Tomorrow marks the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. It also marks the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court first upholding the Voting Rights Act.
We have gotten so, so far away from a Court that cares about democracy.
New from me at @brennancenter.org:
We have gotten so, so far away from a Court that cares about democracy.
New from me at @brennancenter.org:
The Bygone Era of Supreme Court Support for Voting Rights
Sixty years after upholding the Voting Rights Act, the Court has dismantled most of it.
www.brennancenter.org
March 7, 2026 at 6:02 PM
McConnell packed the Court. If we have the fortune to live in a Constitutional Republic again, the government should expand the Court for a wide variety of reasons -- one of which is to UNPACK it.
June 27, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Kavanaugh recently suggested immigration stops are no big deal if you're a legal resident bc ICE just promptly releases you
That is not, in fact, what ICE does
He invents a fiction bc the reality of the policies he supports is too disturbing for him to imagine
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/brett...
That is not, in fact, what ICE does
He invents a fiction bc the reality of the policies he supports is too disturbing for him to imagine
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/brett...
Brett Kavanaugh’s Racial Profiling Opinion Is Looking Sillier By the Day
Kavanaugh said that immigration agents “promptly” release people after determining that they are legal U.S. residents. They don’t.
ballsandstrikes.org
October 3, 2025 at 12:03 AM
As Justice Kagan begins her dissent by pointing out, what is even the point of trial, of fact-finding, of clear error, of standards of review, when the Supreme Court simply ignores every single part of that and decides everything purely on the papers without any real consideration of the facts?
December 4, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Yet again, USA:
Require that the Constitution be respected everywhere in the country.
And #UnpackTheCourts of the illegitimate extremists doing things like this.
Require that the Constitution be respected everywhere in the country.
And #UnpackTheCourts of the illegitimate extremists doing things like this.
April 22, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Yet again, USA:
Require that the Constitution be respected everywhere in the country.
And #UnpackTheCourts of the illegitimate extremists doing things like this.
Require that the Constitution be respected everywhere in the country.
And #UnpackTheCourts of the illegitimate extremists doing things like this.
The Supreme Court refuses to review an odious 5th Circuit decision granting qualified immunity to Texas officials who arrested a citizens-journalist in retaliation against her posing questions to public officials. Sotomayor has an appropriately furious dissent: www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
March 23, 2026 at 3:31 PM
The Supreme Court's second and final ruling of the day, USPS v. Konan, bars lawsuits against the Postal Service for maliciously and intentionally refusing to deliver someone's mail. It's 5–4, with Gorsuch joining the liberals in dissent. Bad decision! www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
February 24, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Justice Sam Alito was v disturbed yesterday by the mere possibility that judges might be using the federal compassionate release statute to *checks notes* grant incarcerated people's requests for compassionate release
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
Sam Alito Very Concerned About the Possibility of People Not Being In Prison For As Long As Possible
Interesting to which issues prompt judges to get worked up about other judges deciding cases in line with their personal ideological agendas.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 14, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Every time the Supreme Court dumps a load of decisions right before heading off for vacation, I'm reminded of how Clarence Thomas marked the conclusion of one SCOTUS session by boarding a private jet to Indonesia where he and Ginny island-hopped aboard Harlan Crow's 162-foot superyacht:
Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From Major GOP Donor
Island-hopping on a superyacht. Private jet rides around the world. The undisclosed gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the Supreme Court. “It’s incomprehensible to me tha...
www.propublica.org
June 27, 2025 at 3:35 PM
see this is that bullshit I'm talking about. we keep seeing this pattern play out:
- district court judge orders Trump administration to follow the law
- Trump n em then ask Supreme Court to let em keep breaking the law
- Supreme Court then grants that request
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
- district court judge orders Trump administration to follow the law
- Trump n em then ask Supreme Court to let em keep breaking the law
- Supreme Court then grants that request
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
June 25, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The testing ground for Bovino’s Operation At Large was Los Angeles. A California judge initially prohibited ICE/CBP’s most flagrant constitutional violations. SCOTUS overruled her 6–3, handing Bovino a blank check to inflict unspeakable brutality on Chicago and Minneapolis. The 6 bear so much blame.
