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Reposted by Laura Portuondo

Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · 12d

This is an infuriating and shameful scandal. The Roberts Court is condoning Trump’s law breaking, again, pure and simple. There is no serious path forward for democratic government without Supreme Court reform.

Kelsey Reichmann @kelseyreichmann.bsky.social · 12d

BREAKING: Supreme Court lets Trump unilaterally freeze billions in congressionally appropriated foreign aid money

apparent 6-3 vote with liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 15d

I wrote about the Trump administration’s false claims about Tylenol, and the moral—not scientific—burdens they place on pregnant women’s bodies. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Pregnant women do not lack for judgmental, frightening and dubiously factual instructions about their health. Everywhere, they are told that they risk the health of their fetus by partaking in a series of banal everyday activities – be it jogging or having coffee or eating a certain cheese – that they are told will lead, by obscure mechanisms that are never quite explained, to impossible and devastating health outcomes for their children-to-be. The admonishments are multiple and often contradictory, but they all tend to agree on one thing: that it is always good for women to deprive themselves of joy and relief – and to suffer more – for the sake of their fetuses.

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · 27d

Ending reproductive coercion by... stopping poor people from accessing to the tools needed to control their reproductive lives?

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · 27d

Preventing abortions by... destroying the #1 tool to prevent abortions?

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...

$10 Million in Contraceptives Have Been Destroyed on Orders From Trump Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 29d

Want a short piece debunking "originalist" arguments that the 14th Amendment requires abortion criminalization? I got you. Forthcoming in the UC Davis Law Review Online.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Text, Violence, and the Implausibility of Antiabortion Constitutionalism
UC Davis Law Review Online, 2025

9 Pages Posted: Last revised: 9 Sep 2025
Evan D. Bernick
Northern Illinois University - College of Law

Date Written: September 09, 2025

Abstract
The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. Not until 1966 did anyone claim that it compelled abortion criminalization. Now in 2025, antiabortion advocates insist that the Constitution’s original meaning has always mandated their social agenda. Those who framed, ratified, and implemented the Fourteenth Amendment just didn’t realize it.

It does not. Granting embryos and fetuses constitutional personhood would not restore the law of the nineteenth century. It would create a nationwide regime of reproductive control that — to hear its proponents describe it — would be more restrictive and punitive than any which has existed in the United States. It would enlist federal judges in ongoing breaches of historical and traditional limits on coercive state action. And it would inflict new forms of violence on people whose constitutional personhood is beyond question.

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Chris Mirasola @chrismirasola.bsky.social · 29d

My horizons broaden every time I read a piece by my amazing UHLC colleague Andrew Lanham (who is unfortunately not on here—or anywhere). Just incredibly deep and rich insights at the intersection of social movements, racial justice, and national security from a fantastic legal historian.

How to Resist Trump’s Militarization of America

The president’s deployment of the armed forces on American streets is an alarming escalation. Fortunately, there’s a playbook for fighting back.

newrepublic.com

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Sep 8

“apparent ethnicity” is a cool new way to say race

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Sep 8

🚨The Supreme Court today gives Trump a license to engage in racial profiling, with Justice Kavanaugh writing in concurrence to expressly endorse ICE and Border Patrol targeting any Latinos they observe in Los Angeles speaking Spanish and then demanding their papers.

Here,
those circumstances include:
that there is an
extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area; that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work; that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to illegal immigrants; and that many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English. Cf.
Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S., at 884-885 (listing "[a]ny number of factors" that contribute to reasonable suspicion of illegal presence). To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court's case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring
"relevant factor" when considered along with other salient factors. Id., at 887.
Under this Court's precedents, not to mention common sense, those circumstances taken together can constitute at least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United States. Importantly, reasonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status. If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter. Only if the person is illegally in the United States may the stop lead to further immigration proceedings.

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Liz Sepper @lsepper.bsky.social · Sep 3

Texas Law has a new academic fellowship program. Please share with any aspiring legal academics!

