Rebecca Tushnet
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rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet
@rtushnet.bsky.social

Trademark, advertising, and more

Rebecca Tushnet is an American legal scholar. She serves as the Frank Stanton Professor of First Amendment Law at Harvard Law School. Her scholarship focuses on copyright, trademark, First Amendment, and false advertising. .. more

Law 39%
Business 28%
DHS said that the woman CBP shot in the chest in Portland was “involved” in a gang shooting.

Her ~involvement~ was that suspected gang members sexually assaulted and robbed her.
After Border Patrol shot two people in Portland, DHS claimed they were "vicious gang members" tied to a past shooting.

But records I obtained reveal a US prosecutor has since directly contradicted DHS, saying, "We're not suggesting he is a gang member." My dive into how DHS' claims have collapsed:
DHS’s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: ‘A smear campaign’
Immigration officials said agent shot two ‘vicious gang members’ in Portland, but records obtained by the Guardian reveal US prosecutor contradicted claims
www.theguardian.com
After Border Patrol shot two people in Portland, DHS claimed they were "vicious gang members" tied to a past shooting.

But records I obtained reveal a US prosecutor has since directly contradicted DHS, saying, "We're not suggesting he is a gang member." My dive into how DHS' claims have collapsed:
DHS’s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: ‘A smear campaign’
Immigration officials said agent shot two ‘vicious gang members’ in Portland, but records obtained by the Guardian reveal US prosecutor contradicted claims
www.theguardian.com
You may recall the many stories the paper ran—clearly fed to them by the administration—saying Harvard was about to fully capitulate any second now.
Trump Drops Demand for Cash From Harvard After Stiff Resistance
www.nytimes.com
For >10 years I’ve been on an admissions committee for a prominent science journalism fellowship.

We always have around 150 applications from around the world to review for 6 spots.

This year we only had 32 applications. And several we can’t review because they’re visa restricted now.
I tried to keep my "👏 concert 👏 movies 👏 are 👏 documentaries" rant in check, but the Swiftie in me cannot allow the the claim that Melania had the biggest documentary opening in 10 years to go unanswered when the Eras Tour movie cleared $130 million in three days
“Textbooks will need to be updated”: The solar system’s largest planet appears to be smaller and flatter than we knew

www.scientificamerican.com/article/jupi...
Jupiter isn’t as huge as we thought it was
“Textbooks will need to be updated”: The solar system’s largest planet appears to be smaller and flatter than we knew
www.scientificamerican.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

I'm astonished to learn that @lyndonbajohnson.bsky.social was six years old before "bullshit" was invented. I always assumed it was his first word.
This is a post about animal excrement and the English language.

bull$#!% = nonsense/lies
chicken$#!% = petty or cowardly
horse$#!% = nonsense/lies
dog$#!%= low quality
ape$#!% = wild
bat$#!%= crazy

Ordered above from oldest to newest: bull$#!% (1914), bat$#!% (1971).

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

I tried to look up whether the two border patrol agents who shot Alex Pretti were among the BP officers standing around an unlocked door at the Uvalde school shooting, but the CBP accountability memo on the incident redacted all the names. www.cbp.gov/sites/defaul...
www.cbp.gov

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

Localized, community-rooted, small-scale economic power matters. For decades, we've pretended like it doesn't — and even used policy to aggressively eradicate it.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

The article does not say anything about what remedies the NDAs provide for breach, even though the remedies are what would actually distinguish the NDAs from longstanding secrecy rules, and it’s the remedies that raise serious questions about Roberts’s authority to do this.
In November 2024, Roberts made all the SC clerks and staff sign NDAs. He’s learned a lot from the guy he works for.
How the Supreme Court Secretly Made Itself Even More Secretive
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

"In 2009, Judge Pratt helped launch an annual Fourth of July naturalization ceremony coinciding with Iowa Cubs Baseball games. He administered an oath that was circulated among federal judges and commonly welcomed new citizens to the country with the following:"

Transformative work of the day, purple edition
dig if you will this picture
10/10 ICE protest sign
Remember the dinner with Obama contest? The 2028 Dem presidential campaign should run a contest where the winner(s) get to take down a letter.
We are ready to buy tickets for the Name Taking Off Ceremonies

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

We are ready to buy tickets for the Name Taking Off Ceremonies

That's what I thought about the White House.

