Gautam Hans
@gshans.bsky.social
Clinical Prof., Cornell Law School. That brown gay law prof who makes ice cream & laughs too loud. Currently mired in the Constitution, speech, tech, clinical legal education, and the legal profession. Not the best but pretty good. Always MI ✋🏾
Just talked about this absurdity in First Amendment this morning! 🙃😬😒
Protesters are pushing back against the Trump admin’s practice of kidnapping their neighbors and executing dissidents, and the Trump admin is arresting the journalists who publicize that righteous anger
I wrote about Don Lemon, Georgia Fort, & the First Amendment
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
I wrote about Don Lemon, Georgia Fort, & the First Amendment
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
The Trump Administration Is Trying to Prosecute Its Way Out of Bad Media Coverage
The arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort threaten more than just their First Amendment rights as journalists.
ballsandstrikes.org
February 2, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Just talked about this absurdity in First Amendment this morning! 🙃😬😒
In my view, mandating the signing of an NDA for judicial employees clashes with the tradition of transparency and openness that should motivate the courts.
Should some things be confidential? Yes. But trying to use a contract to get there means we have lost the plot. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
Should some things be confidential? Yes. But trying to use a contract to get there means we have lost the plot. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
How the Supreme Court Secretly Made Itself Even More Secretive
www.nytimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:48 PM
In my view, mandating the signing of an NDA for judicial employees clashes with the tradition of transparency and openness that should motivate the courts.
Should some things be confidential? Yes. But trying to use a contract to get there means we have lost the plot. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
Should some things be confidential? Yes. But trying to use a contract to get there means we have lost the plot. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
Anyone familiar with the vagaries of the NYT books bestseller lists will understand how the game perhaps has been played.
I would like to know how many of these $7 million dollars worth of ticket purchases were orchestrated by Trump’s team so Melania would look like less of a loser.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/b...
‘Melania’ Arrives With Strong Box Office Showing for a Documentary
www.nytimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 1:06 AM
Anyone familiar with the vagaries of the NYT books bestseller lists will understand how the game perhaps has been played.
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Assuming Trump waited until after screening his wife bribeumentary at the Kennedy Center to announce this that he was closing it out of nothing but spite.
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
Kennedy Center to close for 2 years for renovations in July, Trump says, after performers' backlash
President Donald Trump says he will move to close Washington’s Kennedy Center performing arts venue for two years starting in July for construction.
apnews.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:15 AM
Assuming Trump waited until after screening his wife bribeumentary at the Kennedy Center to announce this that he was closing it out of nothing but spite.
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
😬
February 1, 2026 at 11:09 PM
😬
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Liam Conejo Ramos is not alone. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...
Opinion | Liam Ramos Is Just One of Hundreds of Children at This Detention Center. Release Them All.
www.nytimes.com
February 1, 2026 at 1:07 PM
Liam Conejo Ramos is not alone. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...
Reposted by Gautam Hans
This rules so hard. In law school I remember people who wanted to be federal prosecutors spending three years doing everything they could to be maybe, possibly be competitive for an AUSA job someday. Now you just need to hop on X the everything app and DM a guy named Chad.
January 31, 2026 at 11:02 PM
This rules so hard. In law school I remember people who wanted to be federal prosecutors spending three years doing everything they could to be maybe, possibly be competitive for an AUSA job someday. Now you just need to hop on X the everything app and DM a guy named Chad.
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Listen to lawyer Joseph Margulies in conversation with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social about his recent BR essay on the line running from Bush’s torture memos to the Trump administration’s specious legal arguments defending its actions:
January 31, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Listen to lawyer Joseph Margulies in conversation with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social about his recent BR essay on the line running from Bush’s torture memos to the Trump administration’s specious legal arguments defending its actions:
Reposted by Gautam Hans
law enforcement driven by the algorithm, with an eye only toward what is good #content ... we might call it slop enforcement
The Justice Department’s prosecution of the reporters Don Lemon and Georgia Fort is “best understood not as law enforcement but as propaganda,” Quinta Jurecic argues: theatln.tc/fcStyVnv
January 31, 2026 at 4:18 PM
law enforcement driven by the algorithm, with an eye only toward what is good #content ... we might call it slop enforcement
April fools.
NEW: SCOTUS will hear major election-law case on March 23rd and historic birthright-citizenship challenge on April 1st
January 30, 2026 at 4:57 PM
April fools.
Well.
This just in: "Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards," Lemon's attorney Abbe Lowell says.
January 30, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Well.
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Legitimately a feat of carefully calculated writing to issue a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement of this length without mentioning either (1) the people who perpetrated the Holocaust or (2) the people against whom they perpetrated it
January 28, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Legitimately a feat of carefully calculated writing to issue a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement of this length without mentioning either (1) the people who perpetrated the Holocaust or (2) the people against whom they perpetrated it
Reposted by Gautam Hans
my grandmother, an Auschwitz survivor, was Anne Frank’s neighbor in Amsterdam, and Oma thinks this comparison is perfectly apt
The Minnesota governor is getting widespread criticism for comparing children dealing with immigration enforcement to Holocaust victim Anne Frank.
Tim Walz condemned for comparing Minnesota children to Anne Frank
The Minnesota governor is getting widespread criticism for comparing children dealing with immigration enforcement to Holocaust victim Anne Frank.
bit.ly
January 28, 2026 at 2:37 AM
my grandmother, an Auschwitz survivor, was Anne Frank’s neighbor in Amsterdam, and Oma thinks this comparison is perfectly apt
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Ilhan Omar is an American hero. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
January 28, 2026 at 2:06 AM
Ilhan Omar is an American hero. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Reposted by Gautam Hans
She was almost 90 before she received any recognition for her work. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/s...
Gladys West, Unsung Figure in Development of GPS, Dies at 95
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:20 PM
She was almost 90 before she received any recognition for her work. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/s...
Even after all this: merely –4 with whites.
-4 with whites and -9 with men would...explain why there were firings
Economist/YouGov poll shows Trump's approval with
White people:
47% approve
51% disapprove
Hispanics:
27%
68%
18-29:
32%
63%
Men:
43%
54%
Women:
35%
60%
White people:
47% approve
51% disapprove
Hispanics:
27%
68%
18-29:
32%
63%
Men:
43%
54%
Women:
35%
60%
January 27, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Even after all this: merely –4 with whites.
“An updated tweet is coming” 😂
January 27, 2026 at 7:18 PM
“An updated tweet is coming” 😂
This is absurd behavior on the part of DOJ (evergreen statement these days).
Tonight in "DOJ is a joke" news.
DOJ is now asking the DC Circuit to hold the four law firm EO case final judgment appeals in abeyance until after its appeal of Mark Zaid's preliminary injunction is concluded.
This, after DOJ has repeatedly pushed off and otherwise delayed the law firm appeals.
DOJ is now asking the DC Circuit to hold the four law firm EO case final judgment appeals in abeyance until after its appeal of Mark Zaid's preliminary injunction is concluded.
This, after DOJ has repeatedly pushed off and otherwise delayed the law firm appeals.
January 27, 2026 at 3:50 AM
This is absurd behavior on the part of DOJ (evergreen statement these days).
Reposted by Gautam Hans
if bovino is out and conservatives are turning on noem then there is a real opportunity to demand that miller resign too.
January 27, 2026 at 1:07 AM
if bovino is out and conservatives are turning on noem then there is a real opportunity to demand that miller resign too.
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Grateful to Darryl Brown of @uvalaw.bsky.social for reviewing my book, Justice Abandoned, in Jotwell. You can read the review here: crim.jotwell.com/the-supreme-...
The Supreme Court’s Failure to Stop the Politics of Mass Incarceration - Criminal Law
Rachel Barkow, Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration (2025).Darryl BrownThe United States imprisons about 1.8 million people—more than any ot...
crim.jotwell.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Grateful to Darryl Brown of @uvalaw.bsky.social for reviewing my book, Justice Abandoned, in Jotwell. You can read the review here: crim.jotwell.com/the-supreme-...
The book is incredible — and out tomorrow!
January 26, 2026 at 8:38 PM
The book is incredible — and out tomorrow!
Reposted by Gautam Hans
Apropos of the TikTok news last week, I have a piece coming out abt how the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the ban-or-sale law belongs in the First Amendment anticanon. It's not just wrong, but so wrong we should hold it up as an exceptional symbol of wrongness.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
TikTok v. Garland and the First Amendment Anticanon
<p><span>This essay argues that last term’s decision in <i>TikTok v. Garland</i>, which unanimously upheld the federal law that sought to ban TikTok in the Unit
papers.ssrn.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Apropos of the TikTok news last week, I have a piece coming out abt how the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the ban-or-sale law belongs in the First Amendment anticanon. It's not just wrong, but so wrong we should hold it up as an exceptional symbol of wrongness.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
As usual, @anupamchander.bsky.social was right all along: “My worry all along is that we may have traded fears of foreign propaganda for the reality of domestic propaganda.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...
January 26, 2026 at 3:20 AM
As usual, @anupamchander.bsky.social was right all along: “My worry all along is that we may have traded fears of foreign propaganda for the reality of domestic propaganda.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...