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Sherrilyn Ifill

@sifill.bsky.social
270K followers 532 following 6.5K posts

Civil rights lawyer; democracy warrior, dedicated to racial justice & equality. Fmr President & Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Precisely.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We can’t just move past what SCOTUS has permitted this Administration to do to people who have lived and worked in the U.S. for years and even decades.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
My new piece is up. Not so fast SCOTUS…. sherrilyn.substack.com/p/the-new-sc...
sherrilyn.substack.com
The New SCOTUS Term Begins Today. But Let’s Not Move on Too Quickly From What SCOTUS Did Last Week
The new Supreme Court term begins this week.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"For America to right itself, we need changes on the scale of Reconstruction and the New Deal. And I worry that’s not going to happen if Democrats and the broader anti-Trump left are taking their cues about what’s necessary and politically possible from the Times." newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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Jared @jaredmcclain.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A federal district court just held that police use of Flock cameras without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
constitutionally collect this information about one car-and its driver-by
following that vehicle on public roadways over a month. But this leaves the
question of why is it the government's business where everyone goes all the
time? The government cannot go snooping through our personal lives and
business without an adequate basis to do so. That is what the Supreme Court
has said since its decision in Katz through its decision in Chatrie this year,
nearly sixty years later. It is not too much to draw the line at indiscriminate
mass surveillance.
No doubt, ALPR technology comes with remarkable benefits that the
Court cannot ignore. But the Fourth Amendment requires courts to draw a line when the cost is too great. Alaniz's search in just the ALPR system
provided him with more than 50 individual records of Kyle's whereabouts
across the country for an entire month. The Court finds that because the
ALPR systems Alaniz used to search Kyle's historical location information
intruded on her reasonable expectation of privacy in the whole of her physical
movements, it was a search under the Fourth Amendment. Based on the
information in the record, the only reason Alaniz conducted that search was
because he saw her license plate was from California. That search was not
supported by probable cause, and it was done without a warrant in violation
of Kyle's Fourth Amendment rights. That search also has a nexus to the
remainder of the traffic stop because Alaniz began following Kyle's car while
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Today, 8 years ago, my friend, Saudi Journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered.
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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 Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW: After SCOTUS allowed Tennessee execution to go ahead, Tennessee botched the execution. SCOTUS, over the liberals’ dissent, cleared the way for Tennessee to kill Christa Pike. The alarming order from DC was followed by even more disturbing developments in Tennessee.
lawdork.com
After SCOTUS allowed Tennessee execution to go ahead, Tennessee botches the execution
SCOTUS, over the liberals’ dissent, cleared the way for Tennessee to kill Christa Pike. The alarming order from DC was followed by even more disturbing developments in Tennessee.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I've been covering the death penalty in depth for a dozen years now, and few nights have been as disturbing and dispiriting as tonight. This was a moral, ethical, and legal failure on several different fronts from many different actors. It wasn't *just* SCOTUS, though they sure were a key part.
lawdork.com
After SCOTUS allowed Tennessee execution to go ahead, Tennessee botched the execution
SCOTUS, over the liberals’ dissent, cleared the way for Tennessee to kill Christa Pike. The alarming order from DC was followed by even more disturbing developments in Tennessee.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
BREAKING: SCOTUS’s Republican appointees will allow Tennessee to kill Christa Pike tonight, vacating a stay of execution entered by the Sixth Circuit this morning. The three Democratic appointees dissent.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 26A428
KENNETH NELSEN, WARDEN v. CHRISTA GAIL PIKE
ON APPLICATION TO VACATE STAY
[September 30, 2026]
The application to vacate stay of execution of sentence of death presented to JUSTICE KAVANAUGH and by him referred to the Court is granted. The September 30, 2026 order of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Cir-cuit, case No. 26-5864, granting a stay of execution is vacated.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and
JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
The State of Tennessee is set to execute Christa Pike for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Earlier today, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a stay of Pike's execution solely to "adequately address and resolve" the issues presented in Pike's pending application for relief. Order in In re Pike, No. 26-5864, ECF Doc. 10-2, p. 2. Tennessee now asks this Court to vacate that stay and permit it to proceed with Pike's execution today. Stunningly, the Court acquiesces. Because its decision clears the way for the State to execute Pike before her still-pending legal challenges to her conviction can be properly considered, I respectfully dissent.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
What intimate and embarrassing conversations could the Governor of Texas be legitimately having with Elon Musk? Every voter in Texas should want to know.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Honestly this is just astonishing.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A great deal happened today. But nothing more important than this. SCOTUS allows Trump Administration to continue sending detained migrants to third countries with which the migrants have no prior connection. Just appalling.
