Jess Bravin
@jessbravin.bsky.social
Senior special writer, The Wall Street Journal (on leave). Visiting Lecturer, UC Davis School of Law. Author, "The Terror Courts"; "Squeaky." Founder: Raymond Chandler Square, L.A. City Historic-Cultural Monument No. 597.
Among his other distinctions, the late Barney Frank took a lonely stance against fellow lawmakers' practice of creating inane titles for legislation so as to backfill memorable acronyms. "It's an abuse of the English language," he told @WSJ in 2011. www.wsj.com/articles/SB1...
Congress Finds, in Passing Bills, Names Can Never Hurt You
In recent years, acronym addicts on Capitol Hill have created a Scrabble board of legislative titles, including PATRIOT, HAPPY and DREAM.
wsj.com
In 2024. Sadie Gurman and I wrote about the rise of political violence in America. Last night she was in the ballroom when shots rang out. www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
Essay | American Politics Takes a Violent Turn
A second assassination attempt against Trump is part of a rising tide of threats and harassment against public officials across the political spectrum
wsj.com
As a @berkeleylaw student, I cross-registered to take Peter Schrag's seminar, "Initiative and Referendum," at @GoldmanSchool. Profound, illuminating and idealistic beneath his cynical mien, Schrag was as great a teacher as he was a journalist. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/b...
Peter Schrag Dies at 94; Wrote of Dangers of California’s Populist Streak
nytimes.com
FOIA request filed Feb. 27, 2006. Response sent March 24, 2026.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was instrumental in persuading President Trump to commute ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s sentence for various political corruption convictions www.wsj.com/articles/cle...
WSJ News Exclusive | Clemency for Rod Blagojevich Came After Long Campaign Tailored to Trump
Rod Blagojevich’s release from federal prison last week culminated a nearly two-year campaign to put the once-prominent Democrat’s case on President Trump’s agenda, orchestrated by a volunteer adviser...
wsj.com
For @washingtonpost.com proprietor Jeff Bezos, perspective from Charles Foster Kane: youtu.be/tzhb3U2cONs?...
Citizen Kane - How to Run a Newspaper
YouTube video by William Canfield
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David Folkenflik@davidfolkenflik.bsky.social · 6mo agoFriends: I'll join NPR's Morning Edition at 7.45 PT/ 10.45 ET to talk about the profound cuts at the Washington Post: Tune in stream kcrw.org, scpr.org or any other fine NPR west coast station My story: Bezos orders layoffs at 'Washington Post' www.npr.org/2026/02/04/n...
Long overdue recognition for John Carpenter's "The Thing."
Library of Congress@librarycongress.bsky.social · 6mo agoNEWS: The Library of Congress has selected 25 films for the National Film Registry due to their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage. Highlights in this thread. 🧵 blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/01/... #NatFilmRegistry
Kristen Waggoner, conservative Christian legal crusader, aims to anchor Trump-era gains in constitutional bedrock www.wsj.com/us-news/law/... w/Maggie Severns
Kristen Waggoner’s Legal Crusade for Conservative Christian Values
Kristen Waggoner’s Legal Crusade for Conservative Christian Values
wsj.com
A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed President Trump to continue deploying National Guard units on the streets of Washington, D.C., at least temporarily www.wsj.com/politics/pol... via @WSJ
Appeals Court Allows Trump’s National Guard Deployment in D.C.
The city argued that the president violated home-rule laws by sending the military onto the capital’s streets.
wsj.com
The Wall Street Journal published a Page One story on the inmates' treatment Oct. 10: www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
Biden Spared 37 Killers From Execution. Trump Ordered Up a Lifetime of Torment.
Even America’s harshest federal prison, where inmates spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, was too good, one official said. “I’ve got no problem with gruel.”
wsj.com
Lauren Gill@laurengill.bsky.social · 8mo agoAfter Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men on federal death row last year, the Trump administration is retaliating by sending them to the supermax. Prisoners are locked in cells smaller than a parking space 22-24 hours a day. One prisoner told me he fears he won't make it out alive. My latest:
In 2018, we flagged Humphrey's Executor as a restraint on presidential power SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh was determined to overrule. He gets his chance today, when the Court hears Trump v. Slaughter www.wsj.com/articles/the...
The Case That Shaped Brett Kavanaugh’s Thinking on Presidential Power
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has repeatedly cited a 1935 case, in which the court rejected President Roosevelt’s bid to fire an appointee of President Hoover, as a misguided dilution of the p...
wsj.com
A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Trump’s mobilization of the National Guard to bolster crime-fighting in Washington violates several laws www.wsj.com/us-news/law/... via @wsj.com
Judge Rules National Guard Deployment in Washington, D.C., Was Unlawful
The order, which was put on hold until Dec. 11, is a setback to the president’s effort to use the guard in the nation’s capital.
wsj.com
Justice Gorsuch to co-author children’s book about the Declaration of Independence www.kcra.com/article/gors...
