With Trump planning to bomb Iran's bridges and power plants, it seems that infrastructure week is finally here.

219. Drunks, Lampposts, and the Birthright Citizenship Case Efforts to backfill academic support for the birthright citizenship executive order wouldn't have been possible without a Court open to such "scholarship."

"Academic freedom protects scholars’ right to challenge the orthodoxy; it doesn’t insulate them from charges of bad faith in doing so. But the problem here is one of both supply *and* demand. And ... #SCOTUS bears at least some responsibility for the latter."

Me in today's issue of "One First":

And it was inspiring to hear from the teacher whose apartment was on the same floor as the press conference!
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California teachers need one thing urgently. Oakland nonprofit offers solution An Oakland nonprofit is buying an apartment building to rent to teachers — for below-market rates.

Congrats to Kyra Mungia on creating a whole new model to provide more affordable housing for teachers in Oakland!

It was a big sign of how important this is that most major local electeds showed up to appreciate her work at today’s presser on Claremont Ave.
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www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

SF Chinatown Banquet to raise funds for Jane Kim for Calif Insurance Commissioner - don’t sleep on this race, it may be as impactful to your finances as the Gov’s race!

…dating back to 1986 in the original sanctuary movement for Central American refugees, it is not as strong as SF’s which has already been tested by lawsuits from Trump 1.0, according to FIAEB expert James Wood (affectionately known as Jaime Madera to his compañeros from St Jarlath Church!).
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CMs Unger, Gallo and Wang committed to passing a stronger sanctuary ordinance at last night’s Faith in Action East Bay action at St Patrick’s church in West Oakland with hundreds of attendees from across Oakland.

While our town has a venerable sanctuary ordinance…
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…runs out of unrestricted
$$$.

Is there a scenario where the state approves enough money in the June budget to forestall this? If not, what will happen in the lead up to bankruptcy next fall?

And, can the Board approve this latest contract when the math is not mathing?
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Given this Wednesday’s Second Interim Report, which shows that OUSD’s new fiscal team acknowledges the district doesn’t have the budget or reserves to afford the raises the Board just signed off on last week, there will likely be some tough questions about what will happen next year when OUSD…
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An OUSD parent asked me to help spread the word about the forum they are organizing with Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro (who will be re-elected to another 4 years on June 2 since she is running unopposed—it’s a tough job!). It will be at Life Academy next Monday, March 16 at 6 pm.
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I'm so grateful to Ethan Ashley, Executive Director of School Board Partners and a former Board trustee from New Orleans, for co-organizing the event and for supporting me to moderate it.

Finally, thanks to Los Yaquis for catering delicious Mexican food! Let’s do it again next year!!
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…examples of using their power in the Board room to make equity-focused impacts that shift culture and counter MAGA influence at the school site level. @casuperintendent.bsky.social Tony Thurmond also stopped by to give some words of inspiration.
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…, this side event across the street was designed as a networking event for potential candidates and recently elected board trustees.

Dr. Jag Lathan from Antioch, Trustee Chinua Rhodes from Sac City Schools, Valerie Magdaleno from Santa Ana and Dr. Theresa Montaño from LA County gave concrete…
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Our panel on School Boards and the Fight for Democracy brought a much-needed spotlight on the important work of local elected officials in this moment of growing autocracy.
While the California Democratic Convention focused on statewide candidates and established party figures,…
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…the Working Families Party has become a force to be reckoned with in the Calif Dem Party, and with the wildfire disasters, many think the Insurance Commissioner is second in importance only to Gov and AG among the statewide offices, in terms of the impact it can have on ordinary Californians!
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Jane only declared a few weeks ago but her style of methodical organizing that helped her win California for Bernie in 2020 paid off, as she achieved a virtual tie of about 40% each with the establishment candidate.

Thanks to Jane’s leadership,…
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I had a great time “whipping” delegate endorsement votes for the dynamic and whip-smart Jane Kim for Insurance Commissioner at the state party convention this weekend (including the vote of Alameda County Dem Central Committee Vice Chair and ACOE Board Trustee Aisha Knowles pictured here!).
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*Feb 25

There are SO MANY statewide candidates & the California Democratic Convention is in 9 days! At the Children's Caucus we’re kicking it off with a zoom meeting on Monday at 7:00 pm with a substantive discussion on curriculum, including an expert on Ethnic Studies. Please join us!
tinyurl.com/SFCademCC

…2020 under Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell. Glad the district is finally keeping its promises at Roosevelt, Garfield, CCPA and McClymonds, even if very very late, and glad that I did my part to see that would happen on the Board, as Facilities Chair in 2023 and then President in 2024.
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…the quality facilities our students deserve.

