Sharon Brett
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sharonbrett.bsky.social
Sharon Brett
@sharonbrett.bsky.social
Associate Professor, University of Kansas School of Law
Bio: https://law.ku.edu/people/sharon-brett
🌻🌻🌻
Pinned
My essay on the (very incorrect) Kavanaugh concurrence in Vasquez Perdomo has found a home - coming to NYU Law Review Online in early 2026.

For now, draft available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
<i>Lyons</i>, Remedies, and the Fourth Amendment in <i>Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo</i>
In<i> Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo</i>, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court injunction as part of its increasingly heavy emergency shadow docket. The injunction p
papers.ssrn.com
The co-directors of the State Supreme Court Initiative (Matt and Julie) are two of the smartest and loveliest people I know. Please encourage good candidates you know to apply! You might even get to come visit me in Kansas . . . 👀
ATTORNEYS: Do you like state courts, appellate litigation, and… winning sometimes? The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative is hiring for a 2-year attorney position!

Apply here: www.aclu.org/careers/appl...
Careers at ACLU
Join our team! We’re looking for committed, passionate people for open roles at the ACLU.
www.aclu.org
November 6, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Sharon Brett
Joyscrolling
November 5, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Monthly reminder! Lots of advanced notice! Get yer papers in (before mid January, for priority consideration)! Come hang with me in Lawrence in April!
Call for Papers for 15th Annual Fed Courts Junior Scholars conference is now up: law.ku.edu/junior-facul.... Lots of advanced notice, hope you will consider submitting!

Will work on distributing this to various listservs and blogs, but please share if you are able.
15th Annual Junior Faculty Federal Courts Workshop
April 24, 2026| KU School of Law
law.ku.edu
October 30, 2025 at 3:04 PM
A great opportunity for current law students to work with brilliant attorneys doing cutting edge state court work.
LAW STUDENTS: Do you like state courts and state constitutions?

The ACLU's State Supreme Court Initiative is seeking interns for summer 2026: www.aclu.org/careers/inte...
Careers at ACLU
Join our team! We’re looking for committed, passionate people for open roles at the ACLU.
www.aclu.org
October 28, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Sharon Brett
The White House’s interest in not being razed is ultimately an interest in not becoming a beautiful ballroom, the best ballroom, one that many have tried but not gotten done. That is not an especially weighty legal interest. Kavanaugh, J. , concurring
October 23, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I got my 1st round of edits from the NYU team this week. Many comments were like “here are 10 other examples of your point since we accepted this piece.” Since they wrote their memo w/ edits 3 days ago, there are even more examples to cite to.

This isn’t a humblebrag. It’s abject sadness.
October 22, 2025 at 11:20 PM
@profferguson.bsky.social’s work in this area is so important.
October 16, 2025 at 2:07 AM
I wrote about the Arpaio litigation in my essay on Vasquez-Perdomo, and how Kavanaugh's concurrence ignored that case's history. Glad to see @jesspish.bsky.social, an expert on local sheriffs, picking up that thread, too. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
October 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Call for Papers for 15th Annual Fed Courts Junior Scholars conference is now up: law.ku.edu/junior-facul.... Lots of advanced notice, hope you will consider submitting!

Will work on distributing this to various listservs and blogs, but please share if you are able.
15th Annual Junior Faculty Federal Courts Workshop
April 24, 2026| KU School of Law
law.ku.edu
October 3, 2025 at 2:26 PM
This is mostly correct. Most law enforcement agencies wouldn't do something this egregious. I do worry, however, that this sort of behavior at the federal level only emboldens state and local police to match course.
Lots of crim legal reformers have been arguing—correctly—that ICE’s behavior that is drawing outrage isn’t *that* much different from lots of routine police actions.

But I think this is. Even the bigger gang raids have not indulged in this magnitude of wanton indiscriminate collective punishment.
Terrorizing and wrecking an entire 150-unit apartment building--hundreds of people, mostly legal or citizens--to detain 37 people. This should be a much more massive story.
October 2, 2025 at 6:55 PM
My essay on the (very incorrect) Kavanaugh concurrence in Vasquez Perdomo has found a home - coming to NYU Law Review Online in early 2026.

