Mike Sacks

Mike Sacks

@mikesacks.bsky.social

Senior Advisor @courtacctability.bsky.social. Democracy advocate. Former political-legal journalist. Retired competitive air guitarist. Former Congressional Candidate. Second-Best dad ever.

26.5K followers1.2K following5K posts

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Dozymandias

Dan Diamond@ddiamond.bsky.social

President Trump wants to build a 250-foot-tall arch. If completed, it will cast shadows on many graves and monuments in nearby Arlington National Cemetery, the @washingtonpost.com's 3-D analysis found. On some days, Trump's arch would even shade the grave and eternal flame of JFK.

washingtonpost.comTrump’s arch would cast shadow on Arlington CemeteryThe monument would darken the nation’s premier military burial ground early in the morning on more than 280 days a year, a Post analysis finds.
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Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social
Mike Sacks@mikesacks.bsky.social

The other Trump judge on the panel had just said Trump coulda sent the National Guard into Los Angeles last year…..and even that judge was like yo Bumatay you’re a shameless hack.

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

The other Trump judge on the panel had just said Trump coulda sent the National Guard into Los Angeles last year…..and even that judge was like yo Bumatay you’re a shameless hack.

Mike Sacks@mikesacks.bsky.social

Trump depends on the fake credulity of disgraceful hacks like Bumatay who will characterize Trump’s systematic assaults on democracy as attempts to protect it. And Bumatay complies again and again He knows exactly what he’s doing. Shame. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Trump fired Maureen Comey bc of her parentage. But this case proves yet again that Trump is but a vessel for the right-wing legal movement's long-term effort to upend two centuries of precedent in service of the Unitary Executive Theory. Judge Furman isn't the audience. The Roberts Court is.

Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney.bsky.social

JUST IN: Maurene Comey's firing by DOJ was illegal and she must be orders retroactively reinstated w back pay, a judge rules. "To accept Defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system" storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Keep an eye on what CA2's Trump judges - Menashi, in particular - will say if any of them are on the panel for the appeal. Their views are bellwethers for at least 2-3 SCOTUS votes.

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Oh hey look

Ira 'Bluebeard Homer' Goldman@kdbyproxy.bsky.social

Not that it's binding, but "voter confusion" about the ballot* (re votes for Pat Buchanan instead of Gore) was litigated in Florida in 2000 (Bush v Gore) and the state Supreme Court rejected the challenge. (* – "butterfly ballot") bsky.app/profile/male...

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Of course

washingtonsun.comWhite House Is Weighing Mass Pardons for Junior StaffConservative groups influential with the Trump administration have pressed for the preemptive acts of clemency.
Mike Sacks@mikesacks.bsky.social

Note that the bulk of that clip is Trump's talking about pardoning all of his underlings, too, so they can avoid prosecution for criming on his behalf while he's in office. Gorsuch thought such underlings' fear of prosecution would itself be an adequate check on a criminally immune president. Ha!

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Dozymandias building an arch bc two columns were a bit too on the nose for the Congressionally-authorized Commission 100 years ago

Roger Parloff@rparloff.bsky.social

Plaintiffs seek injunction blocking building of Trump’s Arch, set to begin 11/5. Govt admits Congress must approve the arch, but says it did so in 1913, when it approved Memorial Bridge, finished 90 yrs ago. Original 1924 plan called for 2 columns, tho not an arch. ... 1/2

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

“She pointed to the period after Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 when she said the justices had to compromise, listen and issue narrow rulings to try to avoid being deadlocked 4 to 4.”

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Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Accord

Mike Sacks@mikesacks.bsky.social

We had a glimpse of a disempowered SCOTUS with the ideologically/politically deadlocked Court during McConnell’s Garland blockade after Scalia died. It was good for democracy. Here was my view at the time, and I think it holds up. www.latimes.com/opinion/op-e...

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Political brain: this is some crooked cynical partisan hit job to silence a black female critic… Lawyer brain: …and they’re probably hoping she defends herself by saying the federal law exceeds Congress’s power in the hope SCOTUS overrules Gonzales v Raich and destroys the New Deal

Taniel@taniel.bsky.social

Major news this morning. Louise Lucas, a chief antagonist of Trump and Virginia Republicans (and one of the most vocal proponents of gerrymandering the state earlier this year) is criminally charged by the feds over her marijuana business:

nbcnews.comVirginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas charged in public corruption caseThe 82-year-old surrendered to authorities to face charges Thursday, the Justice Department said. She was charged along with a half-dozen others.
Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Trump's for they and them.

