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Bethany Berger

@bethanyberger.bsky.social
651 followers 150 following 95 posts

Law Prof writing & teaching about Property, American Indian Law & Legal History at Iowa Law. All statements & opinions are my own and not those of the University of Iowa.

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Reposted by Bethany Berger
The Labor Radio Podcast Network @laborradionet.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
April 4 - A Day of Mourning On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee. He was in Memphis to support AFSCME sanitation workers, who were out on strike fighting for better wages and wo
laborhistoryin2.podbean.com
April 4 - A Day of Mourning
On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee. He was in Memphis to support AFSCME sanitation workers, who were out on strike fighting for better wages and working conditions.
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Reposted by Bethany Berger
Jill Wieber Lens @jillwieberlens.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
So excited for @kateclancy.bsky.social and to read this!!!
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Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
The article is actually great
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 17/07/2025
The backstory here is that the Squamish people of what is now Vancouver were illegally dispossessed of this land a century ago. They sued, got their land back, and are using their sovereignty to ignore local zoning rules and build 6,000 new homes over the objections of nearby wealthy NIMBYs.
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 17/07/2025
This is the best piece I’ve read about it: macleans.ca/society/sena...
macleans.ca
Vancouver's new mega-development is big, ambitious and undeniably Indigenous - Macleans.ca
In B.C., Indigenous nations are reclaiming power and wealth for their own citizens—no matter what the neighbours think
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
This & the cancellation of Title VI/FLAS funding for foreign language & area studies pose existential threats to the social sciences at every R1 university in the country. And it's been ~total 🦗🦗 from our university presidents/chancellors & a total lack of public collective action.
Mancur Olson, author of "The Logic of Collective Action," with laser eyes
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
“Three Hundred Habeas Cases in Which the Government Has Defied Court Orders” An extraordinary database of non-compliance, from @katherinepomps.bsky.social and @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org for @lawfaremedia.org. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/thre...
LAWFARE INSTITUTE
•HABEAS NON-COMPLIANCE TRACKER
Government Contempt & Non-Compliance
300 documented instances of government noncompliance with federal court orders in immigration habeas cases, with links to the specific filings and orders.
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DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
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DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
5
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
+15 more
300
TOTAL
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Alt text: Smol adorable muskrat plotting bloody revenge with a tiny dagger
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Tim Osborne Photography 🍁 @timosborne.ca · 02/04/2026
As the ice begins to break up, the muskrats start to reappear on the water. #wildlife #muskrat
A muskrat sitting on a piece of floating ice. He has something in his hand that makes it almost appear as if he has a cane. His reflection is clearly seen in the water.
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
No thank you!
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
The full piece in the Florida Phoenix is even better: floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/26/l...
floridaphoenix.com
Landowner lawsuit over Florida scrub jays has national ramifications • Florida Phoenix
There’s no “Cutest Critter in Florida” contest but, if there were, I can name a few contestants. The diminutive Key deer, for one. The seagrass-munching manatee for another. And, of course, the friend...
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Jamie Fox @whatlawfoxsays.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Nice post by Ilya. And, seriously, Sauer arguing that his position is supported by *the Mississippi Slave Codes* is both astounding and a weirdly honest admission that the admin’s position is basically the Lost Cause view of the amendment.
Sauer: Sure. If you look at the nine -- I think, if you look at the 19th century sources, what you see is that even though their entry may have been unlawful, 19th century antebellum law never treated their presence as unlawful. In fact, quite the opposite. One of the amici, in fact, points to, like, a Mississippi statute, which probably is replicated throughout the South before the Civil War, that says slaves in Mississippi have an indefeasible domicile in Mississippi.
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Marty Lederman @martylederman.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Dear Yale Law students: If and when one of your professors urges you to abandon legal craft and hard work and to "change the subject" lest you legitimate the judiciary, go listen to Cecillia Wang's magnificent oral argument today. You'll realize straight off which model to follow.
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Just so everyone knows, the Solicitor General straight up lied about the 1921 law review article he kept talking about. quick thread:
DUAL NATIONALITY AND ELECTION
RICHARD W. FLOURNOY, JR. (1921)
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Tom “T.M.” Wolf @tomtmwolf.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
"Are we bringing pregnant women in for depositions?" - KBJ
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Serious question--are you allowed to leave in the middle of SCOTUS arguments?
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I was wondering why I hadn't seen reports of him falling asleep during arguments--his handlers shuffled him out on time
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
NEW: Even by national standards, Pennsylvania has a sky-high rate of people serving life without parole. That's bc it mandates anyone convicted of 2nd-degree murder serve that sentence. The state supreme court just declared that to be cruel—a major ruling written by the Dem chief justice.
boltsmag.org
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court Reins in Life Sentences for Felony Murder - Bolts
The court’s ruling could create a pathway out of prison for more than 1,000 people who were automatically sentenced to life without parole for murders they themselves didn't commit.
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Also arguing that the racist laws saying Italian immigrants could naturalize but non-white immigrants could not somehow helps the government . . .
