Tessera

Anil Kalhan

@akalhan.bsky.social

Law professor, Drexel Univ • Affil'd fellow, Yale ISP • NYC Bar Ass'n Rule of Law Task Force • AAUP Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure ⚾ Cleveland native/partisan 🏀 runner • https://linktr.ee/akalhan

2263 Posts21208 Follower 4465 Folgt

Revolving Door Project @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social · 6h ago

NEW in @slate.com Our @coldchrisfiles.bsky.social profiles Mark Paoletta—the lawyer behind Russ Vought and Trump’s bid for unchecked presidential power. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 19h ago

Republican power grabs in Kansas and Missouri are going down in flames with 18-25% of votes reported so far. Missouri's Amendment 4 aimed to make citizen-initiated constitutional amendments practically impossible. Kansas' Amendment 1 was designed to flip the state Supreme Court to ban abortion

Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 21h ago

In addition to having no experience in immigration, their website shows Ilya Shapiro (!) and disgraced former law prof Joshua Wright (!) as Senior Counsel. I don't think this massive contract was awarded to give immigrant children effective, zealous advocacy. burkegroup.law/our-team/

Our Team - BURKE LAW GROUP, PLLC

Our Team

burkegroup.law

Politico@politico.com · 21h ago

26-employee Texas law firm gets $150M to represent 24,000 children in immigration court

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 2mo ago

Susan Collins has confirmed at least 16 anti-abortion judges in Trump’s second term. Some Mainers may think their reproductive and civil rights are safe and still vote for her, but any of these freaks could tee up a SCOTUS case that takes the entire country backwards mainedems.org/susan-collin...

screenshot, Maine Democratic Party:
Collins Confirms Two More Anti-Choice Judges
Susan Collins just voted to confirm Tony Mattivi and Anthony Powell to lifetime seats on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

[then a list showing 14 more, split across two screenshots]
Collins has continued to “rubber stamp” Trump-appointed anti-choice judges who have advocated for and defended near-total abortion bans in states. In the past few months alone Collins confirmed:

Whitney Hermandorfer to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, who was lead counsel in a case defending Tennessee’s total abortion ban.

Maria Lanahan to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, who defended Missouri’s near-total abortion ban, and helped author and argue Missouri’s complaint seeking to restrict the use and access to mifepristone, a common medication abortion pill.

Jennifer Mascott to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, who urged the court to overturn Roe and return it to the “dustbin of history,” then praised the Dobbs ruling, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee defending the Court’s decision to leave in place Texas’ extreme abortion ban.

William Mercer to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, who “has repeatedly supported anti-abortion bills.”

Chad Meredith to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, who is staunchly anti-abortion and has even defended abortion restrictions in Kentucky.

Jordan Pratt to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, who authored an amicus brief in support of Florida’s abortion ban where he called abortion “barbaric.”

Rebecca Taibleson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, who testified that she believed the three-year-old Dobbs decision that gutted federal protections to abortion was “controlling precedent and settled law.” In addition to clerking for Brett Kavanaugh, Tabileson testified in front of the Senate to de…

screenshot 2/2, showing 7 more judges:

Edmund LaCour, Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, who as solicitor general for Alabama, defended an Alabama abortion ban that makes no exceptions for rape or incest, and wrote that life begins at conception. LaCour also argued landmark reproductive rights cases, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, were “illegitimate.”

Joshua Dunlap to the U.S Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which includes Maine, who advocated for a “fetal personhood bill” in Maine that would have laid the groundwork for criminalizing abortion care.

Eric Tung to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, who reportedly has “close ties to the anti-abortion movement,” “worked extensively with the architect of Texas’ heartbeat bill” and testified during his confirmation hearing he did not believe there was not “a constitutional right to abortion or same-sex marriage.

David Bragdon to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, who compared abortion to murder and said women “must face the consequences” of unintended pregnancy.

