It is objectively bad for democracy that both blue and red states are doing extreme gerrymanders.
But the only feasible solution — a national ban on partisan gerrymandering — has only been endorsed by one party. And it's not the one complaining about Virginia right now.
PA Commonwealth Court: reproductive autonomy is a fundamental right under the Pennsylvania Constitution, embedded within the right to privacy and other recognized rights, even if those currently interpreting the U.S. Constitution disagree.
www.pacourts.us/assets/opini...
The rise of the shadow docket in 2016 was followed in 2017 by another procedural trick from the Roberts Court, known as "Munsingwear vacatur," which they weaponized to wipe out progressive precedent without having to explain why. Profs. Lisa Tucker (my wife) and Michael Risch (he's not) explain. 1/2
Pitching and batting here, not so much calling balls and strikes
WOW: Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak have the memos that describe the origins of SCOTUS shadow docket - the 2016 order halting Obama’s Clean Power Plan @jodikantor.bsky.social @adamliptak.bsky.social @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...
Over just five days, the justices had decided the issue. Even as they debated the Obama plan’s possible burden on the power industry, in the entire chain of correspondence obtained by The Times, not a single justice, conservative or liberal, mentioned the dangers of a warming planet as one of the possible harms the court should consider.
Another data point in “originalism is a fraud.” So much for the law is the law we can’t think about the impact. They rail against “results oriented judging” in public but when their corporate clients make requests they know exactly what to do. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...
This is both
(1) some of the most important SCOTUS reporting ever, and
(2) far too generous to the Republican justices in framing of many pieces and omissions of Trump-era developments
Ironically, Elon Musk may have handed Democrats the WI Supreme Court for a generation. LOL
Judge Chris Taylor just won a seat on the WI Supreme Court. She's a former movement lawyer who spent a good part of her career fighting for abortion rights. Dems now hold a 5-2 majority on that court. Democracy prevailed tonight! This is a good sign for November.
If you're betting the stock market, at this point you should understand that you should bet the opposite of what early leaks say Trump is going to say/do. Those leaks are clearly trying to manipulate the market to benefit insiders who know that he will eventually do the opposite.
I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.
This right here is what fascism looks like.
"because of the fact that I'm President of the United States"
Everyone in America needs to know John Roberts is responsible for this. ↘️
Documents filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY exposing how ICE has been lying for a year — not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors — about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts.
Documents filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY exposing how ICE has been lying for a year — not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors — about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts.
According to documents filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, ICE has been lying for a year — not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors — about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts. (1/2)
November is still a long way out, but Trump's average approval (40) / disapproval (56) ratings just hit the same numbers as Biden's in early November 2024 when Republicans swept.
During her short career, Trump loyalist Katie Lane has demonstrated a disturbing commitment to undermining basic rights in the pursuit of far-right ideology. She is #UnfitandUnqualified for a lifetime judicial appointment to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. She must be rejected!
THREAD: Cherise Doyley was in her 12th hour of contractions at the hospital when a tablet was brought to her bedside.
On the screen was a Zoom call with a judge and several lawyers and doctors.
She was in court, a nurse told her. The reason? For failing to agree to a C-section.
I thought UVA is supposed to be a decent law school with a modicum of self respect and intellectual integrity.
What in the world is happening here - honoring the Republican operative who made Trump king? #scotus
Story on Kara Westercamp's Twitter timeline, which also includes some weird COVID-19 stuff and a Jim Halpert meme about Critical Race Theory, is here:
Great story breaking news on what should be career ending tweets that were suspiciously deleted by another T2 judicial nominee. These noms are just so damn terrible.
I made the mistake of listening to Wurman massacring English history before the United States Senate during lunch. It is a damn good thing for him that offering historical fiction as truth is not a form of perjury. I wish, for his sake, I could call it simple incompetence. It’s all so intentional.
A conservative lawyer helping coordinate a Trump takeover of federal elections is pushing for the president to sign an emergency executive order that would grant him such powers.
And he’s weaponizing a bizarre 2020 conspiracy theory involving Michigan voting machines to justify the scheme.
You’ve gotta just appreciate the hutzpah of the liberal paper of record calling Republican electioneering a “sly” political maneuver. JFC. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/u...
If nothing else, they’re consistently monstrous.
I mean, they don’t give a shit if our own children are gunned down in schools, so why should we be surprised that they don’t care that other children are blown up in schools?
Not only that … correcting racial imbalance with a state law under state Constitutional power is racism and can be overturned by the federal government exercising its power. Wowzers.
