Jamie Fox
@whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
570 followers 550 following 1.6K posts
Law professor. A skeptic, not a cynic. https://www.stetson.edu/law/faculty/home/james-fox.php
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whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Further note to baby lawyers: if you work for this admin and you think your prosecutorial decisions should be based on evidence, well, you won’t work for this admin. bsky.app/profile/klas...
klasfeldreports.com
Extraordinary NYT story:

Trump’s DOJ pressured out another US Attorney in WESTERN Virginia for finding that a grand jury probe his bosses demanded was unwarranted.

They wanted a case discrediting the Russia probe — evidence be damned. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...
U.S. Attorney Was Forced Out After Clashes Over How to Handle Russia Inquiry
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Jamie Fox
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
...parental rights was the other key defense against bans on trans medical care for kids (Skrmetti). There the Court simply refused to consider the question. It inconvenienced them so they pretended it did not exist. Parental rights are reserved for conservative Christians, it seems.
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
MJS rightly points out that Thomas and Alito are relying on a SDP doctrine that they elsewhere (Dobbs) reject. It is all instrumentalism with them all the time. But even worse here b/c...
mjsdc.bsky.social
Alito, joined by Thomas and Gorsuch, suggest that public schools violate the Constitution when they help a student transition (by acknowledging them as trans) without their parents' knowledge or consent.

Would force schools to out trans kids to their parents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
JONATHAN LEE, ET AL. v. POUDRE
SCHOOL DISTRICT R–1
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED
STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
No. 25–89. Decided October 14, 2025
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
Statement of JUSTICE ALITO, with whom JUSTICE
THOMAS and JUSTICE GORSUCH join, respecting the denial
of certiorari.
I concur in the denial of certiorari because petitioners do
not challenge the ground for the ruling below. But I remain
concerned that some federal courts are “tempt[ed]” to avoid
confronting a “particularly contentious constitutional questio[n]”: whether a school district violates parents’ fundamental rights “when, without parental knowledge or consent, it encourages a student to transition to a new gender
or assists in that process.” Parents Protecting Our Children, UA v. Eau Claire Area School Dist., 604 U. S. ___,
___–___ (2024) (ALITO, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari) (slip op., at 1–2) (citing Troxel v. Granville, 530 U. S.
57, 70 (2000) (plurality opinion)). Petitioners tell us that
nearly 6,000 public schools have policies—as respondent allegedly does—that purposefully interfere with parents’ access to critical information about their children’s genderidentity choices and school personnel’s involvement in and
influence on those choices. Pet. for Cert. 24. The troubling—and tragic—allegations in this case underscore the
“great and growing national importance” of the question
that these parent petitioners present. Parents Protecting
Our Children, 604 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 1).
Reposted by Jamie Fox
larryglickman.bsky.social
Just as much important Reconstruction legislation was undone in stages and over many decades—which is what makes dating the start of the Jim Crow era difficult to state with certainty—so too has the deconstruction of the landmark legislation of the civil rights era been a long-term process.
Reposted by Jamie Fox
evanbernick.bsky.social
Now on @ssrn.bsky.social, forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review. “Alas,” I think Akhil Amar’s new book, “Born Equal,” is not a success and I explain why at great length. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Amar is an engaging writer and a splendid storyteller. Alas—to borrow one of Amar's favorite interjections— even at 736 pages, Born Equal omits too much of importance, even as it advertises itself as the definitive account of its subject matter. The result of Amar's attempt to fit an entire century's worth of American constitutionalism into a coherent narrative is never boring. But ultimately, it reveals more about the mapmaker than the territory. Despite Amar's professed commitments to democracy and equality, Born Equal slights the democratic work of multitudes of people who have transformed our constitutional order without sharing Amar's constitutional faith. And it obscures inequalities that will persist as long as the cult to which
Amar demands fealty.
Reposted by Jamie Fox
mikesacks.bsky.social
Kavanaugh: don’t worry, brown citizens, racist ICE stops will be brief

Roberts: don’t worry, Black voters, things have changed in the South

Kennedy: don’t worry, America, corporate cash cannot corrupt our democracy

Reality: Wrong, wrong, and wrong. Care to reconsider?

Roberts Court: No.
KAVANAUGH, J., concurring
"relevant factor" when considered along with other salient factors. Id., at 887.
Under this Court's precedents, not to mention common sense, those circumstances taken together can constitute at least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United States. Importantly, reasonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status. If the person is a U.S citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter. Only if the person is illegally in the United States may the stop lead to further immigration proceedings.
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Further note to baby lawyers: if you work for this admin you will be practicing in a sea of incompetents. The good news is it may limit the damage. The bad news is, well, incompetence. bsky.app/profile/empt...
emptywheel.bsky.social
Here's what prosecutors--PROSECUTORS!!!--said last week about why they had not given Sydney Reid video to her alleged assault of an FBI agent.

She's seeking to get her case thrown out before it goes to trial this week.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
There can be little doubt that the government failed in its duties, first by failing to collect
contemporaneous statements and other information from the officers from the incident and then
by neglecting to supervise the collection of that information, by relying on the officers’ conclusion
as to what is relevant and not relevant. Still, the government persists in trying to blame the defense.
Even at the hearing, the government deflected blame: “The ambiguity, I think, that arises here is
that we are trying to construct a very mundane incident three months after it happened involving,
I guess for lack of a better word, middle-aged people who just aren't great with technology, just
like everyone else in this courtroom.” Tr. at 10/10/25 at 14
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Kevin Cash sitting at home: “about time for Roberts to sit Blake Snell”
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
When you lose Newsmax…
joncooper-us.bsky.social
News organizations including The New York Times, The Associated Press and the conservative Newsmax television network said Monday they will not sign a Defense Department document about its new press rules, making it likely the Trump administration will evict their reporters from the Pentagon.
New York Times, AP, Newsmax among news outlets who say they won't sign new Pentagon rules
News organizations including The New York Times, The Associated Press and the conservative Newsmax television network said Monday they will not sign a Defense Department document about its new press r...
www.aol.com
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Steve is such a treasure. Excellent piece on the Court’s current practices and its defenders. To me this is a key point - revealing the fundamental lawlessness of its behavior. Literally, it is not applying the relevant law. There is no defense of this that any law professor should condone.
The question is why the justices can’t be bothered to even briefly (1) identify the proper standard for granting the relief the Trump administration is seeking; and (2) explain why proper application of that standard to the case at hand warrants granting the requested relief, even on an interim basis.
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
I am neither Catholic nor especially religious (though I have long been adjacent to both). But it seems to me that this is exactly the type of voice of faith we need and I am thrilled to see it. Some good critique of certain strands of academic views of poverty programs.
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Pope Leo’s statement on poverty is quite a banger. Highly recommended. www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
94. We need to be increasingly committed to resolving the structural causes of poverty. This is a pressing need that “cannot be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises. Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely provisional responses.” [97] I can only state once more that inequality “is the root of social ills.” [98] Indeed, “it frequently becomes clear that, in practice, human rights are not equal for all.” [99]

95. As it is, “the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not appear to favor an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less talented to find opportunities in life.” [100] The same questions keep coming back to us. Does this mean that the less gifted are not human beings? Or that the weak do not have the same dignity as ourselves? Are those born with fewer opportunities of lesser value as human beings? Should they limit themselves merely to surviving? The worth of our societies, and our own future, depends on the answers we give to these questions. Either we regain our moral and spiritual dignity or we fall into a cesspool. Unless we stop and take this matter seriously, we will continue, openly or surreptitiously, “to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption.” [101]
Reposted by Jamie Fox
kylegriffin1.bsky.social
The Trump administration has been spreading anti-vaccine propaganda for months. Tonight, Trump's physician announced he just received a flu shot and a COVID booster.
Reposted by Jamie Fox
anneapplebaum.bsky.social
Congratulations to Maria Corina Machado, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize - her incredible optimism has already changed her country. I spoke to her, and wrote about her, at the beginning of this year:
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
The ‘Anthropological Change’ Happening in Venezuela
Maduro is still in place, but a pro-democracy movement is transforming the beleaguered country.
www.theatlantic.com
Reposted by Jamie Fox
nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
You must defer to the president’s determination that there is an armed rebellion in Chicago, argues the govt’s lawyer.

That’s the Trump admin’s stance on everything. When the law doesn’t allow it, lie about the facts until it’s something that would be legal, then insist others live inside the lie.
heathercherone.bsky.social
Perry: DOJ's definition of rebellion would mean that
"literally all nonviolent protest” could be considered evidence of rebellion. Is that your argument?
Hamilton: The president has determined there is a danger of a rebellion, and you must defer to that finding
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Certain law professors writing on American history in order to be cited by SCOTUS
atrupar.com
RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Great shot by Wilson to win.
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Busily flipping between baseball and the W. Some serious balling going on in Phoenix this 4th Q.
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
Further note to baby lawyers: If you work for this admin you will find yourself indicting people before you have gathered the evidence of a crime. bsky.app/profile/radl...
radleybalko.bsky.social
The obvious question here is how you can indict when you're "just getting your hands around" the evidence.
annabower.bsky.social
At one point during the hearing, the judge asked the prosecution why the case can’t be tried before mid-December.

Lemons replied: We are “just getting our hands around” discovery in the case.

There’s lots of it, he added, and it includes a “significant” amount of classified information.
whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social
The pro-life party is a death cult. bsky.app/profile/donm...
donmoyn.bsky.social
The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."