@BrennanCenter | ex Atlantic, WaPo | Author, Angler & Dark Mirror | Visiting Lecturer, Princeton | bartongellman.com/contact
15,602 followers 435 following 112 posts
view profile on Bluesky 
Revisit Michael’s 2020 conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winner @bartongellman.bsky.social on his book “Dark Mirror" an inside account of Snowden's leak of classified files that sparked a global reckoning over government surveillance. Hear the #bookclub #podcast 🎧📖 loom.ly/w1hBbWM
The judiciary is being asked to serve as a check on presidential abuses of power, but in case after case the Supreme Court has shirked that responsibility. The justices owe the public explanations for their decisions. bit.ly/4mzvX0p
Jamelle Bouie Receives the 2025 Carey McWilliams Award The Carey McWilliams Award is presented annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor major journalistic contributions to society’s understanding of politics. Citation from the Award Committee: The American Political…
@bartongellman.bsky.social in @nytopinion.nytimes.com: “There are reasons to hope Mr. Trump will fail to subvert next year’s midterms. Election officials of both parties have by and large withstood years of relentless threats, violence and disinformation.”
Brennan Center senior adviser @bartongellman.bsky.social: “From the earliest days of his second term, the president and his lieutenants have pursued an unprecedented assault on the machinery of free and fair elections.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
The only modern president who refused to concede a certified election defeat proclaims his authority over election rules nationwide. My latest: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
The administration’s rationales for travel bans — like a high rate of visa overstays and inadequate screening — don’t hold up under scrutiny. bit.ly/45zhGJM
Trump, on Fox, cites Putin (“smart guy”) as authority on how to run “an honest election.” His claim that states have to follow his orders on voting rules is upside down. Congress and states set election law. The president has exactly zero lawful role.
The DISCLOSE Act—which would require dark money groups to disclose contributions of $10k+—passed the House in 2010 and came within one vote of defeating a Republican filibuster. It's since passed the House multiple times in democracy packages. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/u...
In Citizens United, the Supreme Court predicted that super PACs wouldn’t lead to real or perceived corruption. But a record-breaking run for Trump’s super PAC casts doubt on that idea. bit.ly/4olWjE6
By demanding all of Donbas, Putin is trying to achieve at the negotiating table what his troops have not been able to win on the ground. If Trump were to agree, it would be a reprise of the 1938 Munich agreement in which Chamberlain handed over to Hitler the Sudetenland. wapo.st/45rmMaW
Wow, this is great. Once again, the "real America," or what we hope is real, poking up its head. h/t bsky.app/profile/oisi...
The CEO of a a multi-trillion dollar company went to the White House, openly handed the US president a gift made of gold, and his company got a special exemption to tariffs the president has illegally imposed. Also, the Founders took bribery so seriously the Constitution bans it 3 separate times.
Today the FBI released year-end crime data on 2024, showing a record-breaking decline in murder rates alongside decreases in all seven major offenses. Murder rates are now below 2019 levels, reversing the 2020 spike. (See analysis by @jeffasher.bsky.social.) jasher.substack.com/p/murder-off...
I want to emphasize this: THEY DO NOT CITE ANY CASELAW FOR THESE ARGUMENTS. The only reason they wouldn't do that is because THERE IS NO CASELAW. Courts do not force legislators to vote on things. There is no basis in the Texas Constitution for the Texas Supreme Court to ORDER legislators around.
In Alabama, another horrible ICE detention story— pulled over for going 1 mile over the speed limit and then put into detention, a woman who earned a masters degree and has become a beloved community advocate. Not a criminal. Someone who contributes to America. www.al.com/news/2025/08...
"American democracy promotion is effectively dead," Brian Klaas writes. The world's authoritarians have taken note that they no longer need fear Washington's condemnation when they tighten their grip on power:
Thanks for reading
And as a former privacy and surveillance reporter ... also: no.
This is such a good idea: the public media station near you may not be the one that needs your help the most. Check out "Adopt a Station," a project by ex-NPR staffer Alex Curley adoptastation.org
Just learned from LinkedIn that a Heritage Foundation affiliate is now FOIA-ing (or equivalent) instructors’ syllabi to go snooping for supposed illegal DEI at state universities. It’s hard to describe how far past McCarthyism we’re headed here.
