iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 02/10/2026

Get your head stuck or setting one free?

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 02/10/2026

New personal policy: If a publication I write for doesn’t have free gift links for me to share with people, I’ll make one of those annoying “Reporter Reads” videos off a teleprompter and put it up freely. Fair is fair! Upside: You get a load of my imperfect accent and perfectly symmetrical mug.

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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Before people make up lies about the common law, aliens in England had the right to not be detained indefinitely and could challenge their imprisonment.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Over dissents from the three Democratic appointees, #SCOTUS *grants* Tennessee's request to vacate the stay of execution the Sixth Circuit had entered in the case of Christa Pike, clearing the way for her execution: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

supremecourt.gov

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 30/09/2026

Someone called me a “lawtino” unironically, and I need to sit with that for a moment. It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, so I may just allow it.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 30/09/2026

Hit like, subscribe, and follow, and I’ll read you in the comments … or something. (Maybe.) www.tiktok.com/@cristian..f...

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 30/09/2026

A friend suggested I join and post more on TikTok for #journalism—I have 30 followers—but on deeper reflection, this may not be sustainable.

Screenshot of TikTok comment from anonymized user:

First, I've been really appreciating the information on Nolan Wells. okay.
Now second, I'm going to dip in the " shallow end" why is nobody talking about how stunning this man is?!
I saw this guy in an interview on MS Now, and OMFG! This is an absolutely beautiful looking human being!

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 29/09/2026

This is an astonishing self-own by the Internal Revenue Service that will keep scores of hardworking, tax-paying, non-refund-seeking immigrants from paying billions in federal taxes. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/b...

nytimes.com

Trump Administration Prepares to Ask Tax Filers if They Are U.S. Citizens (Gift Article)

The new question, included on a draft version of the primary tax form, comes as part of an anti-immigrant turn at an agency that long prioritized tax administration.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 29/09/2026

Thank you, Jess. As you know, relatively small county prosecutor’s offices are quite a thing to behold.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 29/09/2026

Question (4) is breathtaking: “Please tell us all the ways you want us to rule for you, independent of the actual legal issues in the case.”

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 29/09/2026

indeed, that's black letter law

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 29/09/2026

One big takeaway from this hearing is that Barack Obama and Joe Biden did a world of good to the D.C. Circuit when they appointed former trial judges to it. And with good reason, Judges Robert Wilkins, Michelle Childs, and Florence Pan have all been lighting into the Justice Department quite a bit.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 29/09/2026

Every so often, I’m reminded that Gannett was specifically recruiting for and hired a “conservative opinion editor”—I imagine to commission pieces such as this one. www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

usatoday.com

Gas prices are brutal. Giving Democrats Congress would be worse | Opinion

Republicans have let conservatives down on gas prices and the SAVE Act. But staying home in midterm elections would put their biggest wins at risk.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 28/09/2026

Judges won't save us, but I imagine any media organization or broadcast network that derives part of is revenue from political and government ad spending has standing to sue over the propaganda ads the White House is running on friendly networks in the lead-up to the election. Maybe.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 28/09/2026

10-year-old: My beautiful tan is going to go away with this weather. Me: Tell me about it.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 27/09/2026

I ran into Mahmoud Khalil in the greenroom.

Cristian and Mahmoud Khalil pose for a selfie at MS NOW

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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 26/09/2026

“I simply do not believe that Nolan simply and accidentally drowned. . . . And nobody saw anything? And no one knows anything,” the mother of a Black teen-ager who died this summer on a boating trip in Mississippi said. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

newyorker.com

Nolan Wells’s Family Still Wants Answers

A Mississippi grand jury declined to bring charges in connection with the death of a Black teen-ager during a boating trip, but it’s still unclear exactly how he died.

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The idea that people want AI oversight to happen "all of a sudden" ignores years of research, warnings, and policy efforts. The delay hasn’t been a lack of awareness; it’s been because of years of industry lobbying against regulation, political resistance, and inaction.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Read @courtwatch.bsky.social review the stories that don't get told as corporate media (in this case, McClatchy) lays off all the legal journalists. www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...

courtwatch.news

The Rabbit Hole: Covering What McClatchy Will Miss

With the private equity-owned newspaper chain laying off 90 reporters, we look at the court stories they’ll miss.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 27/09/2026

Oh no, not the emancipation proclamation take

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 27/09/2026

I can't stop, won't stop writing about Nolan Wells.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 26/09/2026

Wow, in the middle of a nor’easter, all the swim bros and swim gals are like vultures waiting in the wind and rain for the pool to open. Ask me how I know. (I was watching them from the car, leave me alone.)

