gelbach
gelbach.bsky.social
gelbach
@gelbach.bsky.social
Expert provider of lay opinions.

Day job: Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law at UC Berkeley Law. Opinions my own, not intended to represent UC's.
Has 85k followers but
I sometimes forget that this is a site whose user base is self-selected not just on substantive ideological commitments but also very particular views about the power of shunning.
December 9, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by gelbach
Hey folks 👋 I'm the reporter who revealed immigration agents detained 170+ citizens this year

My fellowship w/ProPublica has been incredible, but it wraps January. I'm looking for my next gig. Please reach out to share leads & opportunities! [email protected]
www.propublica.org/people/nicol...
Nicole Foy
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
www.propublica.org
December 8, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by gelbach
comments on here are off base. diamond has done some of the absolute best reporting in politics—especially in public health—for many, many years (including this year). making broad judgements about his character and work based on these two on-the-fly posts is ridiculous
washington post reporter code-switching on twitter and bluesky like a key & peele sketch
December 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by gelbach
@jamestalarico.bsky.social sent this video to his 10,000 volunteers:

“We will make the case for why we are best positioned to win this race — but we will always treat Congresswoman Crockett with the utmost respect. She is my colleague and she is a leader in our state. She deserves nothing less.”
December 9, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by gelbach
Say what you will about American capitalism, but it didn’t use to be like this. We will all be worse off as a result.
Affinity Partners, the private equity firm led by Jared Kushner, is part of Paramount's hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery.

Paramount is telling WBD shareholders that it has a smoother path to regulatory approval than does Netflix, and Kushner's involvement only strengthens that case
December 9, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Senator Cassidy‘s legacy
Kennedy has gone well beyond recruiting some contrarians with novel perspectives. He has populated the advisory committee almost exclusively with people with records of attacking vaccines. And this is what that gets you: lnk.thebulwark.com/4iMMsF6
This Is What It Looks Like When RFK Jr. Wins
His handpicked ‘experts’ just voted to roll back hepatitis B vaccine guidelines—and reverse a historic public health victory.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Reposted by gelbach
My constituent Any Lopez Belloza was wrongfully deported in shackles to Honduras without proper due process.

Now, the Trump Administration is sending ICE agents to threaten her family for speaking out.
December 9, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by gelbach
Monumental loss for RS, but you should subscribe immediately to @ohheybrittany.bsky.social newsletter, because there’s really no one in the biz doing it like her

open.substack.com/pub/brittany...
you're on your own, kid
❤️‍🩹
open.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Very heterodox
December 9, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by gelbach
The correct headline, the literally true headline, would be “Habba stops pretending to be New Jersey’s Top U.S. Prosecutor.”
December 9, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by gelbach
Sunstein posted an admirably frank essay yesterday on the Unitary Executive Theory:
How he participated in this elite bipartisan political consensus —
and how he has been persuaded by overwhelming historical evidence that he & other high-ranking lawyers were wrong.
open.substack.com/pub/casssuns...
The Unitary Executive
Notes on how people know things
open.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by gelbach
From Amnesty International:
December 8, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by gelbach
Standing room only at the California legislature hearing on AI and copyright, where @pamelasamuelson.bsky.social, Rishi Bommasani and I testified
December 9, 2025 at 1:11 AM
And others, too, apparently
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“The obstacles to achieving almost anything are enough to make any member who came to Washington with noble intentions ask: Why am I even here?,” Rep. Nancy Mace writes.
Opinion | Nancy Mace: Why The Republican House Isn’t Working
The system in the House promotes control by party leaders over accountability and achievement.
nyti.ms
December 9, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Reposted by gelbach
Let's see if we can get at least $500,000 for something that repudiates all that shit, shall we? gofund.me/2f12393af
December 9, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Real men stay awake during their North Korea-style hagiosessions
"Traditional masculinity is under attack these days"

Agree: 53%
Disagree: 30%

Neutral: 17%

Yale U. / Nov 11, 2025
December 9, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by gelbach
Noting that @rfisman.bsky.social and I wrote about this in the @nytimes.com, came out literally on the day of the inauguration… www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/o...
Opinion | TikTok, Trump and What Crony Capitalism Does to Our Economy
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by gelbach
This statement from the Talarico campaign is classy. Hope both candidates keep it up.
December 8, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by gelbach
“The attempted patriarchal mass murder of this woman’s career” is an interesting way to describe a bunch of underpaid/out-of-work, mostly women journalists expressing disgust with the unprofessional behavior of every person in the whole awful affair, who have been and continue to be rewarded for it
Possibly the only thing more freakish than Nuzzi's prose is the contortions her defenders twist themselves into. "She's not just hot, but she definitely is hot, while also being a vulnerable smol child. Also, criticizing her is sexist."
December 8, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by gelbach
I look forward to defending free speech from its progressive critics — and conservative assailants == as the Tanner Letures Nov. 12 and 13 @princeton.edu

A timely topic, sadly

lectures.princeton.edu/lectures/202...
Tanner Lecture on Human Values: David D. Cole
Progressives have increasingly lost faith in the First Amendment—at least as it has been interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court.  They argue that free speech has been “weaponized” by big busines...
lectures.princeton.edu
November 9, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by gelbach
They've actually been doing quite a few of them!
December 8, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by gelbach
They are now targeting people who did everything by the book and were literally at the ceremony where they were going to become citizens...

"Immigrants lined up to become U.S. citizens in Boston on Dec. 4 were pulled from line by USCIS officials moments before the oath ceremony"
Immigrants Approved for Citizenship ‘Plucked Out’ of Line Moments Before Pledging Allegiance: Report
Immigrants lined up to become U.S. citizens in Boston on Dec. 4 were pulled from line by USCIS officials moments before the ceremony. The incident comes after USCIS told employees to halt all immigrat...
people.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:45 AM
I believe it’s right around the corner according to Brooke Rollins
No no no this can't be right I was told the tariffs would lead to a Golden Age for the U.S. economy. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/u...
Trump Promises Farmers $12 Billion to Blunt Fallout From His Trade War
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by gelbach
I am pleased to announce another no-talent year!
December 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by gelbach
Let me just say: I have run more than a dozen marathons and an ultramarathon and I have worked 13-hour days in a cornfield in the scorching-ass sun, and none of those things broke me like breastfeeding.

It’s not a question of will. I am a determined person. Sometimes your body just WONT DO IT.
RFK Jr: "All of the ingenuity of corporate America has not produced an infant formula that is superior in nutrition and all the qualities that we want to the infant formula that God made, which is the infant formula in a mother's breast."
December 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM