Ari Shapell
rbs.bsky.social
Ari Shapell
@rbs.bsky.social
Attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. Working on issues related to criminal justice and poverty.
Reposted by Ari Shapell
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
Border Patrol “attempted to arrest a plumber working inside a Logan Heights home but left empty-handed after the homeowner refused them entry.

The homeowner told agents she would not allow them inside because the warrant they presented did not include her address and lacked a judge's signature.”
Federal immigration operations target San Diego neighborhoods, sparking community resistance
Federal immigration agents conducted operations in Logan Heights and Southeast San Diego on Friday, with community members capturing footage of the enforcement actions.
www.10news.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
A 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.
Israeli settlers beat U.S. citizen to death in West Bank
A 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.
n.pr
July 12, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
kind of just endlessly sad and grieving that there are so few voices in the public sphere making the basic principled argument that immigration is an affirmative good in every way and the best way for this country to serve humanity is to welcome people who want or need to leave their homes
June 7, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
Hello, just for reference: I’m an American and a Jew and I don’t want my government making decisions about what counts as antisemitic enough to deny someone legal status in the US.
April 11, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
Executive orders are not laws. Anti-semitism, while abhorrent, is not illegal. "Activities aligned" to a terrorist organization are not material support for a terrorist organization. The former is legal and protected by the 1st Amendment. The latter isn't.

This is a lawless statement of a dictator.
March 10, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Important op-ed on the challenges public defenders face without adequate funding:

"Have you ever had that nightmare where you are back in school and you show up for a test – only to realize that you forgot to study? That’s how it feels going to work every day."
Opinion: Investing in public defenders is essential for justice to be served
Providing additional resources to represent indigent people is a cost-effective way to improve lives and communities.
www.cityandstatepa.com
February 12, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
In Altoona they have ways of making you talk
December 9, 2024 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
New: @hhassan.bsky.social and I have a long read on the geopolitical dynamics, and local military calculations, that led to the surprising fall of Aleppo last week. newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...
The Backstory Behind the Fall of Aleppo
New Lines reports exclusively on the details leading up to Aleppo's fall
newlinesmag.com
December 2, 2024 at 7:01 PM
"A person who merely refuses to learn what can be known is not a skeptic, but rather an ignoramus; a person who raises questions but does not seek their answers is not a skeptic, but a bullshitter"

defector.com/what-the-fuc...
What The Fuck Is A "Vaccine Skeptic"? | Defector
At darker moments, contesting this kind of stuff in the wake of the 2024 election—and all the shameless, shameful, unforgivable work the American media did to produce that election’s outcome—feels as ...
defector.com
November 15, 2024 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
In 2017, while Jeff Haste was chair of the Dauphin County Prison Board, the founder of PrimeCare - which provides healthcare services to the jail - gave him $325,000.
A portion of that was used as a down payment on a home Haste purchased that year.

www.pennlive.com/news/2024/11...
‘Blatant betrayal’: Ex Dauphin County commissioner got $325K from owner of jail medical company
Jeff Haste withdrew most of the money he got from Carl Hoffman from the bank two days before closing on a new home in 2017 that cost $627,000.
www.pennlive.com
November 13, 2024 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
Moving forward with this execution is the most failed-state shit imaginable. An abomination.
Prosecutors say evidence clears him. He’s set to be executed today.
Felicia “Licia” Gayle was found stabbed to death in her suburban St. Louis home in 1998. Marcellus Williams says he didn’t kill her.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 24, 2024 at 11:58 AM
The ACLU-PA filed a lawsuit this morning challenging the lack of state funding for, and oversight of, indigent defense services. Every indigent Pennsylvanian deserves a criminal defense attorney who has the time and resources to effectively represent them! www.aclupa.org/defenders
Warren, et al. v. Commonwealth, et al.
On June 13, 2024, ACLU-PA filed a lawsuit against Governor Josh Shapiro and the leadership of the state General Assembly over the commonwealth’s inadequate public defense system for people who cannot
www.aclupa.org
June 13, 2024 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Ari Shapell
Prosecutors can mostly get away with racial exclusion in jury selection as long as they don't do stuff like write "Jew?" in their notes.

Which has been a tougher rule for many of them to follow than you'd think. www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/u...
Exclusion of Jewish Jurors Prompts Review of California Death Row Cases
Dozens of cases are under review after notes from jury selection in a 1990s murder case indicated that prosecutors worked to exclude Jews.
www.nytimes.com
May 14, 2024 at 1:54 PM