iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 19h

Raskin wants to talk about the founders making impeachment a political tool “because they wanted us to contextualize [it] within the whole sphere of things we’ve got to deal with.” This is the proper context: scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcont...

$Highlights in **’s In any case, the House of Commons, to what must have been general astonishment, excavated the forgotten impeachment mechanism from under a century-and-a-half of dust and used it, first, to charge Mompesson with various forms of corruption and abuse of authority and later to charge Bacon with multiple counts of bribery. Mompesson was convicted and banished, after the King himself came down to Parliament to disavow abuses of the royal grants.'2 Bacon, perhaps assuming that the ordinariness of his infraction would spare him any serious punishment, confessed. '3 The Lords convicted him, King James was either unwilling or unable to save his chief servant, and Bacon was stripped of his offices and condemned to relative penury for the rest of his days. Three points emerge from these first impeachments of the Stuart period. **First, in rediscovering impeachment as a means of removing royal officials and ministers, Parliament signaled its awakening from long torpor as a serious legislative counterweight to royal authority, or what we would think of as the executive branch of government.**Second, impeaching Bacon was part of a larger effort to assert the primacy of law over executive branch$

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Trump is assaulting key precedents that created our political system as we understand it, yet opposition leadership continues to insist on operating as if those precedents are holding. Our present circumstances demand a more proactive approach to impeachment.

...the Glorious Revolution is commonly said to be the beginning of constitutiona monarchy in Britain. Accordingly, as ministers and officials became less and less agents of monarchs and more and more the creatures of Parliament, impeachment assumed decreasing importance." —Bowman, "High Crimes and Misdemeanors"

https://books.google.co.za/books/about/High_Crimes_and_Misdemeanors.html?id=zcjlEAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Trump has signed a document asserting “Citizenship is a privilege; Citizenship is a gift”—never mind that SCOTUS *just* ruled that citizenship is a right. ICE’s attacks on US citizens are not errors. They are not crimes solely attributable to individual agents. Trump put his name to this idea.

whitehouse.gov
THE WHITE HOUSE
Section 1. Purpose. The privilege of United States citizenship remains a priceless and profound gift.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If defenses of the US strike on a girl’s school in Iran assume that US commanders didn’t know it was a school, do facts like this shape the strength of that assumption? Is the US entitled to claim ignorance if it also explicitly disavowed its duty to know & dismantled systems intended to inform it?

military.com

At a Pentagon briefing on March 2, 2026, War Secretary Pete Hegseth used blunt language about how the United States would fight, saying there would be "no stupid rules of engagement," "no politically correct wars," and "no nation-building quagmire."

https://www.military.com/feature/2026/03/05/hegseths-stupid-rules-of-engagement-line-and-what-roe-actually-do.html

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Time for another. In the 1830’s, bipartisan majorities banned MoC from bringing petitions re: slavery to the floor. Rep John Q Adams argued the “gag rule” unconstitutionally violated his 1A duty to his constituents & forced the issue of slavery to the floor *against* the rules. He did it every day.

never lost his self-possession." Exhausted by debate, House members tabled the censure. The former president would not be reprimanded. 21
Satisfied, Adams moved on to other busi-ness. After all, he had another hundred petitions to submit. "The circumstances created much merriment in the House, -Mr.
Adams offering his petitions as demurely as if nothing had occurred. "22
And so it continued, petition after petition, year after year. Proslavery members could no more stop them than "stop the flow of the Niagara."23 Finally, on December 3, 1844, the House voted to remove the gag, one more signal that slavery was losing its hold. 24 In retrospect, Sargent noted the irony: "Had Southern members" allowed the petitions, they would have ceased.
Instead, they stirred the anger between South and the North, triggering the Civil War. 25

https://capitolhistory.org/USCHS-Capitol-Stories-files/USCHS-Capitol-Stories-John-Quincy-Adams.pdf

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

@raskin.house.gov it’s wild to claim you haven’t heard this from even “a single person” when Rep. Green is making it the defining point of his 20-year career in Congress. You’re entitled to your judgment, sir. But please be honest about it: you haven’t heard a single person *who you think matters*.

cnn.com

"I've not heard a single person say to me that they think our top priority should be impeachment of Donald Trump," Raskin told CNN. "He hasn't been

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I think this is what @raskin.house.gov was trying to do on Meet the Press: make the case Trump has clearly committed impeachable offenses, say Congress could impeach if it wanted to, and then pivot to, “but we want to do these other things instead.”

