Manoj Mate

The Israeli Home Front Command has been instructed to prepare for all-out war with Iran and that an attack on Iran may be imminent, N12 News reports. Security agencies have been placed on high alert.

Iran temporarily closing Strait of Hormuz for live fire drills as nuclear talks with U.S. begin The U.S. and Iran are holding their second round of talks about Iran’s nuclear program Tuesday in Geneva. As the talks began, Iranian media announced that Iran had fired live missiles toward the Strai...

This is the first time that Iran has closed parts of the Strait, an essential international waterway, since the U.S. began threatening Iran with military action. https://to.pbs.org/4cwYBN9

This is one of the most underreported trends in the past year: Although a large number of states and higher ed institutions have caved, legal challenges to the administration's attempt to curb and limit DEI have been at least partly successful.

Kudos to @chrisgeidner.bsky.social for his extraordinary work covering the universe of federal litigation against the administration documenting how the administration continues to lose and/or retreat in a large # of cases. National news media has failed to convey this important trend to the public.

Here are the links to the opinion and order, along with the dismissal by the 4th circuit, stipulated dismissal motion and order in the AFT v. Dept of Education case.

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.

This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

Page 1 of agenda item here: https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/default/files/offices/board-of-regents/board-meetings/agenda-book-full/2-2026AB.pdf

Page two of agenda item previously linked.

University of Texas is set to curtail teaching of "Controversial Topics", per agenda item added before the holiday weekend for Board of Regent's meeting Thursday.

Texas students deserve to learn to think critically about pressing concerns of our day. @aaup.org

archive.is/rvbwz

Headline: Immigrants who say their detention is illegal have filed more than 18,000 cases. It's a historic high. Graph: A line chart going from Jan 2009 to Jan 2026 showing very few habeas cases until Trump’s second term, where the line takes off nearly vertically, showing more than 6,600 cases in Jan 2026 alone.

The Trump administration’s push for mass deportations has resulted in more cases, known as habeas petitions, filed in federal court in the last year than under the last three administrations combined, including Trump’s first term.

➡️ Read more (with @texastribune.org): https://propub.li/4tDklgE

The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that the state can put a redistricting plan on the ballot this spring that could add as many as four more Democratic seats in Congress.

The referendum will take place on April 21.

My sense is most people aren't tracking how many of these suits the regime is just giving up on.

…she will make sure they vote for “the right leaders?”

Yes it’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass who was born in 1818 on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. He escaped from slavery & rose to become the most eloquent and forceful voice for the abolition of slavery & for Black voting rights in the U.S.

United States Department of Justice Once Again Weighs in to Support Republicans in Emergency Congressional Redistricting Petition at the Supreme Court. This One Concerns a District Including Staten Is... A New York court ruled that under the state constitution, the existing congressional district covering Staten Island had to be redrawn to give Black and Latino voters in New York a chance to elect the...

United States Department of Justice Once Again Weighs in to Support Republicans in Emergency Congressional Redistricting Petition at the Supreme Court. This One Concerns a District Including Staten Island electionlawblog.org?p=154310

Read the Virginia Supreme Court order concerning redistricting #ELB Virginia Supreme Court allows April 21 re-redistricting referendum to proceed. Here is the four-page opinion.

Read the Virginia Supreme Court order concerning redistricting electionlawblog.org?p=154301

Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...

This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.

The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:

Anyway, huge congratulations to @veenadubal.bsky.social and the entire @aaup.org team. This is one for the history books.

President Trump's Claim of an "Irrefutable" Argument Supporting His Right to Unilaterally Impose Voter ID and Election Rules May Be Based on Insane Claim that Marriott Hotel Manager Found Secret Text ... Yesterday I noted the latest set of unhinged social media posts from President Trump in which he declared that voter id requirements and other election changes would be imposed in the midterms via exe...

