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Colm O'Cinneide

@colmocinneide.bsky.social
3.6K followers 2.5K following 525 posts

Professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law, UCL. Irishman in London (and sometimes Brussels).

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Reposted by Colm O'Cinneide
InfoMigrants @infomigrants.net · 02/09/2026
Five EU states are negotiating with Rwanda to host rejected asylum seekers under the EU's new return law. Rights groups warn of abuses, and past deals delivered only a handful of deportees at huge cost.
infomigrants.net
The return of the Rwanda plan – rights concerns and past failures
Five EU states are negotiating with Kigali to host rejected asylum seekers under Brussels' new return law. Rights groups warn of abuses, and past deals delivered only a handful of deportees at huge co...
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Rachel Rees @rachel-rees.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
As honoured as I am to see that The Times has picked up my Chagos article practically *word for word*, including my hard-gotten quotes, I’d prefer some credit — or for everyone to read my original FT piece! free link to read the evidently enviable article below (cheaper than a Times sub!) 🌴
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CNN @cnn.com · 23/04/2026
A US soldier involved in Nicolás Maduro's capture was arrested for allegedly placing a bet on the operation that made him $400,000 in profits, a source says. cnn.it/4eCslt5
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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
it's not immediately visible in the US unless you are in DC, where practically everybody is—at maximum—one degree of separation away from someone who got DOGEd
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Reporter: What do you make of Republicans saying that Virginia— AOC: Wah wah wah. We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no. What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.
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POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 14/04/2026
Hungary’s PM-in-waiting Péter Magyar knows exactly what he wants from Brussels, and Brussels knows what it expects from Budapest. This is where the grand bargain begins.
politico.eu
Péter Magyar maps out grand bargain to reset Hungary’s ties with Brussels
Hungary’s new leader is racing against the clock to regain access to billions of euros in EU funds, but must at the same time satisfy many demands from Brussels.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
NEW—I got an exclusive excerpt from a USAID whistleblower's new book that made me gasp multiple times. It details Trump's dismantling of the humanitarian aid agency & his team/DOGE's shocking ignorance to public health. 'Into the Wood Chipper' by Nicholas Enrich is out tomorrow. Read excerpt here:
thehandbasket.co
Whistleblower says Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency, per new book
Read an exclusive excerpt from Nicholas Enrich's "Into the Wood Chipper"
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Joshua Murray-Nevill @joshuamurraynevill.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Whichever way you imagine this to have come about, it's hilarious. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Meta creating AI version of Mark Zuckerberg so staff can talk to the boss
Digital clone being trained on his thoughts, tone and mannerisms to help workers feel connected
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Stefan Cross Centre for Women, Equality and Law @scclaw.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Thanks @colmocinneide.bsky.social for your inspiring talk about the past, present, and future of equality law @unisouthampton.bsky.social. There has been positive feedback from the audience. Hopefully some will have gone away with renewed resolve to shape that future. #equality #law #annual #lecture
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Not uncommon, @sundersays.bsky.social. See "Journal of Politics", Volume 85, Number 1, January 2023, doi.org/10.1086/722042
Knowledge of what voters prefer is central to several theories of democratic representation and accountability. Despite this, we know little in a comparative sense of how well politicians know citizens’ policy preferences. We present results from a study of 866 politicians in four countries. Politicians were asked to estimate the percentage of public support for various policy proposals. Comparing more than 10,000 estimations with actual levels of public support, we conclude that politicians are quite inaccurate estimators of people’s preferences. They make large errors and even regularly misperceive what a majority of the voters wants. Politicians are hardly better at estimating public preferences than ordinary citizens. They misperceive not only the preferences of the general public but also the preferences of their own partisan electorate. Politicians are not the experts of public opinion we expect them to be.
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Stefan Cross Centre for Women, Equality and Law @scclaw.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Last chance to register! Annual Lecture Wed 25 Feb, 6-7 PM: “Taking Stock & Looking Forward: The Past, Present & Future of Equality Law” by @colmocinneide.bsky.social, Professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law at UCL, www.eventbrite.com/e/annual-lec... (hybrid). #equality #law #lecture
eventbrite.com
Annual Lecture: Taking Stock & Looking Forward: The Past, Present & Future
Join us for a thought-provoking discussion of equality law, reflecting on the past, understanding the present, and envisioning the future.
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Julian Davis Mortenson @jdmortenson.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
worst structural con law decision in the 20th century
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Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
It's really too bad the United States Congress no longer exists.
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Michael "Fallen Coffee Pot of Shadows" Senters the Sigillite:ABD @mikesenters.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This is one of the funniest graphs of all time.
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Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Good diplomatic reasons for Europeans to try to appeal for calm and work it out behind the scenes with the US. But just this morning Trump posted pictures of him putting the flag on Greenland, and presenting his conquests of Greenland and Canada to European leaders.
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Low Frequency Ovipositor @pikesley.mastodon.me.uk.ap.brid.gy · 19/01/2026
Frodo: I wish so much unbelievably stupid shit had not happened in my time