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 29/09/2026
For years we've heard that Biden created a "Ministry of Truth," which didn't actually happen. But, I still hear people talking about it. But then Trump directed his FCC boss to be a literal Minister of Truth and the story disappeared within a day or two. What are we even doing here?
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Verite News @veritenews.org · 28/09/2026
He fled genocide in Myanmar. ICE detained him in Louisiana. Min Khant Zaw, a Rohingya and Kaman activist and asylum seeker, had his life upended after spending seven weeks inside an ICE detention facility in Louisiana.
veritenews.org
He fled genocide in Myanmar. ICE detained him in Louisiana.
Min Khant Zaw, a Rohingya and Kaman activist and asylum seeker, had his life upended after spending seven weeks inside an ICE detention facility in Louisiana.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 28/09/2026
🚨 FACT: There is a federal criminal law that prohibits any armed agent of the federal government from being at the polls. There is only one exception. Marc Elias explains. Stay in the know: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Just unreal.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It sounds so serious that I wonder you have time to sit at a table with newscaster chatting about it.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I’d missed SG Sauer’s sly attempt to impugn Justices Jackson in his DHS v D.V.D petition. Thanks for lifting that up @stevevladeck.bsky.social . open.substack.com/pub/stevevla...
open.substack.com
253. Introducing “The Court We Need”
My second book about the Supreme Court offers a more nuanced diagnosis of exactly what’s wrong with the institution—and how (and why) we should fix it.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
@citizensforethics.org are you on this?
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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
With regard to the overt and jaw-dropping use of public money to manufacture and broadcast Trump politicals ads, I'm just spitballing here, but maybe, perhaps, if the U.S. Supreme Court didn't give the president blanket immunity from prosecution for crimes he wouldn't feel so comfortable criming.
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The Governor of Chaos 🇳🇬🇨🇩 @theigbobear.blacksky.app · 28/09/2026
Ravens won, Lamar getting a MVP, we winning the Super Bowl and Jesse Minter is a demon
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I gasped! The Mighty Sparrow has left us. One of the most important and popular Calypsonians to ever do it! Songs filled political fire, irreverence, humor, naughty (very, very naughty) banter, and beats that make you wind your waist! Rest in Power, Sparrow. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/a...
nytimes.com
The Mighty Sparrow, Trinidadian Titan of Calypso, Is Dead at 91
He was sometimes described as the last of the true calypso singers. But in fact he simultaneously preserved calypso tradition and invented it anew.
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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 27/09/2026
The Trump administration has deported tens of thousands of immigrants to so-called "third countries" that they have no connections to. "This is extraordinary rendition all over again, in broad daylight," says Tutu Alicante, a human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea.
democracynow.org
“Extraordinary Rendition All Over Again”: U.S. Deportees Sent to Equatorial Guinea Beaten, Imprisoned
Two men deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea were arrested by local police forces and transferred to a prison earlier this month, in apparent retaliation for speaking out about conditi...
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
He should make a quick phone call to Don Jr. and make this very point.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 27/09/2026
“Judges simply don’t believe the representations that are being made by United States attorneys, assistant United States attorneys and the like,” a former federal judge said. “I don’t think...in the history of jurisprudence in the United States, we’ve ever seen anything close to this.” (Pub. July)
propublica.org
Federal Judges Chastise Trump’s Justice Department for “Unlawful,” “Unethical” and “Unseemly” Conduct
ProPublica reviewed hundreds of cases in which judges criticized the actions of federal prosecutors. In many, judges expressed frustration that they can no longer take the government at its word.
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Thank you!
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The idea that people want AI oversight to happen "all of a sudden" ignores years of research, warnings, and policy efforts. The delay hasn’t been a lack of awareness; it’s been because of years of industry lobbying against regulation, political resistance, and inaction.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
So much of what we are confronting today is best understood by the actions undertaken by white communities in response to integration orders. White supremacy is a form of democratic nihilism. Every institution, norm, and value of democracy will be sacrificed for it. calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...
calendar.eji.org
Sep. 27, 1958 | White Little Rock Voters Choose to Close Public Schools Rather Than Integrate
Learn more about our history of racial injustice
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A nightmare. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/u...
