Kim Lane Scheppele

One of the world's truly inspirational people, Jane Goodall, has some last words for us all about making a difference and not losing hope.

This is a fierce ruling against Trump from a judge he appointed.

In sum, the President is certainly entitled "a great level of deference," Newsom II, 141 F.4th at 1048, in his determination that he "is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States." 10 U.S.C. § 12406(3). But "a great level of deference" is not equivalent to ignoring the facts on the ground. As the Ninth Circuit articulated, courts must "review the President's determination to ensure that it reflects a colorable assessment of the facts and law PAGE 22 - OPINION AND ORDER Case 3:25-cv-01756-IM Document 56 Filed 10/04/25 Page 23 of 31 within a 'range of honest judgment.'" Id. at 1051 (quoting Sterling, 278 U.S. at 399). Here, this Court concludes that the President did not have a "colorable basis" to invoke § 12406(3) to federalize the National Guard because the situation on the ground belied an inability of federal law enforcement officers to execute federal law. Id. at 1051-52. The President's determination was simply untethered to the facts. c. Whether there is a Rebellion or Danger of Rebellion Defendants also aroue that the Sentember 28 2025 federalization order is authorized

If a federal judge, appointed by Trump, can call him “simply untethered to facts,” our White House press corps can as well.

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

“DOGE was efficient in at least one way: individuals associated with DOGE created databases that ‘contain highly sensitive personally identifiable information on every American’ and that ‘can be manipulated with little to no oversight.’”
Arguably that was DOGE’s real purpose.

Tracking All of Trump’s Third-Country Removals (That We Know Of) Bookmark this post, it will be updated.

UPDATED: The third-country removal tracker now has entries for Guatemala and Honduras.

If you have any information on migrants who have been removed from the US to the custody of a country not their own, please contact me on Signal at gbrockell.44.

hardghistory.ghost.io/tracking-all...

The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for inserting partisan political statements into furloughed employees’ automatic out-of-office replies during the government shutdown without their consent.

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

👏👏👏👏👏

DHS says an operation last week in which agents raided a Chicago apartment building, rappelled in from helicopters, broke down doors and detained numerous residents, resulted in the arrest of two suspected gang members.
www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

STAND WITH YOUR SCHOOL: Trump attacks 9 universities. Sign the alumni petition now. Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools Trump just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freedom across America...

Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools Trump just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freedom across America. alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

"So, we're balancing the equities here. On the one side, 300,000 people unlawfully deported to face torture and death before we read the statute that says they should be allowed to stay. On the other side, Trump gets what he wants. Seems a clear case. Kill them." You can see why they didn't explain

A screenshot of page 1 of the Supreme Court's October 3 grant of a stay in the Venezuela TPS case, the only analysis of which provides that "Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties’ legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here."

A screenshot of the Supreme Court's May 19 order in the Venezuela TPS case, which includes no analysis whatsoever. The boilerplate language reads as follows: The application for stay presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is granted. The March 31, 2025 order entered by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, case No. 3:25-cv-1766, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court. This order is without prejudice to any challenge to Secretary Noem's February 3, 2025 vacatur notice insofar as it purports to invalidate EADs, Forms I-797, Notices of Action, and Forms I-94 issued with October 2, 2026 expiration dates. See 8 U. S. C. §1254a(d)(3). Justice Jackson would deny the application.

From Friday's #SCOTUS ruling in the Venezuela TPS case: "Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties’ legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here."

One problem: the May ruling didn't *analyze* those arguments/harms:

"The delegitimization and rejection of Marxism-Leninism that brought down the regimes captured and held everyone’s attention, leaving little room for noticing that the elephant of Russian imperialism was still in the room. "
👇

Millions Could Lose Housing Aid Under Trump Plan Drafts of unpublished rules obtained by ProPublica detail plans that would open the door to full-time work requirements, two-year limits on living in federally supported housing and stripping aid from...

