iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

We're hiring! The Knight Institute is looking for a litigator to join us for a two-year position fighting for free speech in the digital age. knightcolumbia.org/page/staff_a...

knightcolumbia.org

| Knight First Amendment Institute

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Shana Knizhnik @shanakn.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The D.C. Circuit is hearing Media Matters for America v. FTC today, about the retaliatory investigation into @mmfa.bsky.social after it called out Nazi ads on Twitter. Judge Patricia Millett pushed FTC lawyer, “there’s nothing radical about being anti-Nazi, right?” He wouldn’t answer that question.

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Look at all these smart people I get to work with (listening to oral arguments and getting ready to cheer on Cecilia)

A room of attorneys with two TV's playing audio of the SCOTUS oral arguments on birthright citizenship

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Kate Klonick @klonick.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

There is a certain sad kismetic irony to birthright citizenship being heard in the Supreme Court on April Fools' Day, because if you had told me if ever in my lifetime we would be litigating birth right citizenship, I would have thought you were joking.

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ACLU @aclu.org · 27/02/2026

Being able to drive as ourselves and use the correct bathroom are essential to basic everyday life — they aren't privileges afforded to only people who aren't transgender. We're suing the state of Kansas.

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 27/02/2026

Breaking News: Two transgender Kansans sued the state over a law this week that abruptly invalidated the driver’s licenses of residents who had changed their gender designations.

nyti.ms

Transgender Kansas Residents Sue After Driver’s Licenses Are Invalidated

As Kansas invalidates hundreds of licenses and birth certificates, transgender people say their constitutional rights have been violated.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

All three people arrested by the feds in connection with the protest at the ICE pastor's church — Nekima Levy-Armstrong, Chauntyll Allen, and William Kelly — have now been ordered released. Judge's order as to the first two: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

CASE 0:26-mj-00040-LMP-DLM
Doc. 22 Filed 01/23/26 Page 1 of 9
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
Criminal No. 26-mj-40 (DLM)
ORDER
NEKIMA VALDEZ LEVY-ARMSTRONG a/k/a "Nekima Valdez Levy-Pounds"; and CHAUNTYLL
LOUISA ALLEN,
Defendants.
Robert Keenan and Orlando Sonza, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Washington, D.C., for Plaintiff.
Jordan S. Kushner, Law Office of Jordan S. Kushner, Minneapolis, MN, for Defendant Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong.
Jill Anna Brisbois, The JAB Firm, Minneapolis, MN, for Defendant Chauntyll Louisa Allen.
This matter comes before the Court on the United States' application and motion for
emergency stay and for review and revocation of U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas L.
Micko's release orders. ECF Nos. 7, 17. Because the United States fails to meet its burden
to demonstrate that a detention hearing is warranted, or that detention is otherwise
appropriate, the Court denies the motion.

ORDER
Based on the foregoing, and on all of the files, records, and proceedings herein, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. The United States' Application for Review or Reconsideration of Order
Setting Conditions of Release or Detention (18 U.S.C. § 3142) and Request for Hearing
(ECF No. 7) and Motion for Emergency Stay and for Review and Revocation of Release
Orders (ECF No. 17) are DENIED.
2. Defendants are hereby ORDERED RELEASED under 18 U.S.C. § 3142(c).
3. Defendants are ORDERED to comply with two additional conditions of release (7)(d)* and (7)(e) in the Orders Setting Conditions of Release (ECF Nos. 12
and 15).
4. Defendants are ORDERED to certify their compliance with the additional
conditions of release no later than 5:00 p.m. on January 26, 2026, by filing a declaration
on CM/ECF.
Dated: January 23, 2026
s/Laura M. Provinzino
Laura M. Provinzino
United States District Judge