Justice Gorsuch to co-author children’s book about the Declaration of Independence
Justice Neil Gorsuch said Thursday he will co-author a children’s book next year focused on the Declaration of Independence, a departure from the headier book the conservative jurist authored last yea...
kcra.com
"A very cautious man": Chief Justice Roberts faces a defining challenge from as he enters his third decade leading the Supreme Court www.wsj.com/politics/pol... via @wsj.com
Chief Justice Roberts Faces Career-Defining Decision on Trump
The Supreme Court’s tariff case comes as the chief justice is under pressure from the president, the public and other judges.
wsj.com
President Trump’s global tariffs ran headlong into a skeptical Supreme Court on Wednesday www.wsj.com/politics/pol... w/@GavinBade
Trump’s Tough Day at Supreme Court Puts Tariffs in Jeopardy
The prospect of a loss by the administration raises questions about the president’s alternatives—and what happens to money that has already been collected.
wsj.com
Tariffs at SCOTUS: Trump’s Position Appears to Be on the Ropes www.wsj.com/livecoverage... via @wsj
Trump’s Position Appears to Be on the Ropes
President Trump’s case for tariffs looked in trouble after the first hour of argument, after justices across the ideological spectrum expressed skepticism, if not incredulity, of his claim that a 1977...
wsj.com
The 50-Year-Old Ruling That Could Matter for the Tariffs Case www.wsj.com/livecoverage... Follow Our Live Team Coverage:
The 50-Year-Old Ruling That Could Matter for the Tariffs Case
There are no prior court decisions addressing whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or Ieepa, the 1977 law Trump invoked, gives the president unilateral power to impose tariffs. The...
wsj.com
A federal appeals court will allow President Trump to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Ore., despite objections from state and local officials www.wsj.com/politics/pol... via @wsj.com
Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to Deploy National Guard in Portland
The decision lifts a temporary order that had stopped the dispatch of state Guard members to the Oregon city in response to protests.
wsj.com
Following @princeton.edu, @georgetownuni.bsky.social selects a former law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens as its president. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
“I’ve got no problem with gruel.” Under orders from Trump, officials seek to make the life sentences of 37 convicted killers more like a living hell. The men were spared the death penalty by Biden. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
Biden Spared 37 Killers From Execution. Trump Ordered Up a Lifetime of Torment.
Even America’s harshest federal prison, where inmates spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, was too good, one official said. “I’ve got no problem with gruel.”
wsj.com
War Resister: @WSJ Stylebook conscientiously objects to bellicose rebranding of DoD. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Vol. 38, No. 8: Department of War
In the latest Wall Street Journal stylebook bulletin, a note on the revival of an old name for what is still officially the Defense Department.
wsj.com
Illinois officials sued to stop Trump from deploying National Guard forces to Chicago wsj.com/us-news/illi... w/@McCormickJohn @victoria_alb3
Illinois Sues to Block Trump’s National Guard Deployment
The lawsuit, filed by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, comes as the administration’s confrontation with Democratic-led states escalated nationwide.
wsj.com
Mendocino journalist @mattlafever.bsky.social draws on my first book, SQUEAKY, to reconstruct the Manson Family's failed plot to expand to Northern California. www.sfgate.com/northcoast/a... @sfgate.com
Manson Family's plot to expand to Northern Calif. may have ended in murder
Northern California's fog and forests still carry Manson's shadow.
sfgate.com
LISTEN: Are Trump’s Lethal Attacks on Drug Boats Legal? I join Vera Bergengruen and host Caitlin McCabe WSJ's What's News podcast to discuss the president's militarization of a criminal law problem. www.wsj.com/podcasts/wha...
Are Trump’s Lethal Attacks on Drug Boats Legal? - What’s News - WSJ Podcasts
In the past month, the Trump administration has ordered a trio of military attacks against boats suspected to be transporting drugs from South America to the U.S. However, little information has been ...
wsj.com
Comey Case Explained: The Trump administration charged the former FBI director with making a false statement and obstruction when he testified in 2020 about testimony he gave in 2017 regarding a @WSJ story published in October 2016. A closer look: www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
What to Know About the Criminal Case Against James Comey
Prosecutors allege the former FBI director lied to Congress, but legal experts say there are significant hurdles to overcome.
wsj.com
Farewell to a great writer and even better human being whose columns helped so many.
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 11mo agoJonathan Clements, a longtime WSJ columnist who penned more than 1,000 personal-finance columns and was a favorite of readers, has died. He was 62. 🔗: on.wsj.com/4mzzDy1
Disarray continues at the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission @America250, which fired its exec director, a 25-year-old ex-Fox News producer the White House had recommended, for a slew of alleged improper actions www.wsj.com/politics/pol... w/@meridithmcgraw
Exclusive | Group Organizing America’s 250th Birthday Fires Executive Director
A bipartisan commission terminated Ariel Abergel after an Instagram post related to Charlie Kirk, he said.
wsj.com