Kash Patel is suing the Atlantic for a quarter billion dollars. I am begging people who are not familiar with Oscar Wilde’s downfall to read about his legal case. He filed a similar weak defamation suit, lost, and ended up serving two years of hard labor for the “gross indecency” the trial revealed.

Oscar Wilde Trial | HISTORY

Lord Alfred Douglas Wilde kept his homosexuality a secret. He married and had two sons. But in 1891, Wilde began an a...

history.com

Scott MacFarlane@macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 5mo ago

FLASH: Kash Patel files $250 million defamation suit against The Atlantic A lengthy and potentially UGLY discovery phase looks Just filed ===>

ICE and Border Patrol claim that they can arrest people who follow them, record them, blow whistles, refuse to follow orders, etc for "impeding" their official actions. But the law officials are referencing is much narrower than they seem to think. prawfsblawg.com/what-does-it...

Understanding 18 U.S.C. § 111: Are ICE Tactics Legal?

Discover why ICE and Border Patrol may misinterpret 18 U.S.C. § 111 when arresting civilians for following them. Explore the legal implications.

prawfsblawg.com

Wild opinion: Virginia has been violating the Readmission Act of 1870 for about ~125 years, illegally denying the vote to 1000s convicted of crimes that weren't "common law felonies." (Credit to @cbhessick.bsky.social & Edward Ayers, both of whom served as expert witnesses for the plaintiffs.)

Protect Democracy@protectdemocracy.org · 7mo ago

VICTORY: Today, a court ruled that Virginia’s lifetime ban on voting for anyone convicted of a felony violates the federal Virginia Readmission Act. This victory strikes down a Jim Crow era law, restoring the right to vote for thousands of Virginians. Read the opinion here: protdem.org/3NKjxpH

“No one teaches the Western canon anymore!” “Look, Plato’s Symposium is right here on my syllabus!” “Whoa, whoa, whoa—not that!”

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 8mo ago

"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato." surreal times dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

For those who are trying to assess the legitimacy of the charges against Bolton: 1) these charges came from the MD US Atty’s office—which is led by a career prosecutor 2) the investigation predates Trump taking office 3) the indictment suggests large amounts of classified material were involved

Whatever ends up happening in the James Comey prosecution, our country needs to grapple with the fact that public confidence in the impartiality of criminal prosecutions has been terribly damaged over the past few years.

Voting ends Oct 9 vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

I’m sure that bodes well for getting a conviction at trial

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New on MSNBC: According to the court transcript, only 14 of the 23 grand jurors voted in favor of indicting James Comey on the two counts that went forward.

Oddly striking how this teenager, in accounting for her admittedly criminal behaviour, frames it as self-care. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Given what’s been happening in DC, I would think no one in DOJ should feel particularly confident about whether a grand jury will indict anyone right now.

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 11mo ago

FORMER FBI DIRECTOR COMEY EXPECTED TO BE INDICTED IN COMING DAYS IN EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA -NBC REPORTER ON X

I decided to look at all 66 prosecutor elections this fall. Why? Prosecutors have huge power over sentencing, charging, second chances, and even immigration implications. Here's everything you need to know, from East to West Coast. New from me:

Your Guide to the 2025 Prosecutor Elections - Bolts

Most of November's prosecutor races feature just one candidate, as usual. But key races will shape the politics of criminal justice, from Philly to Seattle — plus a wild card in New Jersey.

boltsmag.org

I enjoyed reading through @cbhessick.bsky.social's latest "Prosecutors and Politics" study. Surprising to learn that most media coverage about prosecutors is neutral in tone (only 6% of 2020 coverage about prosecutors was negative). Is that still true in 2025, in today's era of weaponized justice?

Just posted my new paper (coauthored with Andy Hessick), called Facts, Policy, and Discretion, which is is forthcoming in the @ucdavislaw.bsky.social law review We address an important error that I keep seeing in criminal justice cases about the nature of discretion papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Calling it: Grand Jury Bluesky will be the worst Bluesky so far.

Curious whether anyone could tell me more about this statutory restriction on plea bargaining in Kansas. The conventional wisdom is that the parties will always evade plea bargaining prohibitions. I'm curious whether that has been the experience in KS with this limited carveout

These 2 paragraphs are bananas. Truly incredible stuff c/o US Attorney General Pam Bondi.

DOJ has now fired 26 people who worked on Jack Smith's team. Pure political vengeance against professionals committed to the rule of law. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

US Justice fires nine more employees from Jack Smith's team, sources say

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday fired at least nine more Justice Department employees who worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate President Donald Trump's retention of classified records and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to five people familiar with the matter.

reuters.com

I'm a professor at the flagship university for the fourth whitest state in the US. Over 80% of our students are white. The biggest barrier to access here is that due to lack of state funding, we have top 10 highest tuition per capita of public unis in the country. We also have a food pantry.

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.

oh, we have some straightforward gutter racism. “the blacks and the browns are the reason white people can’t get ahead” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

this is all downstream of people finding it aversive to change their mind

Will Stancil@whstancil.bsky.social · last yr.

I increasingly feel certain that the thing that has driven politics insane is the growing ability of people to find ways to validate their beliefs, no matter how incorrect and irrational. It started in right-wing media but has become central to all political discussion.

I increasingly feel certain that the thing that has driven politics insane is the growing ability of people to find ways to validate their beliefs, no matter how incorrect and irrational. It started in right-wing media but has become central to all political discussion.

we call this "fighting antisemitism"

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.

Leavitt: "Electricians, plumbers -- we need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University. And that's what this administration's position is."

I always get caught off guard by Memorial Day weekend. It's somehow not on my list of summer occasions.

Important statistics. But questionable claim that SCOTUS isn’t willing to defend the rule of law.

Adam Bonica@adambonica.bsky.social · last yr.

Stunning. May was brutal for Trump in federal court: 96% loss rate ⚖️. Even GOP-appointed judges have ruled against the admin 72% of the time. District courts are doing their job defending the Constitution. Soon the Supreme Court may be the only court unwilling to defend the rule of law.

This is the best assessment of the Trump administration vs universities battle that I've seen. Definitely worth the read. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...

Opinion | Harvard Derangement Syndrome

nytimes.com

Can't wait until Trump's DHS spokespeople start trying to convince us this American toddler is actually a wife beating human trafficker

Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney.bsky.social · last yr.

NEW: A federal judge raised alarm Friday that the Trump administration appeared to have deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras with "no meaningful process" — even as her father was fighting to keep her in the country. Details w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

Trump is putting 100% of the responsibility and blame for Garcia’s release on “his lawyers” in DOJ Also, the implication of these comments is either that the lawyers are lying to Trump or that he can’t understand what they’re telling him.

Bob Loeb@bobloeb.bsky.social · last yr.

Trump on the 9-0 Supreme Court order time.com/7280114/dona...

I think if Jack Lowden is going to play Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice it’s only right that Gary Oldman should play Mr Bennet and Kristin Scott Thomas should play Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

If you’ve received a text claiming you owe unpaid tolls, you’re not alone.

Scammers are texting drivers about unpaid tolls, causing chaos amongst some consumers | CNN Business

If you’ve received a text claiming you owe unpaid tolls, you’re not alone.

cnn.com