Highlights in **’s

But even if impeachment turns out to not be most effective strategy as
conviction remains unlikely in the Senate, Smith argued that **Democrats should not shy away from making the case for why Trump should be
impeached: "I'm going to be all in favor of pushing that argument."**

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

@raskin.house.gov are you referring to your colleagues in Congress, or do you mean a single person generally? Because if you haven’t heard this from even “a single person”, you haven’t been listening to your constituents or your colleagues on Oversight, apparently.

Highlights in **’s

"Everyone's got an axe to grind with this administration," Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, who serves on the Oversight Committee, told CNN. "I think **there are definitely people who, the first thing they want to do is start impeaching Trump.** We've already had that happen this Congress. I just want to make sure if we do impeachment, that's it's going to be an ironclad case."

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I also doubt this aspect of the strategy; I’d like to hear why they believe they’ll be able to secure results quickly here. (NB: the article I’m citing discusses suits by Congressional minorities, but in a posture where they (like a majority) had standing.) journals.law.harvard.edu/jol/2026/06/...

Highlights in **’s

cnn.com
on day one, and many instead are eyeing a new tool that would be at their
disposal to try to **quickly** compel the testimony and documents they seek:
lawsuits.

journals.law.harvard.edu
Another challenge is that resolving these
198 The
disputes can be a lengthy process. 198 The
GSA investigation and ensuing litigation, for example, spanned four congresses and two administrations over seven years.
Democrats ultimately withdrew their suit, which GSA had appealed to the Supreme Court, because the Biden administration produced the vast majority of records withheld by the Trump administration. 199
As a result, the Court, which had granted certiorari to hear the case, ordered its dismissal and vacated the lower court's
decision.
200

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Treating these tools as next-gen search engines seems like a mistake.

hnn.us
kind. In contrast with the "long tails" of minor scholarly publications yielded by a typical academic database search, chatbots push inquiry back toward the middle of the bell curve, a curve whose shape is determined not by measures of research quality but by frequency-based algorithms applied to the entropic alphabet soup of the LLM.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Great read: a historian’s deconstruction of the voices ingested by various LLM—and the assumptions baked into these tools about the interests of their intended audience. “AI shunts aside problems of how knowledge is formed and communicated;” the author illustrates why we can’t afford to accept that.

hnn.us
Saipan was crumbling." Gemini Pro's diarist wrote of the "constant thunder of 16-inch naval guns that 'ripped into the landscape.'" These phrases belong to the language of American military history. A Japanese resident of Saipan would not have known the size of U.S. naval guns, and she would not have seen the horizon fill with ships if she were hiding in a cave. Terms like
"impregnable," "plastered," and "ripped into the landscape" (purportedly quoted directly from the diary) suggest the vantage point of the side firing, not of a civilian seeking refuge from the attack.

hnn.us
straightforward ego-documents. In
"guessing" the answers to historical questions, AI shunts aside problems of how knowledge is formed and communicated.
The chatbots also entirely missed the possibility that the author might have been writing from a position (both geographical and ideological) other than the one that most English-language internet users would be likely to seek. In this sense,

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

@wired.com the Bondi letter is the outstanding example of the kind of coercive efforts you’ve laid out bc it explicitly ties their illegal aim (to subordinate states’ independent sovereign power over elections) to an armed military occupation. Here’s 19 states & DC, in court: (link in alt text)

To be clear, Amici do not contend that Defendants' conduct infringes on state
sovereignty because it reflects an increase in purported immigration enforcement. Defendants' conduct infringes on state sovereignty because, as set forth above and in Plaintiffs' motion, Defendants' actions have the purpose and effect of inflicting maximal harm on state, city, and community institutions. Moreover, Defendants' own statements indicate that they will continue to employ violent and chaotic tactics until and unless Minnesota alters its sovereign policy decisions.!?
Through their statements and actions, Defendants are sending a message not only to
Minnesota but also to other jurisdictions: If a state or city adopts disfavored policies,

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230268/gov.uscourts.mnd.230268.94.2_1.pdf

CASE 0:26-cv-00190-KMM-DJF Doc. 94-2 Filed 01/22/26 Page 16 of 19
Filed 01/22/26
Defendants may launch a similar militaristic operation in which federal officers disturb the functioning of schools and other basic services, deploy chemical weapons in public areas in ways that endanger public health, frighten and provoke residents in a manner that requires state and local law enforcement to respond and de-escalate, and create a climate of anxiety and fear. Defendants' actions infringe on Minnesota's sovereignty and send a message that reverberates across the country.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