BREAKING Greg Bovino has been removed as Border Patrol "commander at large" and will return to El Centro Calif, where he is expected to retire soon. A stunning turnaround after Pretti killing. Bovino's traveling blue city crackdown is over www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
January 27, 2026 at 3:55 PM
NEW at SCOTUS: the court votes 6-3 to block a California law preventing public schools from outing gender-questioning students to their parents.
March 3, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Here we go, we have Skrmetti. SCOTUS, 6-3, UPHOLDS Tennessee's ban on gender affirming care.
Roberts with the majority opinion, all three liberals dissent.
Roberts with the majority opinion, all three liberals dissent.
June 18, 2025 at 2:44 PM
There is no ambiguity in the text of the 14th Amendment.
4 current members of SCOTUS are pleased to blatantly lie and pretend otherwise.
Yet again, USA:
#UnpackTheCourts.
4 current members of SCOTUS are pleased to blatantly lie and pretend otherwise.
Yet again, USA:
#UnpackTheCourts.
The Supreme Court strikes down Trump's attack on birthright citizenship. By a 5–4 vote, it holds that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born of unauthorized and temporary immigrants. Roberts and Barrett join the three liberals. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
June 30, 2026 at 2:43 PM
There is no ambiguity in the text of the 14th Amendment.
4 current members of SCOTUS are pleased to blatantly lie and pretend otherwise.
Yet again, USA:
#UnpackTheCourts.
4 current members of SCOTUS are pleased to blatantly lie and pretend otherwise.
Yet again, USA:
#UnpackTheCourts.
#UnpackTheCourts and do not let voter suppression continue in any form.
BREAKING: In another 8th Circuit ruling limiting Voting Rights Act enforcement, a panel rules private individuals/groups in 7 states have no right to sue under Section 208, which allows voters who need help because of a disability or inability to read/write to get help from a person of their choice
Arkansas United - 2025-07-28 8th Circuit Panel Opinion
www.documentcloud.org
July 28, 2025 at 6:31 PM
#UnpackTheCourts and do not let voter suppression continue in any form.
The Supreme Court's first and only opinion today is San Francisco v. EPA. The majority substantially weakens the Clean Water Act's limitations on raw sewage discharge. It is 5–4 in relevant part, with Barrett, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissenting. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
March 4, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I got a survey from the office of one of my members of Congress. It asked "which two of these are the greatest priority for you?" with a list of policy items.
#ImpeachTrump and #UnpackTheCourts were not on the list.
Do better, members of Congress.
(And this is why I call congressional offices.)
#ImpeachTrump and #UnpackTheCourts were not on the list.
Do better, members of Congress.
(And this is why I call congressional offices.)
June 26, 2025 at 7:30 PM
I got a survey from the office of one of my members of Congress. It asked "which two of these are the greatest priority for you?" with a list of policy items.
#ImpeachTrump and #UnpackTheCourts were not on the list.
Do better, members of Congress.
(And this is why I call congressional offices.)
#ImpeachTrump and #UnpackTheCourts were not on the list.
Do better, members of Congress.
(And this is why I call congressional offices.)
#TaxTheRich #BillionairesTax #WealthTag #OligarchTax #WindfallTax #EndCitizensUnited #UnpackTheCourts #VoteBlue #CorporateTax #GOPTaxScams #KamalaHarris2024
August 5, 2024 at 11:54 AM
Democrats need to seriously consider an impeachment inquiry into now-Judge Emil Bove if/when they take back the House.
He led the brazenly corrupt Eric Adams quid pro quo.
He facilitated the Tom Homan bribery cover-up.
And there’s probably more! He was Trump’s hatchet man at DOJ for months!
He led the brazenly corrupt Eric Adams quid pro quo.
He facilitated the Tom Homan bribery cover-up.
