Fred Biesecker
@biesecker1.bsky.social
Retired lawyer. Associate Faculty, Indiana University-Indianapolis. Board Member, Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Damnit this is good writing, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social.
December 13, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Damnit this is good writing, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him.
I don’t know how else to say it…
I don’t know how else to say it…
December 12, 2025 at 4:21 AM
This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him.
I don’t know how else to say it…
I don’t know how else to say it…
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Buttigieg on Indiana: "The big part of how Trumpism works is to make you feel totally disempowered. To make him feel inevitable. And yet the clear takeaway from this is he is not unstoppable and you are not without power."
December 12, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Buttigieg on Indiana: "The big part of how Trumpism works is to make you feel totally disempowered. To make him feel inevitable. And yet the clear takeaway from this is he is not unstoppable and you are not without power."
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Trump threatened to pull the state's federal funding, he sent Vance there multiple times, his allies (including his son) are currently threatening to oust all the Republicans who rebuked him, and he's already sicced his goons on these lawmakers, bringing them countless death threats. But ok.
Reporter: The senate in Indiana voted against the redistricting effort.
Trump: I wasn't working on it very hard. I wasn't very much involved
Trump: I wasn't working on it very hard. I wasn't very much involved
December 12, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Trump threatened to pull the state's federal funding, he sent Vance there multiple times, his allies (including his son) are currently threatening to oust all the Republicans who rebuked him, and he's already sicced his goons on these lawmakers, bringing them countless death threats. But ok.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Yeah, not much. He just had them come to the White House, sent his VP here and issued long threats and insults on his social media platform.
Reporter: The senate in Indiana voted against the redistricting effort.
Trump: I wasn't working on it very hard. I wasn't very much involved
Trump: I wasn't working on it very hard. I wasn't very much involved
December 11, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Yeah, not much. He just had them come to the White House, sent his VP here and issued long threats and insults on his social media platform.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
It wasn’t even close.
December 11, 2025 at 10:51 PM
It wasn’t even close.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
This isn’t conservative. This is fascist.👇
December 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
This isn’t conservative. This is fascist.👇
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
We now learn that Fifa had a very specific "ask" in exchange for its "Peace Award" to Trump, with loads of gold trinkets, and that was dismissal of a criminal corruption case against senior Fifa officials. And Trump granted it. Another corrupt bargain, barely noticed (and ignored by US media).
December 11, 2025 at 12:59 AM
We now learn that Fifa had a very specific "ask" in exchange for its "Peace Award" to Trump, with loads of gold trinkets, and that was dismissal of a criminal corruption case against senior Fifa officials. And Trump granted it. Another corrupt bargain, barely noticed (and ignored by US media).
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:40 PM
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
There has been no debate here among constitutional scholars, historians, political scientists, anyone with a pulse really.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Anyone who knows this history should know there’s no contested issue.
December 7, 2025 at 12:50 AM
There has been no debate here among constitutional scholars, historians, political scientists, anyone with a pulse really.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Indiana has rapidly become the latest flashpoint in the GOP’s national push to engineer aggressive mid-decade gerrymanders. Few states illustrate the immense costs to voters and how far lawmakers are willing to go to appease President Donald Trump. www.democracydocket.com/analysis/ind...
Indiana’s GOP Shows Us the Future of Gerrymandering — And It’s Grim: A Conversation With Election Law Expert Luis Fuentes-Rohwer
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 6, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Indiana has rapidly become the latest flashpoint in the GOP’s national push to engineer aggressive mid-decade gerrymanders. Few states illustrate the immense costs to voters and how far lawmakers are willing to go to appease President Donald Trump. www.democracydocket.com/analysis/ind...
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Simply amazing that the Supreme Court declared an end to legal race discrimination in the affirmative action case two years ago and now allows overt racism in both immigration arrests and redistricting.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
BREAKING: Supreme Court GRANTS Texas request to restore redistricting maps
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Simply amazing that the Supreme Court declared an end to legal race discrimination in the affirmative action case two years ago and now allows overt racism in both immigration arrests and redistricting.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
There is no reason to be polite or decorous about this any more.
The current Supreme Court is corrupt.
US democracy cannot survive unless it is reformed.
The current Supreme Court is corrupt.
US democracy cannot survive unless it is reformed.
Democrats need to lay the groundwork for reform by attacking the villains on the Supreme Court - loudly, angrily, personally, relentlessly. And they should start now.
paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...
paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...
Democrats Need to Treat the Supreme Court Like the Villain It Is
The Court is out of control, and we'll never see reform unless we build the case for it. Starting now.
paulwaldman.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:28 PM
There is no reason to be polite or decorous about this any more.
The current Supreme Court is corrupt.
US democracy cannot survive unless it is reformed.
The current Supreme Court is corrupt.
US democracy cannot survive unless it is reformed.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
The U.S. Supreme Court: "ICE can racially profile people it arrests."
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court: "Texas can disenfranchise voters based on race."
Can we all agree that we currently have a white supremacist Supreme Court?
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court: "Texas can disenfranchise voters based on race."
Can we all agree that we currently have a white supremacist Supreme Court?
December 5, 2025 at 2:03 AM
The U.S. Supreme Court: "ICE can racially profile people it arrests."
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court: "Texas can disenfranchise voters based on race."
Can we all agree that we currently have a white supremacist Supreme Court?
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court: "Texas can disenfranchise voters based on race."
Can we all agree that we currently have a white supremacist Supreme Court?
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
The Roberts court is a handmaid to authoritarianism.
