Mike Lissner
LightNews LightNews
banner
michaeljaylissner.com
Mike Lissner
@michaeljaylissner.com
750 followers 190 following 1.5K posts
Director of @free.law. Occasional long distance athlete. Woodworker. Adroitful dodger of questions.

Signal: mlissner.06
Posts Replies Media Videos
michaeljaylissner.com
Schumer must go.
The biggest villain of them all, however, is someone who cast a kayfabe vote against the deal on Monday. No one bears the weight of the failed shutdown as much as Chuck Schumer. His “no” vote is particularly galling because it leaves only two options on the table. The first is that the eight Democrats who broke away from their party did so without his knowledge or consent, a conclusion that could only suggest that Schumer has lost control of his caucus. The second is that the moderates were negotiating with Schumer’s knowledge, approval, and encouragement and that the “no” vote was just to conceal that—and maybe as a kind of consolation prize to the other Democrats in his caucus. This suggests that Schumer has lost any ability to organize or think politically or strategically. Regardless of the reason, he needs to step down immediately.
November 10, 2025 at 9:22 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
This is remarkable and inline with the threats that have been overflowing into my inbox (I've reported two threats on judges in the last month or so).

Below the signature on the decision he concludes his remarks:
I hope you found this helpful. Thanks for writing. It shows you care. You should. Sincerely & respectfully, Bill Young P.S. The next time you’re in Boston [the postmark on the card is from the Philadelphia area] stop in at the Courthouse and watch your fellow citizens, sitting as jurors, reach out for justice. It is here, and in courthouses just like this one, both state and federal, spread throughout our land that our Constitution is most vibrantly alive, for it is well said that “Where a jury sits,
September 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
Best class action settlement ever!

What are we doing here?
You are eligible for up to a $1.00 credit to be applied to ParkMobile’s service fees. The code provides a $0.25 discount on ParkMobile’s service fees and may be used up to four times for a total discount of $1.00. The code will expire on October 8, 2026.
September 27, 2025 at 8:56 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
In case you're wondering, thee is a Comey bump in the downloads from CourtListener. Here's the sine wave from the past three days:
September 26, 2025 at 5:59 AM
michaeljaylissner.com
Sleep is overrated.
A map showing a 4.6 earthquake a mile from me.
September 22, 2025 at 10:03 AM
michaeljaylissner.com
I give up.
A captcha where you have to select pictures of vegetables. I literally have no idea what a vegetable is.
September 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
On cue, NYT has an article about AI art that’s on exhibit. This is what I meant a few weeks ago. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/m...
The last sentences of the article read, “For Huyghe and Parreno, A.I. isn’t a quicker, weirder way of making a picture. It’s a way to build substructures of connectivity — links between elements that dictate what happens, even though they cannot be seen and can be only partly intuited. Think of it as a new playing board for what is still very much a game between humans.”
September 9, 2025 at 6:32 AM
michaeljaylissner.com
Love to catch evil.com before it signs up.
A code snippet showing somebody trying (and failing) to sign up with an email that says "visit https://evil.com/malware.exe to win $100 giftcard." Probably a security researcher, but the system is working!
September 5, 2025 at 5:01 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
Do not, and I repeat, not, remove the rocks from the dam.
An old sign posted on a tree that says, “DO NOT REMOVE ROCKS FROM DAM”
September 2, 2025 at 4:15 AM
michaeljaylissner.com
Ya know, the typing hands photos on the homepage are getting a bit old.
A series of five photos. Three show people a keyboard with some hands on it. We get it. Lots of typing.
August 29, 2025 at 9:08 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
Getting a lot of mail opposing gerrymandering in California.
A mailer that says gerrymandering is wrong no matter who does it. There are still those that think taking the high road will work, apparently.
August 26, 2025 at 12:07 AM
michaeljaylissner.com
Sigh.
The butterfly meme saying, "Is this what you signed up for?"
August 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
If you’re on iOS, I highly recommend the Bouncer app. You tell it words that occur in spam messages, it blocks those messages. Simple. Plus, you can import and export rules, so if anybody wants my list, I’m happy to share. apps.apple.com/app/id145747...
A list of rules including things like Newsom and Booker. A second page of rules.
August 21, 2025 at 4:20 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
There's a new page to check your CourtListener ID, and yeah, OK, this is a little funny: www.courtlistener.com/profile/id/ 💪
Screenshot that just says in bold writing: Your CourtListener ID: 1.
August 20, 2025 at 7:33 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
Shot, chaser, etc.
A prompt to ChatGPT that says, "Draw a picture of me celebrating the fact that I have ChatGPT Pro. Include some words and show me being very excited. Make it photo-realistic. I do not have a shirt on." Chat responds: "I can’t create images of people without clothes (shirtless, nude, or otherwise undressed)." Chat proceeds to make a picture of a dude without a shirt under the slogan, "I've got ChatGPT Pro!" Perfection.
August 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
Ugh. Here's an email USPS sent me to tell me I had 1 mail item today. The item is an email containing an advertisement. It's not even a piece of actual mail. It's a spam email. WTF.
A screenshot: "COMING TO YOU SOON: 1 Mailpiece(s)" A screenshot of the "mailpiece," which is an ad for a postage meter.
July 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
You got me wondering, and yeah, no bump at all related to the WSJ lawsuit. Here's the last week's hourly stats for PDF downloads:
A line chart showing daily spikes in traffic around 6pm ET, but no interesting spikes triggered by Trump's latest.
July 20, 2025 at 2:41 AM
michaeljaylissner.com
When court records cost money, people resort to insane things. Today's example involves taking photos of computer screens in the courthouse as a method of digitizing court records, because downloading is too expensive.
A picture showing a woman from behind. Over her shoulder, you see a computer monitor, which shows a PDF. In front of the monitor a phone is locked in a tripod so that it can a photo of the PDF. The woman's job is to go to the courthouse, load a PDF, page through it, and take photos of every page. These are later turned back into a PDF.
July 14, 2025 at 8:28 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
I’m only 90% sure Quebec is not Europe.
A photo of a plaza in Quebec’s old town. A bust is in the center, and old stone buildings predominate. At the base, there are cafes with fabric umbrellas.
July 13, 2025 at 7:37 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
The slow enshitification of everything continues. USPS has this excellent service where they email you photos of your mail each day. It’s free and great for traveling! Now it’s full of shitty ads, just like your actual mail.
A screenshot of my email showing a big ad from Hello Fresh. Sucks. Another ad. This time from United airlines.
July 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
CourtListener's new homepage is getting there one piece at a time. The screenshot below is live for me and a few others, but it's still missing the search box (which will be vastly better), and some stats about what's in the system. Getting there!
A screenshot of our new homepage showing a subscribe button at the top, the CL logo big and bold in the middle, profile info in the upper right, a row of "action buttons" about halfway down that includes things like "look up citation", "create an alert" etc, and then finally the footer at the bottom.
July 4, 2025 at 8:36 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
“Justice” by Niki St. Phalle.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niki_de...
July 4, 2025 at 7:33 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
This bread box has inspired a new favorite false cognate. In French PAIN means bread.
A white sheet metal box. It’s the size of a bread box, because it is one. In plain type the middle, it simply says, “PAIN”
July 2, 2025 at 3:57 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
5. I use it to monitor for particular words or topics in particular cases. This is like our docket alert system, but dialed into specific terms in a case so you only get updates for particular filings.
Another screenshot from the blog post that shows the fifth way I use this system.
June 24, 2025 at 1:20 PM
michaeljaylissner.com
3. I watch for litigation from the news that’s about to drop.

4. I monitor citations to particular SCOTUS case law that’s relevant to me.
Another screenshot of the blog post showing items three and four.
June 24, 2025 at 1:20 PM