Michael Pastor
@mikejpastor.bsky.social
Law, tech, policy.
Dean for Technology Law, Professor, New York Law School.
Views, mine.
Dean for Technology Law, Professor, New York Law School.
Views, mine.
Untreated mental health issues.
Red flag laws that don't work.
Easy access to guns to kill people.
The rest is bigotry.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Red flag laws that don't work.
Easy access to guns to kill people.
The rest is bigotry.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
December 3, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Untreated mental health issues.
Red flag laws that don't work.
Easy access to guns to kill people.
The rest is bigotry.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Red flag laws that don't work.
Easy access to guns to kill people.
The rest is bigotry.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
It's difficult to quantify the dishonor you do the FBI agents who risked hard to work the case, the federal prosecutors who successfuly tried it, and the jury of Americans who deliberated and then found the defendant guilty when you issue a pardon like this.
December 2, 2025 at 3:22 PM
It's difficult to quantify the dishonor you do the FBI agents who risked hard to work the case, the federal prosecutors who successfuly tried it, and the jury of Americans who deliberated and then found the defendant guilty when you issue a pardon like this.
This is super. Crossfire was the *worst* show. The vitriolic content managed to make you dumb and angry. They also always managed to pick the dullest, dimwitted person to represent the left on any issue.
December 1, 2025 at 6:53 PM
This is super. Crossfire was the *worst* show. The vitriolic content managed to make you dumb and angry. They also always managed to pick the dullest, dimwitted person to represent the left on any issue.
Have attorneys at the US Department of Justice had a more woeful record in federal court in any year other than this one? Hard to prove but also hard to doubt.
"The problem for the Government is the lack of textual support for its position."
Translation: the Government just made that shit up.
Translation: the Government just made that shit up.
BREAKING: 1st appeals court decision on controversial temporary US Attorney installations goes against Trump, 3-0. 3rd Circuit rejects bid to make Trump lawyer Alina Habba acting US attorney. Restrepo/ Smith/Fisher (Obama/GWB/GWB) Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
December 1, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Have attorneys at the US Department of Justice had a more woeful record in federal court in any year other than this one? Hard to prove but also hard to doubt.
Those who oppose trans rights usually rely on insidious bad faith. Those, like me, who vigorously defend trans rights ought not do the same. To the contrary! We should be better. I agree with Anthony here. (And no I'm not defending the university.)
December 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Those who oppose trans rights usually rely on insidious bad faith. Those, like me, who vigorously defend trans rights ought not do the same. To the contrary! We should be better. I agree with Anthony here. (And no I'm not defending the university.)
Reposted by Michael Pastor
Useful explainer for media covering the boat strikes. Here’s the gist:
It’s not an armed conflict, so the boat strikes are murder.
If it were an armed conflict, targeted killing of civilians is a war crime.
EVEN IF these are combatants in an armed conflict, killing the shipwrecked is a war crime.
It’s not an armed conflict, so the boat strikes are murder.
If it were an armed conflict, targeted killing of civilians is a war crime.
EVEN IF these are combatants in an armed conflict, killing the shipwrecked is a war crime.
Excellent explainer by the inimitable @tessbridgeman.bsky.social, @rgoodlaw.bsky.social, and @mikeschmitt.bsky.social
Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors: An Expert Backgrounder
An expert backgrounder on the reported Hegseth "no quarter" order to kill everyone aboard a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2.
www.justsecurity.org
December 1, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Useful explainer for media covering the boat strikes. Here’s the gist:
It’s not an armed conflict, so the boat strikes are murder.
If it were an armed conflict, targeted killing of civilians is a war crime.
EVEN IF these are combatants in an armed conflict, killing the shipwrecked is a war crime.
It’s not an armed conflict, so the boat strikes are murder.
If it were an armed conflict, targeted killing of civilians is a war crime.
EVEN IF these are combatants in an armed conflict, killing the shipwrecked is a war crime.
There are times when one might wonder if our glorious experient in constitutional governance under the rule of law is in peril, but reading this short, airtight rebuke from a federal judge is not one of those times. /1
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
‘Unusual and possibly unprecedented’: Judge calls out Chicago feds as Midway Blitz cases fall apart
Prosecutors have dropped charges against all five people charged in connection with Sept. 27 protests at the immigration holding facility in west suburban Broadview.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
There are times when one might wonder if our glorious experient in constitutional governance under the rule of law is in peril, but reading this short, airtight rebuke from a federal judge is not one of those times. /1
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Paging all my Con Law experts on here. An Executive Order alleging a Commerce Clause violation does not make it so. States absolutely have power to regulate technology that impacts their residents. (ht @makenakelly.bsky.social @mzeff.bsky.social @wired.com)
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Trump Takes Aim at State AI Laws in Draft Executive Order
The draft order, obtained by WIRED, instructs the US Justice Department to sue states that pass laws regulating AI.
www.wired.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Paging all my Con Law experts on here. An Executive Order alleging a Commerce Clause violation does not make it so. States absolutely have power to regulate technology that impacts their residents. (ht @makenakelly.bsky.social @mzeff.bsky.social @wired.com)
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
A key duty and indeed arguably the most important, consequential duty of a university professor. Untenable that this man retains access to the front of a classroom.
