New Mexico's entire CJA panel told Chief Judge Gonzales they're refusing to take cases until they are fully funded. That means everyone: defense attorneys, experts, investigators, social workers, and paralegals
The CJA panel is equivalent to contract public defenders in State systems
👀 @nacdl.org
Jury denies federal prosecutor's charge of assault with a deli weapon ⚖️
www.courthousenews.com/jury-finds-d...
Speaker Johnson defends fed agents' targeting of clergy & peaceful protesters. Contrary to the videotape, he accuses demonstrators of assaulting ICE officers -- some of whom were standing on a rooftop as they fired projectiles at the face of a clergy member. courthousenews.com/johnson-doub...
The latest episode of my podcast Collateral Damage is now live. It looks at the beautiful life and outrageous death of Peter McWilliams.
A quick 🧵.
theintercept.com/2025/10/29/c...
I should note: by my count, this makes at least four clergy members *that I know of* who have been shot with pepper balls or rubber bullets fired by ICE/DHS agents in recent weeks — two Presbyterians, two Methodists and a UCCer.
Jorge Bautista, a clergyman with the United Church of Christ, reacts after he was hit in the face by a pepper round from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent as protesters blocked the entrance to Coast Guard Island Alameda, where they are sent to as a staging area for a planned immigration crackdown, in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025.
They are firing pepper balls into the faces of clergy, again
www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
Due to push from the White House to get ICE agents certified ASAP, the training Center in Georgia was shortened from 13 weeks to just 6 weeks and are allowed to take open book tests.
#Pinks #ProudBlue #StrongerTogether
www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...
A minor note, but the local police chief and sheriff put out a statement saying DHS's press release on this raid was “completely false and a serious misrepresentation of the facts.” Another bald-faced lie to pile on top of the other ones I wrote about today.
New Mexico federal courts begin putting cases on hold because of the federal shutdown 🚨
This order shows CJA contract defense attys & experts are not getting paid - preventing them from providing Constitutionally required legal representation
👀
@nacdl.org
@abqjournal.bsky.social
@sourcenm.com
NEW POD 🎧: The Trump admin has executed 21 people it claims were “narcoterrorists.” It's a dark turn in U.S. drug war policy. It’s also in line with the U.S. legacy of killing innocent people chalking it up to “collateral damage,” says @radleybalko.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...
A man gets a blowjob from a trans woman and his friends make fun of him so he goes to the police to claim she lied about being a woman. She was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison because of a man's shame.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Nation’s Defense Bar Condemns Apparent Politicization of Justice in James Indictment
www.nacdl.org/newsrelease/...
Post 5/5
Wayne concludes: "Weaponizing the vast power of the DOJ is not just ill-conceived; it is fundamentally un-American... it becomes a reckless wrecking ball that can swing at anyone."
Read the full @nacdl.org press release on the Letitia James indictment here: www.nacdl.org/newsrelease/...
Post 4/5
NACDL Executive Director Lisa M. Wayne: "A political prosecution sets a dangerous and damning precedent for all Americans. The suspicious timing... proves that this does not add up to equal justice under law."
Post 3/5
Birrell continues: "This is not blind justice; it is the targeted weaponization of the Department of Justice... [charging decisions] must be free from the appearance of a prosecution driven by partisan goals."
Post 2/5
NACDL President Andrew Birrell: "The indictment... appears to be a staggering escalation of federal action against perceived political enemies, such as James and former FBI Director James Comey, Jr."
Post 1/5
Nation's Defense Bar Condemns Apparent Politicization of Justice in the Letitia James Indictment.
NACDL "unequivocally condemns the federal indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James," calling it an "untenable breach of institutional independence."
Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion.
Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.
Highly recommend this @nacdl.org 3-part webinar series & resources, which provide insight and recommendations on how to make improvements in competency to stand trial systems
www.nacdl.org/Content/Comp...
Post 10/10
NACDL Exec. Dir. Lisa Wayne: "This is not justice; it is the weaponization of the criminal process for political vengeance. NACDL stands confident that the federal judicial system will expose this indictment for the political travesty it is." News release: www.nacdl.org/newsrelease/...
Post 9/10
The underlying allegation is that Comey lied in his Sept 2020 testimony to Congress about authorizing media leaks concerning the Russia investigation.
Post 8/10
The timing is notable: "...Lindsey Halligan abruptly replaced the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia just days before the five-year statute of limitations was set to run out..."
Post 7/10
Birrell stated: "We also note that a grand jury reportedly rejected a third count sought by the government, signaling the weakness of this entire effort."
Post 6/10
Birrell concludes the quote: "...whose legal gravity would scarcely trouble the scales of justice without the downward pressure of a thumb." 👎⚖️
Post 5/10
Birrell: "The question isn't whether an apparently trumped-up charge will prevail, but why the prosecutor, a former personal lawyer for the president, with no prosecutorial experience, thought fit to present an allegation..."
Post 4/10
Birrell continued: "The charges appear legally tenuous, even as the president pressured the U.S. Attorney's office to rush a case to the grand jury against the reported judgment of career prosecutors."
Post 3/10
NACDL President Andrew Birrell: "This prosecution appears to be an astonishing and corrosive assault on the rule of law. The Justice Department's foundational principle of independent prosecutorial decision-making has been upended."
Post 2/10
NACDL says the charges, filed just before the statute of limitations expired, subvert the independence of the Justice Department.
Post 1/10 ⚖️🧵
The nation's defense bar, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (@nacdl.org), slams the 'Trumped-up' indictment of former FBI Director James Comey as politically motivated retribution.
