Healthcare Reclaims Top Spot Among U.S. Domestic Worries Americans say they worry most about healthcare among 16 domestic issues, followed by the economy, inflation, the federal budget and income inequality.

Crime, violence, and drug use are now among the lower-ranked concerns of Americans:
news.gallup.com/poll/707732/...

Criminal Justice Reform Didn’t End — It Decentralized While federal policy has shifted sharply in a punitive direction, state governments continue to drive criminal justice reform.

"The movement for criminal justice reform has not disappeared. It has adapted—and it now lives, principally, in the states,” writes P•LAW affiliated scholar Udi Ofer (@uofer.bsky.social) for Just Security.
www.justsecurity.org/131987/crimi...

#PLAW #LawatPrinceton

Criminal Justice Reform Didn’t End — It Decentralized While federal policy has shifted sharply in a punitive direction, state governments continue to drive criminal justice reform.

The data on criminal justice reform tell a surprising story, writes @uofer.bsky.social

Despite federal rollbacks and a renewed punitive agenda, states have continued to advance incremental reforms and on a bipartisan basis.

www.justsecurity.org/131987/crimi...

Yeah, I've been making the federalism point for a year, including the fact that we have about 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the US, and the president has no control over about 17,900 of them.

Wall Street Journal reports on Trump's attacks on free speech: Protesters and observers taken into custody by federal agents were declared terrorists in hundreds of social-media posts by U.S. officials and departments since the start of the immigration sweeps in cities www.wsj.com/us-news/immi...

Clean Slate Campaign Launches in Rhode Island | The Clean Slate Initiative Rhode Island has launched their Clean Slate campaign and introduced legislation to automate record sealing and expand access to second chances. Learn more in this update from Mo George, Campaign Strat...

An estimated 1 in 3 adults in Rhode Island has an arrest or conviction record. Under proposed Clean Slate Act, approximately 77,000 Rhode Islanders could become eligible to have their records fully sealed, all part of nationwide Clean Slate movement www.cleanslateinitiative.org/updates/clea...

FBI investigating Mississippi Prison Death Involving Guards Melvin Cancer was killed by guards beating him inside the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, a new report shows.

Mississippi said he died of a heart attack in prison. But now, the FBI is investigating the 2025 death of Melvin Cancer at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility as a homicide, and the guards as the alleged perpetrators. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/24/m...

Alysa Liu’s Olympic run came with terms. Her choreographer helps her express them Liu is the best U.S. hope for an Olympic medal in women's figure skating, which would be the country's first in the competition since 2006.

“When Liu, 20, decided to return to skating, she did so with conditions. She’d wear what she wants. Dance to the music she wants. Eat what she wants. Take breaks when she wants…. [Skating] would be the vehicle through which she displayed the real Alysa.”

she did it! her! way!!

DOJ acknowledges violating dozens of recent court orders in New Jersey The self-assessment came amid rising concern among judges managing a flood of immigration cases.

Associate Deputy AG Jordan Fox acknowledges violating court orders issued by NJ's federal judges more than 50 times, in stark contrast with previous statements from the Justice Department and ICE that have blamed “rogue judges” for the administration’s noncompliance www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

In Iran, Slain Protesters’ Memorials Will Test State Crackdown

More than 7,000 protesters were killed over three weeks of protests in Iran last month — the vast majority of them from Jan. 8-10. Mourners plan to gather today at cemeteries where their loved ones are buried. It's infuriating that this is not getting more attention www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/w...

Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped. The decisions amount to a huge legal rebuke, one the administration has ignored.

Hundreds of judges around the country have ruled more than a whopping 4,400 times, since October alone, that President Donald Trump’s administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully: www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

6 Deaths in ICE Custody and 2 Fatal Shootings: A Horrific Start to 2026 - American Immigration Council 2026 has already seen a shocking number of deaths tied to ICE. This includes fatalities in detention as well as shootings involving agents.

Last month, 8 people died in ICE detention centers or due to deadly shootings involving ICE agents. A record number of people died in ICE custody in 2025. But 2026 is already on track to surpass that record-high. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-dea...

Judge Strikes Down California’s Ban on Masks for Federal Agents

It's very telling that California Democrats passed a law banning masks for federal law enforcement but not for state law enforcement. This gives you a clear picture of the overall struggle over police accountability and its relationship to partisanship. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...

