Movement Law Lab
@movementlawlab.bsky.social
Bringing the power of lawyers to social movements.
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What You Need to Know if the National Guard Is Deployed to Your State by the Trump Regime — Movement Law Lab
Learn your rights when the National Guard is deployed to your city. This guide explains the law, including the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, and provides critical information on…
www.movementlawlab.org
Armed federal agents in Chicago. National Guard deployments in Portland and Memphis. These are not public safety measures, they are intimidation tactics.
Lawyers & communities, you need to know your rights. Here’s a resource on how you can prepare: www.movementlawlab.org/nationalguard
Lawyers & communities, you need to know your rights. Here’s a resource on how you can prepare: www.movementlawlab.org/nationalguard
“General strikes are rare and something like lightning in a bottle: They tend to overspill their boundaries, becoming, in historically specific moments, something more than just the sum of their parts.” - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social
newrepublic.com/article/2053...
newrepublic.com/article/2053...
February 4, 2026 at 9:02 PM
“General strikes are rare and something like lightning in a bottle: They tend to overspill their boundaries, becoming, in historically specific moments, something more than just the sum of their parts.” - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social
newrepublic.com/article/2053...
newrepublic.com/article/2053...
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
“It's not going to hold up in court,” FPF’s @adamrose.bsky.social tells @gbnewsonline.bsky.social on Don Lemon's indictment by the DOJ.
What's more important “are the implications, the chilling effect and the intimidation of journalists who are just doing their job.”
What's more important “are the implications, the chilling effect and the intimidation of journalists who are just doing their job.”
February 3, 2026 at 10:42 PM
“It's not going to hold up in court,” FPF’s @adamrose.bsky.social tells @gbnewsonline.bsky.social on Don Lemon's indictment by the DOJ.
What's more important “are the implications, the chilling effect and the intimidation of journalists who are just doing their job.”
What's more important “are the implications, the chilling effect and the intimidation of journalists who are just doing their job.”
“From Checks and Balances to Rule of Law to Public Health, many scholars of democracy say that these moves are unprecedented in U.S. history and that Trump has pushed the United States toward authoritarianism”.
www.npr.org/2026/01/23/g...
www.npr.org/2026/01/23/g...
February 3, 2026 at 10:01 PM
“From Checks and Balances to Rule of Law to Public Health, many scholars of democracy say that these moves are unprecedented in U.S. history and that Trump has pushed the United States toward authoritarianism”.
www.npr.org/2026/01/23/g...
www.npr.org/2026/01/23/g...
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
Covering a protest — even one inside a church — isn’t a crime.
The Farcical Case Against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for Protest Reporting
The Justice Department is weaponizing a law intended to protect those seeking abortions to punish reporters covering anti-ICE activism.
interc.pt
February 1, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Covering a protest — even one inside a church — isn’t a crime.
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
NEW: The Trump admin continues to target political opponents with retaliatory prosecutions. Did you know grand jurors assigned to these cases can be the constitutional gatekeepers stopping wrongful prosecutions in their tracks? Our new resource explains ⬇️
Constitutional gatekeepers: The history and role of grand juries
How grand juries serve as a vital shield against retaliatory prosecutions.
protectdemocracy.org
January 29, 2026 at 5:17 PM
NEW: The Trump admin continues to target political opponents with retaliatory prosecutions. Did you know grand jurors assigned to these cases can be the constitutional gatekeepers stopping wrongful prosecutions in their tracks? Our new resource explains ⬇️
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
Anyone thinking that "Border Czar" Tom Homan is going to tone down the rhetoric in Minnesota doesn't know Homan. He spent all of the Biden years turning up the invasion and great replacement rhetoric and traveling from city to city spreading 2020 election conspiracies.
Border911: The Misinformation Network Profiting Off the False ‘Invasion’ Narrative
Meet the former intelligence officers and ex-feds spreading propaganda and laying the groundwork for an election challenge on behalf of Trump.
www.theborderchronicle.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Anyone thinking that "Border Czar" Tom Homan is going to tone down the rhetoric in Minnesota doesn't know Homan. He spent all of the Biden years turning up the invasion and great replacement rhetoric and traveling from city to city spreading 2020 election conspiracies.
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
Deploying troops in our communities threatens our civil rights and safety.
Tell your Senators to support the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act at aclu.org/troops-not_police
Tell your Senators to support the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act at aclu.org/troops-not_police
January 28, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Deploying troops in our communities threatens our civil rights and safety.
Tell your Senators to support the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act at aclu.org/troops-not_police
Tell your Senators to support the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act at aclu.org/troops-not_police
“Refusing to cooperate with systems that harm people requires simultaneously building alternative systems that care for people.”
Scott Nakagawa draws parallels between drug policy reform movement & the authoritarian moment we’re in now. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/refusal-an...
Scott Nakagawa draws parallels between drug policy reform movement & the authoritarian moment we’re in now. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/refusal-an...
Refusal and Care
Why Non-Cooperation Requires Building Alternatives
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:04 PM
“Refusing to cooperate with systems that harm people requires simultaneously building alternative systems that care for people.”
Scott Nakagawa draws parallels between drug policy reform movement & the authoritarian moment we’re in now. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/refusal-an...
Scott Nakagawa draws parallels between drug policy reform movement & the authoritarian moment we’re in now. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/refusal-an...
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
📽️NEW: Trump is accelerating an authoritarian playbook at a speed never seen before.
@ruthbenghiat.bsky.social explains how expansionism, paramilitary policing, election sabotage and propaganda mirror past fascist regimes, and why this moment is uniquely dangerous👇
https://bit.ly/4rdtJWf
@ruthbenghiat.bsky.social explains how expansionism, paramilitary policing, election sabotage and propaganda mirror past fascist regimes, and why this moment is uniquely dangerous👇
https://bit.ly/4rdtJWf
www.youtube.com
bit.ly
January 28, 2026 at 12:02 AM
📽️NEW: Trump is accelerating an authoritarian playbook at a speed never seen before.
@ruthbenghiat.bsky.social explains how expansionism, paramilitary policing, election sabotage and propaganda mirror past fascist regimes, and why this moment is uniquely dangerous👇
https://bit.ly/4rdtJWf
@ruthbenghiat.bsky.social explains how expansionism, paramilitary policing, election sabotage and propaganda mirror past fascist regimes, and why this moment is uniquely dangerous👇
https://bit.ly/4rdtJWf
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
Please examine what body cams *didn’t do* to stop police violence over the last decade plus since they were initially touted as a solution and understand that some of you are now rallying behind a false solution that will be a tool of criminalization more often than anything else.
January 27, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Please examine what body cams *didn’t do* to stop police violence over the last decade plus since they were initially touted as a solution and understand that some of you are now rallying behind a false solution that will be a tool of criminalization more often than anything else.
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
Reminder that, in recent days, children have rallied and protested for their freedom inside an ICE detention center where water has been described as "putrid" and meals reportedly contain “bugs,” dirt, and debris. This is where the kidnapped 5-year-old Liam Ramos is being held.
Protest breaks out at Dilley immigration detention facility holding 5-year-old Liam Ramos
A protest broke out Saturday at the ICE-run South Texas family detention complex in Dilley, where five-year-old Liam Ramos is being detained.
www.tpr.org
January 27, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Reminder that, in recent days, children have rallied and protested for their freedom inside an ICE detention center where water has been described as "putrid" and meals reportedly contain “bugs,” dirt, and debris. This is where the kidnapped 5-year-old Liam Ramos is being held.
"There is no doubt that, as MAGA’s authoritarianism and military invasions accelerate, we need a strategy to push back."
znetwork.org/znetarticle/...
znetwork.org/znetarticle/...
Social Strikes: Can General Strikes, Mass Strikes, and People Power Uprisings Provide a Last Defense Against MAGA Tyranny?
Jeremy Brecher is a co-founder and senior strategic advisor for the Labor Network forSustainability. He is the author of more than fifteen books on labor
znetwork.org
January 27, 2026 at 3:03 PM
"There is no doubt that, as MAGA’s authoritarianism and military invasions accelerate, we need a strategy to push back."
znetwork.org/znetarticle/...
znetwork.org/znetarticle/...
"As authoritarian politics harden in the United States, familiar channels of resistance are proving dangerously inadequate. "
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/soci...
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/soci...
January 26, 2026 at 3:03 PM
"As authoritarian politics harden in the United States, familiar channels of resistance are proving dangerously inadequate. "
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/soci...
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/soci...
ICE is planning to spend $100 million on propaganda to recruit officers to carry out their deportation agenda. We’ve seen what they’re willing to do to people and their rights. Their efforts to get more people to join their terror campaigns must be interrupted.
www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
ICE’s New-Age Propaganda
With its string of “wartime recruitment” ads, often featuring pop songs and familiar meme formats, the agency has weaponized social media against itself.
www.newyorker.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:04 PM
ICE is planning to spend $100 million on propaganda to recruit officers to carry out their deportation agenda. We’ve seen what they’re willing to do to people and their rights. Their efforts to get more people to join their terror campaigns must be interrupted.
www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
Some of these young lawyers are saying both privately and openly that their leaders betrayed their firms’ principles with deals that could undermine a commitment to provide free legal work to public interest groups and causes at odds with the White House.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/b...
January 23, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Some of these young lawyers are saying both privately and openly that their leaders betrayed their firms’ principles with deals that could undermine a commitment to provide free legal work to public interest groups and causes at odds with the White House.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/b...
Whren v. United States is the case that lets cops—and ICE—turn minor traffic violations into a deportation dragnet. Lawyers need to defend the people being hunted, not the agency doing the hunting.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The Court Case That Is Allowing ICE to Stop Just About Anyone It Wants
Whren v. United States needs to go.
www.theatlantic.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Whren v. United States is the case that lets cops—and ICE—turn minor traffic violations into a deportation dragnet. Lawyers need to defend the people being hunted, not the agency doing the hunting.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
In our latest Substack post, Natalie Harris reflects on her hometown of Minneapolis—a city once again on the front lines of resistance.
Minneapolis isn’t backing down, and neither can we.
open.substack.com/pub/movement...
Minneapolis isn’t backing down, and neither can we.
open.substack.com/pub/movement...
I grew up in Minneapolis. Here’s What I Know About How We Fight Back.
2020 laid the groundwork for community resistance in the Twin Cities.
open.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:01 PM
In our latest Substack post, Natalie Harris reflects on her hometown of Minneapolis—a city once again on the front lines of resistance.
Minneapolis isn’t backing down, and neither can we.
open.substack.com/pub/movement...
Minneapolis isn’t backing down, and neither can we.
open.substack.com/pub/movement...
“Recent protests remind us of an obvious fact: young people are not “the future,” but political entities in the present. Governments need to hear not just the noise of protest, but the clarity of the demands: justice, dignity, representation and a future.”
January 22, 2026 at 6:02 PM
“Recent protests remind us of an obvious fact: young people are not “the future,” but political entities in the present. Governments need to hear not just the noise of protest, but the clarity of the demands: justice, dignity, representation and a future.”
From the 2020 uprisings to today’s federal occupation, the Twin Cities are showing the world what it looks like to defy authoritarianism through community care, mutual aid, and fierce solidarity. Minneapolis isn’t backing down, and neither can we.
I grew up in Minneapolis. Here’s What I Know About How We Fight Back.
2020 laid the groundwork for community resistance in the Twin Cities.
substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:26 PM
From the 2020 uprisings to today’s federal occupation, the Twin Cities are showing the world what it looks like to defy authoritarianism through community care, mutual aid, and fierce solidarity. Minneapolis isn’t backing down, and neither can we.
Masked agents are kicking in doors, snatching people from cars, pointing guns at anyone who dares to film. How will the lawyers show up to defend and work with movement?
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This is what ICE descending on Minneapolis looks like
Photos show the terror and resistance taking over Minnesota's largest city.
www.motherjones.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Masked agents are kicking in doors, snatching people from cars, pointing guns at anyone who dares to film. How will the lawyers show up to defend and work with movement?
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
PIVOTING FROM DEFENSE TO OFFENSE
Scott Nakagawa, antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/pivoting-f...
Detailed strategy to take offense to end authoritarianism.
Goal: to build a democratic, equitable, joyful society that makes authoritarianism impossible.
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
Scott Nakagawa, antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/pivoting-f...
Detailed strategy to take offense to end authoritarianism.
Goal: to build a democratic, equitable, joyful society that makes authoritarianism impossible.
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
Pivoting From Defense to Offense
The Strategic Shift
open.substack.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:10 PM
PIVOTING FROM DEFENSE TO OFFENSE
Scott Nakagawa, antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/pivoting-f...
Detailed strategy to take offense to end authoritarianism.
Goal: to build a democratic, equitable, joyful society that makes authoritarianism impossible.
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
Scott Nakagawa, antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/pivoting-f...
Detailed strategy to take offense to end authoritarianism.
Goal: to build a democratic, equitable, joyful society that makes authoritarianism impossible.
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
“The collective is what sets people free, not just knowledge.
No one is set free alone.
Truth must be tied to communities of hope that create the conditions for liberation.”
—Scott Nakagawa
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
No one is set free alone.
Truth must be tied to communities of hope that create the conditions for liberation.”
—Scott Nakagawa
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
Reinterpreting "Speak Truth to Power" in an Era of Authoritarianism and Post-Truth Politics
The Truth Alone Will Not Set Us Free
open.substack.com
February 21, 2025 at 4:20 PM
“The collective is what sets people free, not just knowledge.
No one is set free alone.
Truth must be tied to communities of hope that create the conditions for liberation.”
—Scott Nakagawa
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
No one is set free alone.
Truth must be tied to communities of hope that create the conditions for liberation.”
—Scott Nakagawa
open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
ICE admitted in court it deported people it knew had won their cases. Continuing with business as usual is not an option for lawyers who believe in law. The legal community needs to draw a line and pick a side.
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators.
ICE can’t function without help from the private sector. So we should force the private sector to stop helping.
www.thenation.com
January 21, 2026 at 2:01 PM
ICE admitted in court it deported people it knew had won their cases. Continuing with business as usual is not an option for lawyers who believe in law. The legal community needs to draw a line and pick a side.
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
"When nonviolent movements face severe repression, the resulting suffering of victims may arouse a sympathetic response among third parties, winning support for the movement and increasing opposition to the brutality of the opponent."
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/nonv...
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/nonv...
January 20, 2026 at 10:24 PM
"When nonviolent movements face severe repression, the resulting suffering of victims may arouse a sympathetic response among third parties, winning support for the movement and increasing opposition to the brutality of the opponent."
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/nonv...
wagingnonviolence.org/2026/01/nonv...
Reposted by Movement Law Lab
People are protesting across the United States today. They’re holding 400+ rallies & actions. They’re walking off their jobs to mark the one-year anniversary of Trump’s inauguration. #FreeAmerica #FreeAmericaWalkout. Latest episode of #StoriesOfResistance from @undertheshadow.bsky.social
Free America Walkout marks a year of resisting Trump
Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term one year ago today. He has unleashed an unprecedented attack on democracy, within the United States and abroad. But people have responded. This is episode ...
therealnews.com
January 20, 2026 at 7:15 PM
People are protesting across the United States today. They’re holding 400+ rallies & actions. They’re walking off their jobs to mark the one-year anniversary of Trump’s inauguration. #FreeAmerica #FreeAmericaWalkout. Latest episode of #StoriesOfResistance from @undertheshadow.bsky.social