Sheldon Snook
@sheldonsnook.bsky.social
18 years in the federal judiciary; 5 at One First Street NE.
Great piece.
Rachel Shelden@rachelshelden.bsky.social · last mo.In honor of the last regular decision day of this appalling #SCOTUS term, @talkingpointsmemo.com has an adapted excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Political Supreme Court. Put it in your pocket for the next time someone tells you the justices are apolitical or calling balls & strikes.
At this point the justices should acknowledge they are unavoidably engaged in high politics. But politics, nonetheless.
Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · last mo.5-4 instead of 9-0. Just a completely illegitimate institution at this point.
Interesting piece about protecting Supreme Court justices at a time of increasing threats. Not helpful when the President fans the flames.
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · last mo.NEW in @politico.com Magazine: It's often said that the Supreme Court lacks its own army. Well, that may be changing. The force protecting #SCOTUS is mushrooming. Now, some in Congress are demanding justices testify-for 1st time in 7 years-on where the $ goes www.politico.com/news/magazin...
The argument contra is that cameras would diminish the quality of oral arguments, but transparency, public interest, and a historic video record outweigh that concern. Live-streaming is going to happen eventually.
Fix the Court@fixthecourt.com · 2mo agoBIG NEWS: Senate Judiciary today advanced bills that would: — Require #SCOTUS videostream oral args + opinion announcements (Cameras in the Ctrm) — Permit district & appeals courts to videostream proceedings (Sunshine in the Ctrm) Both passed by voice vote; will add text once Congress.gov is fixed.
Time and time again, district judges are making hard decisions to preserve our democracy in the face of intimidation and threats to their safety. I expect history will judge them favorably for their courage and fidelity to the Constitution.
Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News@froomkin.bsky.social · 2mo agoAs I wrote several months ago…https://www.headsupnews.org/p/lets-hear-it-for-the-district-court
www.thecrimson.com/article/2026... Judges hiring law clerks based on “ideological adherence” is a bad look for the federal judiciary. Judges are supposed to be neutral arbiters of fact and law. Hiring based on ideology, particularly at the Supreme Court, weakens the courts’ legitimacy.
Conservative Judges’ Early Hiring Fuels Two-Track Clerkship System at Harvard Law | News | The Harvard Crimson
Federal judges — particularly those aligned with the conservative legal movement — are increasingly recruiting Harvard Law School students during their first year, accelerating a clerkship hiring proc...
thecrimson.com
State bars ensure that lawyers, including at DOJ, are subject to independent oversight. In Justice Connection’s Substack, advisory committee members Jennifer Ricketts & Rupa Bhattacharyya explain why DOJ’s absurd proposed rule undermines accountability. justiceconnection.substack.com/p/dojs-propo...
The Trump Administration Floats a New Way to Humiliate the Legal Profession www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/o...
Opinion | The Trump Administration Floats a New Way to Humiliate the Legal Profession
nytimes.com
Are we a Christian nation? Pew Religious Landscape Study: The share of Americans who say they have no religion – identifying, instead, as atheist, agnostic or as “nothing in particular” – stands at 29% in the new RLS, up from 23% in 2014 and 16% in 2007.
Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · 5mo agoWhat does this imply for those of us who are not Christian, and who labor under the assumption that we're protected by the First Amendment?
Studies of Rupert Murdoch TV consistently show it is a stream of faked videos and montages that have nothing to do with the news they are reporting. This is where news ends and political propaganda begins.
Sadly, this article from 2024 resonates again. Notable that the president whose actions set off the protests resigned in disgrace a few years later due to an unrelated scandal….
Watching what’s happening in South Korea brought back sad memories of the Kent State shootings (when I was 12 years old). The parallels to what’s happening today in America make me worry about the dangers protestors could face under a Trump regime. Read: www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
As someone who worked in the Federal judiciary for nearly two decades, including five years at the Supreme Court, it pains me to see half of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Court. But kudos to the lower court judges who are standing up to authoritarianism.