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The last two sentences are … direct. Link: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

JUST IN: A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction upbraiding ICE for mass arrests that have strained detention facilities and forced detainees all over the country into "overcrowded, squalid, and degrading rooms for excessive periods of time" www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/defaul...

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 25/09/2026

Susan Collins will be mildly concerned, I’m sure.

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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Heidi Overton said yesterday of Mifepristone that “according to FDA standards, the drug is safe and effective as labeled today.” She said something similar about vaccines. Don’t be fooled. That’s exactly the same as Brett Kavanaugh saying Roe v. Wade “is settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court.”

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 24/09/2026

While we were sleeping: Trump judge Timothy Kelly in Washington issued a temporary restraining order restoring White House press pass access to CNN, MSNOW, and Politico. Notably, his order is entirely on due process, not First Amendment, grounds. But it’s still early days.

storage.courtlistener.com

Order on Motion for TRO AND Set/Reset Deadlines – #24 in CABLE NEWS NETWORK, INC. v. TRUMP (D.D.C., 1:26-cv-03287) – CourtListener.com

Temporary Restraining Order. See Order for details. Signed by Judge Timothy J. Kelly on 9/24/26. (lctjk2) (Entered: 09/24/2026)

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Niko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Deep dives like this really put into perspective what Chief Justice Rehnquist was doing in 2000 when he resurrected the Court’s precedents of the 1870s and 1880s, writing that their authors “had intimate knowledge and familiarity with the events surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 24/09/2026

i'm wearing a sweatshirt, but sleeveless. fair is fair.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 24/09/2026

This severe fall weather on the very first day of fall is extremely rude and uncalled for and a slap in my (glowing, bronzed) face.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

I don’t roll with trolls, but since you’re insisting on legalisms: If you truly think statutory adulthood defines a “man” or manhood, oh boy — this exchange is beyond hopeless.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

Sir, people have been infantilizing Black men and adultifying Black boys since the beginning of the republic. Please sit down.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

The state of Mississippi won’t have the last word about Nolan Wells.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

And no apology after being corrected.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

A friend gave it to me. It’s a bobblehead of the conscience of a nation, trying to whisper in my ear to only call balls and strikes.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

Thank you. It’s not even my favorite lift—far from it—but it’s a great newsletter name for a shredded legal journalist.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

In popular culture and public narratives, which journalists help shape, Black boys have historically been treated as adults, so what Christine Wells Wonsley does here is immensely powerful.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

I’ve watched too many grieving Black mothers take their grief public, in search for answers and justice, but I’ve never seen what Nolan Wells’s mother does here — stopping and correcting an NBC News interviewer about how to refer to her son. Rightfully so, the interview ended shortly thereafter.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

Katy Tur liked the name of my newsletter. From today:

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 23/09/2026

I turned on my long-dormant Substack to have occasional conversations with fellow nerds who care about law and politics, democracy, and being swole. Thank you to @stevevladeck.bsky.social for agreeing to nerd out with me this morning. I contained myself and did not bring up Younger abstention!

open.substack.com

The Missouri Mess: Live with Cristian Farias and Steve Vladeck

A recording from Cristian Farias and Steve Vladeck's live video

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A federal judge has ordered Texas to air condition all of the state’s prisons by the end of 2029 High temperatures violate the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the judge ruled.

texastribune.org

Texas ordered to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029

High temperatures violate the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the judge ruled. Just over a third of Texas prisons are fully air conditioned.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Confused about what the Eighth Circuit did last night in the Missouri redistricting case—or what happens now? Join @cristianfarias.com and me for a Substack Live at 8:45 ET to cover the details: open.substack.com/live-stream/... And/or read my explainer post: www.stevevladeck.com/p/252-the-ei...

open.substack.com

LIVE SOON: The Missouri Mess: Live with Cristian Farias and Steve Vladeck

Starting Sep 22 at 8:45 AM EDT

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 22/09/2026

Sometimes they do 10. Clearly slacking.

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