Zelenski corrects a big mistake. Glad to see it. www.reuters.com/world/europe...
"Americans are increasingly quite negative toward ICE and skeptical of its actions," writes Aaron Blake. cnn.it/45gHQSp
I thought foreign countries were going to pay? “General Motors said Tuesday that it is facing a $1.1 billion hit from tariffs. The automaker reiterated projections that the full-year tariff impact could reach $4 billion to $5 billion.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
I think this is thinking about it wrong — many people knew they were friends — It’s the abrupt decision to not release files from the investigation that he promised that has turned people in again. bsky.app/profile/cwar...
Gift link. This "deal" gets portrayed as a win for Trump, but what do most Americans get from it? Just a 15% tax on cars / electronics / etc from Japan? There's gifts in there for Boeing, rice exporters, and LNG producers, but so what? All I get is a tax. I bet that's true for >99% of Americans.
OMG no
New from me: Release All the Files. “The next six weeks could make or break the coverup. If Trump hasn’t succeeded in having Bondi “discover” the files have been doctored, or if Bondi and Patel haven’t managed to purge the files, then he could lose control.” www.thebulwark.com/p/how-many-o...
“It’s unconstitutional — not to mention thin-skinned and vindictive — for a president to rescind access to punish a news outlet for publishing a story he tried to kill,” Seth Stern told @brianstelter.bsky.social and Liam Reilly.
Corey Brettschneider and Aidan Calvelli Review My Book, “A Real Right to Vote,” in Political Science Quarterly electionlawblog.org?p=151085
The report, titled “Declassified Evidence of Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert President Trump’s 2016 Victory and Presidency,” is the lead item on dni.gov.
Tulsi Gabbard’s office just sent out a news release accusing Obama administration (“per the President’s request”) of putting out a report “known by those involved to be manufactured” that described Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. She calls for DOJ prosecution.
Is there any remotely plausible explanation for the way Trump is handling the Epstein stuff other than “he’s implicated”? Because I’m trying and failing to come up with one.
Just did a little test. Placed an order by phone at a favorite Szechuan restaurant for delivery: $63. Then queued up identical order on Doordash, where I’m supposedly getting a discount via my Chase card: $83. Drawing appropriate conclusions.
This heartbreaking story by @JohnWoodrowCox.bsky.social is gorgeously, empathetically written. The details could only have come from extraordinary reporting. This piece will be taught in journalism schools. wapo.st/44pck4q
NYC: This happened at the batting cages in Riverside Park at 104th Street. So infuriating! Of course the kids are Americans too!
Recently, my book THEY CALLED US ENEMY was banned – again – in Tennessee. Book bans are out of control. Huge parts of American history are being restricted. To join me in standing up for the freedom to read, go to pen.org/action. @penamerica.bsky.social @topshelfcomix.bsky.social @idwpublishing.com
the AUTOCRACY IN AMERICA podcast, season two, this time hosted by Garry Kasparov. I joined the first episoide www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...
The DOJ lawsuit against LA for not helping with federal immigration policy violates the 10th Amendment, which provides that powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to the states as independent sovereigns. bit.ly/44l4kBu
The administration’s militarized immigration crackdown is eroding civil liberties. And it comes amid ICE’s resistance to congressional oversight. bit.ly/4eF7rYs
Here’s the thing about Grok: I’m 99% sure Musk did not tell his AI team “make our house LLM an overtly Nazi conspiracy theorist who pines for Hitler to return.” That’s just the side-effect of whatever mix of training weights & directives needed to stop it giving “bad” answers.
Trial opens tomorrow in AAUP v. Rubio, a challenge--brought by @aaup.org, @mesa1966.bsky.social, and @knightcolumbia.org--to the Trump admin's arrests and attempted deportation of students who engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...
She has not read the Declaration of Independence.
Trump: “The $35 trillion in debt we're going to pay it off. We're going to get it done fast too.” (2023) Trump campaigned on paying off the debt. Now he's adding $4.1 trillion to it.
