Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) @hansilowang.bsky.social · 1h

NEW: Supreme Court's no longer set to discuss on Nov. 7 if it will hear North Dakota case on whether private individuals & groups — whose lawsuits have been main way of enforcing Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 — can keep suing. Change comes day after rehearing case on Section 2's constitutionality

Screen grab of the court docket showing:
"Oct 08 2025 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/7/2025.
Oct 16 2025 Rescheduled."

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

“the constitution forbids race conscious remedies” would be news to the people who wrote the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments

Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 1d

Griem goes there, arguing in response to Justice Jackson that there can be no race-conscious remedy absent a finding of intentional discrimination.

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

Justice Kavanaugh in the Callais oral argument keeps alluding to some longstanding requirement of strict scrutiny that use of race have a time limit. This is invented.

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Carolyn Shapiro @cshaplaw.bsky.social · 8d

I wrote about how SCOTUS facilitates autocratic legalism, as Scheppele describes, by invoking democratic values while ruling in anti-democratic ways, in my piece Democracy Hypocrisy.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 3d

Although the Callais case at SCOTUS involves a high-profile congressional redistricting dispute, important to remember that most Section 2 cases (2/3!) continue to involve local government bodies like city councils & school boards. - mostly challenges to at-large systems.

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Chris Seaman @cbseaman.bsky.social · 4d

Been listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl series on Audible! Currently on book 6 (of 7 so far).

Goddamnit donut, from dungeon crawler Carl

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Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 8d

The Turtle Mountain case has been distributed for the Supreme Court’s Nov. 7 conference.

Case is appeal by Native tribes seeking to overturn an 8th Circuit ruling that the Voting Rights Act cannot be enforced by individual voters through a private of action.

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ACLU @aclu.org · 8d

The public has a right to know how ICE is planning to expand its network of detention centers — especially when these centers hold thousands of our neighbors and loved ones in inhumane and unconstitutional conditions.

Civil rights group sues ICE for withholding records of the agency's detention expansion plans in Virginia

ICE solicited bids to expand detention in Virginia—then failed to respond to a public records request. Now, the ACLU is suing.

reason.com

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 9d

I’m a career prosecutor who took a $25,000 check from an affiliated entity of Donald Trump’s while investigating Trump University and later left my lobbying firm to become Donald Trump’s personal impeachment lawyer, White House aide, and Attorney General. So don’t you DARE question my integrity.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d

Bondi to Blumenthal: "You lied. How dare you? I'm a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial."

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Deborah McDowell @dem8z.bsky.social · 9d

“Any university leader who signs on to this compact wld betray everything good and solid about the university & would do deep and permanent harm to the United States & the world.”

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down newrepublic.com/article/2013... via @newrepublic.com

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 10d

A top Trump official accusing federal district court judges, "as a class," of engaging in insurrection is a profoundly dangerous development.

Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 10d

❗❗❗

Stephen Miller: "It's simply a factually accurate statement that when a judge assumes for him- or herself the powers that have been relegated or delegated by the Constitution to the president, that that is a form of illegal insurrection." ...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10d

Q: You called the judge's ruling 'legal insurrection.' Are you recommending the president take action against judges who rule against him?

STEPHEN MILLER: No. It's simply a factually accurate statement

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 11d

I was told not to teach a class on the intellectual histories of Zionism and Anti-Zionism next year - not because they doubted I could teach it fairly, but because it would attract too many politicians scrutinizing the syllabus.

A society where that is a valid fear is no longer fully democratic.

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Genevieve Lakier @genevievelakier.bsky.social · 13d

The Trump Administration’s “Compact of Excellence” for Universities is... far from excellent! Indeed, it’s unconstitutional. In this post, let me count the ways.

blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...

The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine and the Compact for Excellence

Members of the Trump administration love to say that federal funding is a privilege not a right and therefore something that can be granted or withheld based on changing administrative priorities.

blog.dividedargument.com

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 10d

We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11d

for any UVA folks that follow me you should circulate this among your networks balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 11d

Judge Immergut (my new favorite judge) issued her 31-page opinion, barring federalization of 200 National Guard troops in Portland, <48 hrs after entering the case. It’s a model of restrained but powerful prose & reasoning. Read it yourself ...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
1/3

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 11d

The very first statute authorizing domestic use of the military during domestic emergencies, enacted in 1792 by a Congress full of the same folks who wrote and ratified the Constitution, expressly provided for judicial review in certain circumstances *before* the President could even send troops.

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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 11d

There has been basically no (public) reckoning with the democratic strategists who said that "raising the salience" of immigration/deportations in ~March would help Trump, which was obviously wrong at the time and has been proved wrong over the last 6 months www.gelliottmorris.com/p/kilmar-abr...

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 13d

Incredible @perrybaconjr.bsky.social interview with Chris Van Hollen

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 13d

Here's an episode transcript.

www.npr.org/transcripts/...

Shutdown Day 3, No Jobs Report, Trump Pressures Universities : Up First from NPR

Senators are set to vote again on competing spending bills to fund the government, with neither side budging and looming consequences of a prolonged shutdown. The shutdown is also blinding businesses ...

www.npr.org

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 13d

News coverage of the Trump administration's proposed "compact" with universities has been, so far, shockingly bad.

I hate to pick on NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny, who's usually a solid reporter, but almost every important thing I heard her say this morning about the proposed "compact" was false.

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 13d

BREAKING: A federal judge says there is a realistic likelihood that the prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was driven by vindictive motives — reflected in the public statements of Bondi, Blanche, Noem et al.

He has ordered discovery on the question.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Chris Seaman @cbseaman.bsky.social · 13d

Love the convenience of early voting! In and out in just a couple of minutes. Get out the vote, Virginia!

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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 13d

“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.”

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.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Jamie Abrams @jrabrams.bsky.social · 13d

“The federal government should not, under any circumstances, dictate who goes to college, what can be researched,or learned, and what can or can’t be the subject of critical academic inquiry.”

Universities Must Reject Trump Admin "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda is entirely corrupt.

www.aaup.org

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 14d

The "compact" is a threat, with the administration explicitly stating that it plans to disfavor universities that don't sign in areas from foreign student visas, student loans, federal contracts as well as grants, and even tax [501(c)(3)] status.

It's a maximalist plan of 1st Amendment violation.

www.washingtonexaminer.com

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