Attention to the Unseen

Anna Bower writes: A bitter political and legal battle is unfolding in Texas. On Sunday, more than 51 Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives fled the state in an effort to block Republican attempts to re-draw the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Hours later, Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to remove the absent lawmakers from office if they didn’t return for a scheduled floor debate by 3 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4. In response, the Democrats invoked a…

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Politico reports: The Trump administration is escalating its efforts to punish lawyers whom it sees as obstacles to the president’s agenda. The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to impose “substantial monetary sanctions” on a California lawyer who briefly halted but ultimately failed to block the deportation of an immigrant from Laos who pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the 1990s. Joshua Schroeder, an immigration and intellectual property attorney based in Los Angeles, appears to be the first target…

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Renee DiResta writes: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has recently released a series of declassified documents she claims expose a “treasonous conspiracy” by former President Barack Obama and his top intelligence officials to sabotage Donald Trump. Gabbard’s performance—part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to retcon “Russiagate”—led to an announcement yesterday by Attorney General Pam Bondi assigning an as-yet-unknown federal prosecutor to convene a grand jury investigation into President Obama and others. Before diving into the barrage…

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The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University yesterday filed and today made public an almost-two-hundred-page brief describing evidence presented during trial in a case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen faculty and students for their pro-Palestinian advocacy. The case was filed in the spring on behalf of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), AAUP’s Harvard, NYU, and Rutgers campus chapters, and the Middle East Studies Association. Judge William G. Young of the U.S….

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CNN reports: Numerous victims of Jeffrey Epstein took aim at the “public legitimization” of his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell as they urged a federal judge considering unsealing grand jury transcripts to take their privacy into account when making his decision. Lawyers Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, who represent numerous victims, including a woman who testified at Maxwell’s criminal trial, also questioned the motives of the Justice Department as the Trump administration tries to tamp down criticism from some of his most…

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The New York Times reports: Justice Department lawyers have long enjoyed a professional benefit when they appear in court. As a general rule, judges tend to take them at their word and assume they are telling the truth. But in the past several months, as members of President Trump’s Justice Department have repeatedly misled the courts, violated their orders and demonized judges who have ruled against them, some jurists have started to show an angry loss of faith in the…

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Middle East Eye reports: Hundreds of British Jews have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper describing the proscription of direct action group Palestine Action as “illegitimate and unethical”. A delegation is expected to deliver the letter, which has been signed by over two hundred British Jews, to Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon. Lead signatories include authors Michael Rosen and Gillian Slovo, comedian Alexei Sayle and lawyer Geoffrey Bindman, who instructed Starmer when the prime minister…

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Zev Shalev and Lev Parnas join Wajahat Ali to discuss the machinations leading to Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a minimum security prison where the inmates get to play with puppies and take yoga classes.   The Telegraph reports: When Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking underage girls to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in December 2021, her victims rejoiced, no doubt imagining the British socialite under lock and key, wearing orange overalls. But the reality of Maxwell’s life behind bars…

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The New York Times reports: The Justice Department’s internal watchdog lost a crucial account from a whistle-blower detailing wrongdoing by political appointees for more than two months, prompting criticism that the agency’s inspector general has been inactive and silent during a time of deep turmoil. The complaint, submitted in early May, accused top Justice Department officials like Emil Bove III of overseeing an effort to mislead judges and skirt or ignore court orders, according to people familiar with the filing….

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