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Chris Kaiser

@chriskaiserva.bsky.social
924 followers 713 following 404 posts

Policy Director ACLU of Virginia | Fmr: ACLU of Louisiana | Unrepentant Kentuckian | Cincinnati Reds stan | Opinions are mine alone.

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Chris Kaiser @chriskaiserva.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
In Virginia, ballot referenda put power directly in the hands of the people to protect our freedoms — no matter who is in office. ㅤ This year, vote YES to protect the right to vote, to marry, and to make decisions about our own bodies. ㅤ Join our fight to put #PeopleOverPolitics: acluva.org/vote-yes
acluva.org
2026 Virginia Election: Vote YES on All Amendments - ACLU of Virginia
This November, vote for people over politics.
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Virginia Mercury @virginiamercury.com · 20/08/2026
A new court ruling means former felons will be able to vote in this November’s general elections and weigh in on a state constitutional amendment to protect voting rights for people with felony convictions, so long as their prison sentences are complete. virginiamercury.com/2026/08/20/j...
virginiamercury.com
Judge affirms ruling in favor of former felons in voting rights lawsuit • Virginia Mercury
Despite winning a lawsuit earlier this year that found that certain Virginians with felony convictions should not have lost their voting rights, some Virginians missed their chance to vote in…
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Chris Kaiser @chriskaiserva.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
“It has been a long process over 37 years,” said Mr. King, speaking about his own disenfranchisement. “I am excited for the opportunity for people to hear my voice, and that my voice is no longer silenced.”
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Chris Kaiser @chriskaiserva.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Huge update in the Virginia Readmission Act lawsuit ‼️ This comes ahead of the referendum this Nov to automatically restore rights upon completion of sentence. Hundreds of thousands of formerly disenfranchised Virginians will be eligible to vote on the amendment. 🖤 www.acluva.org/press-releas...
acluva.org
Federal judge rules Virginia may no longer deny registration for hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised voters - ACLU of Virginia
“The court’s order makes clear once and for all that the Commonwealth cannot deprive hundreds of thousands of eligible voters their right to register and cast their votes,” said ACLU-VA Legal Director...
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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
on the right, "bravery" is when you're willing to be criticized by liberals, even if the position you're taking is fully embraced by the federal government and half the states.
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Bolts @boltsmag.org · 01/08/2026
“I’m definitely aware of my inability to vote and to be able to affect my community in that way,” says a formerly incarcerated man in Virginia. “My being disenfranchised keeps me a few steps away from the freedom I was hoping [for] when I was released.”
boltsmag.org
Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions - Bolts
This is the only state that was banning people convicted of any felony from voting for life. Virginians have an opportunity to end that system for good in November.
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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 31/07/2026
Autopsies of Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protests often conclude that movements produced tough-on-crime backlash. My new study in Work and Occupations finds a different kind of movement outcome: BLM changed how local reporters cover cops and jails. 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Beyond Police Stenography: How Disembedding Enables Critical Crime News Work

Prior research finds that crime journalists reproduced criminal justice organization standpoints through close working relationships with law enforcement. How do crime reporters relate to police sources today? Drawing on interviews with 58 journalists across 40 local newsrooms in 24 U.S. states, I find that disembedding from law enforcement organizations restructures many reporters’ source relationships, creating conditions under which some journalists enact a distinct professional identity through occupational activism. I argue that the critical crime journalist role is distinguished by a commitment to alternative sourcing practices, structural framing, and reinterpreted objectivity. Informants connect critical orientations to repeated exposure to official dishonesty and the influence of Black-led social movements against police violence. Critical crime journalists amplify civilian and prisoner voices and engage in contextual reporting, treating coverage as a vehicle to shift how readers understand criminalized people and the criminal justice system more broadly. These findings extend scholarship on occupational activism into crime journalism and identify pathways into this form of empirical and expressive occupational activism.
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Pascal Sabino @pascalsabino.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
“I’m definitely aware of my inability to vote and to be able to affect my community in that way,” said Quadaire Patterson, who completed his sentence in 2024. “My being disenfranchised keeps me a few steps away from the freedom I was hoping when I was released.”
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Bolts @boltsmag.org · 01/08/2026
Governor Spanberger’s announcement comes just four months before a ballot measure that could ensure people can vote as soon as they leave prison, ending the governors’ discretion to restrict or expand voting rights at their pleasure.
boltsmag.org
Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions - Bolts
This is the only state that was banning people convicted of any felony from voting for life. Virginians have an opportunity to end that system for good in November.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
People need to start getting disbarred for this shit.
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Chris Kaiser @chriskaiserva.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
And there’s still work to do. Thousands of people in Va been wrongfully disenfranchised, in violation of a Reconstruction-era federal law. Every last person covered by the court’s order has the right to be restored and registered in time to vote this year. boltsmag.org/readmission-...
boltsmag.org
A Voting Rights Promise, Betrayed for 156 Years - Bolts
After the Civil War, Congress readmitted Southern states on the condition they not expand felony disenfranchisement—but they quickly ignored the restriction. It has finally caught up with one state, w...
