Andrew Lessman
@atlessman.bsky.social
Teacher at heart, attorney, higher education regulation, ADA compliance and inclusive design
Pinned
Andrew Lessman
@atlessman.bsky.social
· Nov 20
I may have lost almost all faith in adults, but I will never give up on kids.
This administration constantly makes clear how little regard it has for vulnerable communities, especially those whom there has been a bipartisan desire to help.
As always, cruelty is the point.
www.npr.org/2025/10/13/n...
As always, cruelty is the point.
www.npr.org/2025/10/13/n...
Amid shutdown, Trump administration guts department overseeing special education
Multiple sources tell NPR that, as part of the Trump administration's latest reduction-in-force, the U.S. Department of Education has gutted the office that handles special education.
www.npr.org
October 13, 2025 at 4:16 PM
This administration constantly makes clear how little regard it has for vulnerable communities, especially those whom there has been a bipartisan desire to help.
As always, cruelty is the point.
www.npr.org/2025/10/13/n...
As always, cruelty is the point.
www.npr.org/2025/10/13/n...
Reposted by Andrew Lessman
Nothing says “land of the free” like armed agents of the state saying “show me your papers if you want your daughter back” bsky.app/profile/nbcb...
September 23, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Nothing says “land of the free” like armed agents of the state saying “show me your papers if you want your daughter back” bsky.app/profile/nbcb...
Reposted by Andrew Lessman
ICE is sweeping up people with disabilities now, making no accommodations for them.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Deaf, mute and terrified: ICE arrests DACA recipient and ships him to Texas
Javier Diaz Santana, who is deaf and mute, was swept up in a federal immigration raid at his job in Temple City, unable to communicate in handcuffs. His attorney says U.S. agents "don’t care whether y...
www.latimes.com
July 22, 2025 at 3:58 PM
ICE is sweeping up people with disabilities now, making no accommodations for them.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Trump: "The plan is to act like I wanted to attack Iran all along, bomb the shit out of them, then declare a ceasefire. I'm sure Iran won't just use that as an opportunity to launch a barrage against a now temporarily hesitant Israel. That way I still get my Nobel Peace Prize!"
June 24, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Trump: "The plan is to act like I wanted to attack Iran all along, bomb the shit out of them, then declare a ceasefire. I'm sure Iran won't just use that as an opportunity to launch a barrage against a now temporarily hesitant Israel. That way I still get my Nobel Peace Prize!"
Reposted by Andrew Lessman
according to conservatives on the court, the constitution does not protect your right to your own body but does enable the government to ship you off to a foreign gulag without any hope of return
NEW: The Supreme Court's conservatives halt a preliminary injunction that had restricted the Trump administration's ability to rapidly deport migrants to "third countries" where they have never lived and where allegedly face torture. All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
![DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. v.
D.V.D., ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY
[June 23, 2025]
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE JACKSON
and by her referred to the Court is granted. The April 18,
2025, preliminary injunction of the United States District
Court for the District of Massachusetts, case No. 25–cv–
10676, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is
timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall
terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted,
the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of the Court.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and
JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
In matters of life and death, it is best to proceed with caution. In this case, the Government took the opposite approach. It wrongfully deported one plaintiff to Guatemala,
even though an Immigration Judge found he was likely to
face torture there. Then, in clear violation of a court order,
it deported six more to South Sudan, a nation the State Department considers too unsafe for all but its most critical
personnel. An attentive District Court’s timely intervention only narrowly prevented a third set of unlawful removals to Libya.
Rather than allowing our lower court colleagues to manage this high-stakes litigation with the care and attention](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreietxy2onxpw2fhgui4rl6cuor52zfdsq5dirhspuslk7tqxfq4rty@jpeg)
June 23, 2025 at 8:42 PM
according to conservatives on the court, the constitution does not protect your right to your own body but does enable the government to ship you off to a foreign gulag without any hope of return
Some additional context on the "A1" statement.
Might well have been referring to this particular AI vendor.
Teacher's unions might actually have preferred this to be a straight gaffe.
finance.yahoo.com/news/secreta...
Might well have been referring to this particular AI vendor.
Teacher's unions might actually have preferred this to be a straight gaffe.
finance.yahoo.com/news/secreta...
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida Visits FuturEdge Charter Academy and Future Home of Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy of Nevada, Spotlights AI-Powered Lea...