Israel Assumes Broad New Powers in the West Bank The Israeli government is deepening a push by far-right ministers to expand its authority and settlements in the West Bank.

As Netanyahu prepares to meet with Trump this week in Washington, Israel has given itself new powers over territory in the West Bank. Trump has previously said he wouldnt allow Israel to annex the West Bank, yet Israel is taking steps now to annex the occupied territory www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Definitely not one or the other. Organizing influences litigation and court rulings, and litigation and court rulings influence organizing. It's a symbiotic relationship. And then there is also the role of policymaking in all this.

States Rush to Remove Hurdles Stopping U.S. Agents From Being Sued for Shootings The fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good are driving these state efforts to allow federal officials, including ICE agents, to be held liable for civil-rights abuses.

One of the lasting legacies of Trump 2.0 will be the wake up call that lead states to adopt new laws that allow lawsuits to hold federal law enforcement, including agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, liable for committing civil rights violations. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Amazing. Would love to learn what you find out! Ty.

It makes sense you can't find good data since that would require asking people about their immigration status, which would defeat the point of ITINs for undocumented immigrants. But when I was an immigration attorney, I used to recommend that my clients file their federal taxes, which required ITIN

Historically, ITIN numbers were available to undocumented immigrants to allow them to pay taxes. But these days, while ITINs are still available regardless of status, DHS is seeking data from Treasury on who gets ITINs, which does complicate things. It's currently in litigation.

Amazing

Ends decision with a signature line that includes a photo of Liam Ramos.

Incredible decision by TX federal judge ordering release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos, explaining "case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas...even if it requires traumatizing children" storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

New Jersey overdose deaths hit lowest point since the pandemic New Jersey is celebrating a significant drop in overdose deaths, with the latest figures showing a decrease to 1,312 in 2025, emphasizing ongoing education and support.

Fatal overdoses drop in New Jersey to the lowest levels since the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline in deaths is far outpacing the national average as New Jersey overdose deaths fall to five-year low nj1015.com/new-jersey-o...

Opinion | Time for ICE to Pause in Minneapolis Alex Pretti made a mistake, but he wasn’t a ‘domestic terrorist.’

Wall Street Journal editorial board calls for ICE to leave Minnesota. Explain that after the shooting of Renee Good, both Minnesota Democrats and Trump had a chance to calm the furies. But Trump instead sent 1,000 more immigration officers on top of 2,000 already there www.wsj.com/opinion/time...

Few Voters Say Trump’s Second Term Has Made the Country Better, Poll Finds

57 percent of voters think Mr. Trump has been focusing on the wrong issues — including a whopping 69 percent of voters under 30, more than any other age group. Few voters say Trump’s second term has made the country better www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

ACLU-NJ Celebrates Final Round of Releases Under The Clemency Project - ACLU of New Jersey The ACLU of New Jersey celebrates Governor Murphy’s announcement today of 51 commutations and 97 pardons, including 16 of the ACLU-NJ's Clemency Project clients.

NEW: On his last day in office, @govmurphy.bsky.social announced a final round of clemency for 148 people, including 16 of our Clemency Project clients.

This is the largest day of clemency action in modern New Jersey history.

www.aclu-nj.org/press-releas...

Alarming trends in executions in 2025 raise serious human rights concerns – UN Human Rights GENEVA – While the overall global trend continues to move towards universal abolition of the death penalty, the world has witnessed a sharp hike in the number of executions in 2025, primarily due to a...

While the overall global trend continues to move towards death penalty abolition, the world witnessed a sharp hike in number of executions in 2025. And we don't even know the full story, as countries like China & North Korea shroud the death penalty in secrecy
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

Demetrius Minor: "That is how we honor Kirk — not with another killing [though the death penalty], but with a commitment to the principles that defined his faith and, I hope, will guide our nation forward." "The death penalty is not justice for Charlie Kirk’s killer" thehill.com/opinion/crim...

Israel and Arab Nations Ask Trump to Refrain From Attacking Iran

As the Pentagon began moving some troops from Qatar in anticipation of a potential US attack against Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asked President Trump to postpone any plans for an American military attack on Iran www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...

The Iranian Regime Could Fall But a U.S. strike would prop it up.

The recent demonstrations in Iran unite men and women from a range of socioeconomic classes and professions: merchants, public and private employees, students, seminarians, public intellectuals, and moderate Shiite clerics. www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/iranian...