With respect to Erwin, this is just wrong. The Marshals are required by law "to obey, execute, and enforce all orders of the [federal courts]." Courts can appoint individuals outside the executive branch to enforce civil contempt orders. Stop complying in advance.
Sneaking in a shameless self cite here, but still relevant: harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
@narosenblum.bsky.social , Lev Menand, and I give some sense of the longer term trends that eased the way for dismantling the state.
You need political muscle memory to defend the state and the role of government. Democrats since Clinton have had at best an inconsistent approach to arguing the state matters and that government does essential, lifesaving work. Too many holdovers from a prior era to do that. The party needs renewal
Read this. Trump is claiming inherent power to name an acting head of a Senate confirmed board, where the Vacancies Act doesn’t apply (and there’s no agency succession provision). Forget removal. This is Appointments Clause madness. Means he could name folks to MSPB and NLRB without the Senate.
Judge Howell rejects Trump's attempt to remove NLRB Commissioner Wilcox and rejects Trump's extreme version of the unitary executive theory.
Spot-on citations to the real history by @jdmortenson.bsky.social @kexelchabot.bsky.social, among others - Awesome!
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
chasing bigotries is just a total political dead end. okay, today’s it is trans people. tomorrow it is black people in positions of influence. then it’s immigrants and refugees and so on and so forth.
With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:
This is what competitive authoritarianism looks like www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/u...
The order is straightforwardly illegal. It doesn't "push any limits"; it refuses the very idea of a limit. @nytimes.com continues to fail its readers. For a publication that prides itself on being the voice of "respectable opinion", it's completely irresponsible.
reporters stop writing entire articles premised on the idea that musk is in charge of DOGE without also mentioning that the government has claimed in court that he’s not in charge of DOGE and that he’s not even an employee of DOGE and that he doesn’t have any decision-making authority challenge
And any lawyer or philosopher can tell you — some forms recklessness are so bad they might as well be intentional. “Oh we’re just asking questions” doesn’t cut it.
Here we have an argument that no serious historian or lawyer sees as plausible (the 14A does not protect br citizenship) and they are making arguments very publicly to try and legitimize them and harm people the regime has villainized and targeted. Even at our most charitable, it’s reckless.
And just to be consistent — I don’t think Wechsler post-Brown was being responsible in critiquing it for a lack of neutrality. I also think this makes critiquing Ely post-Roe less straightforward than these authors. The future of abortion rights were still uncertain; imprudent but not bad faith
While academics (and everyone, really) sometimes have to argue against really horrible things, we shouldn’t take seriously bad faith arguments for horrible things.
One easy tell for bad faith is political opportunism. These authors are opportunists risking harm to millions in pursuit of clout.
What do you call an institutionalist who consistently makes decisions that undermine the institution?
(I’ve never bought the label but many more hopeful people have.)
Millennials are a goldilocks generation raised in the narrow window between leaded gasoline and social media and hooooo boy is that showing these days
Cannot emphasize enough how much the press is failing us. The state is being disemboweled and there will be a lot of suffering and these columnists are playing a game.
You: Oh my god the house is on fire!
Me (wise, has read books): And you're surprised? Houses have been on fire before [as the flames consume us both] Furthermore,
If transgender service members don't voluntarily agree to resign, they'll be forced by the Defense Department to repay the signing bonuses they received at enlistment. Not only will they be fired, they'll be punished with thousands of dollars in debt. All for attempting to serve their country.
On the HHS Leadership call today: 1 employee from CMS (Center for Medicare/Medicaid Service) and 2 employees from SSA (Social Security Administration) have died by suicide after their firing.
Lina Khan and the neo-Brandeisians are looking very wise today.
The language, as described, is superfluous. It is already constitutional and federal statutory law that the administration must spend the money that Congress appropriates. Congress’s power of the purse fundamental to our system of government. And yet, it’s a red line for Republicans to include it.
FED. WORKERS: I am collecting data on agency instructions w.r.t the OPM email. I am seeking the following: (1) Your agency and bureau, (2) who sent the instruction, (3) whether you were told to reply, (4) a screenshot of the instruction for verification (anonymize) (if possible). Signal: Nbednar.46.
If you’re wondering why I declined to talk to the NYTimes, then you haven’t been following my account for very long.
They bear a direct responsibility for the current situation we find ourselves in, and I responded by laying out my position and that I would only talk to @jamellebouie.net
Americans overwhelmingly want Trump to follow court rulings if they conclude he has overstepped legal bounds.
From a new WaPo survey: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Step two in converting constitutional democracy into clientelism.
Trump declared himself above the law today. Literally announced it. Pinned it to his feed for emphasis. The White House reposted it. All to underscore it’s not some passing thought, which would be bad enough.
It’s not the top story on any news site that I can find.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
