Lee Levine
@leelevine.bsky.social
All about my grandkids, a free press, the Washington Nationals, golf, and Stephen Sondheim—not necessarily in that order
Reposted by Lee Levine
Everything's different, nothing's changed. Only maybe slightly rearranged.
November 25, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Everything's different, nothing's changed. Only maybe slightly rearranged.
Reposted by Lee Levine
This is a stunning thing to even have to see Members of Congress say out loud. Absolutely chilling. And inspiring.
We want to speak directly to members of the Military and the Intelligence Community.
The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution.
Don’t give up the ship.
The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution.
Don’t give up the ship.
November 19, 2025 at 8:18 PM
This is a stunning thing to even have to see Members of Congress say out loud. Absolutely chilling. And inspiring.
Reposted by Lee Levine
This is real news. Reporters, please report on it.
ELEVEN former top FCC officials, Republican and Democratic, came together to condemn FCC Chairman Carr's abuses of power and efforts to suppress legal speech.
It's not just Jimmy Kimmel. The FCC's jawboning and chill on legal speech is ongoing.
ELEVEN former top FCC officials, Republican and Democratic, came together to condemn FCC Chairman Carr's abuses of power and efforts to suppress legal speech.
It's not just Jimmy Kimmel. The FCC's jawboning and chill on legal speech is ongoing.
Government has no business policing media for viewpoint bias or balance. The FCC must repeal its news distortion policy, urges a bipartisan group of 11 former FCC Chairs, Commissioners & other top officials in a petition we filed today with @protectdemocracy.org
protectdemocracy.org/work/fcc-new...
protectdemocracy.org/work/fcc-new...
November 13, 2025 at 4:54 PM
This is real news. Reporters, please report on it.
ELEVEN former top FCC officials, Republican and Democratic, came together to condemn FCC Chairman Carr's abuses of power and efforts to suppress legal speech.
It's not just Jimmy Kimmel. The FCC's jawboning and chill on legal speech is ongoing.
ELEVEN former top FCC officials, Republican and Democratic, came together to condemn FCC Chairman Carr's abuses of power and efforts to suppress legal speech.
It's not just Jimmy Kimmel. The FCC's jawboning and chill on legal speech is ongoing.
Reposted by Lee Levine
What I know is there are still great journalists - even at elite media outlets - who are doing good work. Adopting a knee-jerk cynicism about all they do abandons those journalists. And it's lazy. And it plays into hands of authoritarians who WANT people to distrust all fact-based journalism.
Come on Eric….you know what these means about the Times and a lot of elite media
November 13, 2025 at 2:52 PM
What I know is there are still great journalists - even at elite media outlets - who are doing good work. Adopting a knee-jerk cynicism about all they do abandons those journalists. And it's lazy. And it plays into hands of authoritarians who WANT people to distrust all fact-based journalism.
Reposted by Lee Levine
Kansas county agrees to pay $3 million over law enforcement raid on a small-town newspaper
Kansas county agrees to pay $3 million over law enforcement raid on a small-town newspaper
The 2023 raid triggered a national debate about press freedom focused on Marion, a town of about 1,900 people.
dlvr.it
November 11, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Kansas county agrees to pay $3 million over law enforcement raid on a small-town newspaper
Reposted by Lee Levine
Long ago, all we had was that funny feeling, saying someday we'd send ‘em reeling. Now it looks like we can! Someday just began . . .
November 5, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Long ago, all we had was that funny feeling, saying someday we'd send ‘em reeling. Now it looks like we can! Someday just began . . .
Reposted by Lee Levine
The Espionage Act’s reach is criminal, its language capacious, and its chilling effect immediate.”
MFIA Director David Schulz and Prof. Brian O’Neill on what’s at stake for whistleblowers, reporters, and democracy if the Trump administration uses it:
www.justsecurity.org/122491/weapo...
MFIA Director David Schulz and Prof. Brian O’Neill on what’s at stake for whistleblowers, reporters, and democracy if the Trump administration uses it:
www.justsecurity.org/122491/weapo...
Weaponizing the Espionage Act: What It Means for Whistleblowers, Reporters, and Democracy
How the Trump administration could weaponize the Espionage Act and its chilling effect to control the press and justify suppression.
www.justsecurity.org
October 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
The Espionage Act’s reach is criminal, its language capacious, and its chilling effect immediate.”
MFIA Director David Schulz and Prof. Brian O’Neill on what’s at stake for whistleblowers, reporters, and democracy if the Trump administration uses it:
www.justsecurity.org/122491/weapo...
MFIA Director David Schulz and Prof. Brian O’Neill on what’s at stake for whistleblowers, reporters, and democracy if the Trump administration uses it:
www.justsecurity.org/122491/weapo...