Robert Chamberlin to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, who sponsored numerous anti-abortion laws while serving in the Mississippi state legislature, including one that bans abortion at conception.

William Crain to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, who campaigned on an anti-abortion platform when he ran for the Louisiana Supreme Court. While serving on the court in 2022, Crain voted to keep Louisiana’s strict abortion ban in effect, which includes no exceptions for rape or incest.

Katie Lane to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, who previously served as counsel in a case seeking to block abortion care in Guam. As Montana’s assistant solicitor general, she also urged the Montana Supreme Court to overturn a 23-year-old precedent protecting the constitutional right to abortion in the …

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22h ago

whoa -- Max Miller on CNN threatens Sen. Bernie Moreno with "exposing a deeply and personal embarrassing matter" after Moreno called for his resignation

Collins Watch @collinswatch.bsky.social · 22h ago

Standards for any outlet's reporting on this: --Shouldn't get more prominent coverage than Susan Collins vote FOR, say, Kristi Noem --Should note high up she waited till Cornyn/Tillis came out in favor to say she's a 'no' --Should note she's voted for nearly every Trump 2.0 nominee #MEpolitics

Collins Watch@collinswatch.bsky.social · 22h ago

Susan comes out against Todd Blanche now that he's got the votes. So tiresome. (We called it: tinyurl.com/3bepafkz) #MEpolitics

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 2d ago

Narrators voice: they were always desperate to get to yes. PS: I am sure there will be an op-ed from Tillis or Cornyn next year in the Post or the WSJ how they regretted their “Yes” vote on Blanche.

Matthew Gertz@mattgertz.bsky.social · 2d ago

You’d have to be a fool and/or desperate to get to yes to accept this, so it’ll probably be enough to get him confirmed. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...

Michael Sainato @msainato.bsky.social · 3d ago

Max Miller's behavior is no surprise From a 2021 profile in Politico about his anger issues and hatred toward women www.politico.com/news/magazin...

What is especially striking to many in these different sets of people from these different chapters of Miller’s life is not simply that he apparently hasn’t elementally changed. It’s that he is running for Congress—with the endorsement of Trump—with the past that he has. They marvel at the seeming expectation that either nobody was going to talk about any of this—or that it wouldn’t matter if they did.

“He would get in trouble and just—nothing ever seemed to happen,” said a Shaker Heights classmate and baseball teammate. “Because he is Max Miller,” said another classmate. “He gets out of stuff,” said a third classmate. “He’s rich, he’s well-connected, his family is well-connected. It’s not surprising to me that he doesn’t pay consequences for the things he does.”

Again, though, what is most vivid in the memories of those who knew him then is not his academic performance but the nature of his behavior—more than anything else, they said, the way he talked about girls, and to them, too.

“Broadcasting his sexual exploits, whether they were true or not,” Cohen told me. “Boys are gonna be boys who don’t really know what they’re doing,” he continued, “but he was always kind of the head of the conversation … trashing girls.”

“He could turn on the charm and be a very pleasant person. But writ large? Not a nice person.”

— female classmate
“He could turn on the charm and be a very pleasant person. But writ large? Not a nice person,” said a female classmate. “He felt very entitled to comment on people’s appearance,” she said. “Went out of his way to make negative comments,” she added. “Especially about girls, especially about their appearance”—especially, classmates said, about their weight, butts and breasts.

Michael Sainato@msainato.bsky.social · 3d ago

MAGA Miller, a nepo baby, won a congressional seat because the incumbent Republican voted to impeach Trump Trump White House press sec Steph Grisham also accused him of abuse, and now Miller is denying similar allegations from his ex-wife Emily Moreno www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 3d ago

I worked for New York’s largest medical center at the start of the pandemic. There were morgue trucks on the streets. They set up emergency medical tents in Central Park. Healthcare worker colleagues died. It is horrific that RFK Jr is on national TV lying that ICUs were empty.

Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com · 5d ago

“…an incompetent personal advisor…” The Tsar cannot be wrong. He can only be wronged.