I spoke with the Boston Globe about the Summers situation
TLDR: other professors like myself can no longer trust Summers to perform a key duty of a university professor, which is to advise & mentor students
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/18/m...
TLDR: other professors like myself can no longer trust Summers to perform a key duty of a university professor, which is to advise & mentor students
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/18/m...
Long a coveted voice, Larry Summers withdraws from a half-dozen groups amid Epstein ties. Harvard’s not among them. - The Boston Globe
Former Harvard president Larry Summers is no longer affiliated with a series of centers and think tanks with which he’s long been involved, officials confirmed Tuesday.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:39 PM
A key duty and indeed arguably the most important, consequential duty of a university professor. Untenable that this man retains access to the front of a classroom.
Yes. Is Summers in front of the classroom with Kennedy School students right now? This week? How can that be tolerated?
This is some horrifying predatory shit.
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
November 17, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Yes. Is Summers in front of the classroom with Kennedy School students right now? This week? How can that be tolerated?
💯
And if a majority of the Supreme Court reasonably analyzes the applicable federal statutes, there will be *zero* tariff revenue absent further Congressional action.
And if a majority of the Supreme Court reasonably analyzes the applicable federal statutes, there will be *zero* tariff revenue absent further Congressional action.
It can be hard to do math in your head, while standing up, on national television. Nerve-wracking, too. But even so, in twenty seconds on the air, I did a better job than the President in costing his latest idea and figuring out whether his new idea of a $2,000 rebate check will work. (It won't.)
November 10, 2025 at 1:59 PM
💯
And if a majority of the Supreme Court reasonably analyzes the applicable federal statutes, there will be *zero* tariff revenue absent further Congressional action.
And if a majority of the Supreme Court reasonably analyzes the applicable federal statutes, there will be *zero* tariff revenue absent further Congressional action.
"The FBI describes a few signs of impersonation: forged or mismatched credentials, outdated protective gear, and cloned vehicle markings." Good luck to your average citizen sorting this out when a gaggle of masked men approach! Must-read via the @wired.com team, who continue to crush so many beats.
New: The FBI is quietly urging ICE agents to properly ID themselves in the field.
In a bulletin to law enforcement last month, it warned of criminals posing as ICE to rob, rape, kidnap—a problem it says now demands national coordination to confront.
By me & @carolinehaskins.bsky.social:
In a bulletin to law enforcement last month, it warned of criminals posing as ICE to rob, rape, kidnap—a problem it says now demands national coordination to confront.
By me & @carolinehaskins.bsky.social:
FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves
In a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, the FBI said criminal impersonators are exploiting ICE’s image and urged nationwide coordination to distinguish real operations from fakes.
www.wired.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:48 PM
"The FBI describes a few signs of impersonation: forged or mismatched credentials, outdated protective gear, and cloned vehicle markings." Good luck to your average citizen sorting this out when a gaggle of masked men approach! Must-read via the @wired.com team, who continue to crush so many beats.
"Do no harm" applies to doctors but it ought to apply to those with law licenses too tbh.
"[T]he well” has not 'run dry' on SNAP. The program has a reserve of about $6B that could fully fund SNAP for several more weeks. The USDA’s current position is that these funds 'are not legally available to cover regular benefits' [...] This, however, directly contradicts [recent USDA] guidance."
Choosing to let kids go hungry
The USDA asserts that Democrats are blocking funding to secure “health care for illegal immigrants” and funding for “gender mutilation procedures.” All of these claims are false.
popular.info
October 29, 2025 at 3:48 PM
"Do no harm" applies to doctors but it ought to apply to those with law licenses too tbh.
In order to pass signature legislation to increase affordable health care options President Obama fought tooth and nail to get to sixty votes in the Senate, conceding many points along the way. Johnson and Thune should be working day and night for the same goal. They choose dereliction instead.
JOHNSON: “.. The pain register is about to hit level 10.”
@politico.com #Shutdown
www.politico.com/live-updates...
@politico.com #Shutdown
www.politico.com/live-updates...
October 28, 2025 at 5:03 PM
In order to pass signature legislation to increase affordable health care options President Obama fought tooth and nail to get to sixty votes in the Senate, conceding many points along the way. Johnson and Thune should be working day and night for the same goal. They choose dereliction instead.
Shoutout to the Wikimedia Foundation and to @wikipedia.org, one of the most beautiful, user-informed information sources the internet has ever seen. A veritable miracle.
October 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Shoutout to the Wikimedia Foundation and to @wikipedia.org, one of the most beautiful, user-informed information sources the internet has ever seen. A veritable miracle.
