Walter Olson

The President turning the military against Americans is a bigger story than the shutdown and media outlets should treat it accordingly.

This military should not be serving as a backdrop to this kind of speech.

181. Courts and Domestic Use of the Military In response to adverse judicial rulings, the President's advisers and supporters are claiming courts lack the power to halt domestic use of the military. A critical early precedent is to the contrary.

In light of Judge Immergut's ruling, there's a lot of noise today coming from the President's advisers and supporters about courts not having the power to provide prospective relief against domestic uses of the military.

Via "One First," me on the rather significant early precedent to the contrary:

As Lakier writes, the terms of the supposed Compact flagrantly violate the "unconstitutional conditions" part of First Amendment law. Self-respecting universities should not sign, and should not enter negotiations regarding any similar process demanding surrender of their historic independence.

Among demands on universities placed by Trump's "Compact" are “transforming or abolishing institutional units that … punish, belittle, and … spark violence against conservative ideas” and agreeing to punish some First Amendment-protected speech that purportedly supports murder or terrorist groups.

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’ Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

Apple yields to federal pressure. "ICEBlock is no different from crowd sourcing speed traps, which every notable mapping application, including Apple's own Maps app, implements as part of its core services. This is protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Federal judge halts Trump administration’s call-up of National Guard in Portland “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” wrote U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee.

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Coming Wednesday: online AEI panel on the FCC's targeting of broadcast content (such as the Jimmy Kimmel Show and 60 Minutes's Kamala Harris interview) with free speech expert Robert Corn-Revere of @thefireorg.bsky.social, @profdaniellyons.bsky.social and others

We reject military rule. We the American people, Conservatives and Liberals who disagree on many things, reject the filth of military rule. It will bring only poison to all of us.

Lawsuit Challenges Trump's $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee NA Yesterday, a broad coalition of groups filed the first lawsuit challenging President Trump's imposition of a $100,000 fee on…

First lawsuit challenging Trump's $100,000 visa fee has been filed. It argues fee goes against statutes, and also runs afoul of major questions and nondelegation doctrines. I hope plaintiffs win. For more, see my analysis here: reason.com/volokh/2025/...

Eugene Volokh has been serializing a new Emory Law Journal article in which he critically examines claims that online media may be regulated on the grounds that it provides an "addictive" experience for users. But the First Amendment allows for no such exception, and we should be glad it doesn't.

The Billionaire Behind Trump’s Deal for Universities

"The conservative ideas behind the Trump administration’s “compact” for universities were developed in part by Marc Rowan, a wealthy financier who has sought to shape higher education." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”

they’re intenionally advertising to and recruiting far right loyalists. they post and reply to explicit groyper memes. they’re not super subtle about what this government is

Broadview police chief accuses ICE agents of making false 911 calls Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said ICE agents are draining the resources of his department and the community by making false 911 calls.

Broadview police chief accuses ICE agents of making false 911 calls www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Federal agents knock down elderly couple during Portland protest An 84-year-old said she sustained a concussion and was hit with a projectile after she and her husband, a Vietnam vet, were knocked down by federal officers.

An 84-year-old said she sustained a concussion and was hit with a projectile after she and her husband, a Vietnam vet, were knocked down by federal officers.

A passage from the Debates at the Constitutional Convention quoted by Judge Karin Immergut in her decision blocking Trump's deployment of national guard units in Portland, OR.

Jesus Christ. DHS has held this guy in the hospital handcuffed to a bed and under constant guard for over a MONTH without ANY warrant or even ANY steps taken towards putting him into the removal system!

Get yourself a Congressperson who will codify Bivens.

All legal nonsense aside about the supposed state of armed conflict between the U.S. and Venezuelan gangs, what "I wish to emphasize is that there is a word for killings outside of armed conflict for which there is no domestic legal authority. That word is murder." [@benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org]

Judge Karin Immergut is a first-term Trump appointee and career prosecutor.

Legal Flaws in the Trump Administration’s Notice to Congress on “Armed Conflict” with Drug Cartels Top legal expert analyzes the Trump administration's notice to Congress of an "armed conflict" with drug cartels.

On why Trump's determination that the U.S. is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels is (i) wrong; and (ii) insufficient, in any event, to make legal the strikes against vessels in the Caribbean.

www.justsecurity.org/121844/trump...

Trump’s planned farm bailout should require congressional approval The Trump administration has already claimed the power to raise taxes without congressional approval. Now it is going to spend money that way too.

Under the Constitution, federal spending requires Congressional action through the appropriations process. If that is to mean anything, Trump must not be allowed to use a slush fund assembled from tariff revenues to do a farm bailout without Congress's affirmative say-so.

Don't forget that amid all his other wrongdoing Trump betrays the principle of national unity. He deploys federal power to make war on states that didn't vote for him, along with their populations.

Revoking IEEPA Tariffs Will Not “Lead to Financial Ruin” Tariffs likely don’t even cover the fiscal costs of Republicans’ flagship tax legislation, let alone meaningfully improve the broader fiscal picture.

Dominik Lett of @cato.org rebuts the ridiculous catastrophizing with which the administration pretends that striking down Trump's tariffs would plunge the nation into fiscal ruin (aside, that is, from the slow-motion ruin already being effected by policies other than tariffs).

Fifth Circuit Will Rehear Alien Enemies Act Case En Banc It will review a panel decision holding that Trump could not invoke this sweeping wartime authority by claiming illegal migration and drug smuggling qualify as an "invasion."

5th Circuit will review Trump's invocation of Alien Enemies Act (which can only be used in war, invasion, or predatory incursion) en banc. I filed amicus brief in this case on behalf of @brennancenter.org & @cato.org. I review dangerous implications of Trump position here: reason.com/volokh/2025/...

I know a fair number of judges personally and professionally. There is not a single one I would call a “far-left Democrat.”

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

Arkansas man seeks to have visa status restored after being arrested for ‘Opium’ perfume bottle Police thought bottle contained drugs and arrested Kapil Raghu, who was then taken into custody by Ice

I'm still just baffled at the sheer stupidity here.

“You got a vial of opium that was in your center console,” an officer told Raghu. “Go and take a seat.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

You.
Are.
Allowed.
To.
Insult.
The.
Police.

It’s a core First Amendment principle. This is utterly lawless behavior, for which there will be no (short-term) consequences.

That he does it so casually, as they are walking away, in front of cameras.

Rightly confident in his impunity.