Sotomayor says the U.S. spends five cents on civics education for every $50 spent on STEM, and it shows: kids don't understand government, and neither do some of her colleagues. She isn't joking about that last part, and she's not done: the unitary executive theory, she warns, is quietly dismantling the checks and balances the Constitution actually created.
— via Above the Law, Staci Zaretsky
The Second Circuit just ruled border agents can search your phone with no warrant and no suspicion at all, upholding a fraud conviction built on evidence pulled from a traveler's unlocked device at JFK. One law professor argues the court got it backwards, since these searches target ordinary crime, not the smuggling and tariff concerns that justify searching luggage.
— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Orin S. Kerr
Apple, Google and WhatsApp all pitch "trusted execution environments" as a privacy fix when AI features send your messages to the cloud. They aren't encryption, they've been cracked repeatedly, and no device should be auto-sending data to one.
— via EFF Deeplinks, Erica Portnoy
Trump's $500 ACA refund checks land in mailboxes this October, right before the midterms. Experts say the sum won't even cover a month's premium, and bigger healthcare cuts are coming right after voters cast their ballots.
— via Above the Law, Marissa Plescia - MedCity News
The Fifth Circuit just agreed to reconsider, en banc, whether Congress ever had the power to ban felons from owning guns at all. One judge warns a win could let felons "flood the Gulf Coast to rearm themselves"; another calls a lifetime ban unconstitutional for someone who never served a day in prison.
— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Stephen Halbrook
Buc-ee's parody-suit target caves: Born United will pay $850,000 and stop selling its beaver-logo gear. A state senator quietly sold his stake in the company right before the settlement landed.
— via TechDirt, Timothy Geigner