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alisonfrankel.bsky.social
Ex-legal columnist at Reuters. So many other things.
568 posts 17,438 followers 1,275 following
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Smart move, and not surprising; the litigators surely knew this was an option and had the amended complaint ready to go.

Every resistance lawyer will be boning up today on Rule 23 after today. I'm not a legal columnist anymore but I wrote way back in 2018 about class actions as an alternative to nationwide injunctions: www.reuters.com/article/worl...

I'm going to try and communicate with my Republican colleagues in a new way.

Or, I don't know, billionaires could acknowledge that they're not the only people living in NYC and could pledge to work with Mamdani to solve problems the Adams administration failed to address.

WSJ editorial: "The better alternative for Paramount and its reputation? Win the legal case, vindicate its CBS journalists and the First Amendment, and trust that the FCC has enough integrity to operate as something more than the President’s personal protection racket." www.wsj.com/opinion/para...

🚨 @rcfp.org is hiring a full-time paralegal! It's a great opportunity to contribute to our legal team, protecting First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists. Learn more: smrtr.io/rTTYx

I’m starting to understand how Rockies fans feel… #whathappenedtotheMets

Judge Alsup has the first true opinion on fair use for generative AI in Bartz v. Anthropic. He holds that AI training is fair use, and so is buying books to scan them, but that downloading pirated copies of books for an internal training-data database is not fair use. 🧵

DISASTROUS. This means they will send people to horrific situations with no due process — in direct violation of promises the Solicitor General made to the Court in previous cases. This greenlights sending people to be enslaved in Libya or tortured in any random foreign country.

Yep yep yep. Today's decision effectively tells the Trump administration that they are not obligated to follow court orders they don't think are right. We are going to see a LOT of contempt proceedings over the next year.

IRE has awarded the 2025 Don Bolles Medal to Rocío Gallegos of La Verdad. Gallegos has courageously reported from the U.S.-Mexico border since 1994, exposing government corruption and helping to report the truth behind the murders of two other journalists. www.ire.org/2025-don-bol...

We took this pic on the way home from a trip to the (not scary) Central Park Zoo with our grandson specifically as a rebuttal to all of the subway haters. It’s safe!

I’m not enjoying this Mets losing streak AT ALL. C’mon guys, get it together. #lgm

The scene inside 26 Federal Plaza—where Comptroller @bradlander.bsky.social was just arrested for defending an immigrant neighbor—is terrifying. Lines of masked officers waiting to wrongfully arrest people (without a signed judicial warrant) for simply attending their immigration hearings.

Breaking: Transgender people lose Skrmetti, SCOTUS rules that Tennessee's law banning gender affirming care is not subject to heightened scrutiny. I'll be reading and reporting more fully today. Terrible day for transgender people. Full decision here: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

This is a good moment to recognize @thecity.nyc, a nonprofit newsroom that covers stuff that other organizations (even really large ones that are based in New York City) often miss www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/n...

I loved that story!

I love women who have lived long enough to give no more f*cks. At the #nokings protest I attended, a MAGA guy drove by screaming insults and revving the engine of his muscle car. The 80-ish-year-old woman next to me said, “Extreme small dick energy right there.”

What a contrast: On the one hand, one grandiose spectacle in the nation's capital, a panorama of propaganda put on by an aspiring autocrat. On the other hand, thousands of assemblies of free citizens across the nation, authentic celebrations of the proposition that here the people rule.

Alternatively, “Thousands of Americans expected to take to the streets in defense of their neighbors and their democracy” www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

Exclusive: US Marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles, video shows reut.rs/3ZvxVoY

Seven partners at Willkie Farr & Gallagher — a prominent law firm that cut a deal with President Trump to avoid a potentially punishing executive order — announced that they were departing to join a firm that helped successfully challenge one of Trump’s orders in court.

As I just flagged, this has been replaced with something which is arguably worse; requiring that basically every plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction against the federal government pay millions or billions of dollars in "security" to pay for "costs" to the federal government if they later win.

NEW: Senate Republicans quietly stripped the provision from the House GOP's "big, beautiful bill" that would have allowed Trump to circumvent the courts and essentially serve as a king. www.huffpost.com/entry/senate...

I literally cried watching this video.

JUST IN: US judge blocks the Trump administration from overhauling federal elections reut.rs/44aP1Lr

This is a lie. We all saw the video. The Senator clearly identified himself, and he did not "lunge" toward anyone.   If these miserable propagandists will lie to you about roughing up a U.S. Senator in a room full of reporters, what won't they lie to you about?

🚨 Secretary Noem basically said that her agency is now dedicated to forcible regime change…in American cities and states. There 👏🏽 is 👏🏽 a 👏🏽 name 👏🏽 for 👏🏽 this

The Trump regime is purporting to occupy a major American city with military troops while secret agents kidnap people off the street. A US senator was just arrested and the President has entertained questions about arresting the governor. Authoritarianism is on the march; an extremely dangerous time

This is an outrage

A reminder that -- thanks to the Supreme Court -- it is virtually impossible to sue federal officials, including members of law enforcement agencies, for constitutional violations.

It is 100% carrying water for the opposition to participate in this collective delusion that Dems for some reason need to answer for every teen who throws a rock rather than hold the Trump admin accountable for intentionally creating chaos and breaking the law to stoke violence. They are in charge.

Really important that no one read this @orlandosentinel.com reporting when it publishes. I'm setting up alerts just to make sure I don't accidentally read it and share it widely when the time comes

NEWS California AG Bonta's lawsuit seeking to block Trump from federalizing the National Guard has been released. "One of the cornerstones of our Nation and our democracy is that our people are governed by civil, not military, rule," it states. Story soon at AllRiseNews.com

Pam Bondi's brother Brad has posted a eulogy for both his DC Bar campaign and the concept of bipartisanship on LinkedIn.

Dozens of journalists were assaulted by law enforcement in Los Angeles this weekend. The press were just doing their job -- a sacred one explicitly protected by law. Press rights orgs will follow up collectively tomorrow. Tonight, I emailed evidence to local/state/federal officials. My sign off:

My statement on what's unfolding in Los Angeles.

"In the old days, that might have been cause for a corruption investigation. In the modern era, it’s just another Thursday." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/u...

This is so jarringly unAmerican that I sort of hope it wakes some normies up. It is occurring in a context where military-style equipment is being used to enforce immigration roundups and conveys the notion that we are increasingly living in a police state.

This is so wrong. All to feed the ego of a mad tyrant who never had the balls to serve. This is not what we do in America. This is so fucking wrong. Makes me so sad. And so angry.👇

Comptroller Lander joined court-watchers at 290 Broadway and walked immigrants away from their court appearances to deter ICE agents from abducting them.   "I felt more useful for the last hour than I have felt at any time since Donald Trump was elected." hellgatenyc.com/lander-accom...

JUST IN - Damian Williams, former Manhattan US attorney, is leaving Paul Weiss for Jenner www.reuters.com/world/us/for...

Williams is moving to Jenner & Block, which obtained an injunction barring Trump’s punitive — and unconstitutional — executive order. Cost of capitulation keeps rising for Paul Weiss.