Roy L. Austin, Jr.'s Avatar

Roy L. Austin, Jr.

@raustinjr

Civil Rights and Technology Attorney and Advocate - “Unless one is reading critically, one is not reading at all” - Harry Edwards

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24.01.2025
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Latest posts by Roy L. Austin, Jr. @raustinjr

i work with words for a living, so I am biased, but I really think we've got to bring back words. really useful if you imbue them with meaning and arrange them properly!

06.03.2026 19:50 👍 2094 🔁 244 💬 113 📌 13

Also “used slurs to talk about Jewish and gay people and mused about Hitler’s politics.”

05.03.2026 04:17 👍 106 🔁 57 💬 5 📌 8
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'UNIMAGINABLE CRUELTY': Judge Gary Brown, a Trump appointeee from NY, thrashes DHS' treatment of a man who came to the US at 9 as an abuse/neglect victim, has no criminal record and became a college grad.

"The laws of decency condemn such villainy." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

03.03.2026 14:46 👍 6458 🔁 2410 💬 85 📌 132
They say 'the machines of the future' will be as smart as people... OK, but WHICH people? Because it kinda matters quite a bit.

They say 'the machines of the future' will be as smart as people... OK, but WHICH people? Because it kinda matters quite a bit.

28.02.2026 15:03 👍 4219 🔁 849 💬 135 📌 60
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Today in Civil Rights History: Saturday, February 28 (and, as a bonus, a few leap day events) Welcome to Today in Civil Rights History

Must-read Substack for civil rights lawyers or those who aspire to be — Today in Civil Rights History, by DOJ alum and civil rights expert Barbara Bosserman.
substack.com/@bakayboss/n...

28.02.2026 16:47 👍 103 🔁 24 💬 1 📌 0

Honored to be joining this Council!

28.02.2026 06:21 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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28.02.2026 01:39 👍 13892 🔁 4191 💬 433 📌 178

Honored to be joining the Advisory Council of @cdt.org

27.02.2026 22:11 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It will be Claude for me

27.02.2026 22:08 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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DoJ cases against protesters keep collapsing as officers’ lies are exposed in court String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as ‘violent perpetrators’

A MN protester accused of assaulting ICE officer had case dropped after vids showed no assault.

LA protester accused of assaulting ICE w/ “hat” had case dropped; judge said govt acted in “bad faith”

In Chicago, 92 ppl were arrested for assault/impeding ICE; 0 convicted

DOJ keeps lying and losing:

21.02.2026 21:22 👍 5889 🔁 2146 💬 117 📌 107
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"He’s always been that little liar. I mean no one—no one—likes him.”

“I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire.”

@nlanard.bsky.social reports on Florida Rep. Cory Mills, perhaps the most hated man in Congress, and his many, many scandals. bit.ly/46kf7fP

20.02.2026 14:34 👍 1174 🔁 497 💬 65 📌 47
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From Elie Honig at Stay Tuned with Preet. Here is the kind of material that is still being withheld from the Epstein files, in violation of the federal statute:

20.02.2026 12:09 👍 1806 🔁 851 💬 56 📌 38
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Fulton Co elections expert: “In all 5 areas identified by ... the [search warrant] affidavit, there are a multitude of false or misleading statements or omissions. ... Once ... corrected, the affidavit loses any basis in reality.”
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

18.02.2026 01:52 👍 2672 🔁 826 💬 49 📌 29
On Presidents' Day 2026, a 77-year-old federal judge in Philadelphia issued a ruling that blocks the Trump administration's efforts to take down or otherwise excise information from
Independence National Historical Park relating to George Washington's ownership of slaves.
In an opinion that repeatedly compared the Trump administration's actions to George Orwell's work, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe focused Monday on a key point on this day devoted to the memory of America's presidents:
The truth matters.

On Presidents' Day 2026, a 77-year-old federal judge in Philadelphia issued a ruling that blocks the Trump administration's efforts to take down or otherwise excise information from Independence National Historical Park relating to George Washington's ownership of slaves. In an opinion that repeatedly compared the Trump administration's actions to George Orwell's work, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe focused Monday on a key point on this day devoted to the memory of America's presidents: The truth matters.

It was a powerfully direct opinion:

“The President's House is a component of Independence National Historical Park that
commemorates the site of the first official presidential residence and the people who lived there,
including people enslaved by President George Washington. On January 22, 2026, the National
Park Service ("NPS") removed panels, displays, and video exhibits that referenced slavery and
information about the individuals enslaved at the President's House.”

