Joshua Engel, Esq.

3/ I encountered many folks who, in the understandable desire to protect the free speech rights of students, were completely unwilling to acknowledge that the protests often relied on or included anti-Semitic tropes and language because they believed it would weaken First Amendment claims

2/ This works two ways

The usual way is that people are quick to abandon traditional free speech ideas when speech they don't like are at issue -- this is why I often teach that "free speech is for those we disagree with"

But I saw the opposite, too, when it came to Gaza protests ...

I ran into a similar problem when defending the free speech rights of student protesters

Many - including many college professors - had trouble with holding the ideas that
(1) many protests included anti-Semitic language and
(2) deserved full First Amendment protections ...

The ability of the FBI to arrest and return lawmakers to court is highly limited

Even *IF* the FBI arrested lawmakers on a federal crime, the Rules of Criminal Procedure generally require that suspects be brought before a Magistrate in the district of arrest, not in Texas

Low support for Supreme Court is not surprising for civil rights lawyers

Lawyers understand that public confidence is not necessarily hurt by partisan decisions (which have always happened), but abandonment of historic role of the Court as an anti-Democratic check which supports individual rights

Absolutely correct — yet most likely outcome remains

(1) when faced with both legal and extra-legal pressures from Republicans, Democrats will fold like a [insert favorite metaphor]

(2) Supreme Court will find a “reason” blue state, but not red, partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional

But, but, but… if reporters do as you suggest today they might lose some of the access they value more than anything else

You can see the dilemma reporters face…

Republicans Raise the Pressure on Texas Democrats to End Their Walkout

When the going gets tough… Democrats give up?

Message here — that if Republicans simply up the legal and extra-legal pressure, no matter how illegitimate — then Democrats will inevitably fold is so f’n depressing because it historically is true

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/u...

DOJ investigations are about more than “trying to frame an innocent man to stop people from talking about…his buddy Epstein”

Also are part of a broad project to delegitimize prosecutions of rich and powerful people/corporations so that all future gov’t enforcement can be dismissed as “partisan”

I defer to you on political considerations, but from the viewpoint of a legal observer, conservatives have been attacking the right to privacy that supported Griswald, Loving, Lawrence, Obergefell, Roe, etc… since I was in law school in mid-90s — I don’t see why they would back down now

bsky.app/profile/josh...

Thanks for asking!

Judge found that other side used AI and imposed $100 sanctions

To paraphrase Hemingway, it is pretty to think they won't overrule Obergefell

Just as it is pretty to think they won't overrule Griswald (right to contraception) and Lawrence (right to engage in consensual sex)

This is an appealing notion to certain DC elites that does not really reflect reality

The real problem will be if fading rank-and-file support for Israel is more anti-jews than anti-Netanyahu

Easy to test: For example, surveys could ask question like: "do you believe Jews in America have to much wealth and power"

Answer is difference between better policy and Corbyn-era Labour

Harvard Is Said to Be Open to Spending Up To $500 Million to Resolve Trump Dispute

I suspect most Harvard Alumni agree with me that the school should not give those Fuckin' Nimrods any money on General Principle

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...

A screenshot of a legal document from a court order. The text describes the court's findings and rulings regarding a brief that contained fake legal citations, generated in part by AI. Key points from the document: * The court acknowledges that the citations to case law in a brief are fake, constituting a fraud upon the Court and warranting sanctions. It also notes that fake citations create unnecessary legal work for the opposing party. * A party requested the court strike the pleading and order the filer to pay attorney fees. * The court found the request to strike the pleading was "not well taken" because the filing was a memorandum in support, not evidence, and exhibits attached were not admitted into evidence. * The court found the request for attorney fees "well taken." It took the court less than fifteen minutes to determine the reply brief was generated, in part, by AI, and that the citations were fake. * The court ordered the party who filed the fraudulent document to pay $100.00 as reimbursement for attorney fees to "Engel and Martin, LLC" within thirty days of the file-stamped date of the entry.

Happy #AI news: Opposing Party was sanctioned $100 for the use of AI in a Memo that included fake citations

"It took the Court less than fifteen minutes to determine the reply brief was generated, in part, by use of AI and that the citations were fake."

#lLawSky

In criminal law, we call abstract, hypothetical denials the "Shaggy Defense," after the hit song "It wasn't me"

My favorite example:

Me: That's you on the video with the gun, right?
Defendant: That's not me, could be my brother
Me: You don't have a brother
Defendant: That's still not me

The little known “Elasticity Corollary” to the Unitary Executive doctrine:

The unitary nature of the Executive Branch expands and contracts as necessary to please the Executive

Received my first obviously AI written brief from an opposing party, including hallucinated cases

Really, really, really looking forward to busting the authors and asking for sanctions

A high-angle close-up shot shows a brown and black duck, likely a hen, nesting in a shallow depression on the ground, surrounded by green grass, leafy plants, and small twigs. Her right side is visible, displaying iridescent blue feathers on her wing. Peeking out from under her, a small, fluffy yellow duckling with dark markings on its head is visible. To the left of the duck, a broken, pale brown eggshell with an orange-red interior is resting on the ground

Exciting news from Ohio: we have ducklings!

Instead of looking for perfect causation, better to criticize agency cuts as reckless,

Legal definition of reckless:

with heedless indifference to the consequences, the person disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the conduct is likely to cause a certain result

Remember, the Bible (Ezekiel 33:11-12) teaches God wishes not the death of sinners, "but rather that they turn from their ways and live”

I have experienced FBI cutbacks impacting my clients

This spring, I spoke to an FBI agent assigned to a state public corruption unit on behalf of a government employee hoping to initiate an investigation or get assistance, only to be told that all agents were about to be fired or reassigned

There’s a $2 billion break important to the rum industry and, tangentially, Louisiana, said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a tax writer. “We have the highest per capita intake of alcohol in the nation,” he said.

I have been to LSU football games…

Fact check: TRUE

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Great AI fail example:

Planning to make real vanilla ice cream, I asked when was the best time to add the vanilla beans — what AI gave me was a discussion of pairing vanilla ice cream with baked beans, which sounds absolutely terrible 👇

An under-reported impact of Medicaid cuts is in court ordered drug treatment

I was in a very Republican county for court the other day, and conservative judges were lamenting the Medicaid cuts in GOP bill will mean loss of housing and support for many sober living programs

Trump Administration Finds Harvard Violated Civil Rights Law

No inconsistency in believing Harvard failed to appropriately respond to anti-Semitism AND Admin is improperly using that fact to threaten 1st Amend rights

Law recognizes that heightened scrutiny and selective enforcement is a form of retaliation

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...

Recall that the Bible (Ezekiel 33:11-12) teaches God wishes not the death of sinners, "but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”

Consistent with this Teaching, we can maintain accountability for past misdeeds while also providing space for people to come around

Thank you for this … this is the content we need these days