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 4d ago

Should the congressman who is credibly accused of beating and throwing scalding water at your own daughter run for re-election? “I don’t know,” says GOP Senator Bernie Moreno www.notus.org/ohio/bernie-...

Sen. Bernie Moreno Doesn't 'Know' if Embattled Rep. Max Miller Should Stay on Ballot

The senator’s daughter accused Miller of domestic violence. Miller denies the allegations, but they’re making his reelection race tighter.

notus.org

Anil Kalhan @akalhan.bsky.social · last wk.

Some impressively obscene grifts here

Ivy+ University President Total Compensation FY 2025
Larry Jameson (UPenn)
$8,043,343
Ronald Daniels (Johns Hopkins)
$5,871,487
Daniel Diermeier (Vanderbilt)
$3,416,810
Vincent Price (Duke)
$2,206,978
Sally Kornbluth (MIT)
$2,151,788
Sian Beilock (Dartmouth)
$2,108,837
Paul Alivisatos (UChicago)
$2,082,741
Reginald DesRoches (Rice)
$2,074,566
Christina Paxson (Brown)
$1,953,784
Minouche Shafik (Columbia)
$1,826,091
Katrina Armstrong (Columbia)
$1,763,852
Christopher Eisgruber (Princeton)
$1,657,737
Alan Garber (Harvard)
$1,642,838
Jonathan Levin (Stanford)
$1,564,885
Michael Kotlikoff (Cornell)
$1,405,700
Maurie McInnis (Yale)
$890,194
Data from Northwestern and CalTech were not available for FY 2025 at the time of publication.
Chart: Seyun ParkSource: IRS Form 990 FilingsGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper

Duke’s Highest-Paid Employees and Officers, FY 2025
Base Compensation
Bonus and Incentive Compensation
Other Reportable Compensation
Retirement and Other Deferred Compensation
Nontaxable Benefits
Neal Triplett
$887.72K
$3.98M
$5.02M
Manuel Diaz
$4.12M
$4.29M
Jonathan Cook
$2.7M
$592.44K
$3.39M
Jennifer Francis
$2.5M
$2.99M
Jonathan Scheyer
$1.59M
$1.15M
$2.83M
Joseph Turek
$2.25M
$2.6M
Justin Nixon
$1.27M
$2.28M
Evan Jones
$1.27M
$2.27M
Vincent Price
$2.11M
$2.21M
Kavita Nayar
$1.03M
$1.9M
Mary Klotman
$1.15M
$1.58M
Daniel Ennis
$1.33M
$1.54M
Alec Gallimore
$1.04M
$1.22M
James Gibson
$675.49K
$1.06M
Gary Bennett
$706.88K
$799.5K
Pamela Bernard
$679.21K
$765.11K
Rachel Satterfield
$670.29K
$730.12K
Kim Taylor
$682.92K
Mohamed Noor
$611.7K
Margaret Epps
$498.82K
$580.01K
John Noonan
$571.75K
Chart: Seyun ParkSource: IRS Form 990Get the dataCreated with Datawrapper

Kelly Wooten@kwooten.bsky.social · last wk.

Great reporting from our student journalists at the Duke Chronicle on increases for the most highly paid Duke employees in the wake of unnecessary massive layoffs: www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke...

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d ago

I genuinely can't see what those warning of raising the "salience" of immigration would say in response to this problem I lay out here.

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d ago

This is the problem with the idea that Dems can't go on offense on immigration. It's not okay for Collins to have a clear field on TV to sell herself as a moderate on ICE. CNN has Trump 22 points underwater on this. Two other polls have Ds *tied with the GOP* on it! newrepublic.com/article/2138...