The City of Philadelphia sued over the January removals, and Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee who has served on the federal bench since
2002, granted the city's request for a preliminary injunction on Presidents' Day.

It was a powerfully direct opinion: “The President's House is a component of Independence National Historical Park that commemorates the site of the first official presidential residence and the people who lived there, including people enslaved by President George Washington. On January 22, 2026, the National Park Service ("NPS") removed panels, displays, and video exhibits that referenced slavery and information about the individuals enslaved at the President's House.” The City of Philadelphia sued over the January removals, and Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee who has served on the federal bench since 2002, granted the city's request for a preliminary injunction on Presidents' Day.

Today at Law Dork: Judge Cynthia Rufe’s Presidents' Day lesson from Philadelphia. www.lawdork.com/p/a-presiden...

17.02.2026 04:26 👍 188 🔁 42 💬 1 📌 1
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Federal judge orders Trump administration to restore slavery exhibits to the President’s House — Philadelphia Inquirer Federal judge orders Trump administration to restore slavery exhibits to the President’s House

Yes! Judge “Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, compares the federal government's argument that it can unilaterally control the exhibits in national parks to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984”
apple.news/AtpR1SvI-RlS...

16.02.2026 21:03 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Yeah sure Storm the Capital, Change Laws of the Constitution, force Americans to get and pay for unobtainable requirements to vote..to weed out the (avg) of 4 illegal immigrant votes per Election

15.02.2026 15:04 👍 8883 🔁 2672 💬 253 📌 111

Not sure who needs to hear this but the voter fraud rate is a mere 0.000003%. Anyone telling you otherwise is making shit up so they can take away your right to vote.

14.02.2026 00:10 👍 25518 🔁 8387 💬 649 📌 339
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WATCH: Trump, EPA's Zeldin announce end of scientific basis for U.S. action on climate change The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressiv...

Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change—all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.

12.02.2026 19:46 👍 27670 🔁 11775 💬 2076 📌 1013

It's one thing to get a "no true bill."

It's quite another to get *shut out* in the grand jury.

11.02.2026 21:50 👍 2384 🔁 505 💬 52 📌 15

It’s pretty simple what should happen with AI, creators and creatives whose work is taken by AI models should get to choose how it’s used, when it’s used and get compensated for the use. Period. Here’s how -

10.02.2026 17:46 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Bad Bunny > Puppy Bowl > TP USA/Kid Rock

09.02.2026 16:46 👍 1597 🔁 404 💬 112 📌 69
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UPDATE - Trump nominee Jeremy Carl finally gets a hearing next week in Senate Foreign Relations Committee… another White Nationalist, anti-Semitic, transphobic, xenophobic, misogynist — who has deleted thousands of tweets.

@SenatorHagerty is on the committee. Will he back him?

08.02.2026 14:43 👍 694 🔁 347 💬 28 📌 11
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How to get away with anything: Trump’s sordid year of pardons No president has ever forgiven this much fraud—or stiffed this many victims.

Trump’s pardons show his affinity for white-collar criminals, especially those who line MAGA pockets.

07.02.2026 21:30 👍 283 🔁 113 💬 14 📌 3
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‼️‼️

05.02.2026 19:58 👍 9468 🔁 3452 💬 989 📌 361
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In between all the fascism, it's also a MASSIVE crime wave.

01.02.2026 20:31 👍 17412 🔁 6907 💬 650 📌 275
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The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

25.01.2026 17:39 👍 60234 🔁 19561 💬 3138 📌 1542

I played soccer. I coach soccer. I love soccer. Considering how we are treating the world, the world should walk away from the World Cup matches played in the United States.

24.01.2026 06:12 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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06.11.2025 19:24 👍 5390 🔁 2293 💬 88 📌 117
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Jack Smith: "My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted. The rule of law is not self-executing. It depends on our collective commitment to apply it."

22.01.2026 15:33 👍 45262 🔁 14146 💬 870 📌 682
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This video filmed by Ben Luhmann shows the moment a federal agent sprayed chemical irritants directly into a man's face in south Minneapolis.

Three agents already had the man pinned to the ground when a fourth agent walked up and sprayed the irritants.

22.01.2026 01:41 👍 10380 🔁 6071 💬 755 📌 643