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Allows Expansive Voter Screening Tool Ahead of Midterms (Gift Article)
Critics of the Trump administration system to monitor the citizenship status of voters had raised alarms about privacy and improper voter purges.
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Eric Schmitt @erschm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
8 Navy sailors in U.S.S. Lincoln Strike Group attempted suicide during its more than 300 days at sea www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/u...
nytimes.com
8 Sailors in U.S.S. Lincoln Strike Group Attempted Suicide, Navy Says
The aircraft carrier with its crew of about 5,000 sailors has spent more than 300 days at sea.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Now this I like!
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
UN charter (Article 2, sec 4): >>All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against ... any State<< Trump at UN: >>I have a big decision to make... Do I annihilate the Islamic Republic?... Do I drive them into hell??<<
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Thank you!
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Friday night at @politicsandprose.bsky.social in D.C. we had a great convo with @nikobowie.bsky.social and @daphnarenan.bsky.social about their remarkable new book Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Govt By the People.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
What I want white folks to understand is when you let your friends, business partners, elected officials, consultants talk about us this way, we don’t trust you either. So ask Walmart & Hewlett Packard about the ppl they pay as lobbyists.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
So in addition to being a former clerk to SCOTUS Justice Neil Gorsuch, Mike Davis’ lobbying clients include Hewlett Packard and Walmart. Have the CEOs of those companies been asked to “disavow” and “sever their relationships” with Mike Davis?? He is a grotesque racist.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
So in addition to being a former clerk to SCOTUS Justice Neil Gorsuch, Mike Davis’ lobbying clients include Hewlett Packard and Walmart. Have the CEOs of those companies been asked to “disavow” and “sever their relationships” with Mike Davis?? He is a grotesque racist.
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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Barack Obama drove a lot of white people insane. This was the election version of being ordered to integrate the town swimming pool, and choosing to fill it with cement instead.
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 19/09/2026
The AI industry wants you to say "the AI just did that thing on its own!" Like, United Health's AI that's denying a shitload of claims with a 90% error rate? They wanted you to think it's just the AI.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
He is in his bag. Love to see it!
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Come tonight! Then head over to the Kennedy Center!
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I have never tried to raise money for a political candidate running for Congress outside my home state. But I am publicly endorsing & supporting @angieforfl. A great event in D.C. last night for soon-to-be Senator @angieforfl. Great to run into old friend @jbrownedianis & new friend @isaiahrmartin!
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It worked with police so they figure it’s an effective tactic.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Your reminder here that the milieu that Stephens exists in and writes about is broadly non-representative. This helps to explain a lot of his writing on higher ed, which is mostly old rich people complaints about kids in traditionally rich people schools
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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 16/09/2026
according to politico, since Jan. 2025, Trump admin has deported 170+ people “in violation of court orders,” “in defiance of legally mandated due process protections,” or “to countries from which they had sought or received protection from torture and persecution” ballsandstrikes.org/ethics-accou...
ballsandstrikes.org
The Trump Justice Department Is Way Too Comfortable Violating Court Orders
Judges have tools for responding to noncompliance. They just have to use them.
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m @keptsimple.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Nate Silver bodied by John Delaney
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This is insane. DOJ officials who by law are required to exercise independent judgment appear to have been ordered to overturn torture protections granted to a political opponent of a Trump ally, with a deportation flight fueled up and ready for their preordained decision made in less than 24 hours.
nytimes.com
U.S. Fast-Tracked Deportation of Ecuadorean Politician Despite Torture Fears
The removal of José Serrano, a critic of President Daniel Noboa who has been accused of criminal activity, underscores how the Trump administration has asserted control over U.S. immigration courts.
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
With Trump unleashing insane tirades against regulating AI, Obama just urged Dems to adopt a comprehensive position on it, warning that failure to act now will be "dangerous." Trump's malevolence has given Dems a big opening. They should seize on it. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2154...
newrepublic.com
The Real Reason Obama’s Harsh Warning to Dems About AI Is So Unnerving
Most Democrats have more or less the right position on AI. But their arguments are way too narrow to dramatize the real stakes. They should aim higher.
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