Some personal news: I’m going to be leaving @theappeal at the end of June. It’s been a privilege to be a part of a team doing such important criminal justice and related journalism — journalism that I look forward to continuing to support.
For me, I’ll still be writing over the summer, including at @MSNBC, but I also plan to take some down time—2020+ was a lot!—before jumping into something new. I don’t have that next thing set yet, so I am open to ideas and will be talking w/ many of you! (DMs open, email in bio!)
More to come, on all fronts, but I just wanted to let folks know what I'm up to — and that I'm looking forward to exploring what's next for me over the coming months! My career has been a series of unexpected adventures, and I doubt whatever's next will be any different.
And, yeah, I want to spend some time for me — and with loved ones. It's been such a long 18 months; I'm really looking forward to a number of trips, including starting with a trip to see the nephews (and @ngeidner and @shelbygeidner, OF COURSE) this weekend. ❤️
So, I'll have some true time away from here and off-the-grid in the coming months, but I'll still mostly be online — and very available to meet up with folks! I'm more thinking of it as intermittent down time and vacations between projects and writing as I figure out what's next.
That's that for now. But, since Twitter has sort of played a key part in this career path of mine, I pretty much feel like I should let you all know what's up!
To close, and as always, let us try to be good to one another — and ourselves — this summer (and beyond)!
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Breaking: The Supreme Court rejects conservative states' challenges to the ACA on standing grounds. Opinion by Breyer for the 7-2 majority. Alito and Gorsuch dissent. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
That opinion being from Breyer means any remaining opinions released today — and there will be at least one more — will be from Breyer, Thomas, or the Chief Justice.
Thomas concurs, defending the majority against Alito's dissent.
Here's the (very brief) email that led to that late Jan. 3 call discussed in earlier stories between a senior DOJ official and the US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia:
Less than 10 hours later, BJay Pak, the US Attorney in question, had submitted his resignation.
After Cc'ing the senior DOJ official, Richard Donoghue, on his goodbye email to his office, which did not directly reference any of the shenanigans going on, Donoghue replied that Pak was a "class act."
#SCOTUS: Orders coming at 9:30, followed by one or more opinions at 10. We don’t know which cases or how many of of the 21 remaining cases. They include Obamacare, religious beliefs & gay rights, Voting Rights Act, NCAA, student speech rights, First Step Act, & more.
#SCOTUS does, however, ask the Biden administration to weigh in on the Harvard affirmative action case. (Which also serves as a reminder that there is still no SG nominee.)
#SCOTUS THREAD: Starting in 20 minutes, we are expecting one or more decisions. We don’t know which cases or how many. Twenty-two cases remain, however, including Obamacare, religious beliefs and gay rights, Voting Rights Act, NCAA, student speech rights, First Step Act, & more.
While you're waiting, you can read my latest, about next term's Puerto Rico SSI case:
Only one #SCOTUS opinion this morning, in Borden v. US. Kagan announces the judgment of the court, in which the defendant, Borden, wins in the ACCA case over whether recklessness criminal requirement qualifies as a violent felony. There is no majority opinion, however.
In my latest for @MSNBC, I write about the upcoming #SCOTUS Puerto Rico SSI exclusion case, Biden’s statement on the case, DOJ’s filing defending the exclusion, & why @POTUS knows better than to think this is the best he can do. [Spoiler: It’s about DOMA.] msnbc.com/opinion/puerto…
“Biden’s statement and his Justice Department’s actions reinforce the racist history that allowed for such exclusion in the first place.” msnbc.com/opinion/puerto…
Neals, who is 56, was originally nominated to the district court in 2015 by Obama. He was renominated (although for a different seat on the same court) by Biden this year.
Biden's second judicial nominee is due to be voted on later this afternoon. Regina Rodriguez, who is 57, was originally nominated to the district court in 2016 by Obama. She was renominated (for a different seat on the same court) by Biden this year.