🚨 President Trump’s Claim of an “Irrefutable” Argument Supporting His Right to Unilaterally Impose Voter ID and Election Rules May Be Based on Insane Claim that Marriott Hotel Manager Found Secret Text in the Shadows of a Microfilm Copy of the U.S. Constitution electionlawblog.org?p=154326

Judge Orders U.S. to Facilitate Return of College Student Who Was Deported in Error

"A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to return a college freshman to the United States within two weeks after she was mistakenly deported to Honduras in November."

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...

We now have the most spectacular leadership team at Georgetown Law possible: Eduardo Peñalver as University President, and now Liz Magill as Executive Vice President and Law Dean.

Words can't fully express how excited I am at the news that Liz Magill will be the next Dean of @georgetownlaw.bsky.social.

(But I'm REALLY EXCITED.)

A great hire for us, and exactly the kind of leader our institution needs for the myriad challenges and opportunities ahead of us.

👇👇

“.. using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought ..”

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/whi...

BREAKING: The Trump administraiton has committed a mass violation of ICE detainees' constitutional rights in MN, effectively blocking their acess to attorneys in the Whipple building, a judge ruled tonight.

The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel

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

The Oil Industry's Latest Disaster: Trillions of Gallons of Buried Toxic Wastewater The Environmental Protection Agency knew long ago that injecting toxic wastewater underground was dangerous. Trump’s EPA continues to claim it’s safe.

Documents show the oil industry and regulators knew decades ago that injecting drilling’s toxic liquid leftovers underground wasn’t safe.

Trump's EPA is still claiming it's fine.

Trump's EPA will stop regulating greenhouse gases, setting up a legal fight The Environmental Protection Agency is eliminating a Clean Air Act finding from 2009 that is the basis for much of the federal government's actions to rein in climate change.

The EPA is eliminating a Clean Air Act finding from 2009 that is the basis for much of the federal government's actions to rein in climate change.

BREAKING: Judge Leon *rejects* Secretary Hegseth's bid to punish Sen. Kelly for advising troops to ignore illegal orders. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

The Court, accordingly, ORDERS that: 1. Plaintiffs shall file under seal (but not ex parte) by February 20, 2026, a Notice indicating which Plaintiffs are currently in which third countries; 2. Plaintiffs shall by February 27, 2026, file a Notice noting the number of Plaintiffs who wish to travel independently to a U.S. port of entry or who wish to be flown from a third country to the United States for their court proceedings, understanding that in both scenarios they will be detained upon arrival. Plaintiffs shall simultaneously file a separate Notice under seal listing the names of such individuals; 3. Plaintiffs shall by March 9, 2026, file a Notice giving the number of Plaintiffs (in Venezuela or third countries) who wish to file supplements to their habeas class petition, including challenges to the Proclamation or their identification as TdA members. Plaintiffs shall likewise file a simultaneous Notice under seal listing those individuals’ names

The Government shall promptly return to Plaintiffs upon written request by their current counsel all passports and identification documents that any agency currently retains, and it shall make good-faith efforts to obtain any of Plaintiffs’ passports or identification documents that were transferred to El Salvador; and 5. The Government shall file a Status Report by March 13, 2026, explaining how and when it will transport any Plaintiff seeking return to the United States from a third country. In that Status Report, the Government shall also inform the Court as to the feasibility of returning Plaintiffs still in Venezuela who wish to return for their proceedings. It shall also describe the steps taken to obtain any passports or identification documents from El Salvador.

BREAKING

Judge Boasberg ORDERS the Trump admin to facilitate the return of the more than 100 men spirited out of the country last year without notice or a hearing.

Plaintiffs may also submit habeas petitions from abroad, he says.

Doc buff.ly/rccakD7

Judge Ends Deportation Case for Mexican Father of 3 U.S. Marines

"An immigration judge has terminated the deportation case against an undocumented father of three U.S. Marines who was detained by federal agents last year while landscaping in Southern California, paving the way for him to seek legal permanent residency."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/u...

What's next? Encouraging people to vote?

Congratulations!