Aaron Littman
@aaronlittman.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Law @law.ucla.edu Faculty Director of Prisoners’ Rights Clinic Deputy Director of Behind Bars Data Project Scholarship at ssrn.com/author=1925841
There’s an earlier tradition in British law of commuting a sentence or even releasing the condemned if the execution (hanging) didn’t work. I doubt that custom was always strictly followed, but there were several notorious examples over the centuries.
Aaron Littman@aaronlittman.bsky.social · 2w agoBelieve it or not, the Supreme Court was presented as far back as 1947 with the question whether attempting to execute someone a second time, after a botched first go round (then, in a portable electric chair known as “Rusty”), was cruel and unusual.
Believe it or not, the Supreme Court was presented as far back as 1947 with the question whether attempting to execute someone a second time, after a botched first go round (then, in a portable electric chair known as “Rusty”), was cruel and unusual.
Liliana Segura@lilianasegura.bsky.social · 2w agoThe tortuous, botched execution of Christa Pike is truly horrifying. And while it feels unique in some ways, in reality it is also only the latest in a history of botched executions going back years — YEARS — in numerous states. Please know: this is the reality of the death penalty in this country.
The tortuous, botched execution of Christa Pike is truly horrifying. And while it feels unique in some ways, in reality it is also only the latest in a history of botched executions going back years — YEARS — in numerous states. Please know: this is the reality of the death penalty in this country.
The death penalty is a moral abomination. State-sanctioned barbarism pushed by incompetent morons and sanctioned by the Supreme Court. Absolute ghoul shit. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Post-Symposium Statement from the Co-Chairs. UCLA School of Law, 25 Years After 9/11: Reimagining Freedom, Justice, and Security. @ahilantoolong.bsky.social uclaminana.substack.com/p/post-sympo...
When future President John Adams walked into court to defend the British soldiers who committed the Boston Massacre, he knew he was laying down a marker for future generations about what the rule of law is. Julio Frenk, chancellor of my university, unfortunately missed that lesson and a few more.
UCLA chancellor rebukes law school event with 9/11 'mastermind' attorney; organizers push back
After a UCLA law school symposium on 9/11 that featured an attorney who represented alleged 9/11 'mastermind' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk issued a rare message distancing the u...
latimes.com
In a rare move, Chancellor Frenk just publicly and boldly affirmed academic freedom. Oh, wait, no. He did the opposite. The idea that anyone was advancing support for the attacks is absurd and obscene and that’s what they should be ashamed of. Use archive.ps for non-paywall.
UCLA chancellor rebukes law school event featuring attorney of alleged 9/11 'mastermind'
After a UCLA law school symposium on 9/11 that featured an attorney who represented alleged 9/11 'mastermind' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk issued a rare message distancing the u...
latimes.com
Profoundly disappointed in our Chancellor, as a member of the UCLA law faculty and a Jew, for so quickly forgetting the lesson Justice Jackson and others taught us at Nuremberg: the rule of law demands that everyone be provided a robust defense.
Jameel Jaffer@jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 4w agoThe news here is that (1) the UCLA chancellor lacks a basic understanding of how our legal system works, and of the role that criminal defense attorneys play in it, (2) UCLA's commitment to "institutional neutrality" is a joke. www.latimes.com/california/s...
He died at Irwin, the detention center made notorious by allegations of unwanted gynecological procedures, and that Biden had shut down. Trump reopened it. Now it’s the site of yet another death in ICE detention following claims of medical neglect.
Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 3mo agoICE has killed another person, this time by depriving him of life-sustaining medication for a known medical condition. Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva was detained on Thursday. He was dead by Monday. Per @detentionwatchnetwork.org:
What a tremendous interview with former FTC Commissioner Becca Slaughter and the Yale Daily News. President McInnis and the trustees come off very, very poorly. An administration that will live in infamy. yaledailynews.com/articles/alu...
yaledailynews.com
The students of the Yale College Council have made an outstanding statement calling on the university not to cut a deal with the federal government at the expense of their rights: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwX1...
YCC Statement on Defending Students’ Rights as Yale Attempts to Settle with the Trump Administration
YouTube video by Yale College Council
youtube.com
So did this change his view on medicaid work requirements or bsky.app/profile/atru...
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3mo agoRep. Tom Kean finally speaks after months away from Congress for a previously unexplained absence: "I was given the diagnosis of depression ... the doctors recommended I remain in the hospital to address my illness"
“I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights. And I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews. Those are not two different jobs. They are the same job,” Brad Lander said.
What's really astonishing is not the far right authoritarian party doing this, but the near-total lack of <loud public collective action> by university chancellors & presidents to oppose this existential crisis. Almost impossible to overstate how total a failure of leadership this is.
Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 5mo agoIt’s truly astonishing to see how comprehensively the US government is tearing down every part of the system that has made it up until now a world-leading power in science, research, and technological development. The entire world will suffer from this wanton destruction.
People who lost family members in the fight for the Voting Rights Act tell @talkingpointsmemo.com how they feel about the Supreme Court’s decision demolishing it. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/their-l...
Their Loved Ones Died for the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court’s Ruling Is a New Injustice.
Dennis Dahmer was 12 years old in January 1966 when Klansmen stormed...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Why do faculty and students have so little say in the governance of American universities? This terrific new paper by Daniel Hemel and David Pozen asks why American universities are liberal autocracies rather than stakeholder democracies. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
As someone pointed out to me offline, this is a really funny typo in Alito’s mifepristone dissent: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
Come work with us! Are you a *great* litigator with a love for teaching? We are launching a formal federal Indian law clinic--and are looking to hire a two-year clinical fellow to work with us and the great Professor Deborah Archer (also President of the ACLU). apply.interfolio.com/186544
this is the closest I've ever come to actually suggesting a "one neat trick" suggestion for anything, but I'm so serious here. the Virginia Constitution gives the legislature the power to set retirement ages for judges "REGARDLESS OF THE TERM TO WHICH ELECTED OR APPOINTED." make it 54 right now.