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Chris Kaiser @chriskaiserva.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Gov. Spanberger is righting a wrong by choosing not to use her office to pick who gets their rights back & who doesn’t. Virginians’ civil rights should not depend on who happens to be in the governor’s mansion. And in November we’ll enshrine that principle into the Va Constitution.
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Chris Kaiser @chriskaiserva.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Opponents of civil rights will cynically pretend the sky is falling, but here’s the truth: Virginia’s current felony disenfranchisement scheme is by far the harshest in the country. We’re currently the ONLY state to permanently ban voting based on a felony, with no automatic restoration.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
So far, it appears the district judges in CA5 are operating as though this stay ruling does not bind them. Here's the latest from Judge Saldana, who acknowledges it but says the lack of analysis means there's nothing to follow. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
A cop in Wisconsin used Flock to search his ex’s license plate information 200 times. Months later, the officer assigned to investigate him was criminally charged for doing the same thing. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Police keep losing their jobs for using Flock cameras to stalk people
Advocates say it's too easy to abuse automated license plate reader technology.
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
In addition to being illegal and immoral, this is also how you get increasingly radicalized and disruptive protests. If an entirely legitimate and peaceful protest gets punished anyway, no reason not to go further.
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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Justice Jackson’s concurrence is dead on: “The distortion of historical facts—retellings that reimagine and repurpose past events to lend credence to misbegotten aims— may be an even greater threat."
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
And where is the left wing Hoover Institution, the left wing Heritage Foundation/AEI/Manhattan Institute, the left wing New York Post, the left wing Bohemian Club?
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Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Citing Harlan's dissent in Plessy to argue for killing the 14th amendment is some fucking move
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Lt. Governor Ghazala Hashmi @ltgovhashmi.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that states can ban transgender women and girls from competing in women’s and girls’ sports: “Today’s decision is rooted in fear and exclusion, not fairness. (1/2)
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
They have no other way to gut the Fourteenth Amendment save an ideologically captured Court. Perhaps the Court should have less of a hold on our understanding of the Constitution. That will take a ton of work, but the Court is doing a great deal of it on its own.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
We'll get the four remaining #SCOTUS decisions in reverse order of seniority (of the author) starting at 10 ET. One note: the two transgender discrimination cases could come down three different ways: as one ruling; as two substantive rulings; or as one substantive ruling and one procedural ruling.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Me this morning on the biggest news out of #SCOTUS yesterday (Slaughter); how to think about the news we expect out of the Court today (including, but not limited to, birthright citizenship); and why it matters that the term doesn't actually end when the justices step of the bench later this a.m.:
stevevladeck.com
236. Three Thoughts Heading into the Last Decision Day of the Term
A quick post reflecting on (some of) the news the Supreme Court made on Monday and (some of) the news we expect from the justices later today.
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Strict Scrutiny Podcast @strictscrutiny.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
NEW - emergency ep on SCOTUS ending independent agencies, except the fed, for [reasons TK here, but maybe because confederate sympathizers were right to be hostile to the Reconstruction Congress and also our stock portfolios] pod.link/1469168641/e...
pod.link
SCOTUS Kills Independent Agencies, Expands Presidential Power
Listen to SCOTUS Kills Independent Agencies, Expands Presidential Power from Strict Scrutiny wherever you get your podcasts!
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
No, see, "overruled 90 years of precedent in order to expand presidential power" is the way *critics* describe it. *Your* side says: resisting intrusion into core executive functions, protecting the sanctity of the separation of powers, and acknowledging that the precedent has been whittled away.
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ACLU @aclu.org · 29/06/2026
BREAKING: The Supreme Court just ruled that the Fourth Amendment applies to police use of overbroad "geofence warrants" to search for and locate unknown numbers of people in a large geographical area. This win reinforces that we don't lose our right to privacy simply because we use a cell phone.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Who you say you are, what you say you believe, your identity as a citizen of this country, are all on the table. “Are you prepared to stand and watch as Black political representation is erased? Do you not yet understand that this is also your fight if you have any hope of living in a democracy?”
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Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
People love historical what if scenarios. What if JFK was never assassinated? What if the Nazis won in WW2? A scenario I never see discussed is what if the aids crisis didnt decimate the gay men of America in the 80s-90s? Its easy to forget 1 in 15 gay boomer men died. An estimated 300,000 deaths-
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 31/05/2026
a lot (most?) people understand racism as “being a meanie” and if you aren’t a meanie then you can’t be racist, even if you believe in, say, the biological inferiority of entire groups of people based on phenotype
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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 24/05/2026
one of the reasons i am always on about elite persuasion is that i have seen elite persuasion operate in real time. as toby documents here, the radical anti-trans push in the uk didn't come from some "bottom-up backlash," but was orchestrated and organized primarily at the most elite levels
liberalcurrents.com
The End of Trans Rights in the UK Is the Start of Democratic Collapse
It's never just one minority.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
This bill, literally called the “CHARLIE Act,” imports definitions from Trump's odious EOs on race (EO 14190) and sex (EO 14168) into the federal statute for K-12 funding. It's not savvy centrist politics, it will not get them more votes. They know; they're bad people who like these parts of MAGA.
