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Harry Litman

@harrylitman.bsky.social
300.1K followers 195 following 2.8K posts

Host & exec prod, "Talking Feds Pod" and "Talking San Diego." FCA Lawyer. Teach con law at UCSD & UCLA. Senior Fellow USC. Former US Atty, Dep Assis AG. Founding Contributor, The Contrarian

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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 2h
"I have said before that Volume II will eventually be made public, and I hold to that view. But this is a bona fide case of justice delayed being justice denied. Every month the report stays locked away, Trump’s version goes unrebutted."
harrylitman.substack.com
Putting Jack Smith’s Report Back Under Wraps
An Eleventh Circuit ruling stuffs Trump’s Volume II skeletons back in the closet.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 20h
"If Democrats take the House, the dynamic would change quickly. The House Judiciary Committee could subpoena the Justice Department for Volume II. That would set Cannon’s injunction on a collision course with the oversight power of a coequal branch..."
harrylitman.substack.com
Putting Jack Smith’s Report Back Under Wraps
An Eleventh Circuit ruling stuffs Trump’s Volume II skeletons back in the closet.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 23h
Katie Zachariah out, a casualty of her lies about being an attorney, which may yet still play out with the california bar. I’m not an expert, but I’m thinking that five days must be the shortest tenure in history for a White House press secretary.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Trump, who hadn't known that Nidal Hassan is in a wheelchair, cancel plans to live stream Hassan's execution, which still will take place, by firing squad, December 3 absent court intervention.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Rs may be struggling, but there’s some real danger signs as Elon pours in $$$ and DOJ signals it might wade into the elections to help Trump. Michelle Cottle, @davidgura.bsky.social, and @sykescharlie.bsky.social join me to think through what the midterms home stretch will bring. Check it out:
youtube.com
The “Who’s Going To Stop Me?” Presidency
YouTube video by Talking Feds with Harry Litman
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Ask Me Anything TODAY at 7 pm ET, open to ALL Talking Feds subscribers Usually a space reserved for paid subscribers, AMA is routinely one of my favorite hours of the week. Come check it out! Send me your questions in the comments below or ask them in the Substack live chat tomorrow. See you there.
harrylitman.substack.com
Talking Feds Substack | Harry Litman | Substack
Talking Feds Substack with Harry Litman is a series of dispatches from the front of a constitution in crisis. Harry explains how the maneuvers of Trump and his circle transgress constitutional norms a...
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"A president in political free fall weeks before the midterms might have better uses for his energy than pumping his legs in midair like Wile E. Coyote. But the reprisal agenda seems to matter more to Trump than anything, including his party's fortunes."
harrylitman.substack.com
Bring Me the Head of Cassidy Hutchinson!
The administration’s nastiest reprisal prosecution yet may also be its most self-destructive.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Guilfoyle resigns. Ie walks before they made her run. Don’t think this put an end to investigation of her misdeeds, starting with having a MAGA businessman pay her 100k Am x debt.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
searing column by @mjtoma.bsky.social pinpoints the moral abyss that Hegseth's call for a public execution condemns us to. newrepublic.com/article/2165...
newrepublic.com
If the Nidal Hasan Execution Is Livestreamed, We Are a Barbaric Nation
The only countries to carry out public executions in 2025? Iran and Afghanistan. That’s the company Pete Hegseth wants America to keep.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
That and “I was actually working against him from the inside.”
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
From eminent child psychiatrist @jonathanslater.bsky.social: “Blaming screens is a convenient way to avoid harder,deeper issues: inadequate mental health care and a system that chronically underfunds treatment.” I’m a Child Psychiatrist. Screens Are Not the Problem. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/09/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I’m a Child Psychiatrist. Screens Are Not the Problem.
If we make screens the villain, then we let the people who control children’s health care — Congress, insurers and health systems — off the hook for their failures.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
"There rarely is much of a mystery behind Trump’s authoritarian impulses, and there isn’t here." My latest:
harrylitman.substack.com
Trump's Unconstitutional Mile-High Club
Look for the judge to freeze Trump's total ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico; the next battle will be Air Force One.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Obviously the shooting preempts my appearance on @lauracoates.com (who by the way is killing it in her live coverage of the shooting). I’m sitting in the studio watching it with everyone else. More on Cassidy Hutchinson later.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Plus the clear dynamic is ICE as rogue agency and NYPD trying to keep the peace.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
7 shots fired. 4 pm in afternoon. At a car with 5-year old in it. Can’t use deadly force except in response to imminent threat of death of serious bodily injury. As in, from what we know, a blatantly illegal shooting. That’s without regard to victim’s criminal record. 7 Shots Fired.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
“We want ICE out of the city. All they do is terrorize the city.” This is going to go big
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Holy crap. NYC man shot by masked ICE agents and whisked away. 5 year old in car, street crowded w/ families & children. Mamdani now speaking, calls it an outrage. Remember: can't use deadly force w/o imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury. ICS "sows chaos and terror across our country."
