Paul Blumenthal

"A huge problem with the modern world, if you’ll permit me, is a confusion between arts and sciences: people try to apply scientific principles to the arts, and vice versa, with the result being a giant muddle." 👍

Trump’s War on Big Law Means It’s Harder to Challenge the Administration Some of America’s largest law firms are refusing to take pro bono and paid legal work from groups that seek to hold the government to account on issues like environmental protection, LGBTQ+ rights and...

New from me: Big Law is fearful of representing anyone Trump sees as his enemies, and it's thwarting challenges to his agenda.

“There are cases that aren’t being brought at a time when civil rights abuses are maybe at the highest they’ve been.” www.propublica.org/article/trum...

That's possible

So moldbug and big balls stories are total fiction bsky.app/profile/eric...

It Took Trump Seven Years To Expel Epstein After Learning About ‘Stolen’ Staff The president brags that he broke with the child sex trafficker after discovering that he was raiding his ‘help’ but leaves out how long that took.

NEW -- I asked Trump why it took SEVEN years from the time Epstein started "stealing" the help from Mar-a-Lago to when he was finally kicked off the membership roll there.

This was his answer: "I don't understand your question."

www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Nuclear weapons, a famously understated fear

And some more on the Trump-Maxwell relationship, which included young women passing between Trump and Maxwell-Epstein www.huffpost.com/entry/ghisla...

Trump Administration Won’t Say Why It Transferred Ghislaine Maxwell To A Minimum-Security Prison The White House denied that Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice has received preferential treatment.

More on how the Trump admin can't explain why Maxwell was transferred to Club Fed www.huffpost.com/entry/ghisla...

This comment the White House gave to @delaneyrules.bsky.social raises more questions than it purports to answer.

Was Maxwell subject to "death threats, and significant safety and danger concerns?"

That's a new one with no evidence offered to back it up.

www.huffpost.com/entry/ghisla...

My theory is that if we taxed most of these people without telling them and the people they pay to manage their money didn't tell them, they'd never notice.

And if you'd never notice you should be taxed even more.

Not fleeing: New report shows more wealthy residents in Mass., 2 years into 'millionaire's tax' Despite previous concerns, Massachusetts' "millionaire's tax" hasn't seemed to deter high-earners from continuing to live here, according to a new study from the Institute for Policy Studies.

MA put in a 4% millionaires tax 2 years ago, & the GOP said we'd miss revenue targets & millionaires would flee. MA collected TWICE the projected revenues, & the number of millionaires went UP 40%.
www.wbur.org/news/2025/04...

From this weekend's @huffpost.com Must Reads: What happens to the women ICE detains?

www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-de...

Pro Soccer Player Who Spent 125 Days At CECOT Gives Chilling Account Of His Time There “Both the physical and mental abuse doled out by the officers made me think sometimes that I would never leave that place,” Jerce Reyes Barrios said.

Trump sent Jerce Reyes Barrios to CECOT without charge, indefinitely, over a Real Madrid-inspired tattoo and a "rock&roll" hand signal. Jerce told us his story. (& he wants the world to know: “I’ll always be a fan of Real Madrid”)

w/ @jessicaschulberg.bsky.social www.huffpost.com/entry/pro-so...

Donald Trump Has A Plan To Disrupt The Next Election — And It's Like Nothing Seen Before This time the call is coming from inside the White House — and that should scare you more than anything.

Donald Trump's actions around voting, elections and targeting of civil society add up to a "concerted effort" to disrupt future elections, according to a new @brennancenter.org report. Here are the details on how this could all play out and be stopped www.huffpost.com/entry/donald...

I don't think enough good things can be said about the people who worked hard to build the political pressure for his and everyone else's release, including senator van hollen. otoh there is no bottom to my contempt for the people who were urging the opposite course of action

Pro Soccer Player Who Spent 125 Days At CECOT Gives Chilling Account Of His Time There “Both the physical and mental abuse doled out by the officers made me think sometimes that I would never leave that place,” Jerce Reyes Barrios said.

pro soccer player Jerce Reyes Barrios followed all the rules when he came to the US. His lawyer told took his asylum case bc it seemed like a "slam dunk. Then US officials sent him to CECOT, where he was told he'd spend the rest of his life

w/@mattshuham.bsky.social www.huffpost.com/entry/pro-so...

First Epstein, then his "model agency" partner Brunel who also died by hanging in his jail cell and then...

John Roberts signals intention to finish the job - Lawyers, Guns & Money The bait: John Roberts rules Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional, but don’t worry, “Section 2 is permanent, applies nationwide, and is not at issue in this case.” The switch — “whoo...

Shorter John Roberts: "Section 2 of the 15th Amendment violates the 15th and 14th Amendments.” www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/08/john...

Breaking: Supreme Court, in Order Asking for Additional Briefing in Louisiana Voting Case, Appears to Put the Constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act into Question #ELB The Supreme Court just issued this order: Louisiana had to create that second majority-minority district in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act, as it had been found to face Section 2 VRA liabi...

****Breaking:**** Supreme Court, in Order Asking for Additional Briefing in Louisiana Voting Case, Appears to Put the Constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act into Question electionlawblog.org?p=151301

CORDER LIST: 606 U.S.) FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2025 24-109 24-110 ORDER IN PENDING CASES LOUISIANA V. CALLAIS, PHILLIP, ET AL. ROBINSON, PRESS, ET AL. V. CALLAIS, PHILLIP, ET AL. The parties are directed to file supplemental briefs addressing the following question raised on pages 36-38 of the Brief for Appellees: Whether the State's intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution. Supplemental briefs for appellants are due on or before Wednesday, August 27, 2025. Supplemental brief for appellees is due on or before Wednesday, September 17, 2025. Reply briefs are due on or before 2 p.m., Friday, October 3, 2025. The time to file amicus curiae briefs is as provided for by this Court's Rule 37.3. Word limits and cover colors for the briefs should correspond to the provisions of this Court's Rule 33.1(g) pertaining to briefs on the merits rather than to the provision pertaining to supplemental

😬The Supreme Court will consider whether the intentional creation of a majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments.

If the answer is yes, SCOTUS will effectively declare that what remains of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. This is very, very ominous.

I don't think there's anything abnormal about these revisions. Revisions happen all the time. These aren't even abnormally large revisions.

They're going to cook the books now

HOLY SHIT

i mean in this sense no one has ever been fascist because everything has always been fascist. it's a complete rejection of definitions. bizarre. (should have just stuck with 2008 being an unhinging moment.)

precisely

that was my initial reaction when i heard about this whole thing so yeah.

Need to add a "don't care" option

Correct

The People Being Arrested By ICE That No One’s Talking About The Trump administration’s deportation machine is detaining immigrant women at record numbers — and they've become invisible targets.

This is another must read from another HuffPost colleague, @alannavagianos.bsky.social.

Do not miss.
www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-de...

NEW FROM @reuters.com: Top U.S. law firms have sharply scaled back their efforts to challenge the federal government in court, especially on behalf of pro bono clients, in the face of threats from President Trump.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...