And there’s probably more! He was Trump’s hatchet man at DOJ for months!
lol. Emil Bove intervened. The guy that Senate Republicans just confirmed for a lifetime position on the federal bench.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...
September 21, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Dear Republican voters that are racist and bigoted. America is NOT a #CHRISTIANNATION as much as Republican #billionaires & their puppets try to brainwash you into believing.
#WhiteNationalism is NOT #Faith !
#Hitler #ChristianTaliban #Christofascists
#SeparationOfChurchAndState #unpackthecourts
#WhiteNationalism is NOT #Faith !
#Hitler #ChristianTaliban #Christofascists
#SeparationOfChurchAndState #unpackthecourts
May 1, 2024 at 9:53 AM
Dear Republican voters that are racist and bigoted. America is NOT a #CHRISTIANNATION as much as Republican #billionaires & their puppets try to brainwash you into believing.
#WhiteNationalism is NOT #Faith !
#Hitler #ChristianTaliban #Christofascists
#SeparationOfChurchAndState #unpackthecourts
#WhiteNationalism is NOT #Faith !
#Hitler #ChristianTaliban #Christofascists
#SeparationOfChurchAndState #unpackthecourts
Not only does the Roberts Court selectively apply the Constitution, even when they determine something is unconstitutional, they selectively decide when that matters
This line in particular makes me feel ill:
"The dissent would require that the 2026 congressional elections in Louisiana be held under a map that has been held to be unconstitutional."
SCOTUS' Republican majority has long required elections to be held under illegal maps—when it hurts Dems.
"The dissent would require that the 2026 congressional elections in Louisiana be held under a map that has been held to be unconstitutional."
SCOTUS' Republican majority has long required elections to be held under illegal maps—when it hurts Dems.
May 5, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Justice Thurgood Marshall, dissenting in Mobile v. Alabama, which gave us the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the Supreme Court just nullified in Louisiana v. Callais.
Every word applies to the current majority:
tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...
Every word applies to the current majority:
tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...
May 1, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Yet again, USA:
Do not allow this or anything like it.
And #AbolishICE, #ImpeachTrump, and #UnpackTheCourts .
Do not allow this or anything like it.
And #AbolishICE, #ImpeachTrump, and #UnpackTheCourts .
#BREAKING: Over a (sharp) public dissent from the three Democratic appointees, #SCOTUS clears the way for the Trump administration to remove migrants to third countries *without* giving them an additional opportunity to contest whether they face persecution or other forms of mistreatment there:
www.supremecourt.gov
June 24, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Yet again, USA:
Do not allow this or anything like it.
And #AbolishICE, #ImpeachTrump, and #UnpackTheCourts .
Do not allow this or anything like it.
And #AbolishICE, #ImpeachTrump, and #UnpackTheCourts .
Very interesting: Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu (who's retiring soon) won't apply equal protection to invalidate discrimination against the poor because she's afraid of giving SCOTUS an opportunity to further weaken the 14th Amendment. Remarkably candid. www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf...
![YU, J. (dissenting) — I agree with the majority’s summation of federal equal
protection law and its limited application to the issue before us. However, I cannot
overlook the inherent unfairness of disregarding the economic value of community
service used to pay legal financial obligations in Blake1 cases. Thus, I must dissent
from the majority in result.
Nevertheless, I cannot join the analysis proffered by the dissent of Justice
Mungia. I am not persuaded that current federal due process and equal protection
doctrines fit the fact pattern before us, and I am reluctant to attempt to expand
these doctrines at this time. Doing so risks weakening established jurisprudence
that is already being weakened, as the United States Supreme Court “retreat[s]
from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most.” United States v.
Skrmetti, 605 U.S. 495, 579, 145 S. Ct. 1816, 222 L. Ed. 2d 136 (2025)
(Sotomayor, J., dissenting).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreigdg42uobfcz47exzh545urdhsh3j55firp64l2smr632kvnhme6a)
December 15, 2025 at 7:44 PM
