Another dangerous move by the DOJ.
DOJ seeking "to halt state-level ethics proceedings against DOJ lawyers while the department conducts its own review."
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
I'm begging my fellow politicians, Illinoisans, and Americans to realize that right now, we aren't fighting over policy or political party.
We're fighting over whether we're going to be a country rooted in empathy and kindness — or one rooted in cruelty and rage.
🚨BREAKING: Democracy Docket has obtained a draft of the executive order being circulated with the White House that would allow Trump to take unprecedented control over voting. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
And she's always been anti-women, too.
JUST IN: Judge Provinzino in Minnesota has held a Justice Department attorney in civil contempt for violations of her order requiring the return of a released ICE detainee’s ID documents. He must pay $500 a day until the documents are returned.
If you're an attorney in Minnesota, the MSBA is offering a CLE this Friday (2/13), at noon, about the latest developments in our communities' legal needs, and providing guidance on how attorneys in all practice areas can support efforts to meet them. Free for members
mnbars.org?pg=events&ev...
You never know who could be witnessing wrongdoing and needs our help!
Share this post to help them know what to do next and check out our resources for whistleblowers. 👇
whistleblower.org/resources/
You can joke about Pam Bondi’s ridiculous unprofessionalism all you want, but I’m deeply shocked by it: She acts as if she fears absolutely no consequences, convinced that there will be no more political power transfers. — This should shake everyone to their core.
Jags do receive some ethical training, so let's hope they remember it.....
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
And I would point Your Honor to two declarations in a recent filing, which if Your Honor would permit, I could file in a supplement in this case. The first is a petitioner -- is a affidavit written by my client Oscar. And that was filed at Docket 67, The Advocates for Human Rights, et al., v. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al., Case Number 26-cv-749. And Oscar's declaration is important for a few reasons. One, it articulates just his horrific experience throughout this proceeding. And it's easy for us to see court orders not being complied with and the e-mails back and forth on the computer, but his affidavit really just shows what it's like to experience that and in ways that were personally for me just sickening to read as his attorney. That he was without food. He was without clean
clothes. He was subject to physical danger, both through reckless driving of ICE agents transporting him from one location to another, watching people screaming in pain with medical neglect, being exposed to COVID. Just the conditions of his confinement; eating food that he conflated with dog food. That people are just being treated like less than human. And all of this was happening while he had a court order for his release. And while all of this is happening, ICE agents are telling him to self-deport because he's got no chance to get out of there other than self-deport, so he's being deprived of access, and this is all in his affidavit. Myself and his immigration attorney, who's here in the courtroom today, were not able to talk to him. His immigration attorney in particular made diligent efforts to ensure compliance with the court order, and these are e-mails that are in Oscar's case. I think you've seen these. We're trying to get ahold of him. We're trying to get access to him. We're trying to bring him home. And, meanwhile, he is sleeping on the floor, if he gets to sleep at all, and he's being lied to, denied access to phone calls to call his loved ones or his attorneys. I would encourage Your Honor to read this declaration, and I would defer to the Court if you would like me to submit it formally in Oscar's own case. And the second declaration also in The Advocates
There's been lots of attention on 1 particular inexperienced & untrained govt lawyer
But I want to give a shout-out to Kira Kelley,
climatedefenseproject.org/profile/kira...,
who focused on ICE's horrific treatment of an immigrant prisoner -- all occurring *after* the court had ordered him released
Read this whole astonishing document. it should be taught as an object lesson in what volunteering to assist a fascist government does to your mind, body, and soul.
Martin's gonna need a pardon of his own.
NEW: Over 55% of presidentially appointed inspectors general positions are vacant in the offices charged with preventing waste, fraud and abuse. Trump has gutted and undermined independent oversight at the very time it is needed most.
Turns out dealmaking doesn't deter Trump attacks on law firms after all. Friday, FTC sent warning letters to 42 firms (incl Paul Weiss) of potential antitrust liability for participating in a popular program (based on NFL's Rooney rule) that encourages consideration of diverse candidates in hiring.
Trump reversed decades of national security objections to selling advanced AI chips to UAE. National security experts were alarmed.
But there was a secret. Before the deal, UAE had sent $187M to the Trumps and $31M to the Witkoffs in secret payments.
Mind blowing corruption.
The bottom line is...ICE is not law enforcement. There is no valid lawful reason for this.
At one point today, there were 283 Minnesota attorneys doing a training on how to file emergency habeas petitions to keep our neighbors from being shipped out of state and held indefinitely.
That would be the second largest law firm in the state. And that training was just put together this week.
Another free speech controversy in College Station, mere hours after @mbkplus.bsky.social and I weighed in on the censoring of Plato's Symposium. livefromwatthall.transistor.fm/episodes/adm...
If you examine Trump's first-term pardons, you'll understand the criminal networks backing him. And that a disproportionate number are tied to one source: Jared Kushner. Interview here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2l1...
I heard him give a (very brief, there was a 2 minute time limit, as per @me3dia.bsky.social) talk about this in early Jan, and it stayed with me all year. Give it a read.
All to protect Trump:
"This is how the Department of Justice is redacting files to cover up for Donald Trump. The top redacted document was released by the DOJ. The bottom identical document was released by a judge during the Biden administration. See the difference?"
SCOOP: American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr. Research included reducing sudden infant deaths and identifying autism early. Me and @Paigecunningham.Bsky.Social
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
David Remnick asks the rhetorical question of the decade: "Have you ever in your life encountered a character as wretched as Donald Trump?" No. Never. Ever. I'd be surprised if anyone ever has. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Two attorneys and an aide who all worked on President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign appeared in court Monday for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related to a fake elector scheme.
https://to.pbs.org/3KMZpSQ
I know this man has no soul…I know there is no bottom to his cruelty and depravity…yet, his complete and gleeful disregard for the dignity of the office he holds…invariably leaves me speechless.
NEW: 9 ex-DOJ lawyers who resigned from antisemitism investigations into UCLA and other UC campuses say they were pressured to find UC guilty of violations in a rushed and politically motivated process.
One called it a "fraudulent and sham investigation."
www.latimes.com/california/s...
The world's richest 0.001% now control 3x as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity combined.
56,000 wealthy individuals have more than roughly 4 billion people.
Read that back.
UPDATE: Boasberg denies both the stay request and an underlying motion for reconsideration that DOJ had filed to stop the contempt proceedings. Here's the reconsideration denial, which Boasberg cites as providing the reasons for denying the stay: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