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Alito straight up misrepresenting what WKA's parents did. The had already moved back to China by the time the case was heard. (Not that the case says as much.) cardozolawreview.com/wp-content/u...
cardozolawreview.com
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Cecilia rocking it--Wong Kim Ark in its own words rejects govts theory of domicile and allegiance: p693 quotes Webster to refer to folks "Independently of a residence with intention to continue such residence; independently of any domiciliation"
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Tom “T.M.” Wolf @tomtmwolf.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is putting Trump-picked Solicitor General John Sauer COMPLETELY through the ringer on birthright citizenship.
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Ketanji Brown Jackson such a master of the history and law--always
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Torey Dolan @toreydolan.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
“The problem of Tribal Indians” - Solicitor General Sauer, Barbara v. Trump. My Tribal Indian self and my Tribal Indian Mom, being adorable Choctaw Tribal Indian “problems.”
Photo of Torey Dolan in Choctaw regalia with her mother, a fellow citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Not clear which way Kavanaugh is leaning though--looking for arguments to overrule WKA, wondering whether Congress has broader power to limit birthright citizenship
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Kavanaugh also--we don't usually read the constitution according to what European countries do--why should we here
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Kavanaugh for the first time--you can't read the language of the 1866 civil rights act into limit the broader language of the Citizenship Clause
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Sauer's references to sources about domicile are to a bunch of racists trying to exclude Chinese and distorting history to do it. See Sam Erman & Nathan Perl-Rosenthal's article: jach.law.wisc.edu/jus-soli-nat...
jach.law.wisc.edu
Jus Soli Nation to Jus Soli Evasion: International Lawyers for White Supremacy and the Road through Wong Kim Ark
By Sam Erman and Nathan Perl-Rosenthal. In an effort to dismantle the Citizenship Clause and the U.S.’s traditional recognition of “jus soli,” racist opponents to the Fourteenth Amendment set out to e...
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I agree so far
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Bad sign--he's saving his fire for the ACLU
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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Roberts: "It's a new world, it's the same constitution." That's John Roberts OFF the crazy train.
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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
She's talking about people "illegally trafficked" here. Which, obviously, blows up the whole "allegiance" argument. We have ACB.
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Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Gorsuch to the SG (federal government): I wouldn't rely on Wong Kim Ark (case recognizing birthright citizenship) if I were you. There are at least 5 votes against the federal government. (Whew.) Question if there's more than 1 for them. (Even 1 is appalling.)
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
In response to Thomas, govt returning to their flawed argument about tribal Indians
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
He's having difficulty explaining why people illegally brought here for slavery are different from immigrants entering illegally
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
And govts response is to use cases about capturing people escaping from slavery?
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Justice Barrett--first to raise that the govts argument isn't textual--jurisdiction means jurisdiction--not domicile, allegiance, or anything else
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Evan Turiano @eturiano.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
AG Sauer keeps leaning on Lyman Trumbull to argue that "subject to jurisdiction," means something more than mere regulatory authority, but completely ignores many of Trumbull's statements from the 14A debates that completely undermine his claim. 1/
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Tommy Bennett @tommybennett.com · 03/10/2025
Fascinating takings clause petition granted today by the Supreme Court. No amicus briefs, no relists, counsel without any SCOTUS arguments to date, interesting issue. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...
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JazzReads📚🏀 @jazzreads.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
So exhausting..
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Monika Ehrman @monikaehrman.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
🌱 Native Nations in the Energy Transition Join us Oct 2, 2025 | 2–5 pm ET at GW Law (DC) or online 💡Engage with Tribal energy & resource experts 💡Learn how to support Tribes Hosted by @rff.org #SMU @uarizona.bsky.social Thanks to @sloanfoundation.bsky.social 🔗 Register: www.rff.org/events/all-e...
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
As grim as this story may be, there's still much to be inspired by. Look no further than this attorney for the children, who rushed to the airport to stop the planes. She stood near the tarmac, warning any officials she saw that they’d be complicit in violating a court order if the planes took off.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-judicial-learning-curve


Armed with Judge Sooknanan's restraining order, Flores arrived at the airport to search for A.R.M.D. and others. On the tarmac, she saw two ICE transport planes, their doors sealed shut. Nearby, she spotted a building and knocked on the door. Through the glass, she could see officers seated inside. Eventually, a young man answered the door. Flores explained that she had clients on one of the planes and a court order to stop it from leaving.
While the young man disappeared inside the building to find his supervisor, Flores waited next to the door. She told anyone who entered or exited the building that they "were all complicit in violating a federal court order" if the plane left with her clients aboard.
Eventually, when the young man returned, he told Flores that his supervisor was trying to contact ICE. But as Flores again tried to explain that she had a court order, another official stepped outside and
"physically pulled the young man back into the building." Through the glass, she saw staff members "jeering and laughing." She repeated her earlier warning: If the plane carrying her clients took off, they were "all complicit in the violation of the judge's order."
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Bethany Berger @bethanyberger.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
Gorgeous post-sunset walk yesterday in Iowa City. On Iowa River, with UIowa’s Hancher Auditorium in the background. #SundaySunset
Dramatic post sunset clouds reflecting in Iowa River, with Hancher Auditorium in background
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