Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · 4d

Great guide to what’s on the ballot in November - including three Democratic justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court up for retention

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 4d

for the weekend crowd: take a moment today to explore what's on the ballot next month!

it's not all about NYC, VA, and NJ: i put together a guide of the 180+ key races you should know about, across 32 states.

explore, & find the ones that interest you the most, here: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · 7d

ICYMI:

Princeton PLAW @plawpu.bsky.social · 7d

Read the full piece at the link 🔗: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/o...

#PLAW #LawatPrinceton #supremecourt

@kateshaw.bsky.social

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · 8d

Sat down with @stevevladeck.bsky.social & @williambaude.bsky.social to talk start of a new SCOTUS term, end of an unprecedented summer on the shadow docket, & 20 years of Chief Justice John Roberts

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/o...

Opinion | ‘Hypercharged’ Is the Only Word for This Supreme Court

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Kate Shaw

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 12d

the case against comey is an illegal, selective, vindictive prosecution. Trump vowed vengeance and retribution; prosecutors concluded there was no case against comey; Trump forced out the prosecutors & replaced them with a loyalist who got an indictment.

The case should be dismissed before trial.

James Comey @jamescomey.bsky.social · 12d

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · 13d

Finally had a chance to watch this, and it’s very much worth your time if you haven’t - late night tv as a site of popular constitutionalism

Jimmy Kimmel @jimmykimmel.com · 14d

As I was saying…

Jimmy Kimmel is Back!

YouTube video by Jimmy Kimmel Live

youtu.be

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Sep 4

A fantastic installment of @stevevladeck.bsky.social’s (always essential) newsletter

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Sep 4

For today's bonus "One First," I wrote about the increasingly noisy claim that legal constraints don't really matter in the current moment—why it's utterly belied by what's actually happening on the ground (and by what law can actually *do*); and why, in many respects, it's affirmatively dangerous:

Bonus 176: Law, Lawlessness, and Doomerism

Law is not—and never will be—a perfect constraint on government action. But claims that legal limits have become wholly irrelevant to the current administration are not just wrong; they're dangerous.

www.stevevladeck.com

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Sep 2

Also - we recorded this episode before the court’s NIH funding order, but I think the divided result in that case was broadly consistent with the admin’s winning streak at SCOTUS over this past/spring summer. Cc @stevevladeck.bsky.social whose work tracking the shadow docket is absolutely crucial

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Sep 2

🙏🙏🙏

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Sep 2

There’s so much more to say about SCOTUS, but one thing I hope came through in this convo is what a winning streak Trump is on at SCOTUS right now - & how insane it is that the court is blessing many of his assertions of executive authority w/o a word of explanation @strictscrutiny.bsky.social

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · Sep 2

Listen to my wonderful cohost Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social talking with Ezra Klein about the Supreme Court and Trump!!

A must-listen conversation - in part because if Kate & Ezra are where they are on SCOTUS ... it's a 5 alarm+ fire! @strictscrutiny.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/o...

Opinion | The Supreme Court Is Backing Trump’s Power Grab

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Kate Shaw

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · Aug 28

Here's an interview Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social did with Lev Menand, the expert on the Fed (the headline does not capture the substance of the piece): www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/o...

Opinion | Will the Supreme Court Put Real Limits on This President? Start With Lisa Cook.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Kate Shaw

New York Times Opinion @nytopinion.nytimes.com · Aug 27

Can President Trump fire Lisa Cook? Under a proper understanding of the Federal Reserve’s place in our constitutional order, says ‪Kate Shaw, the answer should be no.

Opinion | The Supreme Court Must Limit This President. Start With the Fed.

Trump’s effort to oust Lisa Cook could have all sorts of worrisome consequences.

nyti.ms

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Aug 27

I sat down with Columbia Law School’s Lev Menand, a genuine expert on the Fed, to talk through Trump’s effort to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook - and its implications for both Fed independence & what remains of the separation of powers

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/o...

Opinion | The Supreme Court Must Limit This President. Start With the Fed.

www.nytimes.com

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Aug 25

A real treat to take a break from the horrors of this timeline to talk to my amazing @penncareylaw.bsky.social colleague @serenamayeri.bsky.social about her fantastic new book “Marital Privilege”

Strict Scrutiny Podcast @strictscrutiny.bsky.social · Aug 25

You can get Serena's book MARITAL PRIVILEGE: Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law

here from our friends at Bookshop dot org: bookshop.org/p/books/mari...

Marital Privilege: Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law

Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law

bookshop.org

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Reposted by Kate Shaw

Strict Scrutiny Podcast @strictscrutiny.bsky.social · Aug 25

NEW: The band is back together to chat legal news, including the shadow docket insanity on NIH research funding.

Then Leah chats with Eli Savit, candidate for Michigan AG, about threats to marriage equality

& Kate with Serena Mayeri on her book MARITAL PRIVILEGE
crooked.com/podcast/trum...

a close up of a girl 's face with the words why are you telling me all of this

Alt: a close up of a girl 's face with the words why are you telling me all of this

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Kate Shaw

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 6

new piece from on the 60th anniversary of the voting rights act, and what the law has meant for american democracy www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...

Opinion | Donald Trump and John Roberts Have a Lot in Common

www.nytimes.com

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jul 30

ICYMI - in the second half of this episode of @strictscrutiny.bsky.social, @leahlitman.bsky.social & I took a break from the news cycle to remember the one and only David Souter. Thanks to former Souter clerks Erin Delaney & Alli Orr Larsen for joining us & sharing some lovely Souter stories

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · Jul 28

What a return from vacation ... Kate & I do a whirlwind tour through the legal news (including some concerning fallout from SCOTUS's recent decision in Catholic Charities).

And then are joined for a delightful retrospective on Justice Souter by Alli Orr Larsen & Erin Delaney! Check it out!

Strict Scrutiny Podcast @strictscrutiny.bsky.social · Jul 28

NEW: we break down the legal angles of the Trump-Epstein … situation; cover SCOTUS’s fake & nonexistent reasoning on the shadow docket; & talk lower court happenings.

THEN-our Justice Souter retrospective with his former clerks, Profs. Alli Orr Larsen & Erin Delaney. crooked.com/podcast/can-...

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Reposted by Kate Shaw

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · Jul 24

Bracing analysis from Columbia Law School’s David Pozen about the significance and implications of Columbia’s settlement with Trump. balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/regu...

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jul 23

Urgent piece by @ambpressman.bsky.social about the dangers of capitulation to the administration - we know from Hungary what happens when “those best positioned to uphold democratic norms chose the comfort of an illusion over the courage of action”

David Pressman @ambpressman.bsky.social · Jul 23

Democracies collapse not just through force, but through the naïve self-confidence of elites. What should alarm us isn’t that strongmen follow similar playbooks, but that our elites do too. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

Opinion | I Watched It Happen in Hungary. Now It’s Happening Here.

The real danger of a strongman isn’t his tactics; it’s how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence.

www.nytimes.com

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jul 3

Sat down with @stevevladeck.bsky.social & @williambaude.bsky.social to talk through our (very different) reactions to this SCOTUS term @nytimesoped.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/o...

Opinion | ‘There’s Just Too Much Lawlessness’: Three Legal Experts on an Embattled Supreme Court

www.nytimes.com

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jun 24

& thanks to @stevevladeck.bsky.social & @mikesacks.bsky.social for rounding out the episode - bummed I missed the conversation but so great to have you both on! @strictscrutiny.bsky.social

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jun 24

The first segment of this episode of @strictscrutiny.bsky.social has an excellent overview of the legal questions surrounding the Iran strikes, via @becingber.bsky.social in conversation with @leahlitman.bsky.social

Rebecca Ingber @becingber.bsky.social · Jun 24

For more on the international and domestic law governing the U.S. strikes on Iran, I spoke with @leahlitman.bsky.social of the @strictscrutiny.bsky.social podcast:

Is Trump's Unilateral Bombing of Iran Even Legal?

YouTube video by Strict Scrutiny

youtu.be

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jun 23

SCOTUS majority not deigning to give *any* reasons for staying the injunction of the district court - in the highest-possible stakes context & where the executive branch has acted appallingly - evincing real contempt for both district courts & the rule of law

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Jun 23

#BREAKING: Over a (sharp) public dissent from the three Democratic appointees, #SCOTUS clears the way for the Trump administration to remove migrants to third countries *without* giving them an additional opportunity to contest whether they face persecution or other forms of mistreatment there:

www.supremecourt.gov

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jun 18

Joining @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social a bit later this morning to talk Trump & the courts, including whatever new opinions the Supreme Court issues today

The Brian Lehrer Show @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social · Jun 18

Today:
- @elizabethkim.bsky.social on the NYC mayoral race,
- Middle East expert Robin Wright on Israel & Iran,
- @kateshaw.bsky.social on Trump & the courts, including SCOTUS

Live at 10 on 93.9 FM, AM820 or @wnyc.org

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jun 17

Brad is an incredible public servant and this is absolutely horrifying

Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · Jun 17

Hi, this is Meg Barnette, Brad's wife.

While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.

This is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely.

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Kate Shaw @kateshaw.bsky.social · Jun 11

Non-lawyers: this is….not how this is done

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · Jun 11

The Trump administration’s table of authorities in this filing:

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