Minute Entry for proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Shannon G. Elkins: Initial Appearance and Detention Hearing under 3142(f) as to William Scott Kelly held on 1/23/2026.
Counsel to be appointed. Government moves for a detention hearing. Counsel argues as to the setting of a detention hearing under 18 USC 3142(f)(2). Governments motion is Denied. The Court finds a detention hearing is not authorized. Personal Recognizance Bond set with conditions, see Order Setting Conditions of Release. Government moves to STAY the order.
Denied. Next appearance date is TBD before a U.S. Magistrate Judge for: Preliminary hrg.
Government moves to unseal the case. Granted. Oral Rule(f) Brady notice read on the record.
Consular notice read on the record. (Court Reporter Paula Richter) (LEG) (Entered: 01/23/2026)
ORDER Setting Conditions of Release as to William Scott Kelly. Signed by Magistrate Judge Shannon G. Elkins on 1/23/2026. (LEG) (Entered: 01/23/2026)
Personal Recognizance Bond Entered as to William Scott Kelly. Signed by Magistrate Judge Shannon G. Elkins on 1/23/2026. (LEG) (Entered: 01/23/2026)

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ACLU @aclu.org · 29/12/2025

BREAKING: We just filed an amicus brief challenging a Florida school board's ban of "And Tango Makes Three," a children's book about gay penguins. School officials can't overrule the First Amendment.

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Shana Knizhnik @shanakn.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I am intersex and I exist. I love my trans siblings, who also exist. Our existence, and our resistance, will outlast this administration.

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 20/08/2025

Video of Columbia Heights residents driving ICE agents out of their area. source: www.instagram.com/reel/DNjkvLQ...

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Shayna Medley @shaynam.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

There is so much context missing from the discussion of the Davis cert petition. People are understandably scared. It’s also incredibly dangerous to act like same sex marriage has already been overturned and much of the mainstream reporting is frankly irresponsible.

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A. Goad (she/her or ze/zir) @agoadesq.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Mahmoud v. Taylor was an awful SCOTUS decision, an attack on the humanity of 🌈 families and on some of the basic premises of public education in a pluralistic society. But it’s not the end of the world or of inclusive education...

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23/05/2025

i think it is bad that high level public officials do not respect the offices they hold or the public they are supposed to serve

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Shana Knizhnik @shanakn.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

If you’d told me as a teenager that as an adult I would be publicly advocating for intersex people in my hometown paper, @inquirer.com, I wouldn’t have believed you! www.inquirer.com/life/interse...

inquirer.com

For Philly’s intersex community, Trump administration’s focus on gender and sex is a threat

Intersex people are speaking out in the face of the administration’s efforts to define sex as a biological binary.

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interACT Advocates @interact.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

What happened to "do no harm"? Several hospitals across the US stopped providing necessary care to consenting transgender patients. Still, they’ve spent decades refusing to stop “normalizing” intersex infants’ bodies without their consent. @transequality.bsky.social www.advocate.com/voices/donal...

advocate.com

First, do no harm—unless you're intersex or trans

Opinion: Hospitals are abandoning transgender and intersex patients, denying them essential care and autonomy. It's time for hospitals to uphold their ethical duty and provide life-saving gender-affir...

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ACLU @aclu.org · 05/05/2025

NEW: We filed a complaint with the National Guard challenging President Trump's executive order prohibiting transgender people from using restrooms aligned with their gender identity in federal buildings. Everyone deserves equal access to public facilities.

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ACLU @aclu.org · 29/04/2025

Kick off World Pride with us in DC on May 17 as we unveil our Freedom to Be quilt made by trans artists from across the nation. RSVP today at aclu.org/free-to-be 🏳️‍⚧️

Bright green graphic with text "Featuring 250 artworks created by hundreds of trans folks and allies across the country, along with live music, DJ sets, and more fun surprises! RSVP at aclu.org/freetobe-dc " at the bottom reads "in partnership with World Pride, NYCLU, Gender Liberation Movement, ACLU District of Columbia"

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Shana Knizhnik @shanakn.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

My first case as lead attorney at @aclu.org is now on file. As the government tries at all levels to erase LGBTQ people—and transgender people in particular—from public life, the principles we seek to uphold in this case couldn’t be more vital.

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

You're going to be tempted to engage in discourse focused on what Mahmoud Khalil said--was it actually antisemitic? Did he endorse Hamas?--and I cannot encourage you enough not to do that. It just doesn't matter what he said because you should not be detained and deported over what you say, period.