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Network NOVA @networknova.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
DEMOCRACY IS A VERB: Courage, Community & Choosing Our Values Brynn Tannehill Author "American Fascism: How the GOP Is Subverting Democracy” @brynntannehill.bsky.social Chris Kaiser ACLU Virginia @chriskaiserva.bsky.social Women’s Summit SHOP-LIVE-VOTE Your Values Expo, Laura Richardson & Laura Mack
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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 16/05/2026
what i think is interesting is how this is, in some ways, a genuinely familiar definition of the rule of law... but one that has wrapped around entirely into "the rule of law ACTUALLY means these seven assholes have absolute power"
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Brynn Tannehill @brynntannehill.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Interesting how this aligns with the fall of Orban....
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
BREAKING: Boston City Council just unanimously passed a resolution condemning dangerous age verification and censorship laws, including the proposals put forward by @massgovernor.bsky.social and the MA House. Backlash to age gating social media is growing! www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2026-05...
fightforthefuture.org
NEW: Boston City Council Unanimously Passes Resolution Opposing Online Censorship and Age Verification Bills, Cites Harms to LGBTQ+ Lifesaving Online Resources
BOSTON, May 13, 2026 — TODAY, Boston City Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution condemning dangerous and misguided censorship and age verification legislation, including the controversial pr...
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
In Louisiana and likely Alabama, actual, cast votes are going to be tossed out as officials speed ahead with new (or previously enjoined) maps. This is such an extreme use case for the Purcell principle that the court ignoring it here signifies that it was always a made-up toy, not law.
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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
As Justice Sotomayor's dissent notes, the district court's finding of unconstitutional discrimination is unaffected by Callais. But if the dist. ct. now reinstates that finding on remand, the state will run to SCOTUS and say Purcell forbids the court to do so. You can guess what happens next.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Over at “One First,” I wrote about how the redistricting chaos we’re seeing in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia is something #SCOTUS *chose,* and how it belies both the entire purpose of the “Purcell principle” and the Court’s claim that it’s staying out of the political process:
stevevladeck.com
227. "We're All Trying to Find the Guy Who Did This"
The Supreme Court has not only accelerated the race to the partisan redistricting bottom; it is directly responsible for the chaos we're seeing on the ground.
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Adam Gurri @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com · 10/05/2026
Despite clear moral justification, the Civil Rights activists did not pick every possible fight on every possible front. This is because choosing your battles isn’t defeatist, it is the opposite. It’s the thing you do when you want to win.
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Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST @chathamharrison.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Donald Trump has done more than anyone else in history to both vindicate & utterly discredit realists. The power of pure miserable incompetence to burn through all mechanistic reasoning about how the world works is unparalleled. Trump is a fascist, but more than that, he's the fucking square hole
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Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Thinking about this quote by John Bingham about "what do we do if the Supreme Court strikes down the 14th amendment"
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Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
"If the House was 'at all apprehensive of any wrongful intervention of the Supreme Court ... [then] sweep away at once their appellate jurisdiction in all cases, and leave the tribuna; without even the color or appearance of authority for their wrongful intervention."
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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 10/05/2026
The monitoring and regulation of college professors’ and students’ political speech is un-American and wrong. And in the case of public universities, I would think it is unconstitutional.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Everything else is just dancing around trying to approximate proportionality because that's what's intuitively fair. A party that gets X% of the votes should get X% of the seats is how normal people not tuned into the issue often assume it already works.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Proportional representation was (and still is) such an obvious solution for minority representation that Congress had to go out of its way to say courts couldn't impose it as a VRA remedy.
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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Yeah I think a lot of people feel that way. Here's why I don't agree (short thread): When we talk about "the rule of law," that doesn't just mean obeying court orders because they are court orders. There's a reason for it, and the reason is to observe the limits on government power
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Rep. @justinjpearson.bsky.social : “A political lynching… an era of retribution… what just happened in Tennessee was the largest and most swift disenfranchisement of Black people in a century.” #Memphis @GovBillLee @MarshaBlackburn
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 09/05/2026
This, the US Supreme Court has explained to us, is what it looks like to finally live in a land free of racial discrimination. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/u... South Carolina is 26% black. Louisiana is 33%. Mississippi is 37%.
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Aaron Weiss (no relation) @aweiss.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Not just mutual — fully enforced. That means doubling SCOTUS, growing the House (and by extension, Electoral College) by 100+ members, and mandating multi-member districts drawn by independent commissions barred from considering party affiliation. Fix democracy first.
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