Because housing assistance is drastically underfunded, only 1 in 4 eligible low-income households receive it.
Providing it to all who qualify would cost $118 billion a year—a tiny fraction of the proposed $1.5 *trillion* defense budget for 2027.
Poverty would fall 13% overall and 23% for children.
Neguse demolishes Noem (2/2)
The State of Illinois has eliminated over $1.1 billion in medical debt for our people as of this month.
Combined with our partners in Cook County, we’ve delivered nearly $2 billion in relief to over a million Illinoisans in all 102 counties – with an average of $1,200 per patient.
Looking forward to reading this!
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
This is tremendous. Take the time to watch it.
The California Senate has passed SB 747, which creates a mechanism to sue federal officers in CA state court. Now the bill moves on to the Assembly. More details here: www.kcra.com/article/cali...
A small community newspaper from a rural area with traditionally conservative leanings lets them have it.
Under Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, people with felony convictions who lost their right to vote had to appeal to him in the hopes he would restore it. “It’s been so arbitrary,” says a voting rights advocate who was disenfranchised for 17 years.
When the Supreme Court blithely licenses racial profiling in immigration stops—especially with this administration in charge—this is what you get: citizens and even police officers being asked for their papers for no other reason than their race.
Its not that the media is not covering what is happening, but it does feel like the military occupation of an American city should be treated as a national crisis.
(Just be forewarned that it is very long. Turns out there was <a lot> of evidence in eighteenth and nineteenth century legal texts that SCOTUS missed.)
And what constitutes “punishment” or not—a question central to the Court’s misapprehension of historical practice—has implications more broadly re: the government’s ability to target people seen as politically subversive, to strip people of citizenship, and to investigate presidential misconduct.
I posit that SCOTUS’s misread of the historical record has improperly restricted the scope of the Excessive Fines Clause, implicating the protections against excessive forfeitures, civil fines, tax penalties, restitution, and a wide array of administrative fees and surcharges.
I’m have a new piece out: “Of Guilty Property and Civil/Remedial Punishment: The Implications and Perils of ‘History’ for the Excessive Fines Clause and Beyond.” It is a deep dive into how SCOTUS misconstrued the historical use of early customs forfeitures. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
This looks amazing — congrats on and thank you for your work.
Yay!!!
Survey respondents are connecting the dots between Trump's ruinous fixation on tariffs/deportations and their own dissatisfaction with economic disruption and cost increases.
wapo.st/4n4W7ru
Before folks join ICE they might want to read the literature on immigration, which contradicts many of their assumptions about how immigrants affect the United States. Or they could just watch this "recruitment" video which might help:
youtu.be/OjGHf7OvglM
wapo.st/3VrzEJg
This firefighter arrived in the US at age 4, has been here for 19 years, was on track to legal status, and was on a crew trying to contain a major blaze (in Washington state, vs Oregon, fwiw.)
h/t @joshuajfriedman.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
State v. McClain case caption
We do not specify that the waiver be given orally or in writing, but we require that it be clear and unequivocal, like we require for all waivers of constitutional rights. If the waiver of the privilege is ambiguous, an officer must, before any questioning, stop to clarify whether the individual is in fact waiving the privilege against self-incrimination. If, after a suspect waives the privilege against self-incrimination, there is any ambiguous invocation of the privilege, including the attendant right to counsel, the officer must stop any questioning and clarify whether the individual is attempting to invoke the privilege against self-incrimination. If the privilege is being invoked, questioning must cease.
MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT:
*ME Constitution provides greater protection against self-incrimination than U.S. Constitution.
*Any waiver of that protection must be "clear and unequivocal."
*Officers must "stop to clarify" ambiguous waivers.
www.courts.maine.gov/courts/sjc/l...
This is well worth a listen.
Dear President Milliken, Regents, and Governor Newsom, As faculty members of University of California law schools, we endorse Governor Newsom's commitment to resist the Trump Administration's unlawful actions taken against the University of California, Los Angeles. The Governor is on firm legal ground. The Trump Administration's termination and suspension of federal funds has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in numerous ways. Governor Newsom and the University of California Regents will protect the vital interests not only of Californians but of all Americans if they defend the University of California's rights. The U.S. Department of Justice notified UCLA on July 29, 2025, that it had found that UCLA had "violated its obligations under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Chancellor Frenk subsequently announced that "the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons" for federal grant terminations. UCLA faces losses of at least $584 million, funding that has supported vital research on matters ranging from treatments for pancreatic cancer to advances in online security. The Trump Administration has made no pretense of following the law. Title VI permits a federal agency to terminate funding only if it has found that the particular program receiving that funding has violated the law's non-discrimination provisions. Funding cannot disappear just because the agency's policy or political preferences differ from the institution's. Moreover, the agency can act only after following specific procedural steps. Importantly, Title VI requires a formal administrative hearing—a proceeding much like a trial-before the agency can terminate funding. At the hearing, the agency would have the burden of proving the university's alleged violations of Title VI before an impartial decision-maker. If the agency prevails at the hearing, the university or other interested persons could appea…
factually supported and consistent with civil rights laws. Without the steps Title VI requires, there is no protection against an administration alleging discrimination as a pretext to force compliance with its policy or partisan preferences. Title VI's procedures guarantee the constitutional due process requirement that no person can be deprived of liberty or property without fair notice and opportunity to be heard. They protect the university and its members' academic freedom, an endowment essential to scientific research, intellectual discovery, and open debate. We are deeply committed to the core principle of non-discrimination codified in Title VI and in the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. The principle that no person may suffer discrimination because of race, color, or national origin protects equality and ensures fairness in political as well as social life. Allegations of discrimination deserve serious and careful consideration and, where established, effective redress. But this enforcement effort must follow the law. We urge Governor Newsom and the UC Regents to continue to stand up for the fundamental principles of the rule of law, due process, and equal protection. A defense of the University of California's rights in court will model respect for these bedrock principles of equality and fairness, and it will ensure that the government honors them. The Trump Administration's failure to abide by the law subverts these principles by denying the University of California a fair opportunity to contest the government's charges of unlawful discrimination before an impartial decisionmaker. It is precisely because we cherish the principles of the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution that we encourage Governor Newsom, the UC Regents, and the University of California to fight back. Through its grantmaking powers, the federal government wields vast influence over social and economic life. If not held to account by the procedural protections enacted by Congres…
🚨 150 University of California law professors (and counting) have now signed this open letter to the UC Regents and other officials, explaining the flagrant illegality of the Trump Administration’s UCLA funding cut offs, and urging the UC to fight back. sites.google.com/view/uclawfa...
Check out this new database of tens of thousands of California police misconduct and use-of-force records. It is an amazing and unparalleled resource - congratulations to all who helped bring it to fruition.
I've been thinking a lot about the role litigation plays in the protection of constitutional rights because of, well, obvious reasons. So I wrote this article. It's critically important-now more than ever-to articulate & appreciate what suing the government can do.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Really interesting new article hot off the presses in the family law space by @kaipomatsumura.bsky.social — be sure to check it out!
The @law.ucla.edu Behind Bars Data Project is hiring a combined public records analyst and staff writer to help us collect and disseminate data on mortality and morbidity in prisons and jails. This work has become even more pressing of late. Please share and apply! jobs.ucla.edu/jobs/8221
Today, Los Angeles received its first honor of three Michelin Stars. The head chef of Somni, which received three, removed his jacket to reveal a t-shirt which read “immigrants feed America.”
