It matters plenty. The government is complying with 99% of the judicial decisions in cases it’s losing. Don’t get distracted by doomers.
Associate Prof at Northern Illinois University College of Law. Constitutional law, criminal law, abolition, philosophy, hoops, puppies (esp. Argo the Floof). “Mildly Sephirothic at worst.” He/him.
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It matters plenty. The government is complying with 99% of the judicial decisions in cases it’s losing. Don’t get distracted by doomers.
Someone asked me what victory against the forces seeking to occupy Chicago looks like. Obviously, those forces being repelled is the goal, but there are layers to what success looks like in these deteriorating conditions. The first is to successfully resist the normalization of military occupation.
I’m not even sure what he’s doing at this point, but one state cannot invade another and that is what this would be if he’s using 502(f). That would be Texas invading Illinois.
Yes henlo. We haz questions about the scope of Section 502(f) authority and possibly a lurking Article IV question.
And I am taking a break until things clear a bit.
I really feel like we don’t know enough to know what exactly they’re doing here
They have never invoked the insurrection act and appear very scared to do so
It could be just that straightforward but also… they got away with the Cali deployment so again, not sure
Right, and they would be using a different statute that doesn’t require those triggers. Maybe.
In the coming days, we expect to see what's playing out in LA and DC happen in Chicago. These efforts are not about fighting crime or making communities safer. This is about Donald Trump testing his power and producing political drama to cover up his own corruption.
Yeah—I really don’t know.
Also, holy shit is this confusing already and people are saying all kinds of stuff. Be careful before sharing.
It’s illegal, Texas cannot invade Illinois. But, see above.
Ok to all of the three-level hypotheticals about the possible military occupation of Illinois by Texas: I don’t know, and be very suspicious of anyone who confidently claims that they do
No idea
No idea. Highly doubt that that will happen.
Yeah we could chase this down several orders of illegality, it’s ridiculous. If he’s actually going to do it.
Whereas in California the state’s own national guard was federalized under a law which allows that. The problem there was that they went beyond the very limited things they can do without violating other laws.
I’m not even sure what he’s doing at this point, but one state cannot invade another and that is what this would be if he’s using 502(f). That would be Texas invading Illinois.
Good overview here www.lawfaremedia.org/article/sect...
These problems are even bigger. As a constitutional matter, the deployment of unfederalized Guard personnel into a nonconsenting state can never happen. Never.
He is extremely unlikely to do this because the Texas Nat Guard is acting on behalf of the federal government.
ooooooh the Texans are coming oh no save us from the Texans help
Mfer scared of getting hit with a Portillos
What a bunch of assholes. Go there yourself, tough guy.
Illinois Gov. Pritzker ahead of Trump National Guard deployment: "To Chicagoans... Look out for your communities and your neighbours. Know your rights. Film things that you see happening... Authoritarians thrive on your silence. Be loud for America."
“Cause when I'm looking at y'all, shit, it's no wonder it's why/ I need a visor, 'cause y'all are just sons in my eyes”
“That’s the chapter, bitches”
Look if you’re going to write a memoir you might as well flex
What a gorgeous spike floof
'Los Angeles (1937)' www.commondreams.org/views/2018/1...
Do they know where that meme comes from nvm I don’t care
it's cool that the future of politics is this
I’m being careful with my language because there is no specific order yet. It is very clearly illegal for the federal government to deploy troops into states because it has concerns about local crime. An order that said that would be an illegal order.
In that case, different things are legally different. But the question and answer makes reference to shootings and none to immigration.
If it turns out to be bullshit, great, disregard.
There is not even a pretense of this having anything to do with attacks on federal personnel or buildings. Just wildly lawless stuff.
Anyone who participates in what appears in context to be a proposed military occupation of Chicago “because crime” will be doing something that is illegal and is obligated not to do that. That’s all I’ll say.
FLOOF TEND GARDEN
Look, I know my limits, and I reach them on trying to litigate things John Brown in this medium. This is what Douglass said. I think it’s important in thinking about Brown’s impact, which was not small. That’s all for now.
There literally was a meteor shower in the days preceding his execution too!
I mean we can admire two different people for different reasons despite their different flaws
To the extent that that first claim is defensible, it’s because you do not mean what the scholar means by it.
Literally the Battle Hymn of the Republic was inspired by Brown.
That’s the point. There is no One Way.
A forthcoming book by one of America’s leading constitutional scholars will celebrate Douglass but depict Brown as a “violent fanatic” with little impact on anything. I regret that it will be necessary to put this canard to rest.
The sort of analogy is to Marx hemming and hawing about the Paris Commune and then wholeheartedly supporting and celebrating it.
I’ll have to watch it! Heard good things. Douglass was certainly right about the short-term aims, and JB wrong. But the raid became about more than that.
And Douglass, well. He wrote this. www.contextus.org/Frederick_Do...
Anyway: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/140728...
Also, fun fact: Brown wrote his racially egalitarian constitution in Douglass’s home. Douglass’s wife Anna Murray sheltered him on the run. He planned the raid in her home, during that time.
