Jay Willis
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jaywillis.net
Jay Willis
@jaywillis.net
150K followers 300 following 5.8K posts
I write about courts, democracy, media, and the raccoon family living in a tree behind my house. Bluesky’s ONLY fantasy football guru. EIC @ballsandstrikes.org, more writing at jaywillis.net.
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jaywillis.net
Senate Democrats are the only group of people in America that could look at the election results from *less than a week ago* and conclude, “Ah, what the people want now is for us to roll over and show our bellies to the reactionary creeps”
November 10, 2025 at 5:01 AM
jaywillis.net
Both of my knees are exploding like water balloons if I tried to do what he did here
fantasynflnews.bsky.social NFL Daily News @fantasynflnews.bsky.social · 16h
George Kittle with the catch and dive for the TD
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 AM
jaywillis.net
🤯
November 10, 2025 at 2:27 AM
jaywillis.net
The Seahawks putting up 44 points and Sam Darnold scoring under 7 fantasy points is performance art
November 10, 2025 at 12:52 AM
jaywillis.net
Okay folks, it’s been a while, but I am here for you: Tell me, Bluesky’s ONLY fantasy football guru, about your hardest start-sit decisions today, and I will answer correctly and in the style of Gus Johnson on the call at the end of the Indiana-Penn State game yesterday
November 9, 2025 at 3:27 PM
jaywillis.net
Wow looks like my favorite team is in an entertaining, competitive college football game. If only the YouTube TV package I pay $90/month for allowed me to watch it!
• Cal 23 CAL 5-4 20 11:08 - 4th ESPN2 50 Watch 23 20 15 LOU 7-1
November 9, 2025 at 2:52 AM
jaywillis.net
Fernando Mendoza is canonically a California Golden Bear
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Jay Willis
alexkirshner.com
That is also a god-level call on the field by the ref. The man did his job
November 8, 2025 at 8:29 PM
jaywillis.net
For me, Trump attending a Commanders game during a 40-day government shutdown and *participating in an on-field ceremony* is an even crazier story than him wanting the stadium named after him. He’s going to get booed mercilessly! Does no one in his orbit realize this?? www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...
"That would be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ESPN on Friday night via email. Leavitt declined to answer additional questions, but the senior White House source told ESPN: "It's what the president wants, and it will probably happen." A Commanders spokesperson declined comment Saturday. However, a team source said the organization has spent days preparing for Trump's attendance at the Commanders' home game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon. Trump will attend the game as Harris' guest and is expected to participate in halftime
November 8, 2025 at 4:35 PM
jaywillis.net
Today we celebrate the two-year anniversary of me at last persuading my insurance company to approve surgery for a back injury that had made me a miserable, hobbling, heavily medicated mess for the previous 12 months. Here’s me right after, high out of my mind, for some reason hitting a Half Trump.
Me right after surgery in a bed, eyes seeing NOTHING, giving the thumbs up, god bless my wife for having the presence of mind to commemorate this moment
November 7, 2025 at 11:51 PM
jaywillis.net
The less the conservative justices talk about the "major questions doctrine" in the tariffs case, the easier it will be for the Supreme Court to strike down anything the next Democratic president does that they don't personally like
The Conservative Justices Are Keeping the Major Questions Doctrine For Themselves
The six-justice conservative supermajority can both strike down Trump’s tariffs and preserve its power to veto future Democratic policies it doesn’t like.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
jaywillis.net
What is Kavanaugh talking about? Genuinely, what "cost" has Sam Alito incurred for his values or opinions or whatever? People who already didn't like him before now like him even less? These people are such babies, man. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
When the questions turned to the criticisms and even death threats the justices themselves have faced, Kavanaugh said he tries to follow the examples of role models like the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who showed “what it meant to withstand withering criticism, what it meant to be fearless.” Justice Samuel Alito, who was in the audience, has likewise displayed courage “and the willingness to stand up for principle even when it comes at a cost, a big cost,” Kavanaugh said. More: Justice Alito still doesn't like court's gay marriage decision but said it's precedent “If you don’t want to get criticized,” Kavanaugh said of being a Supreme Court justice, “this is not a good gig.”
November 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
jaywillis.net
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump’s passport sex markers policy conveys as much casual transphobia as a two-page judicial opinion ever could without actually including slurs. Absolutely vile stuff. ballsandstrikes.substack.com/p/the-suprem...
When the conservative justices issue a shadow docket opinion like this one, they often stress that they are not ruling on the merits. But the only snippet of legal argument the majority dares to include—the assertion that the Passport Policy conveys “a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment”—reveals a lot about how the justices really feel about the transgender plaintiffs before them. By allowing the administration to require people to use the marker associated with the “historical fact” of their sex assigned at birth, the conservatives are tacitly endorsing Trump’s position that any other gender identity is, in some sense, “false”—not real, not serious, and not entitled to their respect. The logic is every bit as transphobic as Trump’s executive order; the Court simply uses more legalese to embrace it.
November 7, 2025 at 3:07 PM
jaywillis.net
It is a stain on the legal profession that Sarah Isgur, the Trump DOJ flack best known for publicly defending his family sepration policy, has been allowed to rebrand as a savvy legal pundit who feels comfortable cranking out shit like this www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/776620...
A myth-busting glimpse into the inner workings of the Supreme Court, revealing what we get wrong about the “Roberts era,” what the justices’ clerks gossip about, and how to fix a court in crisis—from the popular ABC news pundit and top legal podcaster Most people get the Supreme Court all wrong. That includes Washington “insiders.” A smattering of high-profile decisions have popularized a simplistic idea of the Court and its nine justices. Yes, six of them were appointed by Republicans, and only three were appointed by a Democratic president. So, how does that 6-3 conservative majority explain why liberal Elena Kagan and conservative Brett Kavanaugh agreed with each other over 75 percent of the time in a recent term? Or why the court threw shade at Florida’s attempt to ban drag shows? To truly appreciate the nine justices of the Supreme Court, argues Sarah Isgur, you have to look beyond political affiliation. That’s only part of the story—the “X-Axis.” The wisest court watchers know that they there is a whole other measuring stick—the “Y-Axis.” On this spectrum, the justices span from order-loving institutionalists to true chaos agents. The Y-Axis affects which cases the court takes, when they take them, how they get decided. And, when you appreciate its nuances, you’ll see the court looks a lot more like 3-3-3 than 6-3.
November 7, 2025 at 5:07 AM
jaywillis.net
The Supreme Court's decision to let the Trump White House implement its anti-trans passport policy is vile, and I appreciate Jackson going out of her way to include in her dissent, for the record, the administration's language justifying the policy. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
TRUMP v. ORR JACKSON, J., dissenting identity. From 1992 to 2010, passport applicants who wished to obtain passports with sex markers that were dif- ferent from the sex assigned to them at birth had to submit evidence of surgical reassignment. In 2010, the State De- partment began allowing passport applicants to submit a doctor’s certification avowing that they had undergone clin- ical treatment for gender transition. Beginning in 2021, the State Department allowed applicants to self-select the sex marker that matched their gender identity. Through it all, the indisputable point of a passport re- mained: to “attes[t] to the identity and nationality of the bearer.” 22 CFR §51.1 (2024). The State Department’s sex- marker policies have thus long demonstrated that what is important for identification purposes is the bearer’s gender identity today. No matter. On January 22, 2025, the agency overhauled the rules for sex markers on passports, reverting to its pre- 1992 practices. Its Passport Policy now requires that all new passports reflect the holders’ sex assigned at birth. Why? Because two days earlier, on January 20, President Trump issued Executive Order No. 14168, characterizing transgender identity as “false” and “corrosive” to American society. 