iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

oh I hope this wasn't seen as a defense of the substack. To be clear, my position is that you're both posting without adequately researching the subject. I'm trying to contribute some facts on the ground of what actually happens in death penalty states with democratic governors

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Not arguing that the two parties are equally to blame for the death penalty's state in 2026, that would be a foolish argument. But I think you're closing your eyes to what has happened under Democratic governors in death penalty states.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

The purchase occurred under the GOP, but Gov Katie Hobbs and AG Kris Mayes (both D) used the drugs in several executions last year and this year knowing full well where the drugs came from. They even fired the former federal judge they appointed to investigate the practice.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

If you need a more recent example, look at Arizona. We revealed that Arizona had obtained execution drugs illegally from the same source as the Trump administration: From a company not qualified to make drugs that would be used in humans or animals.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Under Nixon and AG Chris Koster (both D), MO carried out 20 executions. It was a big priority for Nixon. The state even had the controversial practice of carrying out executions before the courts had a chance to fully weigh in on whether it was constitutional to do so. www.stlpr.org/government-p...

stlpr.org

Another Federal Judge Criticizes Missouri For Haste In Carrying Out Executions

Missouri's recent executions have sparked controversy lately -- not just for the secrecy and the source of the execution drug but also for the state's…

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

hmm this has not been my experience covering the death penalty for 15 years. I started covering it when MO Gov. Jay Nixon (D) made the state's drug supplier a secret that would be unlawful to publish. We found out why: MO was paying envelopes of cash to a pharmacy not licensed to sell in the state.

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Liliana Segura @lilianasegura.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I've been thinking and talking and writing about the death penalty for my whole adult life and the past week+ has been truly surreal and exhausting, not only because of the onslaught of horrors but because there seems to be so little historical memory of what this system is and always has been.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Here is @iamstevenhale.bsky.social, who I directed you all to be following earlier and was a witness tonight, reporting on what Tennessee did tonight. Just absolutely horrifying.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

NEW: Statement from Christa Pike's lawyers: ”Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution. ... Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.” www.lawdork.com/p/the-big-pr...

Statement from Christa Pike's attorneys Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the TN
Office of the Post Conviction Defender, and Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen from Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee
Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution. We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.
Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Wendell Berry died last week, so I've been reading through his poetry. This one comes to mind with forever chemicals: "I see all that we have ruined in order to have, all that was owned for a lifetime to be destroyed forever. Where are the sleeps that escape such dreams?"

The Dream by Wendell Berry

I dream an inescapable dream
in which i take away from the country
the bridges and roads, the fences, the strung wires,
ourselves, all we have built and dug and hollowed out,
our flocks and herds, our droves of machines.

I restore then the wide-branching trees.
I see growing over the land and shading it
the great trunks and crowns of the first forest.
I am aware of the rattling of their branches,
the lichened channels of their bark, the saps
of the ground flowing upward to their darkness.
Like the afterimage of a light that only by not
looking can be seen, I glimpse the country as it was.
All its beings belong wholly to it. They flourish
in dying as in being born. It is the life of its deaths.

I must end, always, by replacing
our beginning there, ourselves and our blades,
the flowing in of history, putting back what I took away,
trying always with the same pain of foreknowledge
to build all that we have built, but destroy nothing.

My hands weakening, I feel on all sides blindness
growing in the land on its peering bulbous stalks.
I see that my mind is not good enough.
I see that I am eager to own the earth and to own men.
I find in my mouth a bitter taste of money,
a gaping syllable I can neither swallow nor spit out.
I see all that we have ruined in order to have, all
that was owned for a lifetime to be destroyed forever.

Where are the sleeps that escape such dreams?

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I often think about this longtime 3M scientist who studied the prevalence of PFAS for the company back of the day, and watched our 2021 segment on PFAS and assumed we must have been wrong on its harms, before deciding to google it. www.propublica.org/podcast/fore...

IN-PERSON INTERVIEW, Hansen: I maybe would glance at it, but I wouldn’t read it very carefully. It’s almost like I just didn’t really want to know.

Lussenhop: Until 2021. An old college professor sent her a message with a link to a video.

IN-PERSON INTERVIEW, Hansen: A John Oliver video.

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER, John Oliver: Our main story tonight concerns chemicals. Specifically, we’re gonna be talking about a particular class of chemicals tonight, called PFAS.

IN-PERSON INTERVIEW, Hansen: He was reporting on PFAS and the effect that it had on communities.

IN-PERSON INTERVIEW, Hansen: He’s wrong. He’s talking about all the ways that it’s harmful, and it’s not. I said, it kind of makes me mad, honestly.

Lerner: She writes back to her professor, and the professor says …

IN-PERSON INTERVIEW, Hansen: “Are you sure it’s wrong?” And so I kind of rolled my eyes and then I went in and I was like, OK, I’m just gonna go to the literature.