"...when Patrick Henry expressed concern that the President 'may easily become king,' James Madison replied that this would not occur because '[t]he purse is in the hands of the
representatives of the people,'" - Federal Circuit in the tariff opinion.
www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-ord...
representatives of the people,'" - Federal Circuit in the tariff opinion.
www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-ord...
www.cafc.uscourts.gov
October 27, 2025 at 7:40 PM
"...when Patrick Henry expressed concern that the President 'may easily become king,' James Madison replied that this would not occur because '[t]he purse is in the hands of the
representatives of the people,'" - Federal Circuit in the tariff opinion.
www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-ord...
representatives of the people,'" - Federal Circuit in the tariff opinion.
www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-ord...
Reposted by Michael Pastor
perfect subject/writer pairing and a must-read www.wired.com/story/ai-pr-...
Ed Zitron Gets Paid to Love AI. He Also Gets Paid to Hate AI
He’s one of the loudest voices of the AI haters—even as he does PR for AI companies. Either way, Ed Zitron has your attention.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:10 PM
perfect subject/writer pairing and a must-read www.wired.com/story/ai-pr-...
Reposted by Michael Pastor
Yesterday, I went to an ICE check-in with 16-year-old Joel Camas and his lawyer, who expected him to be out in time for school by 8am because he has special immigrant juvenile (SIJ) status. Instead, he was detained.
Here is what happened (free link):
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/n...
Here is what happened (free link):
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/n...
A Woman Self-Deported, Hoping to Shield Her Son. He Was Detained Anyway.
www.nytimes.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Yesterday, I went to an ICE check-in with 16-year-old Joel Camas and his lawyer, who expected him to be out in time for school by 8am because he has special immigrant juvenile (SIJ) status. Instead, he was detained.
Here is what happened (free link):
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/n...
Here is what happened (free link):
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/n...
Maybe cover the cost of the gold fixtures, gold plateware, and silverware in the new Trump East Wing Social Club?
What was a hypo last year now a concrete question; can Billups just pay Trump for a pardon? Or to drop the case? #ThanksJohnRoberts
October 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Maybe cover the cost of the gold fixtures, gold plateware, and silverware in the new Trump East Wing Social Club?
Really interesting stuff. Compelling argument for a framework that's manifestly needed. Neither government agencies nor privacy companies will get the US where we need to be alone.
Interesting paper out of Dartmouth about private sector's role in U.S. offensive cyber landscape. Recommends a national offensive cyber strategy and a pilot program for private sector access to "low-risk" targets like crypto scammers and ransomware operators:
sergeybratus.gitlab.io/papers/Dartm...
sergeybratus.gitlab.io/papers/Dartm...
sergeybratus.gitlab.io
October 23, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Really interesting stuff. Compelling argument for a framework that's manifestly needed. Neither government agencies nor privacy companies will get the US where we need to be alone.
Not to mention that casual anti-semitism that drives naming Soros when pushing the canard that that protestors hate America.
When I say the MAGA movement is post-truth, this is the sort of thing I mean. Push blatant lies in advance of an event, see overwhelming evidence that the lies were false, know that others saw it too, but plow ahead with the same lies, opposed to the notion that living in factual reality matters.
Mike Johnson calls No Kings the "Hate America Rally" and claims "it was funded by George Soros and co-sponsored by the Communist Party and many other nefarious groups"
October 23, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Not to mention that casual anti-semitism that drives naming Soros when pushing the canard that that protestors hate America.
lol "lost its trucking mind", well-played @nyc.streetsblog.org team.
The federal government has obviously lost its trucking mind over the 34th Street busway — even the Trucking Industry of New York thinks so.
Truckers to US DOT: Busways Are Good for Us! - Streetsblog New York City
The federal government has obviously lost its trucking mind.
buff.ly
October 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
lol "lost its trucking mind", well-played @nyc.streetsblog.org team.
Article I Section 8 has never been so badly immolated.
October 22, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Article I Section 8 has never been so badly immolated.
We try to stay current but Gen Xrs have a Gen X lense. This is a great interview between two Millenials that displays why those outside of that generational band may never have predicated how dominant Mamdani would be this year. (ht @katie-drummond.bsky.social)
www.wired.com/story/the-bi...
www.wired.com/story/the-bi...
Zohran Mamdani, the Internet’s Mayor
Mere months ago, New York’s mayoral front-runner was polling right next to “Someone Else.” He spoke to WIRED about building a social media machine, Big Tech capitulation, and learning from Eric Adams.
www.wired.com
October 21, 2025 at 1:26 PM
We try to stay current but Gen Xrs have a Gen X lense. This is a great interview between two Millenials that displays why those outside of that generational band may never have predicated how dominant Mamdani would be this year. (ht @katie-drummond.bsky.social)
www.wired.com/story/the-bi...
www.wired.com/story/the-bi...
Free speech maxmimalists, the "public square" zealots, etc.
NEW, from me and @makenakelly.bsky.social: The FTC is disappearing blog posts about AI that were written during Lina Khan’s tenure as FTC chair www.wired.com/story/ftc-re...
The FTC Is Disappearing Blog Posts About AI Published During Lina Khan’s Tenure
The Federal Trade Commission removed several blog posts in recent months about open source and potential risks to consumers from the rapid spread of commercial AI tools.
www.wired.com
October 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Free speech maxmimalists, the "public square" zealots, etc.