Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 20h

Trump drove civil servants out of government, attacked universities/news outlets, turned the CDC into an anti-vax megaphone & inflated ICE into an untrained secret police force. In lockstep, SCOTUS discredits the experts before it, the better to extend the regime's hostility towards LGBTQ kids

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 20h

“Was there a time when many medical professionals thought that certain people should not be permitted to procreate because they had low IQs?” Alito mused, invoking the era of eugenics. Eg: Doctors have been wrong before, so we couldn't possibly trust medical consensus (that opposes my beliefs) now.

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 20h

In this case, no amount of medical consensus can convince the Court’s majority that conversion therapy is a harmful practice — they poke holes in the mountain of evidence on the anti-conversion therapy side and elevate pseudoscience on the other.

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 21h

The political right's greatest project is discrediting experts. Only in a "do your own research" world can their cultural preferences - anti-abortion, anti-gender affirming care - claim equal legitimacy to the left's medically-backed positions on those issues. SCOTUS is a full partner in that effort

TPM @talkingpointsmemo.com · 21h

The Supreme Court's conservatives advanced the right's greater project of discrediting experts Tuesday, feigning that there is no medical consensus against conversion therapy.

The Medical Science Is Always ‘Uncertain’ When It Pushes Against Supreme Court’s Bias

If you came into Tuesday’s oral argument over Colorado’s conversion therapy ban...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Dispatch for those catching up: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/judge-m...

Judge Hands Down Second, Emergency Ruling Protecting Portland From National Guard Occupation

A federal judge handed down a ruling from the bench Sunday night...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

DOJ's Hamilton pipes up that he wants a stay pending appeal or an administrative stay - judge says no to both - hearing concludes. Phew

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Judge will hand down new TRO that "prohibits the relocation, federalization, or deployment of any National Guard under federal command" "within the state of Oregon"

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

In real time during hearing, Judge Immergut grants Oregon/California's motion for another temporary restraining order - now talking through scope of relief based on "conduct of defendants," which she sees in "direct contravention" to first order

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Oregon's Kennedy says they need broader relief now, given the 11th hour mobilization of the Texas Guard — now says they need protection from the Guard of every state/DC to protect from this "gamesmanship," "rhetorical whack-a-mole"

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Hamilton keeps saying CA Guard already "properly federalized" so it's fine to deploy them in Portland — judge says that's not the point, you need a "colorable claim" in Portland but they don't have one, "we've already been over this"

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Judge Immergut asks Hamilton sternly if this is an appropriate way for an officer of the court to deal with a judge's ruling he disagrees with

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Judge to DOJ's Eric Hamilton: "You're an officer of the court," asks how this could be anything but "circumventing my order" — "how is this appropriate?"

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Finally in and the hearing just began - judge starts by announcing deployment of Cali and Texas National Guard to Portland. Judge asks DOJ: "How could bringing in the federal national guard from California not be in direct contravention to the TRO I issued yesterday?"

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

1) Trump-appointed judge rules admin cannot deploy Oregon National Guard to Portland 2) Trump admin deploys California Guard there instead, circumventing her ruling 3) CA joins Portland/Oregon in filing for a second temporary restraining order 4) judge schedules emergency hearing (about to start)

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 4d

-“Some events? And that’s enough to call up the National Guard?”
-“Really? A social media post is going to count as a presidential determination that you can send the National Guard into cities?"

More: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/thats-e...

‘That’s Enough To Call Up The National Guard?’ Trump-Appointed Judge Skeptical Of Portland Occupation

U.S District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, was brimming with skepticism...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 4d

Trump DOJ successfully pressed the Obama-appointed judge assigned to the Portland National Guard case to recuse himself, and the case got reassigned to a Trump appointee. But based on some of her questions today, it might not be the advantage the admin hoped for:

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 6d

More on a very huffy Kacsmaryk who's mad at the Supreme Court and mad at Ken Paxton for taking away his mifepristone case talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kacsmar...

Kacsmaryk Transfers Mifepristone Case To Court Made Up Of Mostly Trump Judges

Arch-conservative federal district court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, with much vitriol aimed at...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 6d

was surprised that Kacsmaryk allowed the big mifepristone case out of his clutches, as clearly flawed as the jurisdictional arguments were — but a look at who appointed the active judges at the court he sent it to cleared it up

It's a list of the appointees of the 9 active judges at the eastern district of Missouri — 7 of them were appointed by Trump, one by George W. Bush and one by Obama

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 19d

Republicans voted down the effort to subpoena Carr (led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene) — Garcia, the ranking Dem, said he and Comer are in talks to get Carr to come voluntarily

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 19d

Comer replies that he's friends with Carr and thinks he'd be willing to come in

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 19d

In unrelated hearing on DC with DC leadership, Rep. Ro Khanna is introducing a motion to subpoena FCC Chair Brendan Carr to come testify before Oversight Committee after the Jimmy Kimmel cancellation

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · Aug 27

New from me + @emineirmakyucel.bsky.social about the damage Trump/allies did to DC before flooding it with armed federal law enforcement under pretext that its own government can't handle the fabricated crime spike talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-a...

Trump and Allies Weakened DC Into an Easier Occupation Target

President Trump flooded Washington D.C. with armed federal law enforcement under the...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · Aug 27

while Republicans howl about DC being a den of iniquity, worth remembering that House GOP still refuses to let the district use $1B of its own taxpayers' money. That plus the economic hobbling from the DOGE layoffs have left the district in a much more damaged state than it was pre-January 20th

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · Aug 25

This is a really big deal, as UMich is one of two trans health care providers in the whole state, the group TransGender Michigan told us. Similar subpoenas reported in PA and IL. Further evidence that being in a blue state/under blue state gov does not guarantee protection from this administration

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · Aug 25

UMich received the subpoena July 14, per an internal university memo we obtained. Source tells us DOJ indicated it is investigating the doctors on suspicion of abusing their authority to prescribe medication, among other things. Adds that hospitals feared legal fees, docs feared losing licenses

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