A sad day for press freedom in the United States. This was a frivolous lawsuit and the payment being described as a “settlement” is more accurately labeled a payoff. Trump’s presidential library will be a permanent monument to Paramount’s surrender. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
Idaho Attorney General: ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ sign cannot be displayed in Idaho schools because they are “part of an ideological/social movement.” www.idahoednews.org/top-news/att...
In midnight deal, Paramount agrees to pay Trump $16 million to settle lawsuit that most experts viewed as baseless. The deal is the clearest sign yet of Trump’s ability to intimidate major American institutions. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b... @benmullin.bsky.social @laurenhirsch.bsky.social
Should the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ reach President Trump’s desk, “it would represent the biggest rollback in federal support for health coverage ever,” writes KFF’s @larrylevitt.bsky.social. For @nytopinion.nytimes.com, Larry writes about the potential impact of the bill:
Trump is slowly, quietly, lifting sanctions on Russia. And halting previously allocated munitions too. Without an announcement, US policy is beginning to favor not a ceasefire, but Russian success www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/u...
When a disabled young woman moved out of a hospital to her own apartment, the Trump administration celebrated — even though it's ending the federal program that made it possible.
I wish Penn well, but capitulation is never enough. The extortion will continue.
For the first time, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has managed to use the anti-vaccine agenda to guide American foreign policy, @hana-kiros.bsky.social writes.
Equally pathetic and chilling
French nuclear power plant has to close during intense heat wave, because temperatures in the river that provides cooling water are too high.
Absolutely wild sentence: "A former F.B.I. agent who was charged with encouraging the mob that stormed the Capitol...to kill police officers has been named as an adviser to the Justice Department task force that President Trump established to seek retribution against his political enemies."
This is a major blow for press freedom in the United States - a major news outlet caving to groundless threats from the President over coverage www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
This may sound old fashioned, but again it’s worth saying. 60 Minutes did nothing wrong. This is a payoff for merger approval. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
NEW: The death shadow cast by Musk. “When U.S.-supported soup kitchens were forced to close, babies starved quietly, their mothers said, while older siblings died begging for food.” The world’s richest man did this to the world’s poorest children. Don’t ever forget.
"We can find out. You go up and tell the reporter, 'National security, who gave it [to you]?' You have to do that, and I suspect we'll be doing things like that," the president said
2022: Dobbs 2023: Ending affirmative action 2024: Trump immunity (just a few end-of-term highlights!) Yet “serious” people tell me it’s unfair and unfounded to claim the rightwing justices act as political operatives who rationalize back from their ideologically defined preferred outcomes. Lol!
Jan 6 prosecutors were fired because they upheld rule of law, securing convictions in court with beyond-a-reasonable-doubt proof of crimes against America, and that’s not the job anymore.
@aliciabannon.bsky.social appeared on Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien to discuss the Supreme Court's shadow docket. "Many of the most significant headlines coming out of the Supreme Court have been shadow docket cases relating to questions of presidential power [and] issues like deportations."
As we face up to more litigation over birthright citizenship, understanding this constitutional guarantee is even more important. @brennancenter.org & @oah.org have you covered with this video feat. @katemasur.bsky.social @marthasjones.bsky.social and Erika Lee: www.youtube.com/live/6QCIt0l...
Look at this squadron of heavily armed guys blowing up a door and entering a house like it's a cartel fortress and not a family home. This is fucking madness.
In Trump v. Casa, @stevespaulding.bsky.social tells @cbsnews.com.web.brid.gy the Supreme Court went "out of its way to make it more difficult for courts to reign in" executive overreach. While "it narrowed the tools available to block illegal conduct ... there are other tools available."
This is a key point. But read the whole thread.
Today’s Supreme Court decision in Trump v. CASA changes NOTHING about the fact that President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship is unconstitutional.
Good perspective on the SCOTUS ruling on national injunctions and birthright citizenship.