“It’s disguised as work requirements and term limits, but in reality it’s a way to strip families of their benefits,” said Deborah Thrope of the National Housing Law Project. “This is a huge departure from how the HUD programs have been run.”

By @jessecoburn.bsky.social

Kash Patel fires FBI agent trainee for displaying gay pride flag The FBI employee was fired on the first day of the government shutdown as President Trump threatened more terminations.

MSNBC EXCLUSIVE: Kash Patel fired an agent in training for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk while appointed to a field office in California last year, according to three people familiar with the matter and a dismissal notice reviewed by MSNBC. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/k...

In the framers’ words, the US Constitution was meant as a living document

In the framers’ words, the US Constitution was meant as a living document

Pete Hegseth fires US navy chief of staff Jon Harrison, appointed in January, had been key to broad changes in military branch’s policy and budgeting offices

Pete Hegseth fires US navy chief of staff

Jon Harrison, appointed in January, had been key to broad changes in military branch’s policy and budgeting offices
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Supreme Court lets Noem end legal status for many Venezuelans in the U.S. The majority gave virtually no reasoning. The Democratic appointees objected, but only Justice Jackson wrote: "[Y]et another grave misuse of our emergency docket."

The Supreme Court’s majority has — in a total of five paragraphs over two orders — allowed Noem’s effort to end TPS for Venezuelans to proceed in opposition to seven rulings from seven judges, amounting to 227 pages of opinions.

No, numbers and pages aren’t ultimately what matters. But ...

"Every single week we have seen one-sided escalation from ICE. We come with songs and chants and signs. They come with tear gas and pepper bullets and flash bangs." @katmabu.bsky.social on ICE brutalizing protesters in Chicago.

Newsom chides USC to 'do the right thing' for academic freedom and resist Trump compact Gov. Newsom on Friday again waded into the controversy surrounding President Trump's higher education compact, which has roiled USC since being extended to the university.

Newsom chides USC to 'do the right thing' for academic freedom and resist Trump compact

BREAKING: A federal judge says there is a realistic likelihood that the prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was driven by vindictive motives — reflected in the public statements of Bondi, Blanche, Noem et al.

He has ordered discovery on the question.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Venezuela is ~1500 miles from the US. These boats have a range of 20-40% that distance.

Call this what it is: wanton killing, unsupported by law and unjustified by any principles of just war.

Will these 300,000 Venezuelans now be accused of being members of TDA and extracted from the US to be sent to prison in third countries? Shame on the Supreme Court - yet again.

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

NEW: A 20-year federal prosecutor, fired abruptly this week even as he lead case against Abbey Gate bomber, warns his colleagues: the Trump administration is sacrificing national security to purge Trump's perceived adversaries.

w/ @dnlbrns

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Treasury Plans to Mint $1 Commemorative Trump Coin

It is not clear that Mr. Trump’s image can be featured on a coin. An 1866 law enshrined a tradition that only deceased people could appear on U.S. currency to avoid the appearance that America was a monarchy. Trump admin is planning to do it anyway.
By Alan Rappeport

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...

Currently at:
— only buy tech too old to have AI built in
— painstakingly disable AI every time they add it to something that used to work perfectly well
— if it can't be switched off, abandon the platform or tool
— if there are no good alternatives, avoid the AI parts
— patiently wait for the crash

Getting Away with Murder | David Cole During his first presidential campaign Donald Trump famously claimed that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose

"But never before has a US president asserted the authority to order the cold-blooded execution of civilians outside any even arguable military conflict. And never before has a US president then turned around and boasted about his own crimes to the public at large." www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Pete Hegseth is bragging about bombing civilians to death in international waters, as a DOJ lawyer is in federal court arguing that Hegseth can call up the National Guard — as he did over the weekend in Portland — to send troops into U.S. cities for virtually any reason.

When the government doesn’t act in good faith, the courts shouldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt—known as the "presumption of regularity." @ngertner.bsky.social discusses the blatant examples of irregularity by the DOJ that are leaving judges skeptical.