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. This is all exceptionally stupid, though
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Yes. My theory of the moment is Miller/Vance thought their view that immigrants threaten social solidarity would be widely shared. But ICE raids are driving native-born Americans to show solidarity with immigrants quite courageously. Now Miller is trying to disrupt that alliance with state violence.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
What's happened since the 2024 election is that US politics has moved from a version of the political game at the national level that was predominantly governed by the norms, rules, and expectations of the pluralist game of politics to the friend-enemy mode.
A table with three headings at the top which read: Friend-Enemy Politics, Pluralist Politics, and Technocratic Politics. The first row is titled "social ontology of politics (what is the political world made of?), the second is titled "task of politics (what do we think we're doing in politics?), the third is titled "goal of politics (what does politics generate?):"

The social ontology of politics in friend-enemy politics is a "world made up of friends and enemies. No neutrality or fairness. Identity overriding," in pluralist politics it is a "world made up of innumerable groups who must find ways to live together. Identity is central," in technocratic politics, the "world [is] composed of individuals who experience common problems. No groups, no identity." 

The task of politics in the friend-enemy mode is "for the virtuous 'Us' to defeat the evil 'Them,'" in pluralist politics it is "conciliation of different groups and their competing interests," in technocratic politics it is "solving social problems." 

The goal of politics in friend-enemy politics is "public tokens of 'our' domination or of enemy's defeat;" in pluralist politics it is "fair compromise;" in technocratic politics it is "effective policy." 