@wired.com is spot-on describing the goal of Trump’s electoral interference. In its account of DHS’ efforts to coerce states compliance, though, they left out its military occupation of MN. Don’t get the connection? Here’s 28 Senators on the subject: www.padilla.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

wired.com
ICE's effort to create a national voter database is part of a much broader effort within the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration to undermine trust in the upcoming midterm elections. For more than a year,

Highlights in **’s

The unauthorized nature of these lawsuits was exposed by your January 24 letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz **seeking voter rolls as a condition to ending the dangerous recent deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to the state** that has cost two innocent Americans their lives.' This letter marked an unacceptable escalation of DOJ's campaign to centralize state voter rolls and sensitive personal information under its control. **It is also the clearest admission that the Department knows it lacks authority to obtain state voter rolls and is instead resorting to strong arm tactics and intimidation by force.** The whole country now sees this pursuit of state voter rolls for what it is, nothing more than an "apparent ransom.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Increasingly clearly, high officials describe Donald Trump’s efforts to wage war on the United States—without expressly naming his acts with the appropriate Constitutional term: It’s treason.

Donald Trump, speaking as Commander in Chief, has called for a war on U.S. cities. As President, he has directed his Attorney General and his Secretary of Homeland Security to take action against "sanctuary" jurisdictions. His Secretary of Homeland Security has assembled a paramilitary force and dispatched that force to terrorize U.S. cities, disrupt the services of their sovereign state governments, and suppress the legitimate dissent of their people. Nearly half of our state governments warn these efforts threaten to unravel the fabric of our Union. His Attorney General has offered to end this campaign of force should a sovereign state surrender voter rolls which our courts have established Donald Trump has no legal right to demand. More than a quarter of our Senate chamber already understands this demand for what it is: an attempt to achieve via force of arms a result Donald Trump has failed to secure in court.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Again, don’t sleep on the new birthright EO bc it’s not likely to hold up in court. Accept this is something he’s openly, formally, announced he *intends* to do. Accept what that tells us about the intent behind all his various “immigration enforcement” efforts www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

Highlights in **’s

p. 6
Indeed, standing alone the **new Order would appear to apply to people who have lived their entire lives as citizens, potentially going back generations;** to children of permanent residents; and even to naturalized citizens (for example a naturalized citizen whose parent was employed by an embassy).

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

ourcommons.ca
We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
1. Formally declare Pete Hoekstra persona non grata and request his removal as U.S. Ambassador to Canada;
2. Raise with the United States the pattern of conduct by Ambassador Hoekstra inconsistent with the Vienna
convention on Diplomatic Relations; and
3. Direct a parliamentary committee to review U.S. diplomatic interference in Canadian domestic affairs.
L History
Open for signature
July 21, 2026, at 3:41 p.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
November 18, 2026, at 3:41 p.m. (EDT)

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The author therefore proposes a 3-part test: symbolic performance is an element. This seems like a common problem with confronting Trump: he just openly does shit that most actors try to hide, which ironically makes it harder to parse his meaning. Ppl can’t believe what they’re seeing. 2/

Highlights in **’s

academic.oup.com
(iii) Symbolic performance of power
Finally, **the third qualification is the symbolic performance of power. Is there evidence that the state employs national symbolic representations to reflect its perspective of the territory as integral to its own?** Are other defining symbols, such as other

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I haven’t done the legwork, but is anyone analyzing the degree to which Trump’s decree purporting to rename Lake Ontario acts as a Declaration of Annexation? NB: This author notes that formal declarations essentially never happen now that the practice is banned. 1/ academic.oup.com/ojls/article...

academic.oup.com
Both before and after its prohibition, annexation is described as 'an official state act signifying an extension of sovereignty'- Such formal state acts may include proclamations, flag hoisting or

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

So, I don’t think that every single Dem feels the same way about, for example, Presidentially-imposed tariffs. But I’m not sure why you think ending Presidential tariff authority is part of the Democratic platform. (If you have their ‘26 platform I’d love to see it. Here’s the Dems in ‘24): 1/

Highlights in **’s

**President Biden** has taken decisive action to counter unfair economic practices by the PRC and level the playing field for American workers, **strategically increasing tariffs on a variety of products** such as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.
President Biden also knows that for America to succeed in future competition with China, we must continue to invest in our workers and industrial base now. That is why he issued an executive order on outbound investment, preserving and protecting American and allied national security interests by denying China access to most advanced technologies that allow them to develop their military and surveillance capacities. He also tightened restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips and manufacturing equipment, as well as semiconductor, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing technologies to China, stifling their military use of these technologies.
And in areas where it is in the interests of the United States and the world for our two nations to work together - like addressing climate change and countering fentany! trafficking - the United States will do so. President Biden pushed China to take action to curb the flow of fentanyl into the Americas, as well as to commit to climate change mitigation efforts as part of a global coalition.
For all of this tough talk on China, **Trump failed** to deliver results for the American people.
**His reckless proposal to raise tariffs by 10 percent** - not just on goods from China, but across the board on any imported goods from any country in the world - will cost American families an estimated $1,500 a year. His threat of a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods will add another $1,000 annually. Trump's temper tantrums have harmed our alliances, and if he is elected, will hurt the American people. Trump talks. President Biden delivers.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

So many are eagerly imagining what a Democratic POTUS would do with the imperial powers the Trump administration has unlocked. Even if you could produce outcomes like prosperity through authoritarian process, it still wouldn’t be good. Democracy is an end in and of itself We have Boromir democrats.

Boromir, Fellowship of the Ring, at the council of Elrond:

“It is a gift!”

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

If anyone sees Senator Grassley, consider asking him if his dander is sufficiently up to publicly tell the House Judiciary Committee to get busy w/ the Articles against Vought that @kamlager-dove.house.gov introduced this month. Seems like they speak to his concern: www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

congress.gov
Resolved, That Russell Thurlow
Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:
ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER
THROUGH IMPROPER
IMPOUNDMENT OF CONGRESSIONALLY
APPROPRIATED FUNDS

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Hard to square this assertion with the fact that WP *just* reported that the Kennedy Center’s finances “deteriorated sharply” after Trump attached his name to it. These bad faith arguments will not stop until parties fear the court more than the President. www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...

storage.courtlistener.com
The Board recognizes that President Trump's efforts and prestige provide the sole hope for
the Center's financial survival, and structural renewal. The Board also underscores, and the undisputed evidence demonstrates, that without the prominent recognition of The Trump Administration, and President Trump's efforts, the donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral. The Trump Administration, and President
Donald J. Trump, should, therefore, be given the respect and dignity of acknowledgement.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I suppose this could mean they want to stay on his good side by making headlines about supporting him, but know full well that unless they do more USPS still can’t legally proceed. But I suspect it means the fix is in & theyll address other blocks soon too.

Cite as: 609 U. S. _
- (2026)
9
Per Curiam
those same States.? And it prevents the Postal Service from so much as initiating a rulemaking that could yield a rule applicable to these States. **Because reversal of the District Court's judgment would come too late for the 2026 mid-terms, the District Court's errors deal "a serious setback" to the Executive's "goals" while this litigation unfolds. Coleman v. Paccar Inc., 424 U. S. 1301, 1307 (1976) (Rehnquist,
J., in chambers). When a federal court "improperly intrudes on a coordinate branch" in this way, interim relief is justified.** Trump v. CASA, Inc., 606 U. S. 831, 859 (2025) (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted).

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

This isn’t my area, but it *appears* that the legislative petition process in Canada is a formal mechanism by which Canadians can demand responses from their govt. Parliament needn’t grant what this petition asks, but it *will* need to address it substantively. www.ourcommons.ca/procedure/pr...

ourcommons.ca
Chapter 22: Public
Petitions
Chapter Summary
Previous
Next
Government Response to Petitions
• The government must respond to every petition presented to the House within 45 calendar days of its presentation or filing with the Clerk.
• The Privy Council Office processes responses to petitions after they have been presented to the House.
• The government tables responses during Routine Proceedings or deposits them with the Clerk.
• As soon as possible after tabling, the government's response is published on the petitions website.
• The lack of a response must be considered by a standing committee selected by the member who presented the petition.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

There’s a petition to the Canadian Parliament open for signature rn that asks they “persona non grata” their US Ambassador for his repeated public threats to Canadian sovereignty. It has about 250k signatures rn. Worth a read. www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

ourcommons.ca
• Petition details
Petition to the House of Commons
Whereas:
• U.S Ambassador Pete Hoekstra has repeatedly made public statements undermining the Canada-U.S. diplomatic relations, including characterizing the 2025
Canadian federal election as "anti-American";
• Ambassador Hoekstra has normalized the Trump administration's threats to annex Canada as the "51 st state," describing such rhetoric as a "term of endearment";
• Ambassador Hoekstra has accused Canada of

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

www.liberalcurrents.com/what-comes-a...

LIBERAL CURRENTS

First, responsiveness has to become visible. When agencies collect feedback from citizens, that feedback cannot disappear into a procedural void.
People need to see how public input changes institutional behavior. A transit authority responding to repeated complaints about unsafe stations, for example, should publicly document what changes were implemented, what proposals were rejected, and why. A city government

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

www.liberalcurrents.com/what-comes-a...

LIBERAL CURRENTS

What we are missing is a "theory of repair." This is not a project for the communications department.
It is a practical, almost mechanical requirement to earn trust through visible, messy, and ongoing responsiveness.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Good time to remind ppl that @repcohen.bsky.social has filed Articles of Impeachment against CJ Roberts. They make interesting use of Roberts’ judicial oath as a source of law. I’m most intrigued by Art III but there are others that speak to this latest ballroom bs. www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

ARTICLE IV: VIOLATION OF OATH: UNACCOUNTABLE
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
In taking the Judicial Oath, Chief Justice Roberts swore to
"administer justice without respect to persons." However, in

ARTICLE V: VIOLATION OF OATH: ARBITRARY DECISIONS
Under Chief Justice Roberts's administration of the Supreme Court, the Court has greatly expanded its use of the
emergency docket. These orders, styled as temporary interventions but in effect often providing a conclusive disposition of the matters, lack any meaningful analysis of the issues, explanation of the decision, or guidance for future application.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

@raskin.house.gov this is a much better message. Thank you for speaking clearly, sir. I still think impeachment serves crucial extra-procedural purposes, but I’m glad to read you plan to directly target Trump—and that you aren’t taking impeachment off the table. www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Reps. Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, who would lead the Oversight and Judiciary committees, respectively, if the party takes back the House, said they're wasting no time in preparing an all-out oversight campaign targeting Trump, his family, and his administration.

Now, after two impeachments that failed to remove Trump from office and with a party base intent on pulling no punches, House Democrats are reluctant to take anything off the table — while also recognizing the limitations of impeachment as a check on Trump's power.
"Nobody on the Democratic side is afraid of impeachment," Raskin said this week, adding that he considers it a "tool in the toolbox."

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Have you seen this essay? mail.cyberneticforests.com/what-machine...

mail.cyberneticforests.com
This claim, usually tossed around online, is that humans are also just next-token predictors, that the human brain is a pattern-finding machine and speech reflects this.
To believe this to be true, one would have to imagine that all human speech is motivated entirely by grammar. I have no

mail.cyberneticforests.com
But many people can fall prey to a strange paradox here: unable to recognize that there is no "imagination" in the
assertions of an LLM about itself, we also fail to acknowledge that the text produced by the model is nonetheless imaginary, a hypothetical conjecture of symbols in proper slots whose connection to an imagined "self" is absent. The
imagination is in the language, not the model, and it is socially activated.
Current architectures of LLMs cannot imagine, but they can sequence. They can operate within our imaginative symbolic frameworks, but they cannot use symbols because they cannot imagine themselves participating in the negotiation of those symbols. For the same reason that a dog can go to church but a dog cannot be Catholic, an LLM can have a
conversation but cannot participate in the conversation.

mail.cyberneticforests.com
The decision to equate human thought with complex machine slotting has significant social implications. It presupposes that human expression is only and without exception the automation of grammar, that words always and without exception
determine, for themselves, when they will appear. The mind becomes a vast mathematical vector space through which words assert themselves rather than a
personal library through which words are, sometimes, found.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Even if this is true, what’s his basis for acting, as a state official? It’s not his duty to guarantee republic government—that falls to the United States. And SCOTUS has said the “proper authority” here is Congress, acting via its power to admit its own members. Am I missing something?

