky.social
Lindsey Halligan has company on the Comey docket:

Ahead of tomorrow’s arraignment, Nathaniel Lemons and Gabriel Diaz file notices of appearance on behalf of the United States.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
I look forward to being in Nuremberg this Friday-Sunday, eighty years since the International Military Tribunal commenced, for Nuremberg Forum 2025.

Click the registration link below for program details, and register to join us online.
nurembergacademy.bsky.social
Registration is open for Nuremberg Forum 2025! Join us 10–12 Oct in the historic Courtroom 600 to mark 80 years since Nuremberg & explore how to strengthen international criminal law. Info & sign-up: bit.ly/4dLC8KU

#NueForum #NurembergForum2025
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
This is very good—it’s a true service to/must read for U.S. Judges, on their options as they decide cases about the legality of Executive actions.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
This is "First Monday"--the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term at 1000 this morning.

From the #JacksonList archive, here are essays about Robert H. Jackson and First Mondays.
@scotushistory.bsky.social
@rhjc.bsky.social
thejacksonlist.com?s=%22First+M...
Search Results for “"First Monday"” – The Jackson List
thejacksonlist.com
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
Video, May 3, 2016:
Sen. Ted Cruz’s shining moment in Evansville, Indiana, calling out opponent Donald Trump for being an amoral, narcissistic, pathological liar.
(And the nine-plus years since are so much more evidence that this @sentedcruz.bsky.social was right.)
newsroom.ap.org/editorial-ph...
Newsroom
newsroom.ap.org
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
Watch this video. This might be a lawful arrest by ICE agents. But it is inhumane—violent, cruel, unnecessary.

So who, really, would choose to do this? No one who remembers love from family; kindness from neighbors, teachers, coaches; values of decent upbringing. No decent person needs *this* job.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
What specifically does this mean?
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
Excellent, very important episode.
Reposted by John Q. Barrett
davidcole-gtown.bsky.social
There’s abuse of power. And then there’s ordering the killing of civilians in cold blood. The latter is called murder under federal law.

Trump has crossed a line. Will it matter?

Getting Away with Murder | David Cole | The New York Review of Books

www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
Getting Away with Murder | David Cole
During his first presidential campaign Donald Trump famously claimed that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose
www.nybooks.com
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
davidcole-gtown.bsky.social
There’s abuse of power. And then there’s ordering the killing of civilians in cold blood. The latter is called murder under federal law.

Trump has crossed a line. Will it matter?

Getting Away with Murder | David Cole | The New York Review of Books

www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
Getting Away with Murder | David Cole
During his first presidential campaign Donald Trump famously claimed that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose
www.nybooks.com
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
He must know better. So yes, this sentence — this performative lying — is unfitness for public office.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
1robgunther.bsky.social
Remember when Bush fired a bunch of of US attorneys for political reasons and Congress investigated the hell out of the firings and Alberto Gonzales eventually had to step down as AG?
taniel.bsky.social
Yet another US Attorney fired — this time in California, for… telling people to abide by a court order. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
1robgunther.bsky.social
Remember when Bush fired a bunch of of US attorneys for political reasons and Congress investigated the hell out of the firings and Alberto Gonzales eventually had to step down as AG?
taniel.bsky.social
Yet another US Attorney fired — this time in California, for… telling people to abide by a court order. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
DOJ reorganization — dumb to crime-protecting in almost every particular.

And not authorized by law?

Note abolition of the Tax Division, a component of combined, related civil & criminal law expertise (which AAG Robert H. Jackson headed in 1936).
@rhjc.bsky.social
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
I never met Judge Bazelon or Justice Powell. But Joel Klein is take-it-to-the-bank honest.

The lessons here are that happily life can work out anyway (he found Powell, & vice versa), and that there’s no defense for judges who are abusive to staff, litigants, media, commentators, anyone.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
It just struck me that UET resembles UTI…. Maybe both continue to be treatable.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
Pres. Trump’s Office of Management & Budget has refused to spend appropriated funds for the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE). This isn’t part of the government shutdown. It is action to thwart oversight. CIGIE’s website is dark.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...
Trump Administration Defunds Federal Watchdog Office
www.nytimes.com
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
I’m drawing a blank.
But I was there when KC’s Steve Busby no hit the Brewers….
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
Trying to think of who played for both. Mayberry?
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
On the final page, note how William Young identifies himself: “Judge of the United States.”

Correct, and beautiful.
klonick.bsky.social
BREAKING
@knightcolumbia.org just won their case against Trump admin’s policy arresting/deporting noncitizen stud. & fac. participating in pro-Palestinian activism

This is a threat mailed to chambers of the 84yo Reagan appointed judge. He started the opinion with it and this is how he ended.

1/2
Reposted by John Q. Barrett
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Mike Johnson continues to refuse to swear in a Democrat who won in a landslide.
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
The U.S. Department of Justice used to have talented lawyers and leaders, such as @barbmcquade.bsky.social. Here’s her dissection of the defective U.S. v. Comey indictment.
barbmcquade.bsky.social
Not only is the Comey indictment a chilling violation of DOJ norms, it’s also riddled with legal problems. My thoughts in The Contrarian. 
contrarian.substack.com/p/the-very-b...
The very botched Comey indictment
The case so far is so sloppy, it might never get to a jury.
contrarian.substack.com
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
P.S. Does Pres. Trump know that DAG Todd Blanche might be what Trump would call a “leaker?” Is this Blanche’s way of seeking, huge damage done to DOJ & country, to get fired?
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche seems to be talking on background to @nytimes.com reporters. His professed appreciation for Department of Justice personnel does not mitigate his leading role in destroying DOJ's honesty and law enforcement professionalism.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/u...
Inside the Trump Administration’s Push to Prosecute James Comey
www.nytimes.com
johnqbarrett.bsky.social
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche seems to be talking on background to @nytimes.com reporters. His professed appreciation for Department of Justice personnel does not mitigate his leading role in destroying DOJ's honesty and law enforcement professionalism.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/u...
Inside the Trump Administration’s Push to Prosecute James Comey
www.nytimes.com