How Virginia Democrats can overturn the redistricting ruling: Retire the Supreme Court
The state Constitution gives lawmakers complete latitude to set the judicial retirement age. They should use it.
the-downballot.com
Here's Judge deGravelles's opinion and order prohibiting for 14 days the elimination of the position of Criminal Clerk of Court in Orleans parish, to which ex-prisoner Calvin Duncan was recently elected to a four-year term starting Monday. (49 pages) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
![D. Closing Note
The Court emphasizes in closing the limited nature of its holding. The Court is not ruling
that the state lacks the authority to abolish an agency or office writ large. Rather, the Court is
simply holding that, in doing so in the manner in which Louisiana did here with SB 256—that is,
abolishing this particular office, creating a new office to replace it, and then appointing someone
for that office, all when the Louisiana Constitution requires an election—Defendants have violated
the Plaintiff’s federally protected constitutional rights to due process and to vote. As a result, the
Court holds that SB 256 is unconstitutional. See Anderson, 460 U.S. at 806 (“our primary concern
is not the interest of [this particular] candidate . . . , but rather, the interests of the voters who chose
to associate together to express their support for [his] candidacy and the views he espoused. Under
any realistic appraisal, the ‘extent and nature’ of the burdens [the State] has placed on the voters’
freedom of choice and freedom of association . . . unquestionably outweigh the State’s minimal
interest in imposing” the restriction at issue); Duncan, 657 F.2d at 700 (“the due process clause of](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mnigemxnozmuwtpllkefa4sc/bafkreif2e2koxocaf66r47r5vdkz6va4nnro6fo6nyrsfa2mivtkha4heq)
![the fourteenth amendment prohibits action by state officials which seriously undermine the
fundamental fairness of the electoral process.”).
V. CONCLUSION
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that the Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Doc. 2)
filed by Plaintiff Calvin Duncan, in his official capacity as Clerk-Elect of Orleans Parish Criminal
District Court, and in his personal capacity as an Orleans Parish voter is GRANTED IN PART
AND DENIED IN PART. The motion is GRANTED in that the Court finds that Senate Bill 256,
Act No. 15, is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. As a result, Defendants Governor Jeff Landry and
Secretary of State Nancy Landry are ENJOINED from (1) enforcing SB 256; (2) certifying the
appointment of the Clerk of Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans as the Clerk of Court for
the Parish of Orleans; and (3) issuing the Clerk of Civil District Court a commission for the
position of Clerk of Court for the Parish of Orleans.
[continued on next page]
Case 3:26-cv-00460-JWD-SDJ Document 13 05/03/26 Page 48 of 49](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mnigemxnozmuwtpllkefa4sc/bafkreig5j36gm4tyyeo2cawidxlt5ubj6o5as4m7xmjmofjaabba6zykjm)
This is such an outrage. Calvin represents the very best of public service, and must be seated as Clerk. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/u...
He Was Exonerated in a Murder and Elected to Office. He May Never Serve.
nytimes.com
Marathon? I’m sure every hour in JD’s presence must feel like an eternity - but come on, he just got there.
The PA Supreme Court has decided, in large part based on a law student note authored in 2023, that our state constitution's protection against cruel punishments is based on a more robust understanding of cruelty than the US Constitution. That note from Kevin Bendesky (HLS '23) is here:
con.law
Kyle Barry@kylecbarry.bsky.social · 7mo agoBREAKING: The PA Supreme Court holds that mandatory life without parole sentences for all "felony murder" convictions -- a sentence more than 1,000 people in PA are serving -- violates the state constitution's "cruel" punishment ban. This is GROUNDBREAKING: www.pacourts.us/assets/opini...
Recently the DOJ sued UCLA, arguing that we are such a "hotbed of campus antisemitism"—primarily because of pro-Palestinian student protests—that it's a hostile work environment for Jewish faculty and staff. Well, many actual Jewish faculty and staff vehemently disagree and we wrote this letter:
Home
An Open Letter from UCLA Jewish Faculty and Staff Opposing the DOJ’s Title VII Lawsuit Against UCLA 129 signatories (below) as of March 14 Dear Attorney General Bondi, Assistant Attorney General Dhi...
sites.google.com
Ariela Gross@arielagross.bsky.social · 7mo agoThis letter from 131 (and counting) Jewish faculty and staff tells the Trump Administration we oppose efforts to attack UCLA in our name. Text linked in comments.
Legal writers: I've posted to SSRN a short user's guide about how to use the Zotero citation manager and its Word plugin to automatically generate Bluebook citations that are 95%* compliant. The paper explains which fields to use for which type of source, and examples of generated citations.
Automating Bluebook Citations in Legal Scholarship: A User's Guide for Bluebook in Zotero
This paper documents an implementation of the Bluebook Law Review citation format using the Zotero citation manager software. It introduces revisions to an exis
papers.ssrn.com
Are you a law student or recent graduate looking for clerkship opportunities? State Court Report is hosting a free virtual event on everything you need to know about clerking on a state supreme court. Judges from high courts across the country will share insights. RSVP today:
What to Know About Clerking on a State Supreme Court
Judges from high courts across the country share insights for law students and recent graduates.
brennancenter.org
The Deportation Data Project is hiring a fulltime senior research analyst to work with us on obtaining data on immigration enforcement in the US. Competitive salary, excellent University of California benefits, and work on a small, collaborative team. Join us! deportationdata.org/hiring.html
Hiring – Deportation Data Project
deportationdata.org