Rebecca Tushnet
@rtushnet.bsky.social
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Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
A taste of tonight’s newsletter
February 11, 2026 at 3:09 AM
A taste of tonight’s newsletter
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
February 11, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
Penchant for child abuse, if not child rape, is not merely not disqualifying, it's a criterion for selection.
Police in Bloomington, MN announce that that they broke up an underage sex-trafficking ring which was being run by a DHS agent who works as a background checker for newly recruited ICE agents. DHS had given him a high security clearance kstp.com/kstp-news/lo...
Federal employee who did background checks for ICE arrested in Bloomington sex sting
A federal employee who police say conducted background checks for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other government agencies was arrested last week in a Bloomington prostitution sting.
kstp.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Penchant for child abuse, if not child rape, is not merely not disqualifying, it's a criterion for selection.
CFP: emerging First Amendment scholars
CFP: emerging First Amendment scholars
Second Annual Aspiring Free Speech Scholars Workshop jointly sponsored by the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law (ASU) and the Hoover Instit...
tushnet.blogspot.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:38 PM
CFP: emerging First Amendment scholars
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Alarming new revelations about ICE's use of administrative subpoenas to get information about people the administration wanted to detain and deport because of their protests against government policies. theintercept.com/2026/02/10/g...
Google Handed ICE Student Journalist’s Bank and Credit Card Numbers
Amandla Thomas-Johnson didn't know how much information ICE requested in a subpoena now. Google never gave him a chance to fight it.
theintercept.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Alarming new revelations about ICE's use of administrative subpoenas to get information about people the administration wanted to detain and deport because of their protests against government policies. theintercept.com/2026/02/10/g...
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
"[T]his Court has no faith that the Government would comply with an order to hold a bond hearing."
It is difficult to overstate how insane of a situation it is that a judge makes such a statement in a court order, and that this statement is absolutely reasonable.
It is difficult to overstate how insane of a situation it is that a judge makes such a statement in a court order, and that this statement is absolutely reasonable.
JUDGE JOHNSTON: “Today, immigrants are being detained without due process. Tomorrow, under the Government’s interpretation of the law, American citizens could be subject to the same .. This Court will not allow such an unraveling of the Constitution.”
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 10, 2026 at 5:21 PM
"[T]his Court has no faith that the Government would comply with an order to hold a bond hearing."
It is difficult to overstate how insane of a situation it is that a judge makes such a statement in a court order, and that this statement is absolutely reasonable.
It is difficult to overstate how insane of a situation it is that a judge makes such a statement in a court order, and that this statement is absolutely reasonable.
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
So I think everyone knows what Chuck E. Cheese is but for non-parents who don't know what LifeTouch is, it's the company that for decades has had a near-monopoly on school pictures.
Finding out that top execs from both LifeTouch and Chuck E. Cheese are in the Epstein files has pissed me off in a way that I didn’t think was still possible.
February 10, 2026 at 4:32 PM
So I think everyone knows what Chuck E. Cheese is but for non-parents who don't know what LifeTouch is, it's the company that for decades has had a near-monopoly on school pictures.
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
This is starting to get like universal basic income where every single objective study shows the same result but the people who don't like that result go "uh, well there's just really no way to know"
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: “.. In our in-progress research, we discovered that AI tools didn’t reduce work, they consistently intensified it.”
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
February 10, 2026 at 3:06 PM
This is starting to get like universal basic income where every single objective study shows the same result but the people who don't like that result go "uh, well there's just really no way to know"
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
The ethic that the Trump administration is instilling in government agencies is one of evasion, defiance and dishonesty
ICE officials under a judge’s order to clean up squalid conditions on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza detained migrants on a secret floor where they decided that ruling didn’t apply, attorneys for the Trump administration said Monday.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/09/2...
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 3:06 AM
The ethic that the Trump administration is instilling in government agencies is one of evasion, defiance and dishonesty
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
February 10, 2026 at 3:56 PM
It confounds me that this excuse is also a lie! We aren't deporting "millions" even with thousands in concentration camps. I don't know how better to respond than to say "every word of what you just said is a lie."
February 10, 2026 at 4:33 PM
It confounds me that this excuse is also a lie! We aren't deporting "millions" even with thousands in concentration camps. I don't know how better to respond than to say "every word of what you just said is a lie."
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
"Crying girls will make you rich."
That's the actual pitch from a marketer selling packages of emotional videos that brands use to flood TikTok with undisclosed ads.
I just published an investigation into industrial UGC campaigns. What I found is troubling. 🧵 indicator.media/p/crying-gir...
That's the actual pitch from a marketer selling packages of emotional videos that brands use to flood TikTok with undisclosed ads.
I just published an investigation into industrial UGC campaigns. What I found is troubling. 🧵 indicator.media/p/crying-gir...
“Crying girls will make you rich”: How marketers trick users with mass-produced "organic" content
Indicator analyzed UGC campaigns that generated over 2 billion TikTok views and found rampant violations of disclosure rules.
indicator.media
February 10, 2026 at 2:54 PM
"Crying girls will make you rich."
That's the actual pitch from a marketer selling packages of emotional videos that brands use to flood TikTok with undisclosed ads.
I just published an investigation into industrial UGC campaigns. What I found is troubling. 🧵 indicator.media/p/crying-gir...
That's the actual pitch from a marketer selling packages of emotional videos that brands use to flood TikTok with undisclosed ads.
I just published an investigation into industrial UGC campaigns. What I found is troubling. 🧵 indicator.media/p/crying-gir...
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
I know this is a side issue, but I'd like to know who the owners were, whether these were arms-length transactions, and if these were market prices, because....they look a little high to me.
In the last month ICE has bought warehouses in:
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
February 10, 2026 at 4:49 AM
I know this is a side issue, but I'd like to know who the owners were, whether these were arms-length transactions, and if these were market prices, because....they look a little high to me.
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
I think sometimes about how Neil Diamond, America's least controversial singer, often used as a punchline for a kind of lame blandness, had a hit song about immigration.
Remember when "America has many groups of people in it and that's good and makes us strong" was an uncontroversial - even cliched - viewpoint that was universally endorsed across the political spectrum?
We can go back! We just have to get rid of the tiny handful of bitter, angry men in the way.
We can go back! We just have to get rid of the tiny handful of bitter, angry men in the way.
February 9, 2026 at 1:39 PM
I think sometimes about how Neil Diamond, America's least controversial singer, often used as a punchline for a kind of lame blandness, had a hit song about immigration.
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
instead of watching Heated Rivalry, my best friend is watching Interview with the Vampire for the first time, which is sort of like if you offered someone a nice hot cocoa with marshmallows and they snorted several lines instead
February 10, 2026 at 3:56 AM
instead of watching Heated Rivalry, my best friend is watching Interview with the Vampire for the first time, which is sort of like if you offered someone a nice hot cocoa with marshmallows and they snorted several lines instead
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
I missed this. This is like when faculty and student journalists sued the Trump Admin rather than universities.
www.law360.com/securities/a...
www.law360.com/securities/a...
EEOC, Law Students End Legal Battle Over Firm DEI Letters - Law360
A proposed class action brought by law students last year challenging the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's requests for diversity data from 20 law firms ended Monday with the government ...
www.law360.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:21 AM
I missed this. This is like when faculty and student journalists sued the Trump Admin rather than universities.
www.law360.com/securities/a...
www.law360.com/securities/a...
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
Yessir that's my colleague Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social) and here's his history of Puerto Rico - available in English and Spanish press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
February 10, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Yessir that's my colleague Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social) and here's his history of Puerto Rico - available in English and Spanish press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
A simple proposal for federal judges frustrated that Trump Regime isn’t freeing people in response to habeas corpus orders:
Order that DHS bring each individual to court for their habeas hearing. If the judge grants habeas, the petitioner walks out free.
Bonus: huge pre-hearing burden on feds.
Order that DHS bring each individual to court for their habeas hearing. If the judge grants habeas, the petitioner walks out free.
Bonus: huge pre-hearing burden on feds.
February 10, 2026 at 12:17 PM
A simple proposal for federal judges frustrated that Trump Regime isn’t freeing people in response to habeas corpus orders:
Order that DHS bring each individual to court for their habeas hearing. If the judge grants habeas, the petitioner walks out free.
Bonus: huge pre-hearing burden on feds.
Order that DHS bring each individual to court for their habeas hearing. If the judge grants habeas, the petitioner walks out free.
Bonus: huge pre-hearing burden on feds.
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
Loved the newest piece from @bakerdphd.bsky.social's Inside Higher Ed blog today, and appreciated its attention to both historical context and the current power dynamics which make "institutional neutraility" far from neutral.
How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares
Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.
www.insidehighered.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Loved the newest piece from @bakerdphd.bsky.social's Inside Higher Ed blog today, and appreciated its attention to both historical context and the current power dynamics which make "institutional neutraility" far from neutral.
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
If you can't do it within the strictures of due process, then you shouldn't be doing it.
February 10, 2026 at 1:54 PM
If you can't do it within the strictures of due process, then you shouldn't be doing it.
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
New in PN: The death of the CIA Factbook and Trump's war on usefulness
"There’s nothing partisan about the CIA World Factbook, so it’s hard to imagine how allowing people to use it could impede the MAGA agenda. Unless, that is, you realize the Factbook had to go *precisely because it was useful.*"
"There’s nothing partisan about the CIA World Factbook, so it’s hard to imagine how allowing people to use it could impede the MAGA agenda. Unless, that is, you realize the Factbook had to go *precisely because it was useful.*"
The death of the CIA Factbook and Trump's war on usefulness
Wherever government does something helpful, the regime wants to kill it.
www.publicnotice.co
February 10, 2026 at 12:37 PM
New in PN: The death of the CIA Factbook and Trump's war on usefulness
"There’s nothing partisan about the CIA World Factbook, so it’s hard to imagine how allowing people to use it could impede the MAGA agenda. Unless, that is, you realize the Factbook had to go *precisely because it was useful.*"
"There’s nothing partisan about the CIA World Factbook, so it’s hard to imagine how allowing people to use it could impede the MAGA agenda. Unless, that is, you realize the Factbook had to go *precisely because it was useful.*"
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
“What are you doing about the reverse vampire problem”
It will surprise y’all to hear that there are no “Muslims taking over the state” and there is no “sharia law” in Texas that threatens anyone.
This is genuinely disgusting.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/u...
This is genuinely disgusting.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/u...
February 10, 2026 at 1:30 PM
“What are you doing about the reverse vampire problem”
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And the new NCI Director moves to piss away his scientific credibility.
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
The National Cancer Institute will begin studying ivermectin's ability to kill cancer cells, @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social reports
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/i...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/i...
National Cancer Institute studying ivermectin’s ‘ability to kill cancer cells,’ alarming career scientists
The National Cancer Institute is studying ivermectin as a potential cancer treatment, according to its top official, alarming career scientists.
www.statnews.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:01 PM
And the new NCI Director moves to piss away his scientific credibility.
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
this is every voter in fairfax county
February 10, 2026 at 12:24 AM
this is every voter in fairfax county
Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet
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
this is injurious to moral, social, and all human life