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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

We coulda had the free lunches for kids guy

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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Your regular reminder that the first known clinic to offer gender-affirming surgeries was … destroyed by Nazis. In 1933. (Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft.) They always come for trans people first.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 25/01/2025

very excited to see what happens when you make a deeply compromised addict the leader of the department of defense and subordinate to a madman

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Trump's executive order attempts to codify a grade-school understanding of sex and biology defied by the very existence of intersex people--which is probably why it doesn't mention them at all

Despite intersex invisibility in broader society, our incontrovertible existence demonstrates that Trump’s order is neither based in reality nor biology. Countering current medical doctrine and millennia-old literary references, the new executive order makes numerous false assertions that contribute to our erasure, one of which directly pertains to my own lived experience. “‘Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell,” reads Trump's executive order. I was born with internal testicles and an external vagina. I have XY chromosomes and my birth certificate has always said Female. I never produced the "large reproductive cell" and only produced the "small reproductive cell" until I was sterilized without my consent as an infant, in order to fit my body into this scientifically unsound sex binary the executive order seeks to falsify into law.

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Shana Knizhnik @shanakn.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I am intersex and I exist. I love my trans siblings, who also exist. Our existence, and our resistance, will outlast this administration.

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Big tell in this Trump order targeting trans people: "at conception"

(d) "Female" means a person belonging, at
conception, to the sex that produces the large
reproductive cell.

(e) Male" means a person belonging, at conception,
to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 21/01/2025

TLDR: There is nothing enforceable for the immediate future. It will take months or years to implement this via rulemaking or bureaucratic changes which are then subject to legal challenge. While it's worrying, there's no immediate change yet for most trans people. Do not comply in advance.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

BREAKING: Here is Trump's unconstitutional order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship. It takes effect in 30 days, but expect a challenge as early as tonight or tomorrow. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Sec. 2. Policy. (a) It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons: (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.

(b) Subsection (a) of this section shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

A colleague shared this advice for processing the executive orders Trump is going to sign next week

Undoubtedly, there will be Day 1 and Week 1 executive orders and declarations of policy via social media, not to mention additional attacks in the years ahead. It is critical that, on Day 1 and beyond, we carefully and rigorously work to understand what a given action actually does (and doesn't) do.
Very few executive orders change policy immediately. They cannot immediately change regulations, and they cannot change the law as established through statutes and the courts. Rather, there will be steps that take time and follow a clear process (such as the regulatory process requiring agencies to make notice, to solicit comments, to review such comments, and then to issue final rules). In some instances, litigation is not only expected but is also already being prepared.
We do not want to encourage anticipatory obedience, rather than asserting what is and is not happening at a given moment.

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Shana Knizhnik @shanakn.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Lesbian representation is so important

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Is this pro or anti

A person in a blue coat and sunglasses holds a protest sign outside SCOTUS that says "SEX CHANGE IS A FANTASY"

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Shana Knizhnik @shanakn.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

SG Prelogar points out that TN’s asserted interest in protecting the fertility of trans kids is inconsistent w its explicit exceptions for surgeries on intersex infants, which obviously affect their fertility. I believe this is the first mention of intersex kids at SCOTUS, ever.

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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 18/11/2024

What it looked like outside Moulton's office today, curtesy of Jonathon Cohn. Democrats should not leave LGBTQ+ people behind. They are a large part of the Democratic base, a force with real voting power, and should not be taken for granted.

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

House Republicans will vote again next week to give Trump the power to falsely label & punish nonprofit groups he doesn’t like as “terrorist-supporting” without due process. Most Democrats opposed the measure last week, but some voted for it. If your rep is one of them, call & urge them to oppose:

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Jaclyn Friedman @jaclynf.bsky.social · 07/11/2024

Y'all know I'm going to fight. I'm going to build with communities of resistance and refusal. You'll hear from me about that, trust. But today I want to share another hot tip for survival in dark times: plan for joy. 1/x

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