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 5d ago

To be making the argument in 2026 that immigration is a Republican leaning issue so Democrats shouldn’t campaign on it, and especially Trump’s overreach on deportations, is to be completely ignorant of the data and events of the last 18 months

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d ago

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 5d ago

Trump's latest disapproval ratings on immigration * 61% (CNN)+ * 57% (Quinnipiac)++ Anyone suggesting that Ds shouldn't be attacking Trump/Rs on immigration enforcement (ie re ICE) don't have D's best interests in mind. + www.documentcloud.org/documents/28... ++ poll.qu.edu/poll-release...

Screenshot of CNN July poll of Trump's Approve Disapprove

Voting rights and election integrity 41% 59%
Immigration 39% 61%
Management of the federal government 35% 65%
The economy 30% 70%
The situation in Iran 28% 72%
Inflation 25% 75%

Screenshot of Quinnipiac poll showing:

"immigration issues: 40 percent approve, while 57 percent disapprove;
trade: 37 percent approve, while 58 percent disapprove;
the economy: 34 percent approve, while 62 percent disapprove;
foreign policy: 34 percent approve, while 62 percent disapprove;
the situation with Iran: 28 percent approve, while 66 percent disapprove."

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d ago

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d ago

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 5d ago

when it comes down to it - @gavinnewsom.bsky.social bends the knee to big money and billionaires. This time he is bending the knee to billionaire monopolists - pushing for a media merger helping the right wing media project.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Encourages State AGs to Settle Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Lawsuit | Report

The Wall Street Journal reports California's governor is concerned employment in the state could suffer if the $110 billion deal is blocked

thewrap.com

Emily Guskin @emgusk.bsky.social · 5d ago

On Monday evening, Haitian workers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport burst into tears as they were asked to turn in their badges. Marlene, 47, a single mother who has worked as an airport janitor for 12 years, said she has been sick to her stomach.

Airports, nursing homes and schools brace for disruption without Haitian workers

The Trump administration and courts are at odds over whether about 350,000 Haitians have officially lost humanitarian protections, but employers are already letting workers go.

washingtonpost.com

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 5d ago

Remember that Musk's support backfired in WI in 2025. Since then we've seen the OUTCOMES of DOGE, and it'll be fairly easy to show specific outcomes.

Joe Sudbay@joesudbay.bsky.social · 5d ago

Via @pressherald.com (gift link) Elon Musk planning to throw financial support behind Susan Collins’ U.S. Senate bid Collins "had friendly meetings with Musk in the past while also saying last year she was “very concerned” about some of DOGE’s moves" www.pressherald.com?p=7697086&uu...

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 5d ago

We’re starving millions of Americans so musk and bezos can get tax cuts and trump can collect bribes www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

The Coming Food-Stamp Crisis

A looming deadline may force some states to end SNAP next year.

theatlantic.com

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 5d ago

So CBS and others invested in a pro trump audience that won’t arrive, alienating their actual audience, and trump propagandists are losing audience bc people are souring on Trump. Also helps explain the increased racist shrieking as they try to farm engagement www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/u...

How the Pro-Trump Media Ecosystem Is Splintering Ahead of the Midterms

Once united in support of President Trump, right-wing influencers are embroiled in feuds and losing viewers, creating a problem for Republicans in the midterm elections.

nytimes.com

Poll Tracker 📊@polltracker.bsky.social · 6d ago

Texas Senate Race (Fox News): Talarico (D) 51% Paxton (R) 48% July 23-27, 2026 www.foxnews.com/official-polls

Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 6d ago

Goodbye, Minneapolis, Chicago. Hello, Mt. Holly Springs, Pa., pop. 2,300 The inhumanity of mass deportation hits small-town America as a tiny borough with just 4 cops partners with ICE and pulls over dozens of drivers, turning over 32 for deportation My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/moun...