Alpha 1 (A1) AI Tutor Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy LAS VEGAS, NEVADA / ACCESS Newswire / April 18, 2025 /Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Visits FuturEdge Charter Academy and Future Home of P...
finance.yahoo.com
April 22, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Some additional context on the "A1" statement.
Might well have been referring to this particular AI vendor.
Teacher's unions might actually have preferred this to be a straight gaffe.
finance.yahoo.com/news/secreta...
Might well have been referring to this particular AI vendor.
Teacher's unions might actually have preferred this to be a straight gaffe.
finance.yahoo.com/news/secreta...
Yikes. Seems they no longer want to be constrained by ethical obligations.
Policy goes into effect April 30
April 9, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Yikes. Seems they no longer want to be constrained by ethical obligations.
Whenever this administration claims to be powerless to do something, we need to push back.
They claim power over every area of our lives, but that they do not have the power to correct their own abuses.
They claim power over every area of our lives, but that they do not have the power to correct their own abuses.
#ICYMI: I wrote about the White House's scary claim that federal courts are powerless to order the government to bring back individuals who have been unlawfully removed from the United States, and the judicial decisions pointing entirely in the other direction:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/138-abrego...
www.stevevladeck.com/p/138-abrego...
138. Abrego Garcia, Constructive Custody, and Federal Judicial Power
Federal courts don't have jurisdiction over foreign prisons. That doesn't mean that they're powerless when the U.S. government wrongly removes someone from the United States.
www.stevevladeck.com
April 6, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Whenever this administration claims to be powerless to do something, we need to push back.
They claim power over every area of our lives, but that they do not have the power to correct their own abuses.
They claim power over every area of our lives, but that they do not have the power to correct their own abuses.
We must immediately close our buggy-whip gap!
April 3, 2025 at 2:56 PM
We must immediately close our buggy-whip gap!
Moving these functions under RFK's supervision would be an unforgivable travesty.
www.npr.org/2025/04/03/n...
www.npr.org/2025/04/03/n...
How the Education Department helps students with disabilities get an education
Special education laws and the U.S. Department of Education have evolved together over nearly five decades. Now, the Trump administration seems to want to separate the two.
www.npr.org
April 3, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Moving these functions under RFK's supervision would be an unforgivable travesty.
www.npr.org/2025/04/03/n...
www.npr.org/2025/04/03/n...
Reposted by Andrew Lessman
Dead people telling the President to pursue a trade war with an uninhabited island is real George III territory
April 2, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Dead people telling the President to pursue a trade war with an uninhabited island is real George III territory
Without due process protections, anyone could be next.
Multiple people have already died in custody.
If this is not a concentration camp, what is? www.miaminewtimes.com/news/overcro...
If this is not a concentration camp, what is? www.miaminewtimes.com/news/overcro...
"Help Us:" TikTok Videos Show Inside Crowded Miami ICE Facility
An immigration attorney who recently visited a client at the facility described it as a "humanitarian disaster."
www.miaminewtimes.com
April 1, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Without due process protections, anyone could be next.
Solid advice, but no one can quite predict how this SCOTUS will view the constitutionality of a President's authority over Executive agencies.
They have been teeing up an expansion on this front for a while.
Approving this switchover is very possible.
www.fastcompany.com/91306787/wha...
They have been teeing up an expansion on this front for a while.
Approving this switchover is very possible.
www.fastcompany.com/91306787/wha...
Here's what happens to your student loan if the Department of Education disappears
If the Trump administration moves student loans to the Small Business Administration, where does that leave borrowers?
www.fastcompany.com
March 29, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Solid advice, but no one can quite predict how this SCOTUS will view the constitutionality of a President's authority over Executive agencies.
They have been teeing up an expansion on this front for a while.
Approving this switchover is very possible.
www.fastcompany.com/91306787/wha...
They have been teeing up an expansion on this front for a while.
Approving this switchover is very possible.
www.fastcompany.com/91306787/wha...
Reposted by Andrew Lessman
Ghost gun companies were their own worst enemies in this case. They pretended they weren't selling firearms, but EVERYTHING about their marketing conveyed the fact that you could easily turn their kits into functioning guns. Gorsuch really nails that here. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
March 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Ghost gun companies were their own worst enemies in this case. They pretended they weren't selling firearms, but EVERYTHING about their marketing conveyed the fact that you could easily turn their kits into functioning guns. Gorsuch really nails that here. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
Reposted by Andrew Lessman
Today's decision is a pretty major smackdown for the 5th Circuit, which angrily rejected the ghost gun regulations as an egregiously unlawful assault on the rights of at-home gunsmiths. Gorsuch's opinion says the 5th Circuit badly misapplied the law in a number of ways. When you've lost Gorsuch...
March 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Today's decision is a pretty major smackdown for the 5th Circuit, which angrily rejected the ghost gun regulations as an egregiously unlawful assault on the rights of at-home gunsmiths. Gorsuch's opinion says the 5th Circuit badly misapplied the law in a number of ways. When you've lost Gorsuch...
Redirecting these functions is unconstitutional without action from Congress as these are precisely the statutorily required functions McMahon stated the department would continue to oversee.
www.npr.org/2025/03/21/n...
www.npr.org/2025/03/21/n...
Trump says Education Department will no longer oversee student loans, 'special needs'
The president said federal student loans would move to the Small Business Administration, and hinted that the Department of Health and Human Services would take over special education oversight.
www.npr.org
March 21, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Redirecting these functions is unconstitutional without action from Congress as these are precisely the statutorily required functions McMahon stated the department would continue to oversee.
www.npr.org/2025/03/21/n...
www.npr.org/2025/03/21/n...
Everyone tries to keep their head down, not notice the abuses and desperately prays they are not next.
Once enough people start thinking that way, the culture shifts to ratting out your neighbors and colleagues in order to stay in the State's "good graces."
All while the fascists entrench deeper.
Once enough people start thinking that way, the culture shifts to ratting out your neighbors and colleagues in order to stay in the State's "good graces."
All while the fascists entrench deeper.
The touchstone of most authoritarian regimes is not the kind of total control that most people feel in their day-to-day lives. It is that the regime is only selectively bound by law, producing constant low-grade anxiety as to whether, how, or against whom power will be exercised.
March 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Everyone tries to keep their head down, not notice the abuses and desperately prays they are not next.
Once enough people start thinking that way, the culture shifts to ratting out your neighbors and colleagues in order to stay in the State's "good graces."
All while the fascists entrench deeper.
Once enough people start thinking that way, the culture shifts to ratting out your neighbors and colleagues in order to stay in the State's "good graces."
All while the fascists entrench deeper.
Reposted by Andrew Lessman
This piece rightly focuses on the data function within the civil rights office. MAGA does not want us to have good education data as they deconstruct public schools and redirect tax dollars to private, mostly religious schools with little transparency. There would be evidence of the harm they cause.
The Education Department's 50% workforce cut includes major reductions to the Office for Civil Rights. Education professors explain why these changes will likely have a lasting impact on the most vulnerable public school students. buff.ly/pFrNW5N #CivilRights
Big cuts at the Education Department’s civil rights office will affect vulnerable students for years to come
The layoffs further complicate staffing shortages at the Office for Civil Rights, which plays a vital role in promoting a fair education for public school students.
buff.ly
March 17, 2025 at 11:51 AM
This piece rightly focuses on the data function within the civil rights office. MAGA does not want us to have good education data as they deconstruct public schools and redirect tax dollars to private, mostly religious schools with little transparency. There would be evidence of the harm they cause.
Many accreditors and states require online program students to have the same level of access to university services as face-to-face students, and that the programs be of similar rigor.
These pressures, along with profit, help explain the equivalence in price.
www.npr.org/2025/03/15/n...
These pressures, along with profit, help explain the equivalence in price.
www.npr.org/2025/03/15/n...
As enrollment in online college grows, students wonder: Why does it cost more?
Rather than lowering the price, some universities use online courses to subsidize everything else.
www.npr.org
March 15, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Many accreditors and states require online program students to have the same level of access to university services as face-to-face students, and that the programs be of similar rigor.
These pressures, along with profit, help explain the equivalence in price.
www.npr.org/2025/03/15/n...
These pressures, along with profit, help explain the equivalence in price.
www.npr.org/2025/03/15/n...
No one, not state governments, not teachers, not parents, nor students, will benefit from crippling our ability to collect and analyze education data.
These functions are required by law.
What is the replacement?
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
These functions are required by law.
What is the replacement?
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
The Threat to Federal School Data Is a Threat to Us All (Opinion)
The erosion of this fundamental information will create immediate blind spots for districts and states.
www.edweek.org
March 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM
No one, not state governments, not teachers, not parents, nor students, will benefit from crippling our ability to collect and analyze education data.
These functions are required by law.
What is the replacement?
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
These functions are required by law.
What is the replacement?
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...