Sean McCaffity
@smccaffity.bsky.social
Trial lawyer. Commercial Plaintiffs. Fiduciary and insolvency work. Civil rights.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
NEW: Plaintiff groups in the Texas redistricting case (challenging current maps) have moved to reopen testimony in the case, saying testimony the congressional map was drawn "race-blind" is inconsistent with state's current stance regarding the congressional map.
drive.google.com/file/d/1ffE0...
drive.google.com/file/d/1ffE0...
July 11, 2025 at 4:00 AM
NEW: Plaintiff groups in the Texas redistricting case (challenging current maps) have moved to reopen testimony in the case, saying testimony the congressional map was drawn "race-blind" is inconsistent with state's current stance regarding the congressional map.
drive.google.com/file/d/1ffE0...
drive.google.com/file/d/1ffE0...
working through the struggle of hopelessness in today's America? you're not alone. substack.com/@swish5112/n...
Sean McCaffity on Substack
Struggling a lot lately with the enormity of it all. This was written largely before the tragedy of flooding in the Texas Hill Country this weekend. But it remains relevant, perhaps even more so. From...
substack.com
July 7, 2025 at 3:44 PM
working through the struggle of hopelessness in today's America? you're not alone. substack.com/@swish5112/n...
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
Why am I so unimpressed by these strikes? Israel and the US have failed to target significant elements of Iran's nuclear materials and production infrastructure. RISING LION and MIDNIGHT HAMMER are tactically brilliant, but may turn out to be strategic failures. 🧵 1/17
June 23, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Why am I so unimpressed by these strikes? Israel and the US have failed to target significant elements of Iran's nuclear materials and production infrastructure. RISING LION and MIDNIGHT HAMMER are tactically brilliant, but may turn out to be strategic failures. 🧵 1/17
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
My dad, who has lived under a dictatorship, knows one when he sees one. His first text this morning is that we are now officially in a dictatorship. It is all pretty grim.
June 8, 2025 at 5:10 PM
My dad, who has lived under a dictatorship, knows one when he sees one. His first text this morning is that we are now officially in a dictatorship. It is all pretty grim.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
I can not disagree with this take more.
The military parade will be a parade of force and intimidation by wanna-be authoritarians.
It fits right alongside the outsized military display in CA right now—making the same point.
The military parade will be a parade of force and intimidation by wanna-be authoritarians.
It fits right alongside the outsized military display in CA right now—making the same point.
“In today’s climate, a military parade could offer an opportunity to counter misperceptions about the armed forces. It could bring Americans closer to service members and juice military recruitment—all of which is sorely needed,” @kschake.bsky.social writes:
Sometimes a Parade Is Just a Parade
Not everything the Trump administration does is a threat to democracy.
bit.ly
June 8, 2025 at 4:46 PM
I can not disagree with this take more.
The military parade will be a parade of force and intimidation by wanna-be authoritarians.
It fits right alongside the outsized military display in CA right now—making the same point.
The military parade will be a parade of force and intimidation by wanna-be authoritarians.
It fits right alongside the outsized military display in CA right now—making the same point.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
For those who haven’t finagled a transcript, here are my notes for @lawfaremedia.org on Wed’s hearing in the @PerkinsCoie case. It’s like a live-blog, but with punctuation. (I’m still working on the WilmerHale hearing.) Some excerpts follow ...
/1
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-re...
/1
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-re...
April 25, 2025 at 3:09 PM
For those who haven’t finagled a transcript, here are my notes for @lawfaremedia.org on Wed’s hearing in the @PerkinsCoie case. It’s like a live-blog, but with punctuation. (I’m still working on the WilmerHale hearing.) Some excerpts follow ...
/1
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-re...
/1
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-re...
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
Trump’s nominees to become ambassadors have donated $60 million to Trump and Republican campaigns since 2023.
Trump gets millions. The ultra-wealthy get special jobs. Working people get screwed.
Trump gets millions. The ultra-wealthy get special jobs. Working people get screwed.
Big Donors Are Often Made Ambassadors. Trump Is Taking It To a New Level.
Trump’s ambassadors collectively donated almost $60 million to the president and his allies in the two years before their nominations.
www.notus.org
April 22, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Trump’s nominees to become ambassadors have donated $60 million to Trump and Republican campaigns since 2023.
Trump gets millions. The ultra-wealthy get special jobs. Working people get screwed.
Trump gets millions. The ultra-wealthy get special jobs. Working people get screwed.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
Larry David writing a NYT guest essay as a man having dinner with Hitler, just to roast Bill Maher as a smug, self-important clown, is the stuff of comedy legend.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/o...
April 22, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Larry David writing a NYT guest essay as a man having dinner with Hitler, just to roast Bill Maher as a smug, self-important clown, is the stuff of comedy legend.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/o...
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
This is from J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a Reagan appointee:
INCREDIBLE opinion by Wilkinson refusing to stay Judge Xinis's orders in the Abrego Garcia case, condemning DOJ's arguments as "shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
April 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
This is from J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a Reagan appointee:
What. The. Actual. Fuck?
Marco Rubio says that Americans living in Europe shouldn't ever have to face any ramifications for their political speech online.
The chutzpah is jaw-dropping, as he is PERSONALLY trying to deport legal immigrants for their political speech in the United States.
The chutzpah is jaw-dropping, as he is PERSONALLY trying to deport legal immigrants for their political speech in the United States.
April 16, 2025 at 8:30 PM
What. The. Actual. Fuck?
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
Omg this. Democrats must stop nodding along to the “waste, fraud, and abuse” lines. The govt works. If you want it to work even better, you hire more people and give them better tech. You INVEST in the services. You don’t starve them. You don’t attack the workforce and call them lazy.
And Democrats have humored Republican attacks on government for so long that they have to do the “we agree that changes need to be made, but” thing whenever they do speak out against what’s happening
It works. The government here largely works. Because we are so spoiled by how well it works, we are letting a fool convince us it is broken.
April 16, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Omg this. Democrats must stop nodding along to the “waste, fraud, and abuse” lines. The govt works. If you want it to work even better, you hire more people and give them better tech. You INVEST in the services. You don’t starve them. You don’t attack the workforce and call them lazy.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
Pam Bondi is a liar, propagandist and criminal accomplice. Kilmar Abrego Garcia never received a court hearing and due process. Pam Bondi is an eternal stain on the Justice Department and justice itself.
REPORTER: Why not show the public the evidence?
BONDI: Well, he is an illegal alien who has been living illegally in our country from El Salvador ... He is not coming back to our country
R: But the evidence. We're not gonna see the evidence?
BONDI: We have the transcripts from the court hearings
BONDI: Well, he is an illegal alien who has been living illegally in our country from El Salvador ... He is not coming back to our country
R: But the evidence. We're not gonna see the evidence?
BONDI: We have the transcripts from the court hearings
April 16, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Pam Bondi is a liar, propagandist and criminal accomplice. Kilmar Abrego Garcia never received a court hearing and due process. Pam Bondi is an eternal stain on the Justice Department and justice itself.
And so it goes...a mundane mantra to remind ourselves of the power to stop the autocratic slide. swish5112.substack.com/p/the-tralfa...
The Tralfamadorian Republic
The erosion of American democracy under the Trump administration —fragmented, fatalistic, and punctuated by the hollow refrain of institutional decay.
swish5112.substack.com
April 15, 2025 at 5:51 PM
And so it goes...a mundane mantra to remind ourselves of the power to stop the autocratic slide. swish5112.substack.com/p/the-tralfa...
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
Reminders:
"Concentration camps" aren't the same as "extermination camps." Both were/are horrific.
Most Nazi camps were *outside Germany*, away from the eyes of German citizens.
Those trains? Were to, uh, deport the category of people whose lives were deemed unimportant.
Never again is now.
"Concentration camps" aren't the same as "extermination camps." Both were/are horrific.
Most Nazi camps were *outside Germany*, away from the eyes of German citizens.
Those trains? Were to, uh, deport the category of people whose lives were deemed unimportant.
Never again is now.
April 15, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reminders:
"Concentration camps" aren't the same as "extermination camps." Both were/are horrific.
Most Nazi camps were *outside Germany*, away from the eyes of German citizens.
Those trains? Were to, uh, deport the category of people whose lives were deemed unimportant.
Never again is now.
"Concentration camps" aren't the same as "extermination camps." Both were/are horrific.
Most Nazi camps were *outside Germany*, away from the eyes of German citizens.
Those trains? Were to, uh, deport the category of people whose lives were deemed unimportant.
Never again is now.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
At first we questioned these firms principles and judgment. At this point, we have to start questioning their competence. If I were a client I'd be concerned that they don't seem like they can negotiate their way out of a damp paper bag.
Five Top Biglaw Firms Pledge Their Allegiance To Trump, Promising To Provide Legal Services 'Beyond' His Time In The White House - Above the Law
Kirkland, Latham, Simpson, A&O Shearman, and Cadwalader have all made bad deals with Trump.
abovethelaw.com
April 11, 2025 at 5:55 PM
At first we questioned these firms principles and judgment. At this point, we have to start questioning their competence. If I were a client I'd be concerned that they don't seem like they can negotiate their way out of a damp paper bag.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
I say this as a historian — history will remember you utterly failing to meet the challenge of this moment.
At the rate you’re going, “Schumer” is going to end up somewhere between “Chamberlain” or “Quisling”
At the rate you’re going, “Schumer” is going to end up somewhere between “Chamberlain” or “Quisling”
History will remember April 9, 2025 as America’s actual liberation day—the day that President Trump backed down from his ridiculous tariff fiasco.
April 10, 2025 at 10:47 PM
I say this as a historian — history will remember you utterly failing to meet the challenge of this moment.
At the rate you’re going, “Schumer” is going to end up somewhere between “Chamberlain” or “Quisling”
At the rate you’re going, “Schumer” is going to end up somewhere between “Chamberlain” or “Quisling”
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
It's outrageous that they gave Trump the powers trusted to them in the Constitution, even if just on an "emergency wink-wink basis"
It's unconscionable that they're now proposing a way to block themselves from taking their rightful powers back.
It's unconscionable that they're now proposing a way to block themselves from taking their rightful powers back.
This is big: House Republicans tucked language into the budget res “rule” that bans the House from voting to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration used to impose tariffs. TL;DR lawmakers who vote for this are officially giving up their power to revoke his tariffs until October.
April 9, 2025 at 4:54 PM
It's outrageous that they gave Trump the powers trusted to them in the Constitution, even if just on an "emergency wink-wink basis"
It's unconscionable that they're now proposing a way to block themselves from taking their rightful powers back.
It's unconscionable that they're now proposing a way to block themselves from taking their rightful powers back.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
I still can't believe Pete Hegseth managed to distract people from his "Deus Vult" tattoo (a Crusades call to arms commonly used by white nationalists) by pretending the controversy was just about his Jerusalem Cross tattoo. Words have meaning in context. "Panzer" and "Deus Vult" are not innocuous.
NEW: Here's a photo posted in 2018 apparently of Joe Kent, Trump's pick to head the National Counterterrorism Center, from the Instagram feed of a family member, showing he had the word "PANZER" tattooed on his arm. Why? I asked him, the NCTC, and the ODNI, and, so far, no response.
April 9, 2025 at 4:40 PM
I still can't believe Pete Hegseth managed to distract people from his "Deus Vult" tattoo (a Crusades call to arms commonly used by white nationalists) by pretending the controversy was just about his Jerusalem Cross tattoo. Words have meaning in context. "Panzer" and "Deus Vult" are not innocuous.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
At the end of World War II the U.S. was home to somewhere between ~45–50% of global economic output. We still couldn't dictate terms.
The system shifted even more toward a negotiated order over time. In the 1990s, U.S. "unipolarity" was actually a cartel centered on the G7. ➡️
The system shifted even more toward a negotiated order over time. In the 1990s, U.S. "unipolarity" was actually a cartel centered on the G7. ➡️
April 4, 2025 at 10:11 PM
At the end of World War II the U.S. was home to somewhere between ~45–50% of global economic output. We still couldn't dictate terms.
The system shifted even more toward a negotiated order over time. In the 1990s, U.S. "unipolarity" was actually a cartel centered on the G7. ➡️
The system shifted even more toward a negotiated order over time. In the 1990s, U.S. "unipolarity" was actually a cartel centered on the G7. ➡️
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
According to the World Bank, in 2023 the U.S. consumer market was about $18.8 trillion (current dollars). The global consumer market? $59.89 trillion.
Now this isn't yet the 1930s. Global protectionism is up in general, but the world still has a web of bilateral & multilateral trade agreements ➡️
Now this isn't yet the 1930s. Global protectionism is up in general, but the world still has a web of bilateral & multilateral trade agreements ➡️
April 4, 2025 at 12:14 PM
According to the World Bank, in 2023 the U.S. consumer market was about $18.8 trillion (current dollars). The global consumer market? $59.89 trillion.
Now this isn't yet the 1930s. Global protectionism is up in general, but the world still has a web of bilateral & multilateral trade agreements ➡️
Now this isn't yet the 1930s. Global protectionism is up in general, but the world still has a web of bilateral & multilateral trade agreements ➡️
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
Law firms did not strike a "truce" with Trump. They capitulated to an authoritarian. Some, like Skadden, sought out these deals before they even faced any sanction from the Trump regime.
The law students standing up are brave. The law firms they are protesting are cowards.
The law students standing up are brave. The law firms they are protesting are cowards.
April 4, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Law firms did not strike a "truce" with Trump. They capitulated to an authoritarian. Some, like Skadden, sought out these deals before they even faced any sanction from the Trump regime.
The law students standing up are brave. The law firms they are protesting are cowards.
The law students standing up are brave. The law firms they are protesting are cowards.
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
MAGA dreams of "deglobalization," but if they get their way the more likely option is that "globalization" continues... but increasingly without the United States. 4/
April 4, 2025 at 12:14 PM
MAGA dreams of "deglobalization," but if they get their way the more likely option is that "globalization" continues... but increasingly without the United States. 4/
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
I would like to know who, specifically, fired the head of the NSA and their civilian deputy
They just fired the head of the NSA. I’m not sure what that means exactly, but in the Trump era I’d bet it’s not good.
National Security Agency and Cyber Command chief Gen. Timothy Haugh ousted
The director of the NSA, the powerful wiretapping and cyber espionage service, was fired Thursday, according to U.S. officials.
wapo.st
April 4, 2025 at 2:56 AM
I would like to know who, specifically, fired the head of the NSA and their civilian deputy
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
With every week of additional horrors in the news I find a different part of my lecture course I feel I should expand.
“Yeah, need to add more on McCarthyism and education …”
“Well, probably could beef up wartime internment …”
“OK, so time to revisit the depths of the Great Depression …”
“Yeah, need to add more on McCarthyism and education …”
“Well, probably could beef up wartime internment …”
“OK, so time to revisit the depths of the Great Depression …”
April 3, 2025 at 7:21 PM
With every week of additional horrors in the news I find a different part of my lecture course I feel I should expand.
“Yeah, need to add more on McCarthyism and education …”
“Well, probably could beef up wartime internment …”
“OK, so time to revisit the depths of the Great Depression …”
“Yeah, need to add more on McCarthyism and education …”
“Well, probably could beef up wartime internment …”
“OK, so time to revisit the depths of the Great Depression …”
Reposted by Sean McCaffity
This is certainly one of the dynamics we've been expecting to see with Trump trade policy, and we do need to "fight back" against it. But Trump's tariffs really are batshit insane economic policy; as an instrument of authoritarian consolidation, they're extremely poorly designed. [cont]
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
April 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
This is certainly one of the dynamics we've been expecting to see with Trump trade policy, and we do need to "fight back" against it. But Trump's tariffs really are batshit insane economic policy; as an instrument of authoritarian consolidation, they're extremely poorly designed. [cont]