This quaint Pa. borough is a ‘speed trap’ nabbing immigrants for ICE | Will Bunch

Police in Mount Holly Springs, a tiny borough in central Pennsylvania, have turned over 32 immigrants to ICE since March.

inquirer.com

Sharon 🪳🌹@sharonk.bsky.social · 7d ago

circling back to this in 2026

Sharon 🪳🌹@sharonk.bsky.social · 2y ago

will place $100 dollars that this line from Moyn's latest will age like milk in 4 years (so, we can call it by the next Presidential election)

He isn’t a fascist. Benito Mussolini and especially Adolf Hitler dreamed the dream of building empire as latecomers to the competitive scramble. Trump, by contrast, is obsessed by the decline of a once great imperial power, and dreams of rebuilding it. Another analogy for Trump’s America making the rounds is Vichy France, with its compliant elites. But it is even more far-fetched than the other comparisons. Before the second world war, France had a big empire, but its second world war experience – set off by an invasion and loss of a third of its metropolitan territory, after nerve-racking years of fears of internal decline – bears no resemblance to Trump’s current obsession with how America’s ascendancy and standing on the world stage have been undone over decades.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 6d ago

Trump absolutely cratering by many metrics in new CNN poll: 66% say he puts himself over country 61% disapprove of ballroom, arch, etc 57% say lacks sharpness to serve (!) 73% say he's out of touch w/regular people (!!) His personalist project is over. New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2137...

We’ve Officially Entered the Twilight of Late-Stage Trumpism

It’s all there in a new CNN poll, and it’s heartening to see: Large majorities are sick of Donald Trump’s vanity, venality, and megalomania.

newrepublic.com

Los Angeles Times @latimes.com · 6d ago

A trove of Los Angeles Police Department records that were once regularly posted online on a city data portal are suddenly nowhere to be found, a UCLA professor reported https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-07-29/lapd-public-records-website?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky_

The LAPD has quietly stopped putting many public records online

According to a UCLA professor, public records related to the police department began disappearing from a Los Angeles city website last April, turning the LAPD into a “black hole of information.”

latimes.com

Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 6d ago

Trump kicked millions off health insurance while failing to check inflation & hiking gas prices so uninsured forego care or end up in ERs racking up unpaid bills & hospital profits fall & they raise rates on the insured & insurers hike premiums - a hell spiral. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/b...

After Obamacare Cuts, Hospitals Are Treating More Uninsured Patients

More people who lost coverage after congressional Republicans ended enhanced federal subsidies are now seeking care in emergency rooms and unable to pay bills.

nytimes.com

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · last wk.

NEW — Jamie Raskin, top Democrat on House Judiciary, joins rising calls: “These are profoundly disturbing allegations from Congressman Miller’s ex-wife and another knowledgeable woman speaking from personal experience. If proven true, he should resign immediately from Congress or be expelled."

First Draft: Why Is This Alleged Abuser Still in Congress?

Republican Max Miller, a top Trump ally, faces horrific allegations of domestic abuse and yet no condemnation from his GOP colleagues. Plus, Trump asks his pals on the Supreme Court for another favor.

zeteo.com

Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 7d ago

While Sen Moreno used F-word against Dr. Fauci he's silent on this abuse of his DAUGHTER by Rep. Miller (R-OH): -scalded her with hot water -held a gun to her head -pushed against wall, hitting her head -fractured daughter’s collarbone. She said "Daddy kill you” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/u...

Domestic Abuse Allegations Rock Max Miller’s Ohio House Race

Representative Max Miller, a Republican, is facing accusations of abuse from his ex-wife in a bitter family feud that might put his otherwise safe seat in play.

nytimes.com

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Moreno to Fauci: "Who the fuck did you think you were?"

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · last wk.

The Supreme Court invited exactly this when it held that the president's attempt to conduct "sham" "investigations" was a core executive power immune from all regulation, including criminal prosecution, in Trump v. United States.

Deborah Pearlstein@debpearlstein.bsky.social · last wk.

"Secret Service agents who questioned the former FBI director James B. Comey were told to send details of the interview to Air Force One so President Trump could review them....One government document said that 'POTUS was requesting a copy of the interview notes to use in his 6pm press conference.'"