This project is way overdue-- OUSD was promising neighbors it would happen when I was doorknocking for Measure J in 2012, but due to misallocation of funds by Supt Antwan Wilson the project didn't get back on track until after Measure Y passed in…
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Pile drivers have pushed 73 'micro-piles' that go down into the ground 70+ feet, but that's the overengineering required by the Dept. of State Architects for seismic safety. High environmental standards, union labor & local contracting requirements also increase the price & it's worth it to get…
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Roosevelt Middle School is finally getting its $90M total makeover, including new plumbing, electrical, floors, HVAC (electric heat pumps that can both cool and heat, no more gas!), roofing, and most importantly seismic. Photos are from the Bond Oversight Committee site visit last Friday.
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School Boards & the Fight for Our Democracy Friday, February 20th 4:00-5:30pm Elan Event Venue 839 Howard St, San Francisco, CA Let us know if you'll be attending!

This is a side event to the California Democratic Convention in SF beginning right after this panel. Some of the panel members are new and experienced board trustees from Santa Ana, Sacramento, and Antioch. Please reach out if you have any questions! Register at: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
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A panel I’m coorganizing on how to run for school board, and the powerful impact School Board Trustees can have in this political moment to help defend democracy. Great for parent or educator activists considering running for public office!
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Eleni is endorsed by CTA, AFT, Teamsters, Unite Here, Gavin Newsom, Malia Cohen, Lateefah Simon, and Aisha Wahab, among others. At the Calif Dem Party convention in SF in two weeks, thousands of delegates like me will vote on whether to give her the official party endorsement or not.
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Lt Gov Eleni Kounalakis is running for state Treasurer and held a meet and greet at Lucy Blue in uptown Oakland last night, hosted by BART director Victor Flores and his wife Megan Imperial (always a cute and charming couple!).
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"On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.”1 More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington’s vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take. [screenshot of tweet].

So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word) “damn” countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary Noem announced she would terminate Haiti’s TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination). Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.” They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer’s disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) ¶ 1; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, id. ¶ 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, id. ¶ 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. ¶ 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. ¶ 5. They claim that Secretary Noem’s decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law. Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary’s decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI. Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely. Secretary Noem

has terminated every TPS country designation to have reached her desk—twelve countries up, twelve countries down. See Section IV.A.2. Her conclusion that Haiti (a majority nonwhite country) faces merely “concerning” conditions cannot be squared with the “perfect storm of suffering” and “staggering” “humanitarian toll” described in page-after-page of the Certified Administrative Record (CAR). See Section IV.A.3.a. She ignored Congress’s requirement that she “review the conditions” in Haiti only “after” consulting “with appropriate agencies.” 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3)(A); see Section IV.A.1. Indeed, she did not consult other agencies at all. See id. Her “national interest” analysis focuses on Haitians outside the United States or here illegally, ignoring that Haitian TPS holders already live here, and legally so. See Section IV.A.3.b. And though she states that the analysis must include “economic considerations,” she ignores altogether the billions Haitian TPS holders contribute to the economy. See id. The Government’s primary response is that the TPS statute gives the Secretary unbounded discretion to make whatever determination she wants, any way she wants. And, yes, the statute does grant her some discretion. But not unbounded discretion. To the contrary, Congress passed the TPS statute to standardize the then ad hoc temporary protection system—to replace executive whim with statutory predictability. See Section I.A. As to irreparable harm, the Government contends that, at most, the harms to Haitian TPS holders are speculative. But the Department of State (State) warns [screenshot]

Dkt. 100 (§ 705 Reply) at 20–21.4 “Do not travel to Haiti for any reason” does not exactly scream, as Secretary Noem concluded, suitable for return. And so, the Government studiously does not argue that Plaintiffs will suffer no harm if removed to Haiti. Instead, it argues Plaintiffs will not certainly suffer irreparable harm because DHS might not remove them. But this fails to take Secretary Noem at her word: “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.” See Section IV.B.2.b. Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things—in the public interest is not one of them. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.

Even if you don't have time to read all 83 pages of Judge Reyes's opinion barring the Trump administration from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for 350,000+ Haitians, please at least check out the four-page introduction.

It's a tour de force:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Across the country, housing and childcare affordability, along with healthcare and ICE response, have been winning issues for Democrats.

I was glad to join the celebration with her while the school board meeting raged on a couple of miles away!
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…they come here, including making county buildings off limits.

Progressive allocation of $1B in Measure W funds for housing and homelessness relief, including giving Oakland its fair share.

Five year plan for $1B in Measure C funds that supports childcare providers to fully expand pre-K care.
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