Cathy Gellis
cathygellis.bsky.social
Cathy Gellis
@cathygellis.bsky.social
Lawyer, writer, all-around-great person

I mostly post about technology, law, and civil liberties (especially free speech), and how they intersect. And mostly at Techdirt: https://www.techdirt.com/user/cathy/

I also post silly things too.
Pinned
A reminder: any member of Congress not impeaching is violating their own oath of office.

It's not optional.

www.techdirt.com/2025/11/26/o...
Oaths Of Office, And How Everyone Not Moving To Impeach Trump Is Violating Their Own
Until very recently the only member of Congress excused from not having moved to impeach Trump was Rep. Grijalva, because until someone swore her in there was nothing she could officially do. But f…
www.techdirt.com
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Genuinely gives me a lot of hope that the NFL is a cynical, cash-motivated organization and they're betting on this being the future
February 9, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
We're asking ICE to do nothing
Our DHS reform demands are exceedingly reasonable.

We're asking ICE to do nothing more than follow the standards that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies already follow.

Republicans, the ball is in your court. The clock is ticking.
February 10, 2026 at 4:44 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
February 10, 2026 at 4:44 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
I’m old enough to remember when coming out and explicitly opposing bedrock principles of American democracy like freedom of speech would end a political career.
February 10, 2026 at 4:28 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Hey, remember those articles of impeachment for Kristi Noem everybody was jazzed about last month? Does anybody have an update on that for us? Because, uh, the situation is deteriorating. 🧵
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.

If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April
Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.
www.ajc.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:55 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Here is my conclusion after sitting through Maxwell's deposition with her refusing to answer a single question about the men who raped underage girls, saying she would only do so for clemency.

She must immediately be sent back to the maximum security prison where she belongs.
February 10, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
This is true, but having taught at some elite schools, I can say that some kids believe that checking all the boxes and getting into a good school entitles them to anything they want. When they find out that nature and society limit them, they become fake-populists and wanna burn "the system"
I don't think Hegseth's Ivy education has much to do with all this. A challenging school with its complex social situations can help light the fuse but he is who he is.
February 10, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
REP. STEIL: Some Dems demands put at risk the safety of members of law enforcement

CNBC: You mean like taking off their masks and having a badge that shows who they are?

STEIL: Well, they're known to their supervisors

CNBC: No other law enforcement officials in the US are allowed to wear masks
February 9, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Dinosaur Convention out here with higher moral standards than the Cabinet.
February 10, 2026 at 2:34 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Author of the "research" that was reportedly the basis of the Fulton County election raid:

"In 2004, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor voyeurism charge and was ordered by a jury to pay $3.25 million in damages after secretly filming guests in his home bathroom."

www.propublica.org/article/kevi...
The Conservative Researcher Being Linked to the FBI’s Seizure of Election Records in Georgia
Kevin Moncla has tried repeatedly to prove that the 2020 vote in Fulton County, Georgia, was tainted by fraud. While state election overseers have rejected his claims, his work may be fueling the fede...
www.propublica.org
February 9, 2026 at 8:01 PM
It is pointless for Dems to demand law that is redundant to what we already have. What they need to do is make sure we have law enabling consequences for those who don't follow the law we already have.
This is literally what CURRENT LAW requires. It’s in the Constitution! www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
February 10, 2026 at 3:46 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
This proposed act is so evil.
Tomorrow I will testify before subcommittee of House Judiciary Committee against the proposed "Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act," which would authorize exclusion/deportation of all or most non-citizen Muslim immigrants. My written testimony posted here: reason.com/wp-content/u...
reason.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
this is injurious to moral, social, and all human life
I arrived too late to an abduction yesterday. Ice vehicles boxed in a food delivery driver on the highway. They took him, and when I came on the scene (with a few other neighbors in cars), his keys were still in it. We found his phone, a debit card, his car title and registration.
February 10, 2026 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
NEW: DOJ filed its notice of appeal in AAUP v. Rubio, the case about the Trump admin's attempt to revoke visas, etc. Judge Young found this was implemented in an unconstitutionally viewpoint-discriminatory manner.

Earlier Law Dork coverage: www.lawdork.com/p/judge-will...
February 10, 2026 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Jack Duffy attaches a respirator to his bagpipes to play through tear gas. “I always play it whenever the police retreat because it's like, ‘You fucking ran while we stayed,’” he says.

The full story: lataco.com/protest-bagp...

By Julianne Le
February 10, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
It's staggering how this political eunuch has not just done nothing at all as Speaker of the House, but has actually worked to prevent his colleagues from doing anything at all as well.

For all the right's fetishization of "originalism," this is a development that would've made the founders weep
Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday he is moving forward with a plan to revive a prohibition on House votes to overturn President Donald Trump’s global tariffs.

www.politico.com/live-updates...
Johnson moves to again block House from voting on Trump tariffs
Opposition from as few as two Republicans could derail the effort.
www.politico.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
He’s so unlikable. Add that to the fact that the MAGA base will not transfer to him. Good luck in 2028.

And let’s start doing to him what they did to Kamala: “What has JD Vance actually accomplished since he’s been VP?”
February 9, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Local governments might need to start major road maintenance projects that happen to be on the roads leading in/out of these facilities and then the local governments might run out of money to complete the projects. And now the roads are all torn up and, whoops, sorry for the inconvenience, feds.
February 10, 2026 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
February 10, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
Congress should show 1/100th the spine of any of the folks on the front lines in Minnesota.

Shame on them.
We have had strikes, and many Americans have directly put their bodies in the line of fire to defend their neighbors from this administration. People in rural places and cities and suburbs are showing up to say hell no, and weve swept +18 in special elections and congress is still doing nothing.
February 10, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
February 10, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
The Heritage Foundation has released a 250-year roadmap to “save America.”

The document is a how-to guide for subjugating girls & young women: a detailed plan to push them out of college, funnel them into early marriage and motherhood, and then trap them there.
jessica.substack.com/p/theyre-com...
They're Coming for Our Daughters
The conservative plan to shrink girls’ futures
jessica.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
ICE officials, under a judge’s order to clean up overcrowded and squalid conditions inside holding cells at 26 Federal Plaza detained migrants on a separate floor where they decided the the ruling didn't apply. The revelation comes in a hearing today:

www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/09/2...
ICE Moved Detainees to Previously Undisclosed Floor of 26 Federal Plaza
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reduce overcrowding and squalid conditions at a Manhattan holding room. Months later, he finds ICE merely shifted floors.
www.thecity.nyc
February 10, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Cathy Gellis
We can never undo what was inflicted on this child.
Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.

“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
‘He’s not the same’: Father of Liam Conejo Ramos says 5-year-old continues to suffer
Some people thought they say the 5-year-old during the Super Bowl halftime show. But Liam is still in hiding with his family, after he and his father were detained and then released from a Texas deten...
www.mprnews.org
February 10, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Ugh...

I'm not sure it's wrong, but I resent that I'm going to have to figure it out, and probably eventually write a brief, and there are so many other things I would rather do with my life.
February 10, 2026 at 1:31 AM