Anjali Vats

I thoroughly enjoyed this low key food drama.

the Muppets have been real quiet since the Louvre heist

Amazing. Brilliant. Analogue.

No notes

In the SCOTUS oral argument about gutting the VRA because it might violate white people's right to be over-represented in Congress, there's a glaring irony in the fact that the lawyers arguing for racism are getting out-balanced time to speak without anybody acting like it's weird.

A few months later, Congress was considering a bill to appropriate $1,000 for a marble bust of Taney, to add to the collection of busts of previous chief justices on display in the Supreme Court’s chambers. But lawmakers objected strenuously to the idea of lifting even a finger to honor a man who, in the words of one, had spent his life fighting to place the entire country “under the iron rule of the slave-masters.” Sumner, evidently a world-class hater, predicted that Taney’s name would be “hooted down upon the page of history,” which would “fasten upon him the stigma he deserves.” Ohio Senator Benjamin Wade framed the question of whether to commission the Taney bust as a simple matter of fiscal responsibility, warning that his constituents would “pay $2,000 to hang this man in effigy rather than $1,000 to commemorate his merits.”

Try to live your life in such a way that when you die, sitting members of Congress do not immediately, publicly call you a stain on your profession and the office you held ballsandstrikes.substack.com/p/roger-tane...

So many of you get your authority by being white. That's it. You don't know any more than I do. You're not smarter than I am. You're just white and that grants you a level of authority that I am not granted without proving myself.

You're trading in white supremacy. You should think about that.

In social movement studies, we talk about how marches and protests expand the threshold of acceptable risk so that people take more and bigger social risks IN PUBLIC, EN MASSE. This is extremely important for the bourgeois white folks holding signs and building social rapport.

Flashback to April when we did a Race + IP thing! I haven't logged into bluesky since. But since people are in the streets, it seemed like high time! Stay tuned for more #CRTIP news!

“Who has the capacity to create?” Julia Nguyen (ucla) interrogating traditional IP concepts of creatorship at this weekends @raceip.bsky.social Race IP conference at Pitt Law (organized by my colleague Anjali Vats!)

Spotted at #LSAChicago2025: Anjali Vats @raceip.bsky.social's Color of Creatorship. Now added to my summer reading list!

We knew this was coming but also 😱

Oh hey Race + IP '25: Abolitionist Futures is LIVE! We're so ready to celebrate our fifth anniversary. 🎈

You can register here: www.raceipconference.org/2025

As always, the event is free to attend, with in person and virtual options. Everyone is welcome.

White people as a whole could stop this madness anytime...

Knight Institute Says Threats to Deport Student Protesters Pose “Existential Threat” to Universities

knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

This is really really bad because when I was at big law in 2001, a lot of people were repping patriot act detainees pro bono. This is how Trump makes sure no lawyers step up the way they did in airports in January 2017 when he issued the Muslim travel ban EO

Move right and lose.

For those keeping score:

www.project2025.observer

Louder for the folks that haven't taken it in:

THE US ISN'T A STARTUP!

Roses are red
And measles are too.
Thanks to RFK Jr,
Outbreaks just grew.

time to dig up the @adamkotsko.bsky.social tweet

Something I read today:
“Loving Corrections” by adrienne maree brown. #booksky @adriennemareebrown.bsky.social
“The good news is that we don’t need to be experts on every region to move with and towards humanity, connection, and solidarity.”

Funnest!

I feel like I'm seeing my career flash before my eyes beginning with the white nationalism work I was doing in 2004 through the tech work that I was doing until 2021.

I hate this timeline. Cheers! 🥸

This is a flyer for a March on Philadelphia City Hall on Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 17, 2025. At noon that information is presented in black font inside of a lavender circle. Darker purple rays alternate with lavender rays extending out from that circle. A black-and-white fist Appears on the right side of the flyer. At the top of the flyer is a black banner that says “the people demand change“ in white letters. Underneath that in smaller letters with words, alternating in white and purple font, it says “Deny the power. Defend the people. Depose the oligarchy.“ there is a QR code on the bottom left, but it does not provide helpful information. For more information about this and other related marches, follow @50501 movement.bsky.social.

This is a flyer for a peaceful March from the city Island to the capital steps in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on February 17, 2025 from 12 to 3 PM. The top of the flyer says “50 states 50 protests one day”. This is the slogan for the 50501 movement which you can follow on blue sky @50501. movement.bsky.social. The flyer is a white background with red and blue writing. in the background of the words is the capital building in Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

Here are flyers for Monday’s protests - one at Harrisburg and one at Philly City Hall. Follow @50501movement.bsky.social for more.

While 'warrior tech bros' are apparently all the rage, we'll need a different kind of technologist if we want to survive as a species and inhabit a livable world. We'll need #DesignJustice.

As the gutting of the federal workforce continues, including federal lawyers, one way state bars can help is providing waivers or provisional licensing for attorneys that will mostly be barred in DC.

Dear Attorney General Bondi: On February 10, 2025, I received a memorandum from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, directing me to dismiss the indictment against Mayor Eric Adams without prejudice, subject to certain conditions, which would require leave of court. I do not repeat here the evidence against Adams that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed federal crimes; Mr. Bove rightly has never called into question that the case team conducted this investigation with integrity and that the charges against Adams are serious and supported by fact and law. Mr. Bove's memo, however, which directs me to dismiss an indictment returned by a duly constituted grand jury for reasons having nothing to do with the strength of the case, raises serious concerns that render the contemplated dismissal inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts. When I took my oath of office three weeks ago, I vowed to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I was about to enter. In carrying out that responsibility, I am guided by, among other things, the Principles of Federal Prosecution set forth in the Justice Manual and your recent memoranda instructing attorneys for the Department of Justice to make only good-faith arguments and not to use the criminal enforcement authority of the United States to achieve political objectives or other improper aims. I am also guided by the values that have defined my over ten years of public service. You and I have yet to meet, let alone discuss this case. But as you may know, I clerked for the Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and for Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. Both men instilled in me a sense of duty to contribute to the public good and uphold the rule of law, and a commitment to reasoned and thorough analysis. I have always considered it my o…

READ Danielle Sassoon's letter to AG Pam Bondi, via @nytimes.com:

"Rather than be rewarded, Adams's advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case." static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics...