Peter Orlowicz
@peterorlowicz.bsky.social
Admin law atty, IL native, Navy veteran, sometimes appellate lawyer, board game aficionado, ethics enthusiast, railroad law-talkin' guy (he/him). Personal account, as always.
Pinned
Peter Orlowicz
@peterorlowicz.bsky.social
· Jul 14
Well, new platform means new people, so I may as well introduce myself. I'm a lawyer in Chicago, though I live in the western suburbs, and I'm just over 10 years into practice. This is a personal account, but my day job is Senior Counsel for the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, a federal agency.
"Well, Your Honor, my 6yo has been asking about pop music structure, like pointing out the bridge in songs on the radio, so I offered to play him a song that's structured differently, without a traditional bridge."
"And that's when you played Paradise by the Dashboard Light for him?"
"Yes."
"And that's when you played Paradise by the Dashboard Light for him?"
"Yes."
November 28, 2025 at 2:46 AM
"Well, Your Honor, my 6yo has been asking about pop music structure, like pointing out the bridge in songs on the radio, so I offered to play him a song that's structured differently, without a traditional bridge."
"And that's when you played Paradise by the Dashboard Light for him?"
"Yes."
"And that's when you played Paradise by the Dashboard Light for him?"
"Yes."
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
Shout it from the rooftops, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social ! Brilliant and much needed feminist take www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/o...
Opinion | Has Marjorie Taylor Greene Really Seen the Light?
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Shout it from the rooftops, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social ! Brilliant and much needed feminist take www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/o...
Serious question (@stevevladeck.bsky.social ?), is there any good scholarship about how it's consistent with Article I, Section 6 to have reservists and retired military officers also serving in Congress?
Art. I of the Constitution gives Congress the power to make rules and regulations for the armed forces — including codes of discipline and strictures against following illegal orders. You can’t punish members of Congress for articulating those rules. Also protected by Speech and Debate Clause.
November 26, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Serious question (@stevevladeck.bsky.social ?), is there any good scholarship about how it's consistent with Article I, Section 6 to have reservists and retired military officers also serving in Congress?
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.
November 24, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
One of my favorite things is getting to tell friends who are new to NYC that the subway "stand clear of the closing doors please" voice is a trans woman named Bernie Wagenblast and she's amazing.
November 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM
One of my favorite things is getting to tell friends who are new to NYC that the subway "stand clear of the closing doors please" voice is a trans woman named Bernie Wagenblast and she's amazing.
Well, that's @stevevladeck.bsky.social bait if I ever saw it.
Hegseth is now threatening to recall Sen. Mark Kelly to active duty in order to court martial him.
November 24, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Well, that's @stevevladeck.bsky.social bait if I ever saw it.
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
And it's live! I finally took my photography workshops for crafters (which I used to teach live via Zoom), recorded separate modules, and made them available for asynchronous learning. It was a real labor of love, but I'm very proud. abeeinthebonnet.thrivecart.com/craft-photog...
November 24, 2025 at 5:13 PM
And it's live! I finally took my photography workshops for crafters (which I used to teach live via Zoom), recorded separate modules, and made them available for asynchronous learning. It was a real labor of love, but I'm very proud. abeeinthebonnet.thrivecart.com/craft-photog...
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
Go birds, fuck ice, free Palestine, and read this one by @attackerman.bsky.social
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
Sarah Hurwitz Profanes the Holocaust
Holocaust education has worked too well for the Obama speechwriter, since when she rationalizes Israel's genocide, "I sound obscene." Maybe sit with that, Sarah
www.forever-wars.com
November 23, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Go birds, fuck ice, free Palestine, and read this one by @attackerman.bsky.social
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
With apologies to Nathan Pyle:
Me on the last day of #paxunplugged: "Oh no, I have too many cardboard amusement cubes!"
"Oh no, now I have too much cardboard amusement cube transport!"
....
"Oh noooooooo"
@officialpax.bsky.social
Me on the last day of #paxunplugged: "Oh no, I have too many cardboard amusement cubes!"
"Oh no, now I have too much cardboard amusement cube transport!"
....
"Oh noooooooo"
@officialpax.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 9:42 PM
With apologies to Nathan Pyle:
Me on the last day of #paxunplugged: "Oh no, I have too many cardboard amusement cubes!"
"Oh no, now I have too much cardboard amusement cube transport!"
....
"Oh noooooooo"
@officialpax.bsky.social
Me on the last day of #paxunplugged: "Oh no, I have too many cardboard amusement cubes!"
"Oh no, now I have too much cardboard amusement cube transport!"
....
"Oh noooooooo"
@officialpax.bsky.social
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
I think we should reallocate all of ICE’s funding to the CFPB, and throw Russ Vought in jail
November 21, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I think we should reallocate all of ICE’s funding to the CFPB, and throw Russ Vought in jail
This is the greatest training idea ever and I desperately want to steal it for next year.
"Before I left the NYC Conflicts of Interest Board back in 2022, I created (along with Dan Iwrey and Rob Casimir) what might be the greatest municipal ethics-law-based D&D one-shot module ever conceived… or at the very least the ONLY municipal ethics-law-based D&D one-shot module ever conceived."
www.nyc.gov
November 21, 2025 at 8:52 PM
This is the greatest training idea ever and I desperately want to steal it for next year.
Heck yeah we are.
November 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Heck yeah we are.
Pete Seeger would have loved this.
Wow! Jesse Welles performed his song “Join ICE” on the Colbert Show last night. 🏆
November 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Pete Seeger would have loved this.
Weird that the Seventh Circuit could know enough about the defendant's chances of success on appeal to set this order aside before they even got to read the opinion.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis just handed down the written opinion version of her preliminary injunction order, regarding use of force by federal agents in Chicago.
It's the one already put on hold by the 7th Circuit.
It's 233 pages.
Here you go: cst.brightspotcdn.com/49/34/daecfb...
It's the one already put on hold by the 7th Circuit.
It's 233 pages.
Here you go: cst.brightspotcdn.com/49/34/daecfb...
November 20, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Weird that the Seventh Circuit could know enough about the defendant's chances of success on appeal to set this order aside before they even got to read the opinion.
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
The GI Rights Network is a coalition of nonprofit NGOs that provide free and confidential information to American military servicemembers, veterans, and their families. If you have legal concerns about orders or your chain of command, you can reach them anytime at 877-447-4487
September 30, 2025 at 2:32 PM
The GI Rights Network is a coalition of nonprofit NGOs that provide free and confidential information to American military servicemembers, veterans, and their families. If you have legal concerns about orders or your chain of command, you can reach them anytime at 877-447-4487
Are these even good exam questions though? Is there enough ambiguity or nuance in these to be good tests of knowledge? Or is the exam answer "this is awful, obviously it's a violation" and let's go home? @jamesftierney.bsky.social @kbrnyc.bsky.social
Well well well. This is going to be interesting (by which I mean, a fact pattern on a Professional Responsibility final exam by time this is all done and over).
SCOOP: A federal grand jury in Maryland is investigating whether FHFA director Bill Pulte and Justice Department prosecutor Ed Martin improperly appointed unauthorized people to help in mortgage fraud investigations of President Trump's critics. With @carolleonnig.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Are these even good exam questions though? Is there enough ambiguity or nuance in these to be good tests of knowledge? Or is the exam answer "this is awful, obviously it's a violation" and let's go home? @jamesftierney.bsky.social @kbrnyc.bsky.social
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
The joy this man has doing his patriotic duty
I’m howling.
November 20, 2025 at 3:10 PM
The joy this man has doing his patriotic duty
Off to PAX Unplugged, huzzah!
November 20, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Off to PAX Unplugged, huzzah!
If you were studying this rulemaking in admin law and got to the part where "this proposal garnered 40,500 comments (more than any other rulemaking in OPM's history), of which 94% were opposed," you might expect the agency would reconsider the whole rule.
You'd be wrong, but you might think that.
You'd be wrong, but you might think that.
This Schedule F charade is a textbook example of the corruption of Roberts Court, which will likely endorse it. The entire argument rests on a tacit agreement to pretend that the plain meaning of words, as the legislators understood them, don’t exist. Pure corruption. www.govexec.com/workforce/20...
Final Schedule F regulations to describe civil service protections as ‘unconstitutional overcorrections’
OPM officials told agency HR leaders Tuesday that President Trump has Article II constitutional authority to remove tens of thousands of career federal workers in jobs over potential “resistance to po...
www.govexec.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:29 PM
If you were studying this rulemaking in admin law and got to the part where "this proposal garnered 40,500 comments (more than any other rulemaking in OPM's history), of which 94% were opposed," you might expect the agency would reconsider the whole rule.