For now, draft available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
<i>Lyons</i>, Remedies, and the Fourth Amendment in <i>Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo</i>
In<i> Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo</i>, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court injunction as part of its increasingly heavy emergency shadow docket. The injunction p
papers.ssrn.com
October 2, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Sharon Brett
Another big month for state supreme court oral arguments. Is there a constitutional right to record law enforcement? Can Texas seek information about PFLAG's membership? Can Michigan deny workers comp to undocumented immigrants? And much more... statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...
State Court Oral Arguments to Watch for in October
Issues on the dockets include New York’s Voting Rights Act, investigations of gender-affirming care for minors, and Meta’s challenge to a disclosure law for political ads.
statecourtreport.org
October 2, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Sharon Brett
This is a VERY well crafted lawsuit.
1) Plaintiff is natural born.
2) He was detained 2X in a fast-growing part of Alabama, not in a city that Brett Kavanaugh could be easily duped into believing was all migrants.
3) Unwarranted detentions were on private property.
4) He showed Real ID both times.
JUST IN: A U.S. citizen from Alabama who has been detained twice by ICE while working at a construction site, has filed a class action suit claiming ICE's broad warrantless arrest powers violate the constitution. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 1, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Hi hello I litigated the '22 redistricting case in the KS courts & this is legit giving me hives. (1/2)
October 1, 2025 at 9:21 PM
This is the new case I posted about this morning (which I think got lost in the shuffle with the release of the truly momentous AAUP decision . . .)
NEW CASE: We just sued DHS to stop the immigration raids on construction sites.

Our client, Leo García Venegas, has been arrested twice just for working in construction while Latino—despite being a US citizen with a Real ID.

Here’s a short video explaining the case:

youtu.be/rYSfX9Wxs3M
Innocent CITIZEN Arrested TWICE by ICE
YouTube video by Institute for Justice
youtu.be
September 30, 2025 at 8:21 PM
New IJ lawsuit filed today challenging ICE raids of construction sites, wherein ICE detains American citizens in AL, rejects their proof of citizenship, and holds them without PC.

Worth a read, and more evidence of the wide gulf b/w what SCOTUS says is happening and what is actually happening.
ij.org
September 30, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Good thing the Kansas Law Review is hosting an entire symposium on this in two weeks!! law.ku.edu/academics/ha...
September 30, 2025 at 1:18 AM
The world is very dark, and we’re hitting the mid semester craziness, but being friends with @gshans.bsky.social for a long time means you sometimes get a fun postcard in the mail, and if you’re *really* lucky, homemade baked goods.

Thanks friend, for always bringing me joy, both big and small.
September 29, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Hot take: I know it is catching on *on here*, but I don't like calling these "Kavanaugh Stops/Detentions." Mostly because Kavanaugh would never experience this, and because it obscures the blatant unconstitutionality of the tactics behind a pithy dig. Also: its not just ICE that does this.
These Kavanaugh Stops keep seeming to be a lot more invasive than Kavanaugh tried to pretend they would be.

The extent to which Justices just make up facts, history, psychology, etc etc etc to get the outcomes they want, and the legal community as a whole just shrugs is … legit appalling.
As immigration agents have escalated their tactics, US citizens, many of them Latino men, have been stopped and in some cases taken into custody by law enforcement officers. Allison, Jenny and I took a closer look at the encounters. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/u...
September 29, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Now up on SSRN with a revised abstract. Still very much a work in progress, hopefully coming to an online law review soon? papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I added in some info abt the DDC suit filed yesterday, which in my view suggests a broader practice & further supports distinguishing Lyons.
September 26, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Sharon Brett
I wrote a quick essay in response to the Kavanaugh concurring opinion in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. In short, like others, I think he got it wrong. Happy to send the draft to anyone interested in reading. Thanks to early interlocutors, including @dorfonlaw.bsky.social, for helpful feedback.
September 12, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Yet more evidence why Kavanaugh's concurrence in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo was just plain wrong. These raids appear to be an arrest first, ask questions later operation. Also suggests broader policy/directives from DHS/ICE that aren't unique to LA.

Hoping to get my essay on this up on SSRN soon.
WOW. The lead plaintiff is a Latino man who's been here legally for 24 years. He was grabbed off the street by plainclothes federal agents who didn't even ASK about his status.

He was detained overnight and only released once a supervisor realized he had been illegally arrested.
September 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Sharon Brett
My article on Burdens of Proof in Constitutional Criminal Procedure is out! Burdens are important (often determining outcomes in crim pro cases) & often overlooked. This article provides advocates with a roadmap for raising burdens more effectively.
scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcont...
scholarship.law.duke.edu
September 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Quick reminder to sign up for the Kansas Law Review symposium on October 17 and come hang with me in Lawrence! law.ku.edu/academics/ha...
2025 Kansas Law Review Symposium | KU School of Law
October 17, 2025 | KU School of Law
law.ku.edu
September 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
I wrote a quick essay in response to the Kavanaugh concurring opinion in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. In short, like others, I think he got it wrong. Happy to send the draft to anyone interested in reading. Thanks to early interlocutors, including @dorfonlaw.bsky.social, for helpful feedback.
September 12, 2025 at 3:35 PM