A green circle around the column heading "pluralist politics" is joined to a red circle around the column heading "friend-enemy politics" by a yellow arrow, denoting movement from the former to the latter mode of politics.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
There you have it; the Trump admin allows ICE lawyer James Rodden to stay on the job. His personal social media account praised Hitler, supported white nationalism, and said that America started going downhill the day that Lincoln was elected.
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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Some left-wing commentary on Iran seems oblivious to the fate of the Tudeh leadership & the rest of the secular socialist left after Khomeini's 'anti-imperialist' takeover - not to mention other groups, such as the Baha'i, feminist activists etc. See this 2024 UN Special Rapporteur report:
ohchr.org
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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Really interesting thread.
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
If the figures we're getting out of Iran are in the right league, this weekend was, I think, one of the bloodiest state crackdowns of all time. People are talking 12,000-20,000 dead; for comparison Hungary in 1956 was about 2,500, Tiananmen - across country, in multiple cities - probably 1000+
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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Such a loss. Listening to Ó Riada sa Gaiety tonight - a milestone of Irish music & culture.
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Lawprofblawg @lawprofblawg.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
I do not trust a person in matters of moral clarity when their views of government murder of innocent people changes depending on the location of the government and the profile of the victims.
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Chris Dale @chrisdaleoxford.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Obituary of Sir James Munby by Sir Nicholas Mostyn, wonderful as much for the non-legal asides as for the cases - "he always described himself as a passionate ferro-equestrian" - and for this: "a kind, witty, and deeply compassionate human being" financialremediesjournal.com/sir-james-mu...
financialremediesjournal.com
Sir James Munby Obituary
Sir Nicholas Mostyn writes about the life of Sir James Munby, who died on 1 January 2026: "a great leader, a brilliant historian, a remarkable lawyer, and a superb writer".
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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Excellent LRB piece on Xi Jinping - fair & balanced. Well worth a read. (For what it's worth, I think there is more substance to the 'New Development Concept' than this suggests.) www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Tom Stevenson · Climbing the Ziggurat: Xi Jinping’s Inheritance
China, which in the post-Cold War period was viewed as either lunch for American capital or an irredeemable dungeon, has...
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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Founded in 1948, @antaisce.bsky.social is Ireland’s oldest environmental charity, now says in all that time, it has never faced a threat to its ability to fulfill its legal functions regarding planning on a par with current government proposals. www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
irishtimes.com
An Taisce urges public to object to ‘unlawful’ caps on judicial review fees
Heritage and environmental charity says Government’s proposal is a ‘significant attack on civil society and public accountability’
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Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
My initial take on the criminal law governing the ICE shooting in MN: 609.066 of the MN Code controls a self-defense claim for a "peace officer" under state law. I'm not going to consider federal law given the capture of the DOJ by the Trump administration. 1/
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
I understand the pressures on the BBC, but Radio 4's coverage of the Minneapolis shooting is an example of "bad balance". It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder". The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.
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Democrats @democrats.org · 07/01/2026
ICE shot and killed a woman on camera today. We all saw the video. The Trump administration is lying.
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Christopher Wiggins @cwnewser.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
NEWS: In a heartbreaking video, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, a woman who was in the same SUV cries out: “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do." “We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs. www.advocate.com/news/minneso...
advocate.com
Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting
“They killed my wife,” the distraught woman says, adding, “They shot her in the head.”
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
It's unfair to say that X is only a site for Nazis *or* porn - it's also a site for Nazi porn.
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Mediaite @mediaite.com · 07/01/2026
Professor Fired for Charlie Kirk Post Gets $500,000 From School, Is Reinstated
dlvr.it
Professor Fired for Charlie Kirk Post Gets $500,000 From School, Is Reinstated
Professor Darren Michael has reportedly been reinstated and given $50,000 after being fired over posts about assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The post Professor Fired for Charlie Kirk Post Gets $500,000 From School, Is Reinstated first appeared on Mediaite.
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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
The Melian Dialogue really ended in the stone quarries of Syracuse. (Niche tweet directed at certain Defenders of Western Civilisation.)
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Mona Paulsen @monapaulsen.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, WTO members stood up in Council and committees to condemn the invasion as a breach of international law. Will the same happen again for the US concerning the invasion and kidnapping in Venezuela? What happens if the US uses force in Greenland? In Cuba?
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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Strikingly little attention being paid in the UK to enactment of the Employment Rights Act 2025 - the most significant labour law reform in decades. HMG doesn't seem v. interested in claiming credit for it, via mainstream media outlets at least. Accurate take on voter enthusiasm?
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
The idea that London has become less safe in recent years is quite strange - just look at how once "dangerous" areas have been transformed in recent years. Gentrification comes with its own issues but streets are packed with visitors and city far more welcoming than when I moved here a decade ago.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 06/01/2026
This is probably true, and also means as people become more aware of this, you could cause a lot of market and political turmoil with some low seven figure sums.
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August J. Pollak @augustjpollak.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
There will be a level of reconstruction needed on this country not seen since the Marshall Plan come 2029 and I sincerely am trying to understand who the Democrat as well as Democratic leadership we believe will be willing to take on something of that scope
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Mamdani: For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
one unexpected outlook change from being a dad is taking the self care people 10x more seriously when it comes to dealing with weirdly directed anger and rage (including Online). many angry posts should have been naps or little packets of crackers
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Richard M. Nixon @dicknixon.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
When Mamdani becomes Mayor at midnight, it is a real political feat. Remember that. There aren't many of those. They won against the odds by getting their man into living rooms and churches. The press came late. We'll see what he does with it, but that is worthy of respect.
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Ivan D. Velasquez @1v4nd4r10.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
“The resistance is spreading beyond California. Dutch university faculty have issued an open letter calling for a moratorium on AI in academic settings, warning that its use ‘deskills critical thought’ and reduces students to operators of machines.” www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
currentaffairs.org
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
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Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
In the latest wave of terrorist attacks on Ukraine, Russia is again targeting public transport attempting to injure and kill as many civilians as possible. So far they have launched over 40 missiles and 500 drones at Kyiv. Nearly a third of the city is without power and heating.
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
The chief innovation of European colonialism was being ship bastards instead of horse bastards.
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Charlie Feldman @parlcharlie.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Seeing a performer successfully hype the crowd with "When I say constitutional, you say crisis!" makes me wonder if we're doing public law conferences all wrong
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Trouble is, all these US de-regulators grew up in a world where’s there’s a button saying ‘Game Over. Try Again.’
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Nina Jankowicz @ninajankowicz.com · 23/12/2025
The State Department has just banned five Europeans from entering the U.S., falsely alleging they are involved in censorship of American citizens. The only censorship here is coming from the Trump administration. My statement is below. www.state.gov/releases/off...
The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose. These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states—in each case targeting American speakers and American companies. As such, I have determined that their entry, presence, or activities in the United States have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. 