You'd be wrong, but you might think that.
You'd be wrong, but you might think that.
So, is the the sort of dissent that your clerks don't help with, or the sort where they gleefully participate?
Judge Jerry Smith's dissent from the decision that Texas' redrawn congressional map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander is now available.
And holy shit it goes hard.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
And holy shit it goes hard.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 19, 2025 at 9:17 PM
So, is the the sort of dissent that your clerks don't help with, or the sort where they gleefully participate?
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
SCOOP: Mario Díaz-Balart, a top House GOP appropriator, tried to add guardrails against pocket rescissions to an appropriations bill — something Democrats have been wanting for months
But then Russ Vought intervened, and Díaz-Balart quietly got rid of the provision
www.notus.org/congress/mar...
But then Russ Vought intervened, and Díaz-Balart quietly got rid of the provision
www.notus.org/congress/mar...
A Top Republican Wanted to Reclaim Congress’ Spending Authority. The White House Stopped Him.
Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, a top appropriator, tried to add guardrails from ‘pocket rescissions’ in an appropriations bill. But then Office of Management Budget Director Russ Vought talked to him.
www.notus.org
November 19, 2025 at 2:05 PM
SCOOP: Mario Díaz-Balart, a top House GOP appropriator, tried to add guardrails against pocket rescissions to an appropriations bill — something Democrats have been wanting for months
But then Russ Vought intervened, and Díaz-Balart quietly got rid of the provision
www.notus.org/congress/mar...
But then Russ Vought intervened, and Díaz-Balart quietly got rid of the provision
www.notus.org/congress/mar...
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
We knew this regulation was going into effect, but we didn't yet know whether and how NIH might seek to use it.
Yesterday, we found out. NIH will indeed add specific language to new grant terms and, in doing so, it'll preserve the option to use this new power.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
2/
Yesterday, we found out. NIH will indeed add specific language to new grant terms and, in doing so, it'll preserve the option to use this new power.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
2/
November 19, 2025 at 1:35 PM
We knew this regulation was going into effect, but we didn't yet know whether and how NIH might seek to use it.
Yesterday, we found out. NIH will indeed add specific language to new grant terms and, in doing so, it'll preserve the option to use this new power.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
2/
Yesterday, we found out. NIH will indeed add specific language to new grant terms and, in doing so, it'll preserve the option to use this new power.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
2/
I mean, he doesn't NEED a clearance to be mayor. He can be sworn in and serve all the functions of being mayor without having a clearance. I do kind of want to know when this practice started, if it was a wake-of-9/11 thing or before that, and if it's uniquely a NYC thing or not.
An early test of the future Mamdani-Trump dynamic? Security clearance.
Before taking office as NYC's mayor, Mamdani will need a top-level security clearance from the federal government — something Trump has revoked before to punish his political enemies.
Before taking office as NYC's mayor, Mamdani will need a top-level security clearance from the federal government — something Trump has revoked before to punish his political enemies.
An early test of a Mamdani-Trump relationship? Security clearance.
The president has revoked security clearances as a way to punish political enemies.
www.politico.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I mean, he doesn't NEED a clearance to be mayor. He can be sworn in and serve all the functions of being mayor without having a clearance. I do kind of want to know when this practice started, if it was a wake-of-9/11 thing or before that, and if it's uniquely a NYC thing or not.
Reposted by Peter Orlowicz
Every year, in honor of the anniversary of Sherman's march to the sea, I share this article in which Gary Brecher eviscerates the New York Times and celebrates one of the most inspired campaigns in United States history
Happy 161st, you glorious bastard
Happy 161st, you glorious bastard
The War Nerd: Why Sherman was right to burn Atlanta
KUWAIT CITY — There are times when the sheer ignorance and ingratitude of the American public makes you sick. This week marks the 150th anniversary of Sherman’s March from Atlanta to the Sea, which...
web.archive.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Every year, in honor of the anniversary of Sherman's march to the sea, I share this article in which Gary Brecher eviscerates the New York Times and celebrates one of the most inspired campaigns in United States history
Happy 161st, you glorious bastard
Happy 161st, you glorious bastard