Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 01/10/2026It occurs to me that the tendency towards medicalizing executions is not for the benefit of the person being executed. It's for us -- to give it an appearance of being humane, even as it makes it far less so. It's so we don't have to be made uncomfortable by the sight of our own lust for blood. 140
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 29/09/2026much like how pants go from skinny to baggy and back again, we are in a constant cycle of learning and forgetting the importance of due process 111
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithSteve Gale @stevewg.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Colley Hill, Surrey: coffee break from birding the steep scrub. Love the plaque on the bench I’m sitting on 4397311236
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 15/09/2026I think two things can be true simultaneously: a patronage system for pardons is grotesque, and the traditional model of only granting handfuls of clemency requests in the safest political cases is *also* grotesque. 120
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 09/09/2026a lot of questions being asked about my "this military flyover is actually a memorial" shirt etc etc 020
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 04/09/2026Not for nothing, but I think it's pretty horrific that the state can just continue to re-roll juries until they get a conviction or an acquittal. Also, I have a big defense attorney crush on Kevin Reddington. 231
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 11/08/2026NEW: Report from @prisonpolicy.org documents the growth of conviction-based registries based on sex offense registries, and their presumed similar shortcomings in creating public safety www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/08...prisonpolicy.orgWhen bad policies spread: The expansion of the “sex offense registry” model to other convictionsShaming doesn't prevent crime. 173
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithBrawlcats @brawlcats.bsky.social · 02/08/2026airbnb I’m staying at unintentionally created the toughest punk album cover of 2027 158363786433
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithJosh Douglas @joshuaadouglas.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Good news on voting rights from Missouri! @boltsmag.org boltsmag.org/gop-run-miss...boltsmag.orgGOP-Run Missouri Becomes Latest State to Roll Back Felony Disenfranchisement - BoltsA new law will restore voting rights for tens of thousands of people on probation and parole. It’s a departure from other GOP bills this session to restrict democracy. 416240
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 03/07/2026Despite this sort of thing being commonplace, this is (I believe) the first time I have heard of someone being criminally charged with harassing someone on the sex offense registry abc13.com/post/woman-c...abc13.comWoman charged with harassing sex offender and his family, sheriff's office saysA Baytown woman allegedly "harassed, tormented, and embarrassed" a registered sex offender and his family by posting about them "over and over" on social media sites, investigators said. 040
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 13/06/2026I think I realized today that, unfortunately, I like being a lawyer. 120
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithMark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 09/06/2026Now here is a grand juror doing the 5th Amendment proud www.documentcloud.org/documents/28... 112483464
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithJason Kirk @jasonkirk.fyi · 09/06/2026How about you Switch 2 reading the Holy Bible 91320183
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithMark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 08/06/2026I cannot stress enough that there is no language in the First Step Act that suggests Congress intended such a parsimonious reading of compassionate release; indeed, there is language that suggests the exact opposite. One major goal was to expand compassionate release. So why is SCOTUS shrinking it? 613224
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 29/05/2026I read a whole article about Daniel Cameron and where'd his political career take a wrong turn and not one word about him sandbagging the grand jury in Breonna Taylor's case and lying about it to the press (which we only know about because the grand jurors lawyered up to talk about it). Weird. 131
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 27/05/2026"Tala-freako" is another exhibit supporting the "everyone is 12" theory 131
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 25/05/2026I have a client I did a habeas for. I believe he was convicted of a crime it was not possible for him to have committed, and the government knew that because evidence they had (but did not introduce) proves it. He's autistic, with the social-emotional functioning of a young child. 120
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 24/05/2026I've been neglectful of my writing lately, so I wrote something about a recent argument, though not so much about the argument, more about the last few years, or twenty, however you want to look at it. open.substack.com/pub/littlere... 000
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 22/05/2026I wrote, I think, the best thing I’ve ever written yesterday. It just happened to be filed in federal court, and in support of a client and an issue I’d stick my neck out for. Also, I got to use “transmogrification” in a brief, which, believe it or not, was the right word to use. 000
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 16/05/2026I think the thing people miss when someone with resources gets acquitted or a conviction reversed is that it happens because the government cuts corners. It takes resources to find out where they cut them. Don’t be upset that someone found them, be upset that they were cut in the first place. 010
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithKyle Whitmire @warondumb.bsky.social · 14/05/2026Chief Justice Roberts says the court isn't political. This week, six justices "read" 107 pages of legal briefing in 38 minutes and let Alabama gerrymander its congressional map mid-election. The stopwatch says otherwise. 181212393
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 13/05/2026I ran into my old boss yesterday, and he told me he was very proud of me, and that a lot of people would have given up, but I didn’t. I reminded him that there were many times when I wanted to, but I had people who told me to get up and keep moving forward. Including, and especially, him. 150
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithKevin Morris @kevintmorris.bsky.social · 30/04/2026New from me at the @brennancenter.org: Once again, Alito uses disingenuous reasoning and bad data to take an ax to the Voting Rights Act.brennancenter.orgFinishing Off Voting Rights Act, Supreme Court Declares Racism Over — AgainThe Court’s conservative majority used outdated examples to say the racial gap in voter turnout has closed, but in reality, the gap is growing. 23819
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 30/04/2026Great essay that's worth your time nymag.com/intelligence...nymag.comI Miss My Old LifeOne year after my abduction by ICE, I still watch my back. When someone falls in step behind me, I stop, tie my shoe, and wait until they pass. 001
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 25/04/2026Probably an unpopular take, but I think if we’re going to have the death penalty, it should be something like the firing squad. We shouldn’t dress it up as a medical procedure. Also, arguably, it‘s more humane than lethal injection. 021
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 23/04/2026I wrote about a Kentucky prison that burned to the ground after a riot, tracing its causes to a food service contract with Aramark where they basically starved prisoners for profit. They operated the commissary, too. 361
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 21/04/2026I’m confused by l*z o*er going after Ghislane Maxwell’s attorney. Is she not supposed to have a lawyer? Or, only one who doesn’t zealously advocate for their client? 100
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithThe Onion @theonion.com · 19/04/2026Poor Sleep Linked To Gong theonion.com/poor-sleep-linked-to-g…theonion.comPoor Sleep Linked To GongCHICAGO—Concluding that the costs of keeping such a device in the bedroom far exceeded the benefits, a study released Monday by the University of Chicago’s sleep lab found a strong link between poor s... 876969
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 19/04/2026At most, a cat can commit a misdemeanor. Dogs are, for sure, capable of committing felonies. 020
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 18/04/2026I think the thing that I fight for, more than this or that law is unconstitutional, is redemption. Not for me, or not just. The principle. We need it as surely as we need air. Otherwise our punishments become little more than poison that diminish us all. 020
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 17/04/2026Making allegedly questionable constitutional arguments is like, my whole job 100
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 16/04/2026It was the honor of a lifetime to represent these nine families at oral argument at the Eighth Circuit this week. My only hope is that I was enough of a lawyer to give their stories and the issues the consideration they deserve. www.courthousenews.com/families-sco...courthousenews.comFamilies scorn Missouri sex offender registry as 'badge of stigma' at Eighth CircuitPeople whose addresses are publicly listed asked for a fresh look at a regulation they say does nothing to prevent recidivism and everything to heap shame on them. 150
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 15/04/2026Had an argument that, I’m not sure how it went, and was feeling negative about how I thought I did, when someone reminded me that the fact that I got to do it, by itself, is something to be grateful for. Indeed. Indeed it is. 000
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 15/04/2026I wonder if, in my lifetime, DOJ will ever recover the integrity that it once held, to whatever extent it held it. 1225849
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithMark Blacknell @blacknell.bsky.social · 09/04/2026Just . . . outstanding. 071
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 07/04/2026love preparing for an oral argument with the threat of *checks notes* nuclear warfare and genocide just being...right there 130
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 06/04/2026I still think it's funny, in a laugh or else you'll cry sense, that he bought twitter at least in part to make everyone look at his dog shit tweets. How can you be the world's richest person and still have this insatiable need for approval 130
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithJohn Bull @garius.bsky.social · 02/04/2026"i have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working." The Astronauts truly representing us all up there. 11959091424
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 01/04/2026hard to believe I've been a lawyer for three years as of today. Also, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of my LexisNexis contract. Two good things. 020
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 31/03/2026its kind of like, Bluesky is as toxic as twitter, just runs in the other direction is all 110
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 26/03/2026The New Mexico Meta verdict is noteworthy, in part, because Meta has had a longstanding policy of permanently banning anyone ever convicted of a sex offense from its platforms. It highlights that policies like that are essentially window dressing that create a false sense of security. 140
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithThe Onion @theonion.com · 24/03/2026Dad Suggests Arriving At Airport 14 Hours Early theonion.com/dad-suggests-arriving-… 562547307
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-Smithbrian nam-sonenstein @bson.bsky.social · 25/03/2026i went into this expecting the medical grievance denial rate in federal prisons to be in like the 70–80% range after crunching the numbers, i found that 98% of the 66,000 medical grievances lodged between 2014–2024 were rejected by BOP; less than 1,000 cases were granted relief in 10 years 8270138
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 24/03/2026This is a good segment, and validates, I think, one of my longstanding criticisms of chat room stings: that police deprioritize (and are often hostile to) actual victims of abuse and investigating those cases, because catfishing and ensnaring hypothetical criminals is easier, good PR, and lucrative 1114
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 15/03/2026I think the risk in telling people that the only thing they can be is the worst thing that they have done is that they believe you. 0124
Guy Hamilton-Smith @guyhamiltonsmith.com · 13/03/2026now its fun to have an circuit court oral argument scheduled because I can be all like, this isn't my first rodeo I just hope no one asks if it's my second rodeo 120
Reposted by Guy Hamilton-SmithThe Onion @theonion.com · 11/03/2026Crab Just Happy To Be In Bucket With All His Friends theonion.com/crab-just-happy-to-be-… 4259381086