Don't forget John Eastman. He certainly is prominent.
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Reporter at @MotherJones.bsky.social
Send me secure tips:
pemalevy[at]proton.me
pemalevy.33 (Signal)
Reposted by Pema Levy
ICYMI a SCOOP from @carolleonnig.bsky.social + me for @ms.now: The DOJ plans to release a report seeing to justify Trump’s pardons of 2 dozen anti-abortion protesters convicted of blockading abortion clinics & threatening patients/staff
We reviewed it exclusively — & found several oversights⤵️
We reviewed it exclusively — & found several oversights⤵️
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Reposted by Pema Levy
This is the sort of clip you see in the opening minutes of a deeply dystopian film
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Unlike in his first term, Trump has surrounded himself by people who enable his worst instincts and refuse to say no. Not just Bondi, but notably Hegseth too.
It makes days like today very different than last time around.
It makes days like today very different than last time around.
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Reposted by Pema Levy
Pam Bondi was the first attorney general to operate unencumbered by any loyalty to the rule of law or any pretense of independence, writes @pemalevy.bsky.social. Instead, she was liberated to act, unabashedly, as an appendage of the president.
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Bondi's disastrous tenure at DOJ shows that the unitary executive leads to incompetence, corruption, and failure.
A Justice Department carrying out the president’s personal revenge plots is ultimately an untrustworthy institution.
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/attorney-general-pam-bondi-fired-justice-department/
A Justice Department carrying out the president’s personal revenge plots is ultimately an untrustworthy institution.
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/attorney-general-pam-bondi-fired-justice-department/
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Reposted by Pema Levy
Just so everyone knows, the Solicitor General straight up lied about the 1921 law review article he kept talking about. quick thread:
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ACLU’s Cecillia Wang didn’t respond. She just let Alito’s words hang there in the air, doing her work for her.
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I think the most clarifying moment in birthright citizenship arguments was when Alito (accidentally?) acknowledged that under his/Trump's definition of the 14th Amendment, almost all children of non-citizens would not have birthright citizenship.
His rule would negate the entire project.
His rule would negate the entire project.
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Reposted by Pema Levy
Good, efficient summary by @pemalevy.bsky.social @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social: "the legal minds who submitted friend of the court briefs supporting Trump’s EO ... put forward both novel and recycled already-rejected arguments that are not only morally reprehensible but historically implausible."
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Alito said maybe WKA tried to separate domiciled and assimilating Chinese immigrants from the railroad worker charicature.
Jackson says, yes, maybe the court wanted the public to accept the opinion by softening the blow at a time of anti-Chinese fervor. It could have been a PR move, not a legal one
Jackson says, yes, maybe the court wanted the public to accept the opinion by softening the blow at a time of anti-Chinese fervor. It could have been a PR move, not a legal one
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Incredible moment here in which Alito puts forward a reason to believe Wong Kim Ark mentions domicile so much, seemingly trying to help Trump admin, and Justice Jackson seizes on it as a great reason that this does not undermine birthright citizenship.
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Sotomayor brings up the obvious - and terrifying - truth that if Trump wins, he, or another president, or Congress, could go around stripping citizenship from untold numbers of people based on the immigration status of their ancestors.
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Sauer said that even enslaved people trafficked to the US illegally where then expected to stay. I'm pretty sure I read in the amicus briefs that many were actually deported, and that Congress even set aside funds for these deportations.
Anyone remember which brief that was?
Anyone remember which brief that was?
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Alito looks like the first justice to show sympathy with Trump admin's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. And he does it by buying this very silly argument.
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Reposted by Pema Levy
The Supreme Court will hear arguments over Trump's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship tomorrow.
Why the government's case is based on a house of cards, with
@isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-ilan-wurman-history-amicus-brief/
Why the government's case is based on a house of cards, with
@isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-ilan-wurman-history-amicus-brief/
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Reposted by Pema Levy
The birthright citizenship case isn't just an academic exercise.