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The next quarry for Trump's reprisal prosecution spree: Cassidy Hutchinson. Beyond outrageous. Chances of a conviction here are nil, and there are ways in which it could really come back to bite the Administration. Looking forward to discussing on @cnn.com with @lauracoates.com at 11:30 PM, on set!
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Not sure if it can get more nasty and repulsive than attempted indictment of Cassidy Hutchinson, which has great potential for backfiring on Blanche and DOJ. Looking forward to discussing, along w/ CNN et al injunction, on @deadlinewh.bsky.social w/ guest host @alexwagner.bsky.social at 4:20 PM ET.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
We forget about the stories as the media glare moves to the latest outrage. I am in DC for the week, and the National Guard is still a presence on the streets. Especially jarring in the nations capital, like an occupying force.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
CHANGE OF TIME for Q&A -- sorry, folks. It'll now be at 5pm ET/2pm PT today. Join us on Substack!
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
TODAY at 4pm ET/1pm PT I'll be on the @talkingfeds.bsky.social Substack for our weekly LIVE Q&A for paid subscribers. Subscribe here (bit.ly/TFSubstack) and comment your questions below this post
bit.ly
Subscribe to Talking Feds Substack
Talking Feds Substack with Harry Litman is a series of dispatches from the front of a constitution in crisis. Harry explains how the maneuvers of Trump and his circle transgress constitutional norms a...
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Republicans have a huge cash advantage, but they're finding out that money only goes so far. Here's @dgraham.bsky.social on this week's roundtable, talking about watching Rs set $$$ on fire. Listen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc5b...
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Judge Kelly about to convene hearing on motion by CNN et al to enjoin Trump's yanking of passes because he doesn't like what they broadcast -- raw viewpoint discrimination. Looking forward to discussing on set on @msnowreports.bsky.social with @peteralexandertvs.bsky.social at 11:35 AM ET.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I’ve been away this week, but in my absence @jonathanalter.bsky.social, @dgraham.bsky.social, and @mollyjongfast.bsky.social got together for a great roundtable about Republicans giving up on key races, potential stumbling blocks for Dems, and violent rants from a muddled Trump. Don’t miss it:
youtube.com
Trump’s Midterm Pitch? Bomb LA.
YouTube video by Talking Feds with Harry Litman
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Supreme Court begins its term with public confidence in it at a nadir. And Trump still jerking CNN, Politico, and MS around, excluding Politico from the plane and therefore its role as pool rep today. Looking forward to discussing on @cnn w/ @lauracoates.com on set at 11:40 PM ET.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"An American polity increasingly turning against Trump has started to connect the degradations of his presidency to the Court that enabled many of them."
harrylitman.substack.com
Opening Day at a Court That Never Closed
The Justices face sharp public disapproval from identification with Trump’s autocratic rule.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“...in the court’s polite idiom, the government took a whupping. Nearly all observers, including me, anticipate an opinion permitting Boasberg to resume his contempt investigation.”
harrylitman.substack.com
A Hawk’s Eye View of a Week’s Good News
Four developments worth savoring as the week ends.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Flooding the air waves at a location near you, paid for by you with public money: Yet-to-be-aired spots include a trio of ads highlighting the US military and operations in Iran and Venezuela, one called “God Made Trump” and another recapping the UFC fight he hosted at the White House.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
also inevitable, in a different sense. The family of Renee Good, the woman fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, sues Ross + Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, Greg Bovino, and others, for her death. Will be first ensnared in a web of immunity claims but based on conduct might move forward.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Reflecting pool case v Davey Hearn dismissed with prejudice, meaning can’t be brought again. The just and obvious result, but DOJ had fought for dismissal without prejudice, offering really no argument but Trump had stayed on warpath even after case cratered. I suspect Pirro is relieved at result.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It was inevitable. The Supreme Court has agreed to review an issue that has flooded the lower courts and gone overwhelmingly against the Trump administration:whether they can detain anyone, even here for decades, as an “applicant for admission.“ Tortured position, but court could well allow.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"Trump and Blanche built this scheme to keep any judge from getting a look at it. Now one has; she doesn’t like what she sees; and she’s just getting started." My latest:
harrylitman.substack.com
Eleventh Circuit Smacks Down Trump’s Bid to Block Sanctions in IRS Case
They're now stuck in the last place they wanted: Judge Williams's court.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
TODAY at 7pm ET/4pm PT I'll be on the @talkingfeds.bsky.social Substack for our weekly LIVE Q&A for paid subscribers. Subscribe here (bit.ly/TFSubstack) and comment your questions below this post
bit.ly
Subscribe to Talking Feds Substack
Talking Feds Substack with Harry Litman is a series of dispatches from the front of a constitution in crisis. Harry explains how the maneuvers of Trump and his circle transgress constitutional norms a...