But is he going to knock it down? That seems to be the implication--if he can't have it he will destroy it.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

dig if you will this picture
10/10 ICE protest sign
This is the U Penn donor who helped push the President out, pushed to eliminate arts & science offerings, and drafted Trumps "compact" with universities.
People like Rowan repeatedly claimed the moral high ground to impose their agenda on students and faculty.
Top Apollo Global Management executives including chief Marc Rowan held wide-ranging discussions over the firm’s tax arrangements with Jeffrey Epstein throughout the 2010s www.ft.com/content/092d...
Apollo chief Marc Rowan consulted Epstein on firm’s tax affairs
New files reveal extensive talks between disgraced financier and key decision makers at US private capital firm
www.ft.com
Top Apollo Global Management executives including chief Marc Rowan held wide-ranging discussions over the firm’s tax arrangements with Jeffrey Epstein throughout the 2010s www.ft.com/content/092d...
Apollo chief Marc Rowan consulted Epstein on firm’s tax affairs
New files reveal extensive talks between disgraced financier and key decision makers at US private capital firm
www.ft.com
Here's my full 50-page indictment of CBP and ICE and decades of corruption, abuse of force, racism, and misogyny. I promise you — however bad you've ever thought it was, the full reality is even worse, deadlier, and more corrupt. This isn't a "Trump only" phenomenon:
Thanks to @govpritzker.illinois.gov for setting up the Illinois Accountability Commission to document the abuses of Trump and Stephen Miller's invasions of cities. And thanks to @vermontgmg.bsky.social for this detailed testimony about CBP's history and culture: drive.google.com/file/d/1o4z6...
IAC-Statement.Graff.Jan312026.pdf
drive.google.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

After brutally arresting Aliya Rahman, an autistic, disabled woman, in Minneapolis, ICE agents told her that "this wouldn’t have happened if I was a ‘normal’ human being."
https://bit.ly/3ZHX3IC
ICE Brutally Dragged This Disabled Woman Out of Her Car. What Happened Next Was Just As Chilling.
“They laughed at me and told me this wouldn’t have happened if I was a ‘normal’ human being,” Aliya Rahman tells The Nation.
bit.ly
4 federal agents pull over an elderly US citizen for the suspected crime of being brown, break her car window, throw her to the ground, then drive off after they find her US Passport in her purse. The Salem Police, when called, say there’s nothing they can do. www.salemreporter.com/2026/01/31/u...
U.S. citizen injured by federal agents in Salem who demanded to see “papers,” union says - Salem Reporter
A home care worker and union worker was pulled from her car and injured by federal agents Thursday according to a statement by SEIU 503. To comment on this story, use the form at the end of the repor...
www.salemreporter.com
ICYMI @hebagowayed.bsky.social wrote about the companies profiting from ICE’s ethnic cleansing campaign and why a bipartisan consensus keeps the out-of-control agency funded for our newsletter Group Threat (please subscribe).
Tracking ICE's Profits
ICE is extraordinarily costly to working people & grotesquely profitable for the worst among us
groupthreat.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

I Photoshop Paddington into a movie, TV show, or pop culture until I forget: Day 1784

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

Parashat Beshalach, welcome to the war on cars.

I was thinking about poor Joshua.
straight up Gestapo shit
The FBI was able to access Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's Signal messages because she used Signal on her work laptop. The laptop accepted Touch ID for authentication, meaning the agents were allowed to require her to unlock it. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
I know this from researching police salaries for a recent paper: many cities have a set of officers taking home more than $500k and they can’t really explain why

oaklandside.org/2026/01/29/o...
One Oakland police officer made $490,000 in overtime. The city can’t find records detailing much of what he did
One OPD officer logged 5,242 total working hours, racking up $490,000 in overtime pay. If he worked more than half of the time in a calendar year, why can't the city tell us what he did?
oaklandside.org

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet