Susan E. Seager
@susanseager.bsky.social
Adjunct law prof & founder of UC Irvine Law School Press Freedom Project providing free legal help to indy journalists. Author of “Trump Is a Libel Bully” https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/communications_lawyer/fall2016/cl32-3.pdf
Reposted by Susan E. Seager
November 10, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Susan E. Seager
Sandwich verdict wasn’t jury nullification. It was failure to prove the required “reasonable fear of physical injury” in a case where the agent was wearing A BULLETPROOF VEST. The only crime was the waste of resources on this case. My thoughts in @MSNBCDaily.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Opinion | The sandwich thrower was wrong. But Jeanine Pirro was, too.
To establish a forcible assault, jurors were required to find that Dunn caused “reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm.” That allegation was laughable.
www.msnbc.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Sandwich verdict wasn’t jury nullification. It was failure to prove the required “reasonable fear of physical injury” in a case where the agent was wearing A BULLETPROOF VEST. The only crime was the waste of resources on this case. My thoughts in @MSNBCDaily.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Frame it as Correcting the Court. They lie about the facts. Kavanaugh said that US citizens who are snatched by ICE can show ID and quickly be released when the facts of the case said the opposite is true.
4. I think I’m coming around on expanding the court. Get a good slogan for this and run with it. Have regular people care about it.
November 3, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Frame it as Correcting the Court. They lie about the facts. Kavanaugh said that US citizens who are snatched by ICE can show ID and quickly be released when the facts of the case said the opposite is true.
Reposted by Susan E. Seager
Friends, I made the mistake of reading a Washington Post editorial
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
October 30, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Friends, I made the mistake of reading a Washington Post editorial
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Horrible - Storm troopers raiding hospitals and tents treating the unhoused.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Immigration agents are raiding California hospitals and clinics. Can a new state law prevent that?
Legal experts say the new California law can’t fully protect immigrant patients because federal authorities are allowed in public places, such as hospital lobbies and parking lots.
www.latimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Horrible - Storm troopers raiding hospitals and tents treating the unhoused.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
This is a dress rehearsal for Trump’s plans to block the 2026 midterms and 2028 election.
Trump is trying to subvert California’s Nov. 4 election results, state attorney general says. @maddow.msnbc.com @peterbakernyt.bsky.social
Trump is trying to subvert California’s Nov. 4 election results, state attorney general says. @maddow.msnbc.com @peterbakernyt.bsky.social
October 28, 2025 at 12:23 AM
This is a dress rehearsal for Trump’s plans to block the 2026 midterms and 2028 election.
Trump is trying to subvert California’s Nov. 4 election results, state attorney general says. @maddow.msnbc.com @peterbakernyt.bsky.social
Trump is trying to subvert California’s Nov. 4 election results, state attorney general says. @maddow.msnbc.com @peterbakernyt.bsky.social
www.alternet.org/michael-wolf...
This is a very interesting way of dealing with a typical Trump family BS cease & desist letter: file a lawsuit for declaratory relief seeking a court ruling that what you published is not actionable for defamation and get discovery while you’re at it.
This is a very interesting way of dealing with a typical Trump family BS cease & desist letter: file a lawsuit for declaratory relief seeking a court ruling that what you published is not actionable for defamation and get discovery while you’re at it.
Trump biographer vows to put president and Melania 'under oath' in Epstein lawsuit
Journalist/author Michael Wolff infuriated President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies when his book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," was released in early 2018. MAGA Republicans vehemen...
www.alternet.org
October 23, 2025 at 12:41 PM
www.alternet.org/michael-wolf...
This is a very interesting way of dealing with a typical Trump family BS cease & desist letter: file a lawsuit for declaratory relief seeking a court ruling that what you published is not actionable for defamation and get discovery while you’re at it.
This is a very interesting way of dealing with a typical Trump family BS cease & desist letter: file a lawsuit for declaratory relief seeking a court ruling that what you published is not actionable for defamation and get discovery while you’re at it.
Reposted by Susan E. Seager
Great to see Chicago news outlets and press orgs stand up against ICE's violent and unconstitutional rampage against journalists and protesters.
Well, yeah, we're suing ICE.
This wasn't really a hard decision. As little faith as we have in institutions, we recognize the value of drawing visible lines in the sand. We drew ours personally a while ago, but better late than never.
May every protester be freed and may this occupation end.
This wasn't really a hard decision. As little faith as we have in institutions, we recognize the value of drawing visible lines in the sand. We drew ours personally a while ago, but better late than never.
May every protester be freed and may this occupation end.
October 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Great to see Chicago news outlets and press orgs stand up against ICE's violent and unconstitutional rampage against journalists and protesters.
Yes!
Democracy Forward just sued the DOJ for undercover FBI videotapes that would show Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, accepting a $50k bribe to steer government contracts.
October 6, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Yes!
Gee, I wonder how the Opus Dei Court will rule? Dear reader, we already know the GOP bloc is all in for their King.
Supreme Court will be forced to grapple with Trump in new term
Supreme Court will be forced to grapple with Trump in new term
October 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Gee, I wonder how the Opus Dei Court will rule? Dear reader, we already know the GOP bloc is all in for their King.
Supreme Court will be forced to grapple with Trump in new term
Supreme Court will be forced to grapple with Trump in new term
Reposted by Susan E. Seager
Chemerinsky: The Trump extortion demands are unconstitutional as well as odious (gift link). Me: Any school that signs must be shunned, faculty affected must walk. No room for this.
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion
www.nytimes.com
October 4, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Chemerinsky: The Trump extortion demands are unconstitutional as well as odious (gift link). Me: Any school that signs must be shunned, faculty affected must walk. No room for this.
I am a law professor who fully supports expanding the Supreme Court. The GOP majority on the court is Lawless. They will rule that Trump is entitled to a third term and they will gut birthright citizenship based on no law at all.
5/ It's a very secondary matter. But this is also something all law professors and people in legal academia generally need to reckon with. Over the last three or four years there's been a growing number of law profs who've been forced to reckon with the current majority's extreme corruption ...
September 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I am a law professor who fully supports expanding the Supreme Court. The GOP majority on the court is Lawless. They will rule that Trump is entitled to a third term and they will gut birthright citizenship based on no law at all.
Reposted by Susan E. Seager
Response from @karenattiah.bsky.social counsel, @normeisen.bsky.social et al, at @democracydefendersfund.org:
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
September 24, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Response from @karenattiah.bsky.social counsel, @normeisen.bsky.social et al, at @democracydefendersfund.org:
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
morningtrojan.com/p/willow-bay...
Go Professor Al Mittelstaedt!
Go Professor Al Mittelstaedt!
Opinion: USC's Willow Bay must break her silence on Kimmel
A few ideas for our dean once she breaks her silence on her husband suspending Jimmy Kimmel.
morningtrojan.com
September 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
morningtrojan.com/p/willow-bay...
Go Professor Al Mittelstaedt!
Go Professor Al Mittelstaedt!
Watchdogs say new L.A. County rule is an attempt to muzzle criticism
So I heard today this rule, which violated the First Amendment, was never adopted by the LA Board of Supervisors, but you would never know it from the LA Times article. And now I hear the rule is dead. No censorship in LA!
So I heard today this rule, which violated the First Amendment, was never adopted by the LA Board of Supervisors, but you would never know it from the LA Times article. And now I hear the rule is dead. No censorship in LA!
September 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Watchdogs say new L.A. County rule is an attempt to muzzle criticism
So I heard today this rule, which violated the First Amendment, was never adopted by the LA Board of Supervisors, but you would never know it from the LA Times article. And now I hear the rule is dead. No censorship in LA!
So I heard today this rule, which violated the First Amendment, was never adopted by the LA Board of Supervisors, but you would never know it from the LA Times article. And now I hear the rule is dead. No censorship in LA!
Should we tell Disney about these cases?
Key Supreme Court First Amendment cases to know today:
The government may not:
-suppress speech with a “threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion.” Bantam Books v. Sullivan (1963)
-“attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress” speech. NRA v. Vullo (2024)
The government may not:
-suppress speech with a “threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion.” Bantam Books v. Sullivan (1963)
-“attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress” speech. NRA v. Vullo (2024)
September 19, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Should we tell Disney about these cases?
Protester found not guilty of assault despite top Border Patrol official’s testimony
Jurors said feds had zero hard evidence of assault!
Jurors said feds had zero hard evidence of assault!
September 19, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Protester found not guilty of assault despite top Border Patrol official’s testimony
Jurors said feds had zero hard evidence of assault!
Jurors said feds had zero hard evidence of assault!
Judge strikes down Trump’s $15 billion suit against the New York Times
That was fast! Trump can still file an amended lawsuit, and he surely will. But this is still a great sign that the @nytimes.com is fighting Trump’s BS lawsuit hard and fast!
That was fast! Trump can still file an amended lawsuit, and he surely will. But this is still a great sign that the @nytimes.com is fighting Trump’s BS lawsuit hard and fast!
September 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Judge strikes down Trump’s $15 billion suit against the New York Times
That was fast! Trump can still file an amended lawsuit, and he surely will. But this is still a great sign that the @nytimes.com is fighting Trump’s BS lawsuit hard and fast!
That was fast! Trump can still file an amended lawsuit, and he surely will. But this is still a great sign that the @nytimes.com is fighting Trump’s BS lawsuit hard and fast!
Inspiring story of a lawyer’s persistence in fighting ICE’s attempted illegal nighttime deportations of Guatemalan children.
As grim as this story may be, there's still much to be inspired by.
Look no further than this attorney for the children, who rushed to the airport to stop the planes. She stood near the tarmac, warning any officials she saw that they’d be complicit in violating a court order if the planes took off.
Look no further than this attorney for the children, who rushed to the airport to stop the planes. She stood near the tarmac, warning any officials she saw that they’d be complicit in violating a court order if the planes took off.
September 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Inspiring story of a lawyer’s persistence in fighting ICE’s attempted illegal nighttime deportations of Guatemalan children.
Gaza movie ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ devastates Venice audiences.
Maybe art (a kind of documentary film), can move the needle on the genocide in Gaza.
Maybe art (a kind of documentary film), can move the needle on the genocide in Gaza.
September 5, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Gaza movie ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ devastates Venice audiences.
Maybe art (a kind of documentary film), can move the needle on the genocide in Gaza.
Maybe art (a kind of documentary film), can move the needle on the genocide in Gaza.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
I’m quoted in The New Yorker as saying Trump is still a “libel loser” because he’s now cheating to win by unethically using the power of the presidency to bully corporate media owners into settling cases that would’ve been tossed by the courts if not settled.
I’m quoted in The New Yorker as saying Trump is still a “libel loser” because he’s now cheating to win by unethically using the power of the presidency to bully corporate media owners into settling cases that would’ve been tossed by the courts if not settled.
How Much Is Trump Profiting Off the Presidency?
A comprehensive estimate of how much Trump and his family are making, from hotel mega-deals to crypto schemes, has been elusive—until now.
www.newyorker.com
August 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
I’m quoted in The New Yorker as saying Trump is still a “libel loser” because he’s now cheating to win by unethically using the power of the presidency to bully corporate media owners into settling cases that would’ve been tossed by the courts if not settled.
I’m quoted in The New Yorker as saying Trump is still a “libel loser” because he’s now cheating to win by unethically using the power of the presidency to bully corporate media owners into settling cases that would’ve been tossed by the courts if not settled.