Lerner: And sitting in her kitchen, Kris googles the health effects of the chemical that she had found so many years ago.

IN-PERSON INTERVIEW, Hansen: And I couldn’t believe how many articles there were on the toxicity associated with fluorochemicals.

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

extremely good FOIA denial i just got

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This data is meant to be an audit log of what cam feeds the police department is accessing and why, and officers accessing the feeds *never* wrote down why they were doing so. The "Notes" column was entirely blank. No way to know why cops were viewing it, or if it was truly useful.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

We found that the police had been accessing the feeds a lot, often streaming about 9 hours of footage a day. We also found that some of the private surveillance cameras the police had access to were indoors. Workers we spoke with were not aware. One of the cams was of a pool area at the Days Inn.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

After repeated unsuccessful attempts to get the PD to comply, @claireg1.bsky.social and I took the pdf to @scottpham.bsky.social and IRE, who were generous enough to spend time to get the data usable and actually in a csv (you know, like we asked for and like the law requires).

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The records requests were harder. In my experience, police departments have been the govt agencies least willing to comply with open records law. After I was exceedingly annoying, they eventually turned over a 30,000 page pdf of the database (which we had asked for in a csv) and ghosted me.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

We started going through the city's business permits and filing open records requests. @mayatribbitt.bsky.social found this first one, and eventually (with @claireg1.bsky.social) we located dozens more permits with this requirement in them.

A permit with the text: The applicant, landlord, and/or operator shall install and maintain exterior security
cameras on the Site that cover the entire extent of the Site, as approved by the Rialto Police
Department. The security cameras shall be accessible to the Rialto Police Department via
the internet through FUSUS hardware and application. The security cameras shall be
installed and operational prior to the issuance of a business license.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Back in 2023, Reuters reported that one city in CA was beginning to *require* private businesses to hook their cameras up to the police, giving live access. This raised a lot of questions for us: How were they requiring this? How often are cops accessing the footage? www.reuters.com/article/tech...

Rialto is betting big on cameras: from 2020 all newly constructed or remodeled commercial and industrial properties in the city were required by the police to register cameras in the Fusus system and allow police to access a live-view, according to the police department.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This was a segment @mayatribbitt.bsky.social pitched and worked on years ago, and I'm glad that it's finally out there. We run through many types of surveillance tech in the segment, but I want to draw attention to one of them: FUSUS.

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

5-4 for what it explicitly says in the constitution is incredible. They were this close to undoing the civil war entirely. bsky.app/profile/mjsd...

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Dan Vergano @danvergano.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Scientific American is being sold to LabX Media, publisher of Discover: group.springernature.com/gp/group/med... They've fired me and other union staff, ahead of June 26 vote ratification. My rates are suddenly more reasonable, if you need editing or reporting - Argonaut2026@gmail.com

group.springernature.com

Springer Nature to divest its consumer media businesses | Springer Nature Group | Springer Nature

Strategic divestment of consumer media portfolio enables Springer Nature to focus on its core business Transaction supports the long-term development

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Tessa Duvall @tessaduvall.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

The KY Dept of Corrections was not a fan of this woman's piece. On June 13, four days after her story published, a correctional officer woke Taira Beller around midnight to hand her a disciplinary report. A DOC spokesperson did not respond to the H-L when asked specifically what Beller did wrong.

kentucky.com

A KY inmate published a story about sexism in prison. Now she faces discipline

The Kentucky Department of Corrections says it takes issue with a state inmate’s story published online in the Prison Journalism Project.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

BREAKING: Federal judge finds that Presidential Records Act is likely constitutional, issues preliminary injunction requiring compliance with the law. Judge Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, opens his opinion with an Orwell quote.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
AMERICAN HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATION et al.,
Plaintiffs,
V.
DONALD TRUMP et al.,
Defendants.
Civil Action No. 26-1169 (JDB)
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
FOUNDATION et al.,
Plaintiffs,
V.
DONALD TRUMP et al.,
Defendants.
Civil Action No. 26-1402 (JDB)
MEMORANDUM OPINION
"Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past."!
Perhaps with that lesson in mind, Congress enacted laws to ensure that government records are
created, preserved, and made available to the public. Among those is the Presidential Records Act
(Records Act), which mandates the preservation of materials related to the official responsibilities of the President. In so doing, the Act democratizes the history of an indispensable institution.
Access to those records allows future Presidents to pick up where their predecessors left off, Congress to identify inefficiency and misfeasance, and the public to learn from the mistakes of the
' George Orwell, 1984 37 (Penguin Classics 2000) (1949) (citation modified).