Luther v. Borden, 48 U.S. 1
(1849)

And when the senators and representatives of a State are admitted into the councils of the Union, the authority of the government under which they are appointed, as well as its republican character, is recognized by
the proper constitutional authority.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I still don’t understand what your basis for this view is. I understand why you hold the position you do, but to say that alternatives are “flatly and unambiguously illegal” overstates your case. Where is this issue conclusively addressed? scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcont... 1/

Highlights in **’s

107:1181 (2013)
Seventeenth Amendment
created.* Assuming incapacity could create a vacancy in the Senate, it is debatable what constitutes incapacity and who may declare a senator incapacitated; neither federal statutes nor congressional rules provide an answer." Historical practice is similarly unhelpful: members have been unable to appear in Congress (sometimes for quite some time) without their seats being treated as vacant? The closest to an example of incapacity creating a vacancy is when Gladys Noon Spellman was in a coma when her House term began in 1981. The House decided her seat was vacant for the new term because she could not appear to take the oath of office. But since the decision came at the start of a term, this case is more like the Senate refusing to seat any senator, which was discussed above. **It is an open question whether incapacity in the midst of a term causes a vacancy to happen in Congress.**
2. The Writ of Flection

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Unless you have some scheme involving private rights of action, or a strategy to deputize state AGs, or something similar that relocates enforcement powers out of the federal executive. This is the only bit I’ve seen from this plan that means anything to me. I promise I’m really looking. 17/

• Allows anyone within U.S. jurisdiction to sue ICE and CBP officers who violate their constitutional rights. (ICE and CBP Constitutional Accountability Act - Sen. Merkley)
• Bans racial profiling by all federal law enforcement agents.
4. Reaffirm Equal Justice Under Law:

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

There’s no text up yet, but here’s the summary: LOOK at this exception. I dont dispute that you need to write laws this way; the govt does need the power to act, and most govt action involves a careful balancing of interests. 7/ www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

congress.gov
Under the bill, the FCC retains its authority to take action or impose conditions on the basis of (1) violations of certain existing laws regarding lottery information, fraud, and obscene language; or (2) the broadcast or other dissemination of content that constitutes incitement under the First Amendment.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Let’s look at another example. I don’t have the text yet, but elsewhere this plan promises it will prevent the FCC from doing things that—let’s be clear—are already breathtakingly illegal. 6/

5. Strengthen Free Speech:
Prohibits the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from revoking business licenses or aking action against broadcasters based on the viewpoints they broadcast and reaffirms the importance of the independence of the FCC, including that the President should not mandate the FCC's agenda. (Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act - Sen. Luján)

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Is it the “Inspectors General assemble!” provisions? He fired them, Senator. He dismantled the whole system your bill imagines it can plug in to. How does this plan address that? 4/

14
(3) COORDINATION.—The Inspector General of
15
the Executive Office of the President shall coordi-
16
nate with other Inspectors General and the Informa-
17
tion Security Oversight Office to ensure that evalua-
18
tions follow a consistent methodology, as appro-
19
priate, that allows for cross-agency comparisons.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Is it this stuff? The reporting to Congress if the President kills an investigation? How’s the War Powers Act working, in 2026? 3/

"(3) NOTICE AFTER PROHIBITION.—
"(A) TO INSPECTOR GENERAL.—If the
President exercises any power under paragraph
(2), not later than 30 days after exercising any such power, the President shall notify the Inspector General of the Executive Office of the President in writing, stating the reasons for exercising that power.
"(B) To CONGRESS.—Not later than 30
days after receiving a notice under subpara-graph (A), the Inspector General of the Executive Office of the President shall transmit a
copy of the notice to the chair and ranking
member of each of the following:
"(i) The Committee on Homeland Se-
curity and Governmental Affairs of the
Senate.
"(ii) The Committee on the Judiciary

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Some examples: what are the provisions to “ensure the independence” of an IG within the Executive Office of the President? How does this bill do that, given the current SCOTUS precedents? You can’t just assert that it does. Please explain. www.congress.gov/119/bills/s2... 2/

• Creates an Inspector General within the Executive Office of the President with provisions to ensure its independence. (Bringing Executive Accountability, Clarity, and Oversight Now
(BEACON) Act - Sen. Schiff)
• Requires Special Envoys to submit financial disclosure reports and other ethics requirements

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Okay. So I’m trying to keep an open mind. My 1st response to this plan was disbelief. I’ve read more from this package (not all of them are published yet—at least based on the links in this outline). I don’t understand how this plan is meant to work. 1/ www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

For Our REPUBLIC
This legislation would curtail the known playbook of authoritarian governments, oppose the rise of authoritarianism in the U.S., protect our Democratic principles, and counter the erosion of government under the second Trump Administration. This bill would:

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Please let’s evolve. It’s been time. (Thank you @chrisgeidner.bsky.social.) www.lawdork.com/p/the-presum...

lawdork.com

If the presumption of irregularity is the norm in the Blanche era, then lawyers, judges, journalists, and anyone else engaged in this moment is going to need to adjust their ways of operating accordingly.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

One of the greatest "fuck you, make me" moments in US history. Unlike now, when House rules expressly allow reps to bring impeachment resolutions directly to the floor, JQA did this *against* a rule banning slavery petitions, arguing the rule was unconstitutional. capitolhistory.org/USCHS-Capito...

