Blanche and all the others have been blaming Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey. Alternatively, they smear paid agitators. But the federal cowboys who flooded Minnesota streets actually ran headfirst into the state's formidable civil society a network of civically engaged people and organizations that makes this a risky place for the federal government to pick a fight with its own citizens.
He began by characterizing what I had written as "fascinating," which could have meant a multitude of things coming from a teenager. He then explained that his eighth-grade English class included recent discussions about immigrant pursuits of the American dream. Accordingly, one major takeaway from those conversations with his teacher and peers was that many people come to the U.S. because it is perceived as a land of opportunity.
In 1996, the Supreme Court decided Whren v. United States, which came about when plainclothes vice officers patrolling in the District of Columbia passed a truck in a "high drug" area and "their suspicions were aroused." They had a hunch that the truck was involved in a drug operation. They chose to wait until it had violated a traffic ordinance (turning without a signal) and then used that violation as an excuse to stop the truck. In the course of searching the truck, they found crack cocaine.
"We're seeing fear around the country. We're seeing impacts on schools and small businesses," she said. "When there's a detention facility nearby, it is well documented that there's increased enforcement that's not necessarily targeting folks with criminal backgrounds, but folks who may just look as if they might be immigrants."
A jury has awarded $8.4 million to a former White police officer who alleged he faced discrimination and retaliation by Korean-American command staff at the La Palma Police Department. Ross Byer joined the department in May 2022 and completed his training that August with positive performance evaluations, according to court records. His performance remained satisfactory until he was reassigned that year to a different sergeant.
Gov. Newsom is acting like an extortionist. His threat to withhold university funding unless schools publicly oppose President Trump's demands is political coercion. Public universities should not be strong-armed into adopting the governor's preferred positions. Their mission is education and open inquiry, not serving as instruments of partisan pressure. What makes this especially troubling is the hypocrisy. Newsom built his political brand by criticizing Trump for using federal funds as a political weapon.
In January, AB 379 will take effect, reinstating a repealed law that criminalizes "loitering with intent to purchase commercial sex." Governor Gavin Newsom, signed the bill, saying it will help protect victims of human trafficking. However, critics are its unclear language will enable law enforcement to detain individuals based on the subjective suspicion of having an "intent to purchase a commercial sex act."
Some outlets interpreted Sotomayor's remarks as directly aimed at Pam Bondi, Stetson Law's most regrettable export, who declared the administration would use the Kirk killing as a pretext to crack down on "hate speech." But since Sotomayor said, "representative," she likely intended to cast a broader net in the direction of Capitol Hill. That said, the former Florida attorney general has made a career out of proving that a J.D. is not an inoculation against constitutional illiteracy, so the shoe fits.
To a lawyer, Sotomayor's dissent conveyed the horror of watching the majority stitch together a constitutional fraud from duct tape and white panic. It concludes with "I dissent." Normal people wouldn't bat an eye, but any dissent that leaves out the customary "respectfully" slaps the lawyerly reader like Will Smith at the Oscars. Within the genteel confines of the Supreme Court, that's a scorching burn. Outside of it, however, it passes without much notice.