In sum, the relevant separation of powers principles all indicate that the Presidential
Records Act is likely constitutional. The Act serves a legitimate legislative purpose, is carefully
crafted to those ends, and does not impose a substantial burden on Executive Branch activities.
Accordingly, it likely does not impermissibly encroach upon the President's authority.
Because Congress has the enumerated power to regulate presidential records, and because
the Presidential Records Act does not unduly tread on core executive power, the law is likely
constitutional. The President is not free to disregard valid laws. His actions doing so, therefore, are in excess of his constitutional authority and in violation of federal law, so plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims.

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Melissa Sanchez @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

1/ Last fall, as we were interviewing immigrants detained during a dramatic immigration raid at an apartment complex in Chicago, we kept hearing about a Nigerian man whose leg was mauled by a police dog. 🧵:

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Liliana Segura @lilianasegura.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

🚨BREAKING: After three decades behind bars and 9 execution dates, Richard Glossip has been granted bond by an Oklahoma County judge, setting him up for release in the days to come. Bond set at $500k. Story with @jordansmith.bsky.social to come @theintercept.com

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Jessica Lussenhop @jlussenhop.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Surprised that ProPublica is on strike? SO ARE WE! The contract we're being offered is NOT in line with the values of the place we love. For me, this is about job protections and AI protections for future generations of journalists. Read more about how we got here: www.propublicaguild.org

propublicaguild.org

ProPublica Guild

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Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

NEW: Trump's bid to escape scrutiny of his White House secrets threatens to bring down the system that governed access to records of every president since Reagan. And its demise could come quickly www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

politico.com

Trump admin’s challenge of Watergate-era records law alarms historians

Scholars warn that DOJ’s declaration that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could impact other administrations.

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there. They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.

nashvillebanner.com

ICE detains reporter Estefany Rodríguez in Nashville - Nashville Banner

Reporter Estefany Rodríguez, detained by ICE with no arrest warrant, may face deportation. Her attorneys seek immediate review of the legality of her case.

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Kim Bellware @bellwak.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

My time with The Washington Post is up. I was laid off with hundreds of folks I am so honored to call my colleagues. I covered it all at The Post (really), so now I'm looking for my next adventure. ➡️ kbellware [at] gmail dot com Website update coming soon @postguild.bsky.social forever

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Georgia Fort, an independent journalist and vice president of the Minnesota NABJ chapter, was also arrested by federal agents this morning I was sent this video of agents at her door:

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Update: In the evidence preservation lawsuit, the current Civil Chief at the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office (who appears to be Ana Voss, based on the letter), refused to accept email service of the lawsuit last night and then refused to accept in-person service until Monday. Ridiculous behavior.

Our office represents Plaintiff Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in this case. I write to provide an update on our efforts to notify and serve Defendants and to request that the Court consider them sufficient to comply with its direction that Plaintiffs serve Defendants by 9 a.m. this morning:
• Yesterday at 7:27 p.m. our office sent an email to the Civil Chief at the U.S.
Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota informing her that we would be filing a suit, seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) relating to preservation of evidence, and asked her to confirm receipt and advise who will be handling the suit as soon as possible.
• Yesterday at 9:10 p.m. (immediately after the case was filed) our office emailed courtesy copies of our filings (with the exception of the word count certificate and hearing notice, which were provided at 9:44 p.m.) to the Civil Chief, again asking that she confirm receipt and advise who will be handling the case.
• The Civil Chief responded to our first email at 9:34 p.m. last night. At 11:00 p.m. she informed us that she would look for coverage for the case but would not accept service by email
• At 11:11 p.m. our office emailed the Civil Chief a copy of the TRO entered by the Court. Shortly thereafter we asked if, given her office's refusal to accept service by email, if we could effect personal service in the morning before 9 a.m. The Civil Chief responded that the office would not be open to accept service until Monday.
• At 7:39 a.m. this morning, our office emailed courtesy copies of the pleadings and
TRO to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division at the U.S.

Department of Justice, to the Office of General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, and to the Office of Chief Counsel at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
We intend to formally serve Defendants tomorrow, January 26, 2026, consistent with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(i) and to personally serve the Summons, Complaint, and TRO papers when the U.S. Attorney's Office reopens. The actions we have already taken comply with Rule 65(b)(1)'s requirement that we attempt to provide "written or oral notice to the adverse party." We request that the Court consider these efforts sufficient to comply with its Order that we serve Defendants by 9 a.m.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Respectfully,
s/ Joseph Richie
JOSEPH RICHIE
Special Counsel
PETER J. FARRELL
Deputy Solicitor General
Attorneys for Plaintiff Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
CC:
Clare Diegel, Esq.
Ana Voss, Esq.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting.
2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value.
3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE.
4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on.
5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle."
6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground.

7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack.
8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video.
9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk.
10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun.
11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him.
12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes.

13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times.
14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.
15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1.
16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.
17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building.
18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear

witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values.
I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct.

Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Newly unsealed evidence makes it even clearer that Rubio and Noem knew they were targeting students based solely on their political speech and that they knew this policy was unconstitutional. They just didn’t care. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

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Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Bari Weiss does not seem to have a good understanding of what's been going on with the Alien Enemies Act, including that courts -- including SCOTUS -- have repeatedly faulted the administration for failing to give detainees a meaningful opportunity to challenge being sent to El Salvador.

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Chris McDaniel @csmcdaniel.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Earlier this year, the FCC wrote to a local radio station in SF, unhappy with their coverage of an ICE raid. After Brendan Carr sent them a letter of inquiry, the station cut back on political reporting, and pushed reporters toward human interest stories. Very bleak. apnews.com/article/trum...

After Carr’s threat, staffers involved in the story were summoned to meetings with lawyers hired by Audacy. The attorneys scoured employee social media posts and grilled some on whether they had any political bias, current and former staff said.

The station’s news director, Jennifer Seelig, sits on the board of the Radio Television Digital News Association, which gives out a prominent First Amendment award. She told people that business considerations required the station to avoid angering the FCC, current and former staffers said.

Seelig did not respond to requests for an interview.

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Liam Scott @liamjscott.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Read the full email Sharyn Alfonsi sent her team about CBS pulling their segment on the Trump admin’s deportations of Venezuelan migrants

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Liliana Segura @lilianasegura.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

New @theintercept.com: I wrote about the oral argument in Hamm v. Smith, digging a bit deeper to trace how the case ended up at SCOTUS. It's another example of far-right conservatives leaning on the court to burn down its case law to advance their agenda (more executions, less 8th amendment).

theintercept.com

Alabama Begs Supreme Court to Make It Easier to Execute People With Intellectual Disabilities

The bizarre oral argument in Hamm v. Smith shows how decades of case law rooted in science is now under siege at the Supreme Court.

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Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector editor in chief @journalist-sherman.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

An extraordinary admission: "The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record" #ksleg

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Charlie Savage @charliesavage.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

How Cheney’s Presidential Power Push Paved the Way for Trump to Go Further Donald J. Trump and Dick Cheney became adversaries, but the former vice president set the stage for Mr. Trump’s bid to expand his executive authority. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/u...

nytimes.com

How Cheney’s Presidential Power Push Paved the Way for Trump to Go Further

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

NEW: Judge Gettleman just ordered ICE to improve "serious conditions" inside its Broadview facility in Chicago. Yesterday, people testified in court that they were crammed into overcrowded and filthy cells for days, with little access to lawyers, and pressured into deportation.

TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER This matter came before the court on plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order. On November 4, 2025, the court heard argument and considered the written filings by both sides, along with testimony presented by plaintiffs. Based on the record currently before it, the court finds that plaintiffs and members of the putative class have suffered, and are likely to suffer, irreparable harm absent the temporary relief granted herein, that they are likely to prevail on the merits of their claims, that the balance of the equities tips in their favor, and that the public interest lies in issuing a temporary restraining order to address the serious conditions
demonstrated to exist at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) Broadview, Illinois facility (“Broadview”). Consequently, it is hereby ordered as follows:

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Lee Hedgepeth @leehedgepeth.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Just over an hour after 3 Supreme Court justices warned that Alabamian Anthony Boyd would suffer psychological torture, he was subjected to the longest nitrogen gas execution in US history, gasping for air more than 225 times. Read my eyewitness account: www.treadbylee.com/p/after-just...

treadbylee.com

After justices warned of prolonged suffocation, Alabama subjected Anthony Boyd to the longest nitrogen execution in U.S. history.

Boyd was the chairman of Project Hope, a death row-led nonprofit. Its members are left reeling in the wake of their leader's suffocation execution.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Unanimous First Circuit takes pains to emphasize that this was an incredibly easy case to decide, despite writing a very long opinion knocking down every ridiculous argument the Trump admin made.

The analysis that follows is necessarily lengthy, as we
must address the parties' numerous arguments in each of the cases
involved. But the length of our analysis should not be mistaken
for a sign that the fundamental question that these cases raise
about the scope of birthright citizenship is a difficult one. It
is not, which may explain why it has been more than a century since
a branch of our government has made as concerted an effort as the
Executive Branch now makes to deny Americans their birthright.

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

"This Court has listened carefully to the reasons given by Öztürk’s captors for masking-up and has heard the same reasons advanced by ... ICE. It rejects this testimony as disingenuous, squalid and dishonorable. ICE goes masked for a single reason—to terrorize Americans into quiescence."

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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 29/09/2025

Two journalists are set to be tried in Kentucky this week. Their crime? Covering a protest of the immigration detainment of Ayman Soliman, who himself fled persecution for his journalism in Egypt. Soliman’s lawyer called it a “cruel irony.”

cjr.org

On trial for journalism in Kentucky.

Two months after their arrests while covering a protest, a pair of local reporters face criminal charges.

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