Based on these determinations, the Department has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on agents of the global censorship-industrial complex who, as a result, will be generally barred from entering the United States. Further, based on the foreign policy determination, the Department of Homeland Security can initiate removal proceedings against certain individuals pursuant to INA section 237(a)(4)(C), which renders such individuals deportable.    

President Trump has been clear that his America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is no exception. The State Department stands ready and willing to expand today’s list if other foreign actors do not reverse course.

These actions are pursuant to Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which renders inadmissible any alien whose entry into the Unites States the Secretary of State determines “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Certain family members may also be covered by these restrictions.  In addition, Section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act renders an alien deportable from the United States if the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe the alien’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.The premise of this action is a years-long conspiracy theory promulgated by the Trump Administration and its allies. There is no such thing as a “censorship industrial complex,” as I explained in a Congressional hearing this April (https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118072/witnesses/HHRG-119-FA19-Wstate-JankowiczN-20250401.pdf). 

This lie originated with people who were professional internet trolls before they took up government positions. Now it’s government policy. As we’ve been tracking at The American Sunlight Project all year (https://americansunlight.substack.com/s/last-week-in-censorship), the Trump Administration has been taking a hatchet to the free expression rights of Americans and U.S. residents. Here, the Administration is barring entry to people who are using their own speech rights to advocate for an internet that reflects reality. 

They’re not doing this because they have any evidence of censorship—they lost a Supreme Court case that made those claims! They’re doing this because the group of researchers and advocates who have stood up liars like Donald Trump and the platforms that enable them because this community represents a formidable challenge to their power and their profit.
 
They cut off our access to data because they were worried that our findings would undermine them. They are using the legal system to keep us preoccupied and scared, to distract us from our work. They are trying to delegitimize us through alliances with unscrupulous media organizations. They have defunded and decried fact checkers because the facts aren’t on their side. They are threatening us because we are a threat to them. 
 
And now, they’re barring brave advocates like Clare Medford and Imran Ahmed from the US for the same reasons. 

It’s meant to be a warning, but it only re-ups the conviction of this community to stand up in the face of what is the biggest censorship regime in modern American history.
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