Holly Brewer@earlymodjustice.bsky.social

Since January 2025 when Trump returned to power, the least wealthy have become poorer. But “the net worth of roughly 136,800 households in the top 0.1 percent grew to $27.87 trillion in the second quarter of 2026 from $22.27 trillion in the first quarter of 2025, a gain of $5.6 trillion.”

nytimes.comOpinion | Trump Can No Longer Mask His Real Agenda (Gift Article)The president has forgotten the “forgotten men and women of this country.”

Mike Sacks reposted

jamelle
@jamellebouie.net

the routine, pay for play pardons are all by themselves one of the worst corruption scandals in american history!

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social

My brain cannot process this level of corruption. She was being paid $50 million to engineer a pardon from Trump *while working at the Justice Department* as a "Special Government Employee." And it worked. He got the pardon, and she got the money. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/u...

nytimes.comA Billionaire Wanted a Trump Pardon. His Family Gave Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal. (Gift Article)Julio Herrera Velutini, a prominent Venezuelan, was seeking clemency. He got it not long after his daughter gave Ms. Habba, a lawyer close to President Trump, an extraordinarily lucrative job.
Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

This is so messed up

Mallory McMorrow@mallorymcmorrow.bsky.social

As one of the candidates featured in these polls - the infamous one in late June that showed me plummeting into single digits (which was at odds with our internals) - here's the impact of this "experiment"

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

FUUPOS

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social

My brain cannot process this level of corruption. She was being paid $50 million to engineer a pardon from Trump *while working at the Justice Department* as a "Special Government Employee." And it worked. He got the pardon, and she got the money. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/u...

nytimes.comA Billionaire Wanted a Trump Pardon. His Family Gave Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal. (Gift Article)Julio Herrera Velutini, a prominent Venezuelan, was seeking clemency. He got it not long after his daughter gave Ms. Habba, a lawyer close to President Trump, an extraordinarily lucrative job.
Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

When Trump is in power, people hate him and all of his enablers.

G Elliott Morris@gelliottmorris.com

Every time Donald Trump says “pretend like I’m on the ballot,” a Republican loses their seat in Congress fiftyplusone.news/polls/approv...

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

The CA4 panel was 2 Obama judges and a GWB judge that issued a concurrence dripping with exasperation over the Trump admin's "inexplicable failure in the district court to advance any relevant evidence or legal argument" to counter the plaintiffs' RFRA claims.

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Because of course I see SCOTUS as the center of our universe I wonder whether this sentiment had its genesis in the Republicans’ all-out assault on Sotomayor’s nomination because Obama praised her “empathy”

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Mike Sacks reposted

Schooley
@schooley.bsky.social

You really can't go wrong assuming every accusation is a confession these days.

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social

Huge follow-up reporting to my scoop: The Guardian confirmed America Next—the conservative nonprofit founded by Bobby Jindal that was offering students $ to disrupt El-Sayed events—paid a firm registered to Tommy Teepell’s dad Timmy $250k for “canvassing and influencer marketing” against El-Sayed.

theguardian.comMichigan heckler the son of Republican adviser paid for ‘influencer marketing’ against El-SayedTimmy Teepell’s firm paid $250,000 by America Next, which has been trying to gin up ‘organic’ opposition to El-Sayed
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Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

This could be as easy as "What Kethledge said" but I also think this is possible:

Mike Sacks@mikesacks.bsky.social

Looks like we’re instead gonna get a majority that will junk Breyer’s 5-part N&P test from Comstock, and adopt the restrictive reasoning of Scalia and Thomas’s dissent while still upholding the law…and Alito will enthusiastically go along this time bc the challenger isn’t a sex offender

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

I suspect the Roberts Court will use this as another WE'RE NOT EXTREME, THEY ARE! smackdown of CA5, and side with CA6:

Mike Sacks@mikesacks.bsky.social

CA6 rejects constitutional challenge to the federal ban on home distilling, forcing split with CA5 and all but guaranteeing SCOTUS review. GWB/GHWB judges in majority reach the merits, Biden judge in dissent says challenger didn’t have standing. www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf...

Mike Sacks reposted

Mike Sacks
@mikesacks.bsky.social

Replying to @mikesacks.bsky.social

If and when the Roberts Court declares race-neutral admissions policies unconstitutional, expect the majority decision to cite...RBG's solo dissent from Fisher I saying race-neutral policies were really race-conscious ones. She meant that approvingly. The Roberts supermajority...won't.