Reposted by Lee Levine
The MFIA Clinic at Yale Law School is now accepting applications for its Clinical Fellowship starting July 1, 2026.
Help defend press freedom, free speech, and government transparency.
🗓 Review begins Nov 15, 2025.
🔗 law.yale.edu/mfia/news/op...
Help defend press freedom, free speech, and government transparency.
🗓 Review begins Nov 15, 2025.
🔗 law.yale.edu/mfia/news/op...
Opportunities
MFIA CLINICAL FELLOWSHIPOctober 15, 2025
law.yale.edu
October 22, 2025 at 6:26 PM
The MFIA Clinic at Yale Law School is now accepting applications for its Clinical Fellowship starting July 1, 2026.
Help defend press freedom, free speech, and government transparency.
🗓 Review begins Nov 15, 2025.
🔗 law.yale.edu/mfia/news/op...
Help defend press freedom, free speech, and government transparency.
🗓 Review begins Nov 15, 2025.
🔗 law.yale.edu/mfia/news/op...
Reposted by Lee Levine
Fact check:
@propublica.org is an outstanding news organization that does fact based reporting. The work is credible, reliable, timely and without fear or favor. If you aren't already familiar with ProPublica, give it a read: www.propublica.org.
@propublica.org is an outstanding news organization that does fact based reporting. The work is credible, reliable, timely and without fear or favor. If you aren't already familiar with ProPublica, give it a read: www.propublica.org.
STEPHANOPOULOS: ProPublica reported that several members of the Trump administation have similar questions about their mortgages
VANCE: ProPublica is basically a left-wing blog
S: Do you dispute the facts they reported?
VANCE: I haven't read it. I have no idea. I certainly question the source
VANCE: ProPublica is basically a left-wing blog
S: Do you dispute the facts they reported?
VANCE: I haven't read it. I have no idea. I certainly question the source
October 12, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Fact check:
@propublica.org is an outstanding news organization that does fact based reporting. The work is credible, reliable, timely and without fear or favor. If you aren't already familiar with ProPublica, give it a read: www.propublica.org.
@propublica.org is an outstanding news organization that does fact based reporting. The work is credible, reliable, timely and without fear or favor. If you aren't already familiar with ProPublica, give it a read: www.propublica.org.
Reposted by Lee Levine
Good things get better, bad get worse. Wait, I think I meant that in reverse.
October 12, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Good things get better, bad get worse. Wait, I think I meant that in reverse.
Reposted by Lee Levine
Monstrous.
"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning."
"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning."
Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.
Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race
southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...
Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race
southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...
Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children
Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.
southsideweekly.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Monstrous.
"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning."
"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning."
Reposted by Lee Levine
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
October 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
Reposted by Lee Levine
The subpoenas are coming! If you are a lawyer who represents journalists and news organizations, or you know someone who is, spread the word.
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
The Subpoenas Are Coming! The Subpoenas Are Coming!
Exploring the Supreme Court’s decision in Branzburg v. Hayes, this article offers a framework for vindicating the press’s constitutional right to resist grand jury subpoenas designed to punish or reta...
www.americanbar.org
September 17, 2025 at 11:39 AM
The subpoenas are coming! If you are a lawyer who represents journalists and news organizations, or you know someone who is, spread the word.
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
Reposted by Lee Levine
Whatever any of us may think of how Jim Comey handled things in October 2016, I have known him for 40 years and he would never have lied to or obstructed Congress.
These charges are a disgrace to our nation and a fundamental attack on the rule of law.
These charges are a disgrace to our nation and a fundamental attack on the rule of law.
September 26, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Whatever any of us may think of how Jim Comey handled things in October 2016, I have known him for 40 years and he would never have lied to or obstructed Congress.
These charges are a disgrace to our nation and a fundamental attack on the rule of law.
These charges are a disgrace to our nation and a fundamental attack on the rule of law.
Reposted by Lee Levine
We took for granted a lot
September 22, 2025 at 10:18 PM
We took for granted a lot
Reposted by Lee Levine
The defining lesson of this first year of Trump authoritarianism is that kowtowing & capitulating yields zero permanent benefit and only emboldens the admin to come after you more.
This critical lesson was first documented in the landmark political science treatise “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.”
This critical lesson was first documented in the landmark political science treatise “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.”
Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."
So, a university president fired a professor because they taught a course that discussed there being more than two genders, and now the university president is being fired for not having fired the professor quickly enough, is where we're at. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...
September 19, 2025 at 2:26 PM
The defining lesson of this first year of Trump authoritarianism is that kowtowing & capitulating yields zero permanent benefit and only emboldens the admin to come after you more.
This critical lesson was first documented in the landmark political science treatise “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.”
This critical lesson was first documented in the landmark political science treatise “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.”
Reposted by Lee Levine
This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.
September 19, 2025 at 1:56 PM
This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.
Reposted by Lee Levine
Few companies rely on—and benefit from—our constitutional freedoms as much as media empires like Disney and Paramount. It’s astonishing to see them trading away their freedoms and ours for short-term profits.
September 18, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Few companies rely on—and benefit from—our constitutional freedoms as much as media empires like Disney and Paramount. It’s astonishing to see them trading away their freedoms and ours for short-term profits.
Reposted by Lee Levine
Bob Iger has just surrendered editorial control of ABC to a federal bureaucrat.
Message: he won’t permit anything on air which the White House is willing to threaten.
Certainly hope creatives will disassociate themselves from Disney.
Need to hear from Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Quinta Brunson
Message: he won’t permit anything on air which the White House is willing to threaten.
Certainly hope creatives will disassociate themselves from Disney.
Need to hear from Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Quinta Brunson
September 17, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Bob Iger has just surrendered editorial control of ABC to a federal bureaucrat.
Message: he won’t permit anything on air which the White House is willing to threaten.
Certainly hope creatives will disassociate themselves from Disney.
Need to hear from Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Quinta Brunson
Message: he won’t permit anything on air which the White House is willing to threaten.
Certainly hope creatives will disassociate themselves from Disney.
Need to hear from Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Quinta Brunson
The subpoenas are coming! If you are a lawyer who represents journalists and news organizations, or you know someone who is, spread the word.
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
The Subpoenas Are Coming! The Subpoenas Are Coming!
Exploring the Supreme Court’s decision in Branzburg v. Hayes, this article offers a framework for vindicating the press’s constitutional right to resist grand jury subpoenas designed to punish or reta...
www.americanbar.org
September 17, 2025 at 11:39 AM
The subpoenas are coming! If you are a lawyer who represents journalists and news organizations, or you know someone who is, spread the word.
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
www.americanbar.org/groups/commu...
Reposted by Lee Levine
Great First Amendment win in 9th Circuit for @davidloy.bsky.social and @facoalition.bsky.social. Holding: “self-censorship” is an “injury-in-fact” for injunctive relief, and observation of events is “inextricably intertwined” with recording and reporting.
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov
September 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Great First Amendment win in 9th Circuit for @davidloy.bsky.social and @facoalition.bsky.social. Holding: “self-censorship” is an “injury-in-fact” for injunctive relief, and observation of events is “inextricably intertwined” with recording and reporting.
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
Reposted by Lee Levine
Economist Amartya Sen won a Nobel in part for asking: Why did India avoid the mass famines that killed tens of millions in China? His answer: a free press. Journalists could expose suffering and shame governments into action. Silence and avoidance, by contrast, can be deadly.
August 3, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Economist Amartya Sen won a Nobel in part for asking: Why did India avoid the mass famines that killed tens of millions in China? His answer: a free press. Journalists could expose suffering and shame governments into action. Silence and avoidance, by contrast, can be deadly.
Reposted by Lee Levine
"So, yes, I consider myself a friend of Israel. But now its friends need to stage an intervention. The Israeli government has gone too far. It has engineered a staggering humanitarian crisis, and that crisis is both a moral atrocity and a long-term threat to Israel itself."
Opinion | Israel Must Open Its Eyes
www.nytimes.com
August 3, 2025 at 3:36 PM
"So, yes, I consider myself a friend of Israel. But now its friends need to stage an intervention. The Israeli government has gone too far. It has engineered a staggering humanitarian crisis, and that crisis is both a moral atrocity and a long-term threat to Israel itself."
Reposted by Lee Levine
The Future of Press Freedom: Democracy, Law, and the News in Changing Times eds. @randersenjones.bsky.social of @sjquinney.bsky.social & @sonjawest.bsky.social of @universityofga.bsky.social
Out Now & #OpenAccess
#Politics #LawSky 💙📚
cup.org/3IYbrHA
Out Now & #OpenAccess
#Politics #LawSky 💙📚
cup.org/3IYbrHA
August 1, 2025 at 5:53 PM
The Future of Press Freedom: Democracy, Law, and the News in Changing Times eds. @randersenjones.bsky.social of @sjquinney.bsky.social & @sonjawest.bsky.social of @universityofga.bsky.social
Out Now & #OpenAccess
#Politics #LawSky 💙📚
cup.org/3IYbrHA
Out Now & #OpenAccess
#Politics #LawSky 💙📚
cup.org/3IYbrHA