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When it rains, it pours. I'm going live on Substack with @klasfeldreports.com momentarily to discuss the Jack Smith hearing, the Boasberg contempt argument, and the possible collapse of the grand conspiracy case. harrylitman.substack.com
harrylitman.substack.com
Talking Feds Substack | Harry Litman | Substack
Talking Feds Substack with Harry Litman is a series of dispatches from the front of a constitution in crisis. Harry explains how the maneuvers of Trump and his circle transgress constitutional norms a...
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'll have a longer YouTube video breaking down the 11th Circuit opinion in Trump's bogus IRS case www.youtube.com/@TalkingFeds/videos
youtube.com
Talking Feds with Harry Litman
Welcome to Talking Feds! Talking Feds is a roundtable discussion that brings together prominent former government officials, journalists, and special guests for a dynamic and in-depth analysis of the ...
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Important loss for Trump in the bogus IRS tax settlement case. 11th Circuit declines to stay Judge Williams's order. Absent SCOTUS review, it will now return to Williams to assess penalties for contempt and sanctions.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Back to smith hearing, the Rs are assessed with smith having subpoenaed their toll records (i.e. records of numbers dial not conversation). But that move was completely orthodox. If not mandatory to learn what Trump and meadows were up to that day. And the idea that it’s speech or debate is risible.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
To Gov: can you name a case anywhere where mandamus entered to prevent an investigation into contempt from going forward? A: no Gov Argument is some judges said order not clear so must for that reason alone be “clear and indisputable “ ( mandamus standard) that the Boasberg order was ambiguous.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Gist of government position is that the “best reading “ of the TRO is that it ordered only that the prisoners not be taken out of the country,when they already were so no violation of order. Requires ignoring oral order + other evidence that Boasberg’s order was they not be delivered to El Salvador
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In Boasberg en banc, strong argument that everyone understood Boasberg’s order was clear that the deportees couldn’t leave US jurisdiction. US just playing word games.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Would be comic if it were not vicious. Actually it’s both. Sen Schmitt framed a whole perjury suggestion on the basis of Jack Smith’s attending an Atlanta Hawks game and surreptitiously seeing Fulton County prosecutor. In fact it was Iowa Hawkeyes (Caitlin Clark) in College Park Maryland
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
CNN's motion for preliminary injunction now in before Judge Kelly. Looking forward to discussing w @lauracoates.com on @cnn any moment.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In my YouTube on this, I mentioned that this would really roil the rank and file agents— and it has. youtu.be/eI1JhRDh4GE?... Embarrassing Breach at F.B.I. Fuels Fears of Harm to Its Employees www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...
nytimes.com
Embarrassing Breach at F.B.I. Fuels Fears of Harm to Its Employees
In an internal memo, the F.B.I. said it believed the hackers may have stolen sensitive information on all of its employees.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"On Tuesday, the full D.C. Circuit will hear argument in a case that began on a Saturday evening in March 2025, when a federal judge ordered two planeloads of Venezuelan men returned to the United States and the administration, hours later, handed them to a prison in El Salvador instead."
harrylitman.substack.com
Crucial Hearing on Team Trump’s Contempt for the Rule of Law
Entire D.C. Circuit takes up administration’s effort to force Judge Boasberg to stand down.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
After a week delay, Jack Smith will be appearing tomorrow before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the majority no doubt lies in wait w/ obtuse, counterfactual questions designed to convert his 100% righteous prosecutions into the pursuit of political vendettas. Expect Smith to keep his cool.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Here’s a book you can read by its cover: as pressing a topic as we have and the most thoughtful and clear Supreme Court expert writing it. Will be indispensable. 
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The ouster of CNN from Trump‘s plane is naked viewpoint discrimination, but there is a 2-1 DC circuit opinion from his favorite judges saying it’s OK. The tug-of-war is going to continue in the coverage and the courts. Looking forward to discussing w/ #FredrickaWhitfield on @cnn.com at 3:40 PM ET.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It's starting to feel as if we're already in the rogue era and just didn't know it. OpenAI’s Systems Meddled With U.S. Government Sites After Going Rogue www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/t...
nytimes.com
OpenAI’s A.I. Went Rogue and Meddled With U.S. Government Websites
The company did not learn until recently that its technology had meddled with websites for the Education Department, Commerce Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In the process of doing a youtube on the opinion w/ @meiselasb.bsky.social . It will post shortly.
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