+1
This is a shockingly racist call by a House Republican for Zohran Mamdani to be denaturalized and deported. But instead of being viewed as unserious, it's now being promoted and circulated by LibsOfTikTok, Benny Johnson and MAGA regulars. Democrats need to understand that Republicans are serious.
"At the heart of the First Amendment lies a simple rule: the government may not impose its preferred viewpoint on private parties." Cato (with other groups) filed this amicus brief on behalf of Harvard in Harvard v. HHS.
The cruelty of separating someone from a 3-month-old *whom she’s still breastfeeding* is unfathomable. The physical and emotional toll is hard for me to even write about. I can’t imagine her pain.
US judge blocks Trump plan to close Harvard's doors to international students reut.rs/43UWTAG
"The controversy centers on $JPROOF, a memecoin Stew Peters launched in April....the name is a reference to Peters’s claim that the way the coin is set up guarantees it will be 'Jew-proofed'—that is, safeguarded from the malfeasance of Jewish bankers."
A congressional plan to bar states from regulating AI is dangerous because the technology poses serious risks to elections.
Where we are as a country
In today’s (free to read) newsletter: How you ask a poll question can yield a big difference in the answers you get back. s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?tra...
The @rcfp.org has published a letter calling on law enforcement to respect the rights of journalists covering protests, which is especially important today. @nenpa.bsky.social is among the signatories.
This is a holy shit article. Fragile man asks AI if he can safely leap off rooftop. ChatGPT responded that, if Mr. Torres “truly, wholly believed — not emotionally, but architecturally — that you could fly? Then yes. You would not fall.” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
The board of the Fulbright program appears to have entirely resigned, accusing the State Department of illegally canceling scholarships "based mainly on research topics": www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/u...
I wish every story about this included the point that California statutes specifically _protect_ journalists in these situations. The people shooting journalists are breaking the law, not enforcing the law. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_....
Kinsley gaffe
Not an auspicious beginning. Bondi Justice Department submits response in Newsom v Trump responding to California's request for a Temporary Restraining Order And yes this is page 3
Wow. New Quinnipiac poll finds Trump's approval at 38-54. And note this: Trump approval on immigration: 43-54 Approval on his deportations: 40-56 Can we say Trump isn't winning on this issue yet?
I said earlier today that I agreed with @sulliview.bsky.social that a suspension made sense. This is a gross overreaction from the company that settled a bogus lawsuit with Trump earlier this year. Just nauseating.
The Associated Press has asked the DC to review this order en banc. Good! Rao and Katsas are wrong on the facts, the law, and the balance of interests. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
NEW: A data broker owned by the country’s major airlines, including Delta, American Airlines, and United, collected US travelers’ domestic flight records, sold access to them to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). www.wired.com/story/airlin...
In new breaking research from @prri.org, we find that 3 in 4 Americans oppose Trump's military parade. prri.org/spotlight/mi...
Trying to remember the last chief of US intelligence agencies who publicly advanced a conspiracy theory that the nation's "elite" are plotting to start a nuclear war because they have shelters.
Important read.
This piece by @lizagoitein.bsky.social, one of the nation's leading experts on federal control of the National Guard, is a must read if you want to know why President Trump's deployments in LA are legally questionable. www.justsecurity.org/114282/memor...
“In a nutshell, the purge sought to exclude the diversity the U.S. military once celebrated.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/u...
This thread from @bxroberts.org is worth your time 👇👇
It’s also notable that this DOJ doesn’t allow lawyers to give their best legal advice if their professional judgment differs from what the political leadership wants to do. Another reason that we can’t have any confidence that DOJ is acting in good faith when it obtains indictments.
Elon Musk’s team at the U.S. DOGE Service and allies in the Trump administration ignored White House communications experts worried about potential security breaches when DOGE personnel installed Musk’s Starlink internet service in the complex this year www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
REUTERS: Tesla is trying to stop certain self-driving crash data becoming public. "Information is confidential" www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
SCOTUS' shadow docket order granting DOGE unprecedented access to Americans' social security records *before the merits of the case are decided* is infuriating. Here is the order and I'll post some key portions from Justice Jackson's outstanding dissent below. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
These stories make me physically ill. bsky.app/profile/cram...