Jay Willis
@jaywillis.net
I write about courts, democracy, media, and the raccoon family living in a tree behind my house. Bluesky’s ONLY fantasy football guru. EIC @ballsandstrikes.org, more writing at jaywillis.net.
A very funny thing is happening in Yahoo fantasy football auction drafts: Enough people are mistaking Falcons RB Brian Robinson (backup, not worth drafting) with Falcons RB *Bijan* Robinson (a superstar, just got a record contract) that, on average, Brian is getting drafted at 10x his expected value
This week’s premium episode is a freewheeling discussion touching on whether Trump can steal the midterms, why elite liberal lawyers are representing the demons at Kalshi, and whether SCOTUSblog is headed to ruin.
Gambling Away the Future: Kalshi, SCOTUSBlog, and Trump’s Bet on the Midterms | 5-4
Peter, Rhiannon, and Michael take a break from case law to discuss the possibility of stolen midterms, the evil lawyers defending Kalshi and
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Today's vote in Kansas on whether to hold partisan elections for Kansas Supreme Court seats is not about "democracy." It is about Republican politicians who are angry at the court and Kansas voters for protecting abortion rights, and who want to reshape the court to do what Republicans want.
The Push to Elect Kansas Supreme Court Justices Is a Cynical Anti-Abortion Power Grab
In 2022, Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected the GOP’s anti-abortion agenda. Four years later, state lawmakers are trying “another path.”
ballsandstrikes.org
Attention Tree Bluesky: I have two black tulip magnolia trees in front of my house, and one gets way more sun than the other, and I forgot to arrange for watering them when I was out of town. Is the one on the left dead, or can it come back? Tree on the right is for comparison purposes.
My Orioles fan friend reports that Taylor Ward is “decent” and was “more of a power hitter last year but that’s gone down,” which I guess means he’ll fit in well with the 2026 Seattle Mariners heyooooooo
Can't think of a thing that will radicalize a generation faster than "you've gotta let that old man in the corner over there see what's inside those pants before you play Kindergarten volleyball."
Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d agoAn initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play
I urge you to pay attention to Kansas's election on Tuesday, when voters will decide whether to abolish the state's nonpartisan nominating commission for Kansas Supreme Court justices, and allow lawmakers to institute partisan supreme court elections instead. This proposal is...not what it seems.
The Push to Elect Kansas Supreme Court Justices Is a Cynical Anti-Abortion Power Grab
In 2022, Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected the GOP’s anti-abortion agenda. Four years later, state lawmakers are trying “another path.”
ballsandstrikes.org
Insane that democrats keep trying to cave on this issue rather than amplifying the fact that it’s being spearheaded by bigots and freaks
Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d agoAn initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play
Highlight of the neighbors’ annual summer BBQ was two third-ish grade boys taking turns whacking each other in the balls with an inflatable Mjolnir-style sledgehammer, laughing uncontrollably the entire time
When our car was stolen out of our driveway in the pandemic summer of 2020, the sum total police response was for a cop to enter our house unmasked, shrug that the car would likely turn up somewhere (it was not) and, upon examining my spouse’s expired license, telling him he could arrest him for it.
Em, midly@lefttheprairie.bsky.social · 4d agoIt’s so funny when people are like “sure you’re an abolitionist now but wait until you’re the victim of a property crime.” Buddy, the most useful thing the police have ever done for property crime is put the form you need to submit to your insurance online.
Fantasy guru gang, who am I keeping this year (please note I am asking in the sense of “which of these bad options is least bad”): Kittle for $19, TreVeyon Henderson for $19, Zach Charbonnet for $10, or Michael Wilson for $1. Gotta pick one—we get two and I’ve locked in JSN for $35.
There’s no dynamic in sports quite as magical as when a team clearly hates each other as much as the fans openly hate the team. This post is about the Seattle Mariners in 2026.