Even more strongly: this speech is an argument that the raid actually worked, in the broadest possible sense
no, he did not join the raid. Also, no, it was not because he had any principled objection to it. And with the benefit of reflection, it’s hard to escape the sense that he thought Brown went an extra mile.
Delivered at Harper’s Ferry. monadnock.net/douglass/joh...
Plz do not believe anyone who positions the “Frederick Douglass way” against the “John Brown way” thanks
Frederick Douglass on John Brown, 1881
FLOOF TEND GARDEN
A new Legal-Phi interview is out! We spoke with Alma Diamond about how practices shape obligations, constitutional meaning, and much more. Check it out 👇https://legalphi.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/alma-diamond-practices-obligations-and-constitutions/
BERNER ZOOMIES
Irish national Kitty O’Brien being absolutely brutalized by Berlin police during a peaceful pro-Palestine rally. Kettled, badly beaten, their arm shattered, they say, “you don’t fucking scare us.”
But no one should doubt that he is an 11 on the 1-10 fash scale
Literally the only thing that could be better about Vance is that he is so thoroughly uncharismatic and unctuous that nobody could possibly be persuaded by him to do anything
You use whatever tools you have. Lord knows they’re doing that.
A bit belated, but I’m very excited to share that my job market paper is now forthcoming in the Washington & Lee Law Review. And I’m officially on the law faculty market for civ pro, int’l law, fed courts & related fields. I appreciate help spreading the word! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Gotta say, though—there’s some satisfying irony in the PCA being deployed against a racist administration, given that it was originally designed to protect southern racism from federal intervention.
Plus there’s a stay and will be appeals so I wouldn’t even get excited about its deterrent effect for other potential deployments yet. It’s not nothing, but less than Something.
I considered it basically impossible for the admin to do what it claimed to be doing with these deployments without violating the PCA, so this comes as no surprise. That being said, I am sure this will come as cold comfort at this point.
#BREAKING: Judge Breyer has held that the Trump admin. *violated* the Posse Comitatus Act in its military deployments in and around Los Angeles, and has enjoined further use of those troops for law enforcement tasks. The order is stayed through 12 PDT on 9/12: georgetown.app.box.com/file/1973361...
Yeah, I’m giving it a chance but I have similar misgivings. I just played through the original, and it really is special and I can already tell that this is not going to match up.
Think the RE4 remake but with only graphical and gameplay changes. Story, voice acting, sequence of events identical to original.
Apologies! You have reached the end of your free trial period of America
MGS 3 delta is a very weird experience that I’m not sure how I feel about yet but am glad someone put together, just to see if something like this is at all worth it. What it is: a graphical overhaul and quality-of-life tweaking of an old game that changes nothing else.
What a gorgeous spike floof
Sophie Nash, contemporary UK artist who studied Zoology and is known for specialising in wildlife, based in Cornwall, UK #WomensArt #Tuesday
Yeah I think ppl are hoping it’s health related and… I’m not going to get my hopes up
TCU's admin had some fun after the Horned Frogs dominated Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels 😅🐸
BERNER ZOOMIES
Yoga - you mean Doga surely?? Doggy Yoga who knew...🤣 #dog #dogday #bluesky
*chariots of floof soundtrack plays*
WHO U CALL “GIANT BREED”?!
Why has Zohran Mamdani not condemned this avian menace?
no wonder New Yorkers are afraid to set foot outdoors. Look at this absolute unit.
The federal govt's extortion of UCLA has numerous problems. One is that it is ostensibly based on some factual allegations that are so exaggerated that they are actually false. I wrote about this today in a long blog post reflecting on what I saw at UCLA and how lawyers later mischaracterized it:
FREE SMOL HOOMAN FROM BABYJAIL
A friend took this at a rally today and I barked laughing.
so, I think this is conventional wisdom for a lot of centrist Ds, and it's really wrong headed for a whole bunch of reasons. 1
This part is killing me. There is never an example of a dem elected saying the thing for something like 5 years if ever, and yet somehow literally everyone needs to stop saying it NOW or we lose elections. That is ridiculous. Also, we should defund the police, I said it and I'm glad.
if your answer isn’t an unequivocal “yes” then you’re a shit journalist
Hecc. Just trying to enjoy my labor doggo weekend with a big floofy book
Dude also clearly just swallowed a small skyscraper
tf are these bread crumbs. Give me a steak or it’s ur life next time
no wonder New Yorkers are afraid to set foot outdoors. Look at this absolute unit.
Finally met the big pigeon 🐦🏙️ Dinosaur by Iván Argote - the High Line, NYC
Such people exist, but redeemers original and more recent are not among them
I mean honestly the people we're talking about here have never been committed to anything meaningfully labeled "limited government."
Hence the fear of "replacement." They can't conceive of sharing power, because they regard would-be power sharers as unequal, unfit to hold any power, and they claim the right to dominate their unequals.
They don't need to be thinking of any of this for it to explain their behavior. Why that's a nail that needs a hammer has hundreds of years behind it that they could never retrace. But the primal fear is of losing power over people, who will thereby gain power over you. It's a zero-sum picture
Biracial society is, for people who feel racially entitled to rule rather than share power, domination. Lynching served to reestablish the correct hierarchy.