Greg Greene (he/him/his)@greene.haus · 11mo agoY'know, when six justices moved on from adjudication to refashion themselves as a super-legislature — rewriting laws and the Constitution itself — they may have doomed themselves to public popularity and trust as abysmal as our legislature typically enjoys.
Illinois’ accountability commission is a great start. ilac.illinois.gov
Illinois Accountability Commission
The purpose of the Commission, housed within the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), will create a public record of the conduct of federal agents during “Operation Midway Blitz” and the Trump ...
ilac.illinois.gov
John Pfaff@johnpfaff.bsky.social · 9mo agoThere had better be trials. And not just for the low-level thugs carrying out these orders, but for everyone up the chain of command. If we get past this, the solution isn’t to pretend it never happened and invite Stephen Miller to Harvard’s Institute of Politics. It’s trials w real punishments.
Letting the president fire officials “for reasons good or bad,” would grant him “an enormous amount of power — more power, I think, than any sensible person should want anyone to have, and more power than any member of the founding generation could have anticipated.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/u...
Originalist ‘Bombshell’ Complicates Case on Trump’s Power to Fire Officials
nytimes.com
Listen now! This Monday, ICAP Executive Director Mary McCord delivered the keynote address at Stockton University's 19th Annual Constitution Day with a focus on rule of law and where it stands in the current political landscape. Listen to Mary's full address here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmYR...
Constitution Day 2025 with Mary McCord
YouTube video by Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton Univ.
youtube.com
DHS head feeling threatened because someone didn’t identify themselves!!
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.Norm refers to Padilla as “this man” and claims he didn’t identify himself
Attorney discipline, an underrated guardrail.
Brendan Ballou@brendanballou.bsky.social · last yr.This week, we filed a bar complaint against interim DC US Attorney Ed Martin. Martin has threatened investigations against political enemies and given legal advice to at least one January 6 defendant. These actions violate his professional obligations as a lawyer. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/04/...
The case for Democrats to start holding televised, primetime opposition hearings featuring civil servants fired by Trump & Musk, Americans hurt by baseless cuts, and scholars on authoritarian regimes. quartzevelyn.substack.com/p/the-urgent...
The Urgent Need for Televised Opposition Hearings
Unmasking Trumpism
quartzevelyn.substack.com
Having served with many career federal employees, I can comfortably state with conviction that these dedicated, non-partisan public servants are the essential backbone of our society. What Trump is doing is a gift to our adversaries and catastrophic to a functioning government.
The Washpost, which is bleeding millions of dollars and shrinking its staff, accepted -- and then rejected -- a $115,000 ad that criticized Elon Musk. Anyway, here's the ad that the Post's business side didn't want its readers to see ⤵️ thehill.com/media/514849...
New! ICAP's fact sheet explains what federal immigration cooperation the law requires of state and local governments. Read the full fact sheet here: tinyurl.com/4ymhxj82
tinyurl.com
Filed in America’s commercial capital, Sherman, Texas, of all places, a court with only two judges. I wonder why? www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Texas judge blocks anti-money laundering law's enforcement nationwide
A federal judge in Texas has issued a nationwide injunction blocking the enforcement of an anti-money laundering law that requires corporate entities to disclose to the U.S. Treasury Department the identities of their real beneficial owners.
reuters.com
Watching what’s happening in South Korea brought back sad memories of the Kent State shootings (when I was 12 years old). The parallels to what’s happening today in America make me worry about the dangers protestors could face under a Trump regime. Read: www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
Kent State shootings: The 1970 student protests that shook the US
Fifty-four years ago, four students were shot by the National Guard during an anti-Vietnam War protest at Kent State university in Ohio – a tragedy that still resonates today.
bbc.com
Will the GOP position be the same when liberal activists judge-shop to block Trump actions?
Jacqueline Thomsen@jacqthomsen.bsky.social · 2y agoScoop: The federal judiciary has said it won't pursue future action against "judge shopping," after a policy against the tactic faced backlash from Republican lawmakers. w/ @suzannemonyak.bsky.social news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
