Ellie Margolis
@elliemargolis.bsky.social
Law professor @TempleLaw, suburban gardener, avid reader. Happy to nerd out about legal writing anytime.
Oof. In less than a year, the DOJ has gone from my number one source for good #LegalWriting samples to the “what not to do” samples.
Chat, is this good
November 18, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Oof. In less than a year, the DOJ has gone from my number one source for good #LegalWriting samples to the “what not to do” samples.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
Judge Jeffrey Brown is a Trump appointee.
Whoa: A federal court just barred Texas from using its new congressional map, drawn by the GOP to target Dems.
"Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map."
Court says the old map must be used in 2026. Appeals are certain. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
"Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map."
Court says the old map must be used in 2026. Appeals are certain. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 18, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Judge Jeffrey Brown is a Trump appointee.
Woot!
BREAKING: a federal court has BLOCKED the TX congressional gerrymander
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Federal Court Blocks Texas Gerrymander for 2026, Appeal Expected
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Woot!
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
Is it a threat to free speech when the President of the United States threatens to yank the broadcast license of a channel whose reporters are asking him challenging questions?
I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?
I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?
Trump in response to an Epstein question: "ABC, your company, your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should take a look at that."
November 18, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Is it a threat to free speech when the President of the United States threatens to yank the broadcast license of a channel whose reporters are asking him challenging questions?
I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?
I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
EXCLUSIVE: The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation. Read and share the latest from @propublica.org. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social, Avi Asher-Shapiro & @amierjeski.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/andr...
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:42 PM
EXCLUSIVE: The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation. Read and share the latest from @propublica.org. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social, Avi Asher-Shapiro & @amierjeski.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/andr...
I read this and I am full of regret.
oh my god you have to read this until the end www.telos.news/p/part-1-how...
Part 1: How I Found Out
Olivia had just returned from a reporting trip—at least that’s what she told me it was—and her Herschel backpack, the one with the flap that never quite closed properly, was tossed beside our bed, its...
www.telos.news
November 18, 2025 at 2:48 AM
I read this and I am full of regret.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
JUST IN: A federal judge has thrown out DOJ’s lawsuit to compel NY to aid in immigration arrests at state courthouses.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
JUST IN: A federal judge has thrown out DOJ’s lawsuit to compel NY to aid in immigration arrests at state courthouses.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
Per CNN, Elizabeth Warren is calling on Harvard to cut ties with Larry Summers after Jeffrey Epstein's emails released last week by House Dems featured Summers making sexist comments + asking for Epstein’s romantic advice.
November 18, 2025 at 12:43 AM
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
One perk of a late afternoon class is getting out and seeing this from my office window.
November 17, 2025 at 11:02 PM
One perk of a late afternoon class is getting out and seeing this from my office window.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
The DOJ ordered US Marshals to the house of the pardon attorney who refused to sign off on a pardon to give Mel Gibson back his guns. Big law firms told her they supported her but did not want to be seen representing her.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
November 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The DOJ ordered US Marshals to the house of the pardon attorney who refused to sign off on a pardon to give Mel Gibson back his guns. Big law firms told her they supported her but did not want to be seen representing her.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
Let's read the Constitution aloud and discuss it together in a collective effort to make sense of this moment. Join me, along with special guests, this Saturday at The Center for Fiction at 10 am. Free and open to all. @brennancenter.org
#falloffreedom
#falloffreedom
November 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Let's read the Constitution aloud and discuss it together in a collective effort to make sense of this moment. Join me, along with special guests, this Saturday at The Center for Fiction at 10 am. Free and open to all. @brennancenter.org
#falloffreedom
#falloffreedom
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
I think one of the underappreciated races on “people need to run for these jobs” lists is state bar associations.
Every state should see a slate of “we are going to sanction and disbar with a VENGEANCE” candidates in the next few yrs.
(You know this is why Bondi’s bro ran for the DC Bar Assn.)
Every state should see a slate of “we are going to sanction and disbar with a VENGEANCE” candidates in the next few yrs.
(You know this is why Bondi’s bro ran for the DC Bar Assn.)
Reup: One thing EVERYONE is missing abt the two things that went down last week--Bondi bowing to Trump's demand for an investigation of Dems, and her re-ratification of the Comey indictment--is how vulnerable Bondi is, both politically and legally.
www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/16/m...
www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/16/m...
Might Pam Bondi's Latest Prosecutorial Abuse Give Us Ponies and Puppies? - emptywheel
Pam Bondi's obeisance to Trump's demand she conduct a frivolous investigation into Democrats to make his own Epstein scandal go away may be a gift to Jim Comey.
www.emptywheel.net
November 17, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I think one of the underappreciated races on “people need to run for these jobs” lists is state bar associations.
Every state should see a slate of “we are going to sanction and disbar with a VENGEANCE” candidates in the next few yrs.
(You know this is why Bondi’s bro ran for the DC Bar Assn.)
Every state should see a slate of “we are going to sanction and disbar with a VENGEANCE” candidates in the next few yrs.
(You know this is why Bondi’s bro ran for the DC Bar Assn.)
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
In United States v. Comey , the Magistrate-Judge noted eleven (11) separate incidents of prosecutorial misconduct in support of the order requiring disclosure of the full grand jury transcript to Comey.
In any prior administration, this would have led to immediate termination of case & proscutor.
In any prior administration, this would have led to immediate termination of case & proscutor.
#191 in United States v. Comey (E.D. Va., 1:25-cr-00272) – CourtListener.com
MEMORANDUM OPINION in re 167 Order remanding the matter of disclosure of the grand jury materials as to James B. Comey, Jr. Signed by Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick on 11/17/2025. (jlan) (Ent...
storage.courtlistener.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:55 PM
In United States v. Comey , the Magistrate-Judge noted eleven (11) separate incidents of prosecutorial misconduct in support of the order requiring disclosure of the full grand jury transcript to Comey.
In any prior administration, this would have led to immediate termination of case & proscutor.
In any prior administration, this would have led to immediate termination of case & proscutor.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
"When we undermine our colleges, we are not “owning” some distant ivory tower; we are weakening our talent pipeline, our innovation capacity and our civic fabric."
Really lovely defense of higher education—focused on local colleges but applicable more broadly. Higher Ed is so crucial to economies, to people, to imaginations
Opinion: How higher education now powers the Lehigh Valley
Opinion: Colleges and universities function as anchor institutions in the Lehigh Valley
www.mcall.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:50 PM
"When we undermine our colleges, we are not “owning” some distant ivory tower; we are weakening our talent pipeline, our innovation capacity and our civic fabric."
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
Could argue the misogyny Summers expressed both publicly while president of Harvard and in emails to Epstein says more about the culture at our most elite institutions than any of the frontpage freakouts over academia in the past few years but hey
November 17, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Could argue the misogyny Summers expressed both publicly while president of Harvard and in emails to Epstein says more about the culture at our most elite institutions than any of the frontpage freakouts over academia in the past few years but hey
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
In DC, we have been hearing many of these stories one by one. To see them all in one place, to see that the trickle of corruption is a flood, to see DOJ perverted this way …is chilling.
Gift link to NYT article about the corruption of DOJ. One former insider says “I wouldn’t even call it the Justice Department anymore. It’s become Trump’s personal law firm. … [T]he American people should be enraged.”
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
60 Attorneys on the Year of Chaos Inside Trump’s Justice Department (Gift Article)
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:13 PM
In DC, we have been hearing many of these stories one by one. To see them all in one place, to see that the trickle of corruption is a flood, to see DOJ perverted this way …is chilling.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
November 16, 2025 at 11:43 PM
NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
The net worth held by the top 0.1% of households in the U.S. reached $23.3 trillion in the second quarter this year, from $10.7 trillion a decade earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The Ultrarich Are Spending a Fortune to Live in Extreme Privacy
In Miami and elsewhere, the wealthy are moving in increasingly private spheres, shelling out big money to bypass the indignities of public life.
www.wsj.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The net worth held by the top 0.1% of households in the U.S. reached $23.3 trillion in the second quarter this year, from $10.7 trillion a decade earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
The fact that @harvard.edu's Larry Summers is teaching three courses this semester while Texas A&M Professor Melissa McCoul was fired tells you all you need to know about what "gender ideology" is allowed and which is not. @aaup.org
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender…
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:10 AM
The fact that @harvard.edu's Larry Summers is teaching three courses this semester while Texas A&M Professor Melissa McCoul was fired tells you all you need to know about what "gender ideology" is allowed and which is not. @aaup.org
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
Never forget that just a week ago, Ross Douthat and the NYTimes were asking if women ruined the workplace.
November 17, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Never forget that just a week ago, Ross Douthat and the NYTimes were asking if women ruined the workplace.
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
OMG this kicker in the Harvard Crimson article!!
College journalism kicks ass, again
College journalism kicks ass, again
November 17, 2025 at 2:35 AM
OMG this kicker in the Harvard Crimson article!!
College journalism kicks ass, again
College journalism kicks ass, again
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
No secret that I'm a huge @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social fan. This piece is tough, important, and excellent. www.meditationsinanemergency.com/how-big-shou...
How Big Should Your Tent Be?
It's striking to me that a lot of people want politics to be about their personal feelings, in which case they're not engaged in politics, though they may be engaged in the sabotage of politics. This ...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:00 AM
No secret that I'm a huge @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social fan. This piece is tough, important, and excellent. www.meditationsinanemergency.com/how-big-shou...
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
From the great Matthew Butterick's newsletter.
Fonts: wehtt.am/fonts/
Newsletter: mbxs.matthewbutterick.com
#Fonts
#LegalWriting
Fonts: wehtt.am/fonts/
Newsletter: mbxs.matthewbutterick.com
#Fonts
#LegalWriting
November 17, 2025 at 1:36 AM
From the great Matthew Butterick's newsletter.
Fonts: wehtt.am/fonts/
Newsletter: mbxs.matthewbutterick.com
#Fonts
#LegalWriting
Fonts: wehtt.am/fonts/
Newsletter: mbxs.matthewbutterick.com
#Fonts
#LegalWriting
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
The legal profession is chock full of women who interviewed with lots of law firms in hotel rooms as first or second year law students
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
I thing I sometimes thing about is that university departments were still doing job interviews in hotel rooms in the mid aughts
November 17, 2025 at 1:51 AM
The legal profession is chock full of women who interviewed with lots of law firms in hotel rooms as first or second year law students
Reposted by Ellie Margolis
Transformative work of the day, that's some pig edition
November 17, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Transformative work of the day, that's some pig edition