(The first fellow started this summer and I can say the level of mentorship, support, and inclusion of fellows is exceptional)

Texas Law Academic Fellowships

We are delighted to announce the launch of the Texas Law Academic Fellowships program. The program supports individuals who are committed to obtaining an appointment as a tenure-track member of a law...

law.utexas.edu

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Aug 26

Congratulations!

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Jake Mazeitis @jakemazeitis.bsky.social · Aug 21

Hey Bluesky! Little late to the joining game, but excited to be here. I'm an appellate attorney with an interest in legal scholarship, and my writing focuses on state supreme courts, state constitutions, and judicial selection.

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Aug 21

Welcome, Jake! Happy to hear you’re still doing great work.

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Aug 18

This is how I know I’ve made it!

I’m so excited to join this class run by the amazing @yuvrajjoshi.bsky.social, alongside such incredible scholars.

Yuvraj Joshi @yuvrajjoshi.bsky.social · Aug 18

Back to school! ✨📚 Excited to teach “Law and Inequality” again at @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social, joined by these wonderful scholars:

Alice Abrokwa
Matthew Patrick Shaw
Russell Robinson
@kredburn.bsky.social
@lauraportuondo.bsky.social
Maureen Edobor
Susan Sturm

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Aug 16

congratulations!

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Aug 16

Congrats!!

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Nikolas Guggenberger @nikenberger.bsky.social · Jul 25

Join an amazing group of scholars at UH incl. @chrismirasola.bsky.social @leahfowler.bsky.social @nikenberger.bsky.social @petersalib.bsky.social @lauraportuondo.bsky.social @jessiebregant.bsky.social @amangebru.bsky.social @dfroomkin.bsky.social and more with better things to do than Bluesky!

Nikolas Guggenberger @nikenberger.bsky.social · Jul 24

📢 We are hiring! Come join us at the University of Houston.

- 3 entry-level tenure-track faculty members in crim; employment and labor law; and torts;

- a clinical assistant/associate professor to teach lawyering skills and strategies;

- a full/associate professor in health law.

Qs? Reach out!

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Jul 24

my understanding is that deregulation is universally held religious belief so your religion is not real (it is secularism)

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Chris Mirasola @chrismirasola.bsky.social · Jul 24

UH Law Center is hiring this year!
- 3 entry-level, TT in crim, employment/labor, & torts
- 1 clinical in lawyering skills
- 1 tenured position in health law

Teach fantastic students with supportive colleagues! Reach out with any Qs!

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Jul 24

no more laws <3

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Jul 24

I guess if you can find one person with a religious belief that supports a law it is inter-denominational discrimination? Def looking forward to federal courts invalidating every abortion restriction.

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Jul 24

Brought to you by a constitutional equality jurisprudence that deems every burden on religious conservatives animus, and every protection of women and LGBTQ+ people as optional.

Micah Schwartzman @micahschwartzman.bsky.social · Jul 24

CA9 panel holds that Oregon policy requiring adoptive parents to respect a child's sexual orientation/gender identity favored one religion over another, citing the Court's recent Establishment Clause decision in Catholic Charities.

So if you tell the state that its abortion ban violates your faith?

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Jul 23

Calling all aspiring law profs: Houston is hiring! Come join a great scholarly community in a vibrant city (and work with me 🤠). We are hiring in: criminal law, employment/labor law, tort law, legal research/writing, and health law.

Please reach out with any questions or interest!

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Laura Portuondo @lauraportuondo.bsky.social · Jul 18

The genius of a discriminatory purpose standard is that it is vague enough to permit disparate impact claims for favored litigants (white people, religious conservatives) but not disfavored ones (people of color, women).

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Micah Schwartzman @micahschwartzman.bsky.social · Jul 15

This is an important religious liberty challenge advancing in the Kentucky state courts. There’s a growing literature discussing the arguments developed in this case and in similar litigation in Indiana. (See eg papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....)

Jewish woman’s challenge of Kentucky’s abortion ban gets green light from appeals court

A Court of Appeals panel has ruled that one of three Jewish women suing the state has standing — the right — to challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban.

www.newsfromthestates.com

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