Reading list
Shortform reading
This is an incomplete list of the shortform reading (and listening and watching) I’ve been doing lately.
"Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here."
My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury.
SCOTUS's parental rights messages: Protect anti-LGBTQ views, ignore LGBTQ people
The court protected religious parents' rights in a case over LGBTQ-related books in classrooms. Days later, the court turned away requests from parents of trans kids.
#law · #lgbt · #trans-issues
Gavin Newsom sues Fox News for $787M in defamation case over Trump call
The California governor accused Fox News of defamation in a lawsuit Friday morning, alleging the network should fork over $787 million after host Jesse Watters claimed Newsom lied about his phone calls with Trump, who ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles this month.
When Half The Supreme Court Has Book Deals With The Same Publisher, Who Decides Its Cases?
The problem isn’t just Penguin RandomHouse. It’s that we’ve created a system where sitting Justices routinely may have significant financial relationships with entities that appear before the Court. Book deals, speaking fees, luxury trips—the conflicts are everywhere, and historically (as we’ve learned) some Justices just ignored them.
Sometimes You Should Talk to the Cops (Podcast)
Unusual situations produce unusual action on the Supreme Court's "shadow docket"; ICE arrests a mayor, then DOJ charges a congresswoman; James Comey visits with the Secret Service.
Forcing Bank Deposits to Subsidize Stablecoins: the GENIUS Act
Whatever else one might think about stablecoins or the GENIUS Act, its insolvency provisions are an absolute mess, both conceptually and in drafting. If the GENIUS Act becomes the law, we're in for a FUBAR situation when a stablecoin issuer ends up insolvent. Even more concerning, if a bank custodian for a stablecoin issuer's reserves ends up insolvent, the claims of the stablecoin investors will come ahead of the bank depositors. That's right. Crypto comes ahead of ma-and-pa.
The effect: stablecoins are being subsidized by bank deposits. Now that's GENIUS.
It does matter. Defending the rule of law in the Trump era is essential.
I think about this a lot these days, because whenever I discuss court rulings against the Trump administration, someone inevitably responds, “Well, it doesn’t matter. They don’t follow court orders.”
The bottom line: It does matter. In fact, it is essential.
Who Is Ed Martin, Trump's Pick for D.C. U.S. Attorney?
Since taking charge of the office in January, Martin has launched controversial investigations, rushed to defend Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and vowed to change how his office prosecutes crime in the District of Columbia.
His actions have been met with fierce pushback from Democratic lawmakers, watchdog groups and legal experts. There have been at least four disciplinary complaints filed against him with the D.C. and Missouri bars. One of the D.C. complaints has been dismissed; the other three appear to be pending. If Martin has responded to the complaints, his statements have not been made public.
At Least Everyone Knows How to Pronounce It Now (Podcast)
Trump tries to put Perkins Coie out of business; apparently Marco Rubio has very broad authority to revoke green cards; Ed Martin is mad at Georgetown.
EFF Sues DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management to Halt Ransacking of Federal Data
EFF and a coalition of privacy defenders have filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to block Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the private information of millions of Americans that is stored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and to delete any data that has been collected or removed from databases thus far.
#elon-musk · #law · #privacy · #us-politics