It's about what kind of a country we live in, and the consequences will be felt by everyone. It will make us a sicker, poorer, fundamentally unequal society. Here's just a few of the ways:
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-supreme-court-consequences/
It's about what kind of a country we live in, and the consequences will be felt by everyone. It will make us a sicker, poorer, fundamentally unequal society. Here's just a few of the ways:
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-supreme-court-consequences/
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Trump's birthright citizenship order seeks to literally end the American dream. Will people be able to work hard and make a life for themselves, judged by their own abilities?
Or will they inherit a permanent second-class status from their parents?
www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/05/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship/
Or will they inherit a permanent second-class status from their parents?
www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/05/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship/
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The birthright citizenship case isn't just an academic exercise.
It's about what kind of a country we live in, and the consequences will be felt by everyone. It will make us a sicker, poorer, fundamentally unequal society. Here's just a few of the ways:
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-supreme-court-consequences/
It's about what kind of a country we live in, and the consequences will be felt by everyone. It will make us a sicker, poorer, fundamentally unequal society. Here's just a few of the ways:
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-supreme-court-consequences/
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Finally finished reading Chiles v. Salazar.
I'm struck by how the majority refers to the conversion therapy here as “voluntary counseling conversations” with "consenting clients."
This was a case about minors. Are kids really always voluntary and consenting clients? Seems like obviously not.
I'm struck by how the majority refers to the conversion therapy here as “voluntary counseling conversations” with "consenting clients."
This was a case about minors. Are kids really always voluntary and consenting clients? Seems like obviously not.
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Reposted by Pema Levy
brilliant by @pemalevy.bsky.social @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
The Wurman amicus “oozes with self-doubt”
Wurman public statements wildly overstate research
NYTimes called out for indulging hackery for clicks
Intellectual fraud on a mass scale
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-ilan-wurman-history-amicus-brief/
The Wurman amicus “oozes with self-doubt”
Wurman public statements wildly overstate research
NYTimes called out for indulging hackery for clicks
Intellectual fraud on a mass scale
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-ilan-wurman-history-amicus-brief/
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The Supreme Court will hear arguments over Trump's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship tomorrow.
Why the government's case is based on a house of cards, with
@isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-ilan-wurman-history-amicus-brief/
Why the government's case is based on a house of cards, with
@isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/birthright-citizenship-ilan-wurman-history-amicus-brief/
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Reposted by Pema Levy
Supreme Court looks to make Election Day great again
Absentee voting rules nationwide could turn on the justices’ opinions of ballot collection on Civil War battlefields. @courthousenews.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-looks-to-make-election-day-great-again/
Absentee voting rules nationwide could turn on the justices’ opinions of ballot collection on Civil War battlefields. @courthousenews.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-looks-to-make-election-day-great-again/
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Reposted by Pema Levy
Wrote about how MAGA is a rebellion against the reality of interdependence, and how that led the Trump administration to completely ignore the potential fallout of going to war with Iran. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/trump-independence-allies-support/686432/?gift=Je3D9AQS-C17lUTOnl2W8DkuuyI7wzW9gf9tnK6Yc5I&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
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Reposted by Pema Levy
EXCLUSIVE: New data shared first with me for @ms.now shows the impacts of the temporary defunding of Planned Parenthood through the Big Beautiful Bill — which some Republicans want to make permanent.
Nearly two dozen clinics closed & appointments for cancer screenings & birth control plummeted ⤵️
Nearly two dozen clinics closed & appointments for cancer screenings & birth control plummeted ⤵️
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Someone has to build the detention centers. One major architecture firm faced an internal revolt after it signed on. The firm promised it would be the last.
The Trump admin can't do this alone. They need the compliance of people in every sector to do it for them
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/ice-dlr-group-detention-corecivic-contract-worker-resistance-trump/
The Trump admin can't do this alone. They need the compliance of people in every sector to do it for them
www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/ice-dlr-group-detention-corecivic-contract-worker-resistance-trump/
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Reposted by Pema Levy
“One night at Dilley, their mother heard a strange sound ... She went to check on him and found that he had managed to pull the drawstring out of his sweatpants, put it around his neck and was pulling it tightly, believing at the age of 5 that it would be better to die than remain in detention.” 3/
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As a friend of one of these mothers, I just want to say on a personal level, please read this and spread the word: www.newsweek.com/mothers-terrified-as-children-could-lose-treatments-after-fda-denials-11671964
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