Lynda Dodd

@ldodd.bsky.social
#ScholarSpotlight #PLAW #LawatPrinceton

#NoKings Day in Princeton! ❌👑 Enormous, peaceful crowd. Great signs and energy. And I loved that George Washington was looking down over us.

bsky.app/profile/mg-m...

SCOTUS spent Wednesday morning trying to figure out a way to legalize racial gerrymandering. trib.al/7sBZKUS

The justices appeared to single out Section 2, which (if gutted) would largely wipe out Black congressional representation in the South—at a scale unseen since the end of Reconstruction.

Early Signs from Oral Argument in Callais Suggest that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is in Real Trouble #ELB As I explained back in August, the Supreme Court reached and and in the most opaque way on a late Friday afternoon in mid-summer, the Court turned a ho-hum racial gerrymandering case where the court h...

Early Signs from Oral Argument in Callais Suggest that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is in Real Trouble electionlawblog.org?p=152536

In this morning’s oral argument in Callais, #SCOTUS ’s conservative Justices turned a blind eye to a core part of the Fifteenth Amendment’s text and history. Read more from @davidhgans.bsky.social: www.theusconstitution.org/news/cac-rel...

Federal agents invaded even the offices of The Crisis and the National Association for the advancement of colored people and asked searching questions: " just what, after all, were our objects and activities?” I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, “We are seeking to have the constitution of the United states thoroughly and completely enforced.” It took some ingenuity, even for Southerners, to make treason out of that.

How W. E. B. Du Bois responded to government policing of "anti-American" sentiment during the 1910s:

"I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, 'We are seeking to have the Constitution of the United States thoroughly and completely enforced.' ”

A 160-year-old campaign against civil rights heads to the supreme court Louisiana v Callais could roll back what remains of the Voting Rights Act, putting the future of America’s multiracial democracy at stake

My SCOTUS term preview for the Guardian - it focuses on the case challenging what remains of the Voting Rights Act (Callais), how that's part of a centuries-old campaign against Reconstruction, & how that's representative of several issues on the Court's docket.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

So heartwarming and encouraging to see Amanda's conversation with Justice Sotomayor! These chances for connection, gratitude, and inspiration are what it's *all* about. 🧡🖤

"There are cases that aren't being brought at a time when civil rights abuses are maybe at the highest they've been in modern times ... Even if there's a big case and we feel really confident about it, we'll just have to pass on it."

How Trump Upended 60 Years of Civil Rights in Two Months

I've covered race for two decades. I knew the 2nd Trump Admin would be dangerous for civil rights. Yet the collapse of the federal civil rights architecture and national will to address racial inequality and work on integration is stunning. Here's my latest. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/m...

Masked Terror At this point, we have all seen the videos.

One of our earliest civil rights statutes was designed to protect us against masked gangs who violate our constitutional rights. This particular history makes the masked ICE gangs uniquely repugnant. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

NEWS: Senate Parliamentarian says GOP scheme to limit federal court preliminary injunctions by requiring plaintiffs challenging government actions to post large bonds cannot be part of reconciliation bill.

A victory for Democrats, rule of law and the courts and a defeat for Trump and the GOP.

(next to an image of President Obama) “It is up to all of us to fix this. It's not going to be because somebody comes and saves you. The most important office in this democracy is the citizen—the ordinary person who says, no, that's not right." PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Opinion | How Will We Know When We Have Lost Our Democracy?

“So far, the most energetic opposition has come not from civic leaders but from everyday citizens, showing up at Congressional town hall meetings or participating in Hands Off rallies across the country.

“Our leaders must follow their example.”

Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...

"Americans must reject the nightmare that lies ahead. They must work to restore a society of laws, and they can do so at the ballot box. But first, they must recognize the disease; only then can they demand a cure."

The Destruction of the Department of Justice When people at the department embrace Trump’s scorn for the law, the law, as a practical limitation on government action, ceases to exist.

"Donald Trump’s debasement of the DOJ is far more than the mere degradation of a governmental agency; it is an assault on the rule of law."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

📣 "Show me what democracy looks like!"
🙌 Protesting out in the pouring rain today in Princeton, NJ!

Losing DOJ’s Civil Rights Division On Tuesday, Reuters reported that leadership at the Department of Justice has reassigned “about a dozen senior career attorneys” in the Civil Rights Division to perform perfunctory tasks usually assig...

"It’s easy to take the good work government does for granted. It’s only when we begin to lose it that we understand how essential it is." joycevance.substack.com/publish/post...

Love seeing the rally in Princeton, NJ here in this nationwide recap! 💙 #HandsOff

Here in Princeton, NJ, a town of about 30,000 people, the crowd at the #HandsOff protest. Appeared to be about 1300-1500 people, as high as 5% of the population. It's the largest event I have seen in this public space.

A huge crowd for the #HandsOff rally in Princeton, NJ - with Indivisible Princeton and Indivisible Cranbury!

So proud of @debpearlstein.bsky.social for this clear-eyed assessment and call to law firms. They have power - if they stand together. 👇

Opinion | There Is a Way for Democrats to Stop Trump and Save America (Gift Article) The Democratic Party can’t stop America’s spiral into autocracy and oligarchy unless it casts off its stale talking points and reimagines what it stands for.

"If you don’t like what is happening to this country, you don’t need to wait for someone to come along and save it: You need each other."

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/o...

Incredibly proud of our President Chris Eisgruber for his defense of universities against the administration's wave of attacks. Eisgruber, a former NYU law professor and First Amendment scholar, has so far been unerring in protecting academic freedom against attacks from left and right.

If the Marshals Go Rogue, Courts Have Other Ways to Enforce their Orders Opinion | Even a rogue marshal’s service is not an insurmountable obstacle to courts enforcing the rule of law.

"[SCOTUS] has long held that 'a pardon cannot stop' courts from punishing cases of civil contempt. And while the marshals have traditionally enforced civil contempt orders, the courts have the power to deputize others to step in if they refuse to do so."

www.democracydocket.com/opinion/if-t...

“We are now at the place, only eight weeks into this presidency, at which judges must decide if they will take the necessary steps to enforce their decisions, including sanctions and contempt, or if they will agree to be made irrelevant. Those are the remaining options.”

What Authoritarianism Means Even critical observers underestimated the speed and scope of the Trumpist assault, they overestimated democratic resilience. What is America now, and what comes next?

What Authoritarianism Means
 
Even critical observers underestimated the speed and scope of the Trumpist assault, they overestimated democratic resilience. What is America now, and what comes next?
 
New piece:

Bonus 126: [Chill] All the Lawyers Lawyers and law firms committed to the rule of law should be the first (and loudest) critics of the Trump administration's effort to punish and intimidate those who represent the "wrong" clients.

"What the Trump administration is doing is far more than just bad behavior; it’s a direct threat to the rule of law—almost as much as defying court orders would be."

Via "One First," me on the White House's intimidation campaign against lawyers and law firms:

www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-126-...

Over 1,000 political scientists warn that the second Trump administration is taking actions that threaten the foundations of American democracy, politicizing law enforcement, and ignoring constitutional limits on executive power.
drive.google.com/file/d/1lGk2...

The AAUP holds that in order for colleges and universities to fulfill their public mission, they must endeavor not only to eliminate discrimination but to redress the persistent inequalities created by both past & present discriminatory practices and systems.
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