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

In America, the law is King. contextus.org/James_Wilson...

Highlights in **’s

James Wilson's Lectures on L... • Aa
OLL
king." I have before observed that, in England, allegiance is considered as due to the natural, as well as to the moral person of the king. **This part of the statute of treasons has been always
understood as extending** to a violation of allegiance in both those points of view—**to the levying of war not only against his person, but also against his authority or laws.' The levying of war against the United States can, for the reasons already suggested, be considered only in the latter view.**

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

If it does, someone should tell Sen Mike Lee, who’s currently trying to get this passed the old fashioned way (as an Act of Congress). www.lee.senate.gov/2026/7/lee-b...

MIKE LEE
US SENATOR for UTAH
Lee Bill
Authorizes American Hackers to Fight Foreign Cyberattacks
July 15, 2026
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Mike Lee
(R-UT) today introduced legislation that would allow private American entities to prevent foreign cyberattacks against the United States. The Cyber Letters of Marque and Reprisal Act authorizes President Trump to issue letters of marque and reprisal to strategically deter and disrupt cyber operations against the U.S. The bill continues Senator Lee's…

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

That’s something people can disagree about. But imo impeachment proceedings draw more sustained interest from the public; ppl intuitively get impeachment is the needed remedy here & if Dems publicly telegraph it’s not a priority that’s a problem for the midterms. www.newsweek.com/donald-trump...

newsweek.com

Among independents, a critical voting group for the midterms, 50 percent supported impeachment, while 28 percent opposed it. The poll found some support for impeachment among Republicans, with 21 percent saying they would support it. Still, 72 percent of Republican respondents said they were in opposition.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Congress more experts period. It needs a civil service. This is what the APA/LRA Congress envisioned, to ensure the they properly controlled the admin state. But they couldn’t end their spoils system. Turns out, there are a lot of qualified ppl they could hire rn. lawreview.gmu.edu/print__issue...

lawreview.gmu.edu
democracy itself. While the LRA and the APA advanced different aspects of the solution-increasing congressional capacity and efficiency versus applying legal constraints on agencies-they were designed to address the same problem, namely the inevitable arrival of the modern administrative state. The LRA's approach to reasserting congressional control, in Senator La Follette's view, required merging committee consolidation, increased committee staff expertise, and centralized party control.

lawreview.gmu.edu
resistance. 139 As mentioned earlier, the Act as introduced created a director of
congressional personnel who would provide committee chairs with a list of suitable
candidates for appointment as committee staff. 140 In addition to this, Senator La Follette expected that committee staff would not move with committee chairs from one assignment to another. As he explained, "with the exception of one or two committees in the Senate, the staff of the committee moves around with the chairman. We want to get away from that." 141 The committee staff would serve on good behavior and have merit protection like that civil servants possessed
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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

lessig.substack.com/p/on-the-man... You don’t need details of how this insider trading scheme works to know if it’s corrupt. SCOTUS has perverted the idea of Constitutional corruption, but Congress is not a court & impeachment is not a criminal trial. Chart a better path. bsky.app/profile/macf...

Highlights in **’s

The kleptocracy of the Trump administration is something totally different. **Multiple
investigations have established that Trump and his family have benefited by billions of dollars since he became president for the second time.**
Don Jr. brags that the family will become the richest in America by the end of the term. The family openly leverages its connection to the regulatory power of the federal government to drive benefit to itself. The President is literally shameless about his and his family's behavior.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

And @housedemocrats.bsky.social somehow think that they need hearings to determine whether this is actionable. If they do this they send a message to the public that this kind of naked corruption might somehow be legal—depending on details yet unknown. Big mistake. www.thestate.com/news/nation-...

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S.
House Democrats preparing for a possible return to power are developing a broad investigative strategy targeting companies and financial firms surrounding President Donald Trump, instead of trying to impeach him immediately, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

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