Chaperoning a preschool trip to the aquarium and one of the other dads who is vaguely familiar with what I do comes up to me and goes “man I sure hope we get some Nuremberg-style trials at the end of all this”
Shoutout every civil procedure professor who finally has a topical case to use to teach personal jurisdiction, it’s a big day
Kash Patel’s Ambitious Defamation Lawsuit Foiled By Basic Civil Procedure Doctrine
The litigious FBI director’s case against a blogger who called him a “blatantly incompetent chud” is no match for International Shoe.
ballsandstrikes.org
I don’t have the numbers to back this up, but my sense is that the Mariners have won the first game of a three-game series and then lost the next two something like 97 times this season
Honestly incredible that the person who told a bunch of frazzled bar examinees "okay sorry about the wifi, we're starting the test in waves, anyone who's online can start now, everyone else just sit tight and try in 15 minutes" wasn't murdered on the spot ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...
"The anti-trans sports thing has two major factions, good-faith people who care a lot about women's sports," ah, no, let me stop you right there. "Good-faith people who care about women's sports" are not anti-trans because they understand that anti-trans activists do *not* care about women's sports.
victoria zeller🫛 (RISEBALL, summer ‘27)@dirtbagqueer.rocks · 6d agoenough of this shit
Oh, it's bad. He doesn't say Blanche is pulled, but, he does. I think the only fair reading of this is that Trump is not willing to let Blanche back down on the audit immunity.
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 7d agoNYT on the Blanche vote delay that’s the result of Cornyn and Tillis not being on board due to where things stand with the IRS audit immunity provision. “‘I can see why he wants it, because it provides immunity from audits no other taxpayer would get,’ Mr. Cornyn added. “
Kash Patel sued a blogger for defamation for calling him a "blatantly incompetent chud" and a "googly-eyed Kremlin bitch," but the case got bounced based on civil procedure doctrine that every law student learns during the first week of 1L year. Beautiful stuff from our brightest minds.
Kash Patel’s Ambitious Defamation Lawsuit Foiled By Basic Civil Procedure Doctrine
The litigious FBI director’s case against a blogger who called him a “blatantly incompetent chud” is no match for International Shoe.
ballsandstrikes.org
It really sucks watching cis people try to write about the meta commentary about all this, not going to lie. Because any trans person could write about it at arms length in an ethical, journalistic and actually convey the stakes that we have to navigate but no one actually wants that.
Sydney Bauer@sydney-bauer.com · 6d agoPeople want to create a veneer of good faith arguments in this because the second they get down to the granular biological realities they sound like nutjobs and it’s because when you’re getting that intricate in the human body about sport categorization you’re a fucking nutjob.
Decided to look up the Las Vegas solo practitioner who represented Kash Patel in a hilariously shoddy 2023 defamation lawsuit that just got dismissed, and it turns out she's now the second-in-command in the local U.S. Attorney's Office
say what you will about AI, always-on voice recording and auto dictation has been a game changer for my workflows. Save post and close app. Yeah Footlong meatball sub on white. No veggies. Don't toast it. Ranch and barbecue sauce. Yeah, ranch and bargecue sauce. More. More. Little more please
He’s trying to lull you into a false sense of security. The second you go inside he and his buddies are scaling that fence like it’s ‘Assassin’s Creed’
@cnromo.bsky.social · last wk.@jaywillis.net am I cooked? He’a got 2 other friends behind him too.
I was pulling photos from Getty Images today and this one took my breath away for a second. "Plain clothed federal agents pursue a man through the lobby of the Hennepin County Government Center before tackling and arresting him Tuesday, February 10, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn."
The sigh I let out when Jay sent me this notice. I looked them up. Because I like punishing myself.
Jay Willis@jaywillis.net · last wk.A pretty clean illustration of how SCOTUSblog's editorial coverage has shifted since its merger with a conservative media outlet: At its big-ticket Supreme Court term preview conference in the fall, the marquee event is...a panel featuring the GCs of Boeing, TD Bank, and ExxonMobil
