Sam Feldman

@srfeld.bsky.social

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Appellate public defender, trade unionist, @nycdsa.bsky.social member. Washingtonian by birth, Chicago alum. He/him. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.

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This is the guy (David Lesh) who was profiled in the New Yorker in 2021 as "the most hated man in the Rockies." He'd already been charged, & he was later convicted of 2 federal misdemeanors. The 10th Circuit affirmed one & reversed the other with an interesting concurrence about the right to a jury.

10th Cir.: National Forest Service regulation prohibiting "unauthorized work activity" on NFS land did not fairly warn influencer that posting images on Insta could constitute a federal crime with imprisonment up to six months. Conviction vacated. www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...

Trolling the Great Outdoorswww.newyorker.com As the wilderness gets overrun, the most hated man in the Rockies finds an audience of emulators and antagonists.

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The millennials now have as many appearances on a major-party presidential ticket as Gen X. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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NEW: Fault lines have become unusually clear around judicial elections in Los Angeles. Three public defenders are running for local judge this fall, hoping to build on the success of a couple of peers. @psfrench.bsky.social on what they hope to accomplish; boltsmag.org/judge-electi...

Public Defenders Look to Grow Their Presence on the Bench in Los Angelesboltsmag.org Hoping to reform county courts, three public defenders are running for judge this fall. They want to build on the success of one candidate in 2022 and another in March.

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The latest cover of the New Yorker:

In other words, Aileen Cannon dismissing the case is basically the only way a new judge could be assigned to the case, which paradoxically means this dismissal actually IMO increases the odds that this case ends in a conviction for Trump. Still a lot of ifs.

This is not terrible news. There was already no way this case would go to trial in 2024. This (pretty out there) decision will be appealed & decided de novo, & if the appeals court reverses & reinstates the charges, it has the option of reassigning the case to a different judge.

Judge Cannon went and did it. She has dismissed the stolen documents case against Trump on Clarence Thomas’s (nonsense) appointments clause rationale.

In a way it's almost a shame that New York may be about to repeal its unenforced law criminalizing adultery, since it's a good example of the difference between the laws on the books & the laws as enforced by prosecutors making political choices.

Bill decriminalizing adultery awaits Gov. Hochul's signaturespectrumlocalnews.com A bill passed by the state Legislature will repeal adultery as a crime in New York state if signed by the governor.

This pro-segregation provision has been reincluded in each new Georgia state constitution since the Civil War, most recently in 1983. Apparently the drafters of the current constitution were misled about the provision's meaning by a confused state supreme court justice.

Interesting Georgia Supreme Court decision: the state constitution has provision from 1868 saying "[t]he social status of a citizen shall never be the subject of legislation," meant to preserve segregation. Does it now mean the state can't require sex offender registration? Court says: nice try, no.

Session v. State, 887 SE 2d 317 - Ga: Supreme Court 2023 - Google Scholarscholar.google.com

The Bronx Defenders strike fund has moved to Open Collective, new link here: opencollective.com/bx-community...

The workers at the Bronx Defenders, one of America's truly great public defender offices, have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike after suffering massive attrition & terrible working conditions for years. Donate here to support their strike fund:

Strike Hardship Fundgivebutter.com By Community Members Fundraising for BxD Workers

Community Members Supporing BxD Workers - Open Collectiveopencollective.com We are community members who fundraise to support the organizing of BxD’s rank-and-file workers.

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should be a genuine scandal that taxpayer money is used to defend the dumbest conduct imaginable

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For the first time of Biden's tenure, the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted down one of his judicial nominees, Sarah Netburn in SDNY, after Republicans objected to her decision recommending a transgender inmate be transferred to a women's prison. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

In a first, US Senate panel rejects Biden judicial nominee in New Yorkwww.reuters.com A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday narrowly rejected one of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees in New York after Republicans strenuously objected to a decision she issued as a magistrate judge recommending that a transgender inmate convicted of child sex abuse be transferred to a women's prison.

Strike Hardship Fundgivebutter.com By Community Members Fundraising for BxD Workers

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Lately, when he's feeling energetic, my husband will say he is "full of bees." I told him that the saying is "full of beans," but according to him, that doesn't make sense. Just now he is attempting to do a task he's put off for a year because he "has the bees" to do it.

Interesting D.C. Court of Appeals decision from last month (over 6 years after oral argument!): can it be entrapment if a paid confidential informant gets you to commit a crime without being instructed to do so or supervised by police? The court says yes.

www.dccourts.gov

Still puzzling over a friend’s remark a few weeks ago that the 4th is coming early this year.

It’s always so hot on July 4 they should move it

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in the category of ‘obvious implications’ of the Labour landslide, the Human Rights Act and UK participation in the European Court of Human Rights survived 14 years of Tory threats to repeal and leave, now off the table. 😅

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fascinating. the Labour vote both as a percentage and in numerical terms is *much lower* than it was in 2017

Three charts to help understand the UK election results

One of my favorite novelists, Ismail Kadare, died at 88 today. The Times obituary emphasizes his political allegories about Communist Albania, but those didn't captivate me like his other novels set in earlier times. I especially recommend The Three Arched Bridge, Chronicle in Stone, & The Siege.

Ismail Kadare, Whose Novels Brought Albania’s Plight to the World, Dies at 88www.nytimes.com He was compared to Orwell and Kafka, and walked a political tightrope with works of veiled criticism for his totalitarian state.

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Reply to

Popehat

Neil Gorsuch has been coming for the Chevron white whale for years, and he's frequently argued cutting back on broad delegations to administrative agencies will force Congress back into regular order Beside that it's not his role to do this, it's very naive bsky.app/profile/saba...

Neil Gorsuch is explicit in his judicial opinions that he believes the courts must act to keep congress “disciplined” and curtail perceived moral hazards of politics It’s a tacit admission that he doesn’t believe in the Madisonian plan for popular governance www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-l...

On the frontiers of libertarianism, a Colorado town that already allows nonresident property owners to vote in local elections is considering granting voting rights to property-owning LLCs and trusts.

Only one Colorado town lets nonresidents vote. Now it’s considering adding LLCs to voter rolls.coloradosun.com Mountain Village is the only town in Colorado that allows nonresidents to vote. Now the town is considering allowing LLCs and trusts to vote.

Genuinely a little surprised that Gorsuch signed on to Alito's right-wing dissent in this case. Conservative justices have generally been skeptical of standing, & the argument for standing was a stretch here. Alito just thinks whatever the GOP thinks, but I'd thought Gorsuch had some principles.

Murthy out. No standing! Great outcome. Opinion by Barrett who calls out the 5th Circuit for affirming the DC's "sweeping" preliminary injunction and says it was "wrong to do so" SO REFRESHING TO READ

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big violation of The Narrative to have a tough on crime opponent of criminal justice reform eat shit.

Update: Lee Kindlon, the challenger, has claimed victory. He leads by 10%. Soares, the incumbent, has not conceded. I believe some votes remain, likely not a lot.

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Maybe NYPD can use their helicopters as giant fans to cool off the libraries

Four NYPL branches had broken air conditioning this week amid 90-degree temperatures, despite being city-designated "cooling centers." Library officials blame $750,000 in deferred maintenance exacerbated by Mayor Eric Adams’s recent budget reductions.

After budget cuts, NYC's libraries can't fix broken air conditioners amid heat wavegothamist.com The air conditioning was out in at least four New York Public Library branches on Tuesday, forcing two Staten Island sites to close.

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Governor Hochul’s decision threatens critical upgrades to the subway system — and we need to let people know who’s to blame. Download posters to print and hang in your station. There’s one for every single line with upgrades on the chopping block. drive.google.com/drive/folder...

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In English, brushing strands of hair over a bald spot is called a combover, but in Mandarin you could describe it with the phrase 地方支持中央. It means “the localities support the central government” Read on for more international phrases about hair and hairstyles (a thread)…

My unionized appellate public defender office in NYC is hiring both entry-level and experienced attorneys. It's a great place to work! Application deadline is June 21.

Employment - Appellate Advocatesappad.org Staff Attorney

I think many people have an intuitive sense that it's illegal to fire someone for expressing their political views outside of work. At least in the U.S., for most non-union workers, that just isn't true!

A NY appeals court held today that a Westchester synagogue that fired a teacher for an anti-Zionist blog post didn't violate a state law that "bars an employer from discharging an employee because of the employee’s legal recreational activities outside work hours." www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad2/H...

www.nycourts.gov

Unions' win rates in NLRB certification elections rose after about 1980 & overall union density plummeted, because unions gave up on the harder fights. This article argues the win rate needs to fall again as organizing gets more ambitious. www.laborpolitics.com/p/to-win-big...