Democracy dies if justices enable minority rule.
Democracy dies if justices enable minority rule.
SCOTUS conservative justices upholding Texas gerrymander is yet another example of how Roberts court has greenlit the many undemocratic schemes of Trump and his party
They’ve now ruled for Trump and his allies in 90 percent of shadow docket opinions www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
They’ve now ruled for Trump and his allies in 90 percent of shadow docket opinions www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The Roberts court just helped Trump rig the midterms
The Supreme Court reinstated the Trump-inspired congressional map in Texas.
www.motherjones.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:59 AM
The Roberts court is a handmaid to authoritarianism.
Democracy dies if justices enable minority rule.
Democracy dies if justices enable minority rule.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
What's changed is that the Court has become more transparent in its corruption. There's not even an argument here beyond the implicit one which is: how do you expect us to hold the House without those seats?
December 4, 2025 at 11:34 PM
What's changed is that the Court has become more transparent in its corruption. There's not even an argument here beyond the implicit one which is: how do you expect us to hold the House without those seats?
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
And yes, I read the opinions. As an attorney—and any lawyer could see this, even most non-lawyers—it’s obvious to me that the ruling is intellectually bankrupt. We can’t even say a serious attempt was made to explain why the court did as it did—as all its rhetoric amounts to counterfactual nonsense.
December 4, 2025 at 11:25 PM
And yes, I read the opinions. As an attorney—and any lawyer could see this, even most non-lawyers—it’s obvious to me that the ruling is intellectually bankrupt. We can’t even say a serious attempt was made to explain why the court did as it did—as all its rhetoric amounts to counterfactual nonsense.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Texas & DOJ said that’s what was going on!
So apparently the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to … allow some discrimination on the basis of race when it’s to secure Republicans electoral advantage.
Just lawless partisan hackery. No fact finding deference. No legal basis.
So apparently the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to … allow some discrimination on the basis of race when it’s to secure Republicans electoral advantage.
Just lawless partisan hackery. No fact finding deference. No legal basis.
December 4, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Texas & DOJ said that’s what was going on!
So apparently the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to … allow some discrimination on the basis of race when it’s to secure Republicans electoral advantage.
Just lawless partisan hackery. No fact finding deference. No legal basis.
So apparently the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to … allow some discrimination on the basis of race when it’s to secure Republicans electoral advantage.
Just lawless partisan hackery. No fact finding deference. No legal basis.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
SHOCKER!
We don’t have a Supreme Court, we have a MAGA field office.
We don’t have a Supreme Court, we have a MAGA field office.
Breaking: Supreme Court on 6-3 Party Line Vote, Allows Texas to Use Its Re-redistricting Maps for 2026 Congressional Elections #ELB
You can find the order. a concurrence, and a dissent at this link. [This post is in progress]
electionlawblog.org
December 4, 2025 at 11:14 PM
SHOCKER!
We don’t have a Supreme Court, we have a MAGA field office.
We don’t have a Supreme Court, we have a MAGA field office.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
They are simultaneously racist, xenophobic, misogynist fascists totally incapable of actual governing a 21st century polity/economy, & sad, pathetic, aging losers nostalgic for sitting in the way back on family road trips. They contain multitudes.
Sean Duffy on slashing fuel economy standards: "This rule will actually allow you to bring back the 1970s station wagon. Maybe a little wood paneling on the side. We can bring back choice to consumers."
December 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
They are simultaneously racist, xenophobic, misogynist fascists totally incapable of actual governing a 21st century polity/economy, & sad, pathetic, aging losers nostalgic for sitting in the way back on family road trips. They contain multitudes.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
Hey America, if you were a Christian nation, you’d be feeding the poor, not yelling at them for using food stamps.
December 4, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Hey America, if you were a Christian nation, you’d be feeding the poor, not yelling at them for using food stamps.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
If we're not at war, Pete Hegseth is a murderer. If we are at war, Pete Hegseth is still a murderer. He's a murderer. And you don't need to go to The Hague to hold him accountable because there are perfectly good, American laws AGAINST MURDER.
My latest in @thenation.com
My latest in @thenation.com
Pete Hegseth Should Be Charged With Murder
No matter how you look at the strikes on alleged “drug boats”—as acts of war or attacks on civilians—Hegseth has committed a crime and should be prosecuted.
www.thenation.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
If we're not at war, Pete Hegseth is a murderer. If we are at war, Pete Hegseth is still a murderer. He's a murderer. And you don't need to go to The Hague to hold him accountable because there are perfectly good, American laws AGAINST MURDER.
My latest in @thenation.com
My latest in @thenation.com
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
He shouldn’t just be pushed out as the House Democrats’ leader; he needs to be primaried out of his seat entirely. Just a complete waste of a deep blue seat.
Jeffries: "The border is secure. That's a good thing. It happened on his watch. He wants to claim credit for it, of course he'll get credit for that. In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration, there's a lot that's left to be desired."
December 3, 2025 at 7:16 PM
He shouldn’t just be pushed out as the House Democrats’ leader; he needs to be primaried out of his seat entirely. Just a complete waste of a deep blue seat.
Reposted by Fred Biesecker
What does it say about this country that that the kind of open, rank bigotry Trump administration officials regularly express towards black immigrants apparently has no social cost because of the number of Americans who quietly agree or don't care.
December 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
What does it say about this country that that the kind of open, rank bigotry Trump administration officials regularly express towards black immigrants apparently has no social cost because of the number of Americans who quietly agree or don't care.