This state supreme court opinion pulls no punches: “This court does not anchor Hawaiʻi’s due process rights to the federal floor. Especially one that keeps sinking. . . . State constitutionalism makes it easy to consider Roberts Court jurisprudence ‘white noise.’”

Eric Segall@espinsegall.bsky.social · 2w ago

“The Roberts Court sees only white. It refuses to acknowledge who the Equal Protection Clause was written to protect. The freed people, their descendants, and all others denied equal citizenship. The 14th Amend. is not colorblind. It never was.” Me? No a judge www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/u...

yes

Eric Michael Garcia@ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 2w ago

Andy Kim suggests a new health care policy: -Enroll every child in Medicaid until the age of 26 www.notus.org/healthcare/a...

Absolutely textbook illustration of extreme wealth being used to (attempt to) subvert the democratic system. Thing is: whatever you read in the news, voters aren't fools. Certainly not for something like this.

One reason to care about state supreme courts: They are only defender of abortion rights in some places. In Kansas, Wyoming, Missouri, New Mexico, justices who ruled in favor of abortion access are on ballot this year. And Right is going after them. Time to learn more—I covered all states:

Your State-by-State Guide to the 2026 Supreme Court Elections - Bolts

Abortion, redistricting, and ballot access remain heated issues as voters face dozens of supreme court races across 32 states this year.

boltsmag.org

It's not that I think they have a super-secret plan to overturn the elections and seize power, but you're watching an entire political party, from top to bottom, meme itself into convincing itself that its opponents are inherently illegitimate, and that road doesn't go anywhere good.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

Tuberville: "We probably have four or five senators that didn't legally win. They shouldn't be up here."

And that youngster grew up to be Justice William O. Douglas.

Brian Highsmith@bhighsmith.bsky.social · 3w ago

found just now in a 1911 socialist newspaper

found just now in a 1911 socialist newspaper

Love this paper showing how "the institutional structure of US fiscal federalism allows some jurisdictions to function as tax shelters for wealthy residents and corps, while conversely subjecting other jurisdictions to severe fiscal stress, even in broadly prosperous metro areas." bit.ly/4ykwWYx

Tax base fragmentation as a dimension of metropolitan inequality

Abstract. The United States devolves responsibility for providing critical services to local governments. With limited centralized transfers, the ability t

academic.oup.com

roberts et al have a mental model of racism as being defined entirely by the most atavistic mania of the jim crow south. if it isn’t that, if it wears suits and ties and speaks the language of national security and executive authority, then it not only doesn’t count, *it’s not racism*

Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · 3w ago

Wrote about the Roberts Court’s highly selective aversion to identifying racism, echoing the logic of the infamous Korematsu decision, which the Roberts Court has both condemned and imitated. Call it Neo-Korematsu doctrine. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

NEW: What happens when corporations don't just influence government, but begin to function like governments themselves? @bhighsmith.bsky.social argues that powerful companies are increasingly securing special tax breaks, regulatory carveouts, and even governing power that weaken local democracy.

The New Corporate Enclaves

How corporations like SpaceX, Disney, Amazon, and Foxconn use corporate enclaves to evade democratic accountability, reshape local government, and weaken local democracy.

rooseveltinstitute.org

I'm really looking forward to teaching this new experiential seminar, "Local Governance and the Food Culture of Greater Los Angeles," next year at UCLA Law. Reading and restaurant recommendations welcome!

I don’t think people really understand how bad the OMB proposed rule is going to be for state and local govt. We’re talking about putting a full third of state budgets under the explicit control of Russ Vought. (1/2) www.bondbuyer.com/news/cities-...

Cities, states warn of credit impact from proposed federal grant rule

Discretionary termination of grants allowed under the rule would pose a particular risk, issuer advocates said.

bondbuyer.com

Just want to point out the slippage between vigilantism and state power here. Per this account, an unmarked car tries to stop Araujo, he tries to get away (as many people would do if a rando tried to stop us), he's shot by state agents, agency officials lie about it, and the Twitter mob takes over.

Leah Greenberg ❌👑@leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 4w ago

This is absolutely devastating and infuriating. ICE officers in an unmarked car shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father of three, on his way to work. Then the smear machine immediately kicked in. Read the words of his son, and demand accountability: www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

they are not afraid of him being a bad mayor, they are afraid of him being a good mayor

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · last mo.

There are a range of media and people who have lost their mind about Mamdani. At the time of real threats to democracy they treat him evoking the American creed they grew up with as dangerous radicalism.

“In prose as vital and engaging as the cities he celebrates, Resnikoff offers a compelling guide to fixing our urban spaces—and our democracy.”—Yoni Appelbaum, deputy executive editor, The Atlantic and author of STUCK

K.C. Clyburn, Author@kccomplainsalot.blacksky.app · last mo.

buy @resnikoff.bsky.social's book! bookshop.org/p/books/buil...

I’ve been thinking for a while that Slaughter and the preceding decisions are really attacks on the idea of law itself. So I’m very glad to see @nathantankus.bsky.social taking up this argument. www.crisesnotes.com/agency-indep...

i have been thinking about this a lot. my "left-wing" ideas about government reform mostly amount to trying to make the federal government conform with the vision in the constitution: a strong, active and majoritarian congress

Sharon 🪳🌹@sharonk.bsky.social · last mo.

one thing that I find remarkable is that it is surprisingly left/radical coded in some spaces to think that Congress needs institutional reform in order to allow for more functional government

if you have feelings about SCOTUS after today, and after the last week, and after the last months and years, remember that at least you can vote for state supreme courts in many places this year, and those matter a ton too my state-by-state guide to every state supreme court contest:

Your State-by-State Guide to the 2026 Supreme Court Elections - Bolts

Abortion, redistricting, and ballot access remain heated issues as voters face dozens of supreme court races across 32 states this year.

boltsmag.org

one reason i feel the centre should be more open to PR is that it allows them to differentiate themselves from the demsocs without them having to have a civil war over ballot lines because electing demsocs on their own ballot line is possible

Dave Against The Machine🏴@johnbrownbread.bsky.social · last mo.

Unironically the DSA is the only ones running on proportional representation.

He doesn't need to hide it because everyone & every institution in American politics & society has completely normalized it. A total collapse of every norm, law, & institution in the country.

Yoshiko Herrera@yoshikoherrera.bsky.social · last mo.

Open corruption: $2 billion just last year and not even bothering to hide it

Is it not clear now that reforming the Supreme Court must be at the top of the agenda along with accountability?

the anti-birthright idea didn’t circulate for long enough in conservative legal circles. If it had circulated for another three years it would’ve been a majority opinion. I really do not think this fight is over

The upcoming midterm elections are going to be contested amid a broken Voting Rights Act, "rigorously" invalidated campaign-finance laws, and federal election commissioners who can be fired for no reason. The only people who voted for this absurd legal regime are the unelected justices on the Court

Josh Chafetz@joshchafetz.bsky.social · last mo.

I will once again remind folks that a very sizable chunk of what looks like Congress not doing anything to push back against the president is in fact a consequence of the Court disabling/destroying all the ways Congress has tried to push back.

celebrating the supreme court and promoting the fiction that they are standing up against Trump is an insane rhetorical stance for someone in Schumer's position. The Supreme Court Gang of Six is the leading vanguard of the plot to enslave our country, you don't have to hand it to them.

Chuck Schumer@schumer.senate.gov · last mo.

Despite Trump’s best efforts to bully them, the Supreme Court just reaffirmed that if you are born in America, you belong in America.

Justice Jackson: "Justice Thomas's telling elides the entire point of the Second Founding: The Reconstruction Amendments were an anticaste, antisubordination reset for the Nation, not a mere spot treatment for the dark stain of slavery."

I think today shows how correct this observation from earlier in the week was. A bare majority of the Court agreeing to follow the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't change anything.

Max Kennerly@maxkennerly.bsky.social · last mo.

IMHO, the Supreme Court is a *bigger* problem than Trump, and it should be the primary target for reform. Trump and Congress would both be very different under a law-abiding SCOTUS, which would have stopped government action clearly animated by racism and racially gerrymandered districts.

really cannot be emphasized enough that the drafters of the birthright clause very much considered cases analogous to undocumented immigrants and *included them too*

Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · last mo.

That's right.

anyway i think the proper takeaway here is that a bare majority of the court thinks the plain words of the 14th amendment mean what they say, that four members believe there is a secret hidden meaning only recently discovered by hack lawyers

The Birthright citizenship ruling should be a wake up call to any Dem who is still on the fence about court reform. We are essentially one seat change away from the Court undoing Reconstruction by fiat.

With this ruling, the birthright issue is not going away. The right hasn't really begun *organizing* around getting rid of the citizenship clause. Like Roe, this will be their fight for a generation. And if the Democrats just say "we won" and ignore it, like Roe, the Republicans will eventually win.