90 Fed. Reg. 8615 (2025). The order asserted that “the policy of the United States” is “to recognize two sexes, male and female,” which it defined based on the sex as- signed “at conception.” Ibid. And the order directed the Secretary of State to require that any new government-is- sued identification documents reflect the holder’s “biologi- cal” sex. Id., at 8615–8616. The State Department re- sponded by rescinding its prior sex-identification policies moving forward; transgender Americans who had previ- ously obtained passports with sex markers reflecting their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth could continue to use those documents until they expire. Several transgender Americans w Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2025) 9 JACKSON, J., dissenting President from carrying out these supposedly legitimate ob- jectives. Thus, the Government’s asserted harm from being sub- jected to the injunction—its only asserted harm—is that the President cannot, at least for now, enact his preferred poli- cies regarding sex markers on U. S. passports. Even as- suming, arguendo, that this purported injury counts as ir- reparable harm, it does not suffice to justify the extraordinary equitable remedy of a stay pending appeal.5 What the Government needs (and what it does not have) is an explanation for why it faces harm unless the Presi- dent’s chosen policy is implemented now. It suggests that there is an urgent foreign policy interest in dictating sex markers on passports, but does not elaborate as to what that interest might possibly be. All the Government is able to muster is the statement that “the injunction forces the government to misrepresent the sex of passport holders to foreign nations” and to “contradict . . . biological reality.” Application for Stay of Injunction 34. But how urgent can this interest be when the Passport Policy itself allows transgender Americans who already have passports with sex markers reflecting their current gender identity to con- tinue using those passports until they expire? The Government also insists that gender identity is not a meaningful basis for identification—strangely begging the question why sex markers are required on passports at all.
November 6, 2025 at 10:14 PM
jaywillis.net
Trump's tariffs are probably cooked, but the conservative justices are going to be very careful to preserve what matters most: their power to invent sharp limits on executive power next time a Democrat is in the White House
The Conservative Justices Are Keeping the Major Questions Doctrine For Themselves
The six-justice conservative supermajority can both strike down Trump’s tariffs and preserve its power to veto future Democratic policies it doesn’t like.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 6, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Jay Willis
brianmfloyd.bsky.social
sit on your hands and let them wear it, it’s not the democrats job to bail out their stupidity over and over again
paleofuture.bsky.social Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 4d
“U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to order scheduled air traffic cut by 10% at 40 major airports starting Friday…”
www.reuters.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Jay Willis
rodger.bsky.social
Just want to get on the record that I have not seen anybody of that name commit any sort of crime, felony or otherwise
cjzero.bsky.social CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 6d
OMG What Marvin Harrison Jr did to Daron Bland should be a felony
November 4, 2025 at 2:31 AM
jaywillis.net
Every time Brett Kavanaugh asks a question during oral argument, I’m reminded of the dumbest guy in my law school section who in every single lecture would raise his hand to talk because the professor, for some godforsaken reason, decided to make class participation part of our grades
November 5, 2025 at 4:10 PM
jaywillis.net
So far my major takeaway from the Supreme Court tariffs oral argument is that the liberal justices are still so, so mad about the Biden student debt decision
November 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
jaywillis.net
IMPORTANT: you are fully authorized to lib out tonight. it’s fine! enjoy!
November 5, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Jay Willis
notalawyer.bsky.social
(to the tune of Eleanor Rigby) 🎶socialist muslim🎶
November 5, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Jay Willis
ballsandstrikes.org
Look at how happy Republican politicians are that Republican judges are about to give them what they want
Republican Politicians Are Already Celebrating the End of the Voting Rights Act
Supreme Court justices often claim that their work is technical and nonpartisan. The reactions from the politicians who stand to benefit from their work tell a different story.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
jaywillis.net
Hey here's something: If you live in the greater Seattle area and have old law school casebooks, hornbooks, or bar prep materials that you want to get rid of, please DM me, I will come take them off your hands and maybe deliver you a prize for your troubles
November 4, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Jay Willis
allegrak.bsky.social
Wrote about Condé ending Teen Vogue as we knew it.

talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/what-we...
What We Lost When Condé Nast Unceremoniously Shuttered Teen Vogue
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM