Post AtfAGZCGDJEyfSkbgG by vruz@mstdn.social
(DIR) More posts by vruz@mstdn.social
(DIR) Post #Atf8aakjwD7tNSIbr6 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:27:43Z
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Orders to Investigate #Columbia #Protesters Raised Alarms in #DOJBehind the scenes, a top department official pressed employees to gather a #list of #activists & investigate them, people familiar with the matter said.#law #ethics #Constitution #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #dissent #autocracy #authoritarianism #tyranny #dictatorship #Gestapo #ThoughtPolice #Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/us/politics/columbia-protests-justice-department.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=1E34655C-2935-4980-93C4-2712A89B06D8
(DIR) Post #Atf8wyTiPMEXKb0c1Q by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:31:34Z
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A top #Trump appointee in the #DOJ ordered an aggressive investigation…of #student #protesters at #ColumbiaUniversity, raising anger & alarm among career prosecutors & investigators who saw it as politically motivated & lacking legal merit….The demand for the inquiry into #students who protested #Israel’s conduct…in #Gaza also prompted pushback from a federal magistrate judge, who believed some of the steps being sought by… #EmilBove were unjustified & might violate the #FirstAmendment.#law
(DIR) Post #Atf99qaj2hzydQQTjs by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:33:27Z
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The breadth of the investigation, conducted by the #DOJ’s #CivilRights division, has not been previously reported. The ensuing clash highlights the tensions roiling the dept as admin ofcls seek to enact #Trump’s agenda. That bid includes redirecting the…division away from its traditional approach of protecting the rights of minority groups to a new mission of fulfilling a campaign promise to crack down on #student #protesters amid accusations of rampant #antisemitism on #college campuses.#law
(DIR) Post #Atf9IlFwFSxCh5xBc8 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:35:40Z
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Those types of demands from political appointees at the #DOJ are part of the reason there has been an exodus of lawyers from the #CivilRights division in recent weeks, acc/to current & fmr ofcls.The federal investigation into #student #protesters at #Columbia appears to have stalled for now, but it represents one of the most contentious episodes yet inside #Justice during #Trump’s 2nd term. The dispute has left lingering ill will within the dept, as well as the #courts & the #FBI….#law
(DIR) Post #Atf9XybUu7VsR2IDdg by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:38:24Z
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…The #Trump admin has vowed to take on campus #protests against #Israel’s military campaign in the #Gaza Strip, saying they reflect #antisemitism that must be punished. Those efforts are aimed at both #college administrators, who Trump ofcls say should have done more to rein in campus protests, & #student #activists themselves, some of whom #immigration ofcls have detained. Activists, in turn, accuse the authorities of conflating criticism of Israeli & US policy w/antisemitism.#law #FreeSpeech
(DIR) Post #Atf9u5zg6oTnj39OAi by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:42:27Z
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The investigation began shortly after masked protesters barged into Milbank Hall, a building at the #Columbia-affiliated #Barnard College, on Feb 26 to demonstrate against the expulsion of #students who had been accused of disrupting a “History of Modern Israel” class. Video shows students pushing past a security guard & occupying a hallway. School ofcls said at the time that the guard was assaulted & taken to the hospital for minor injuries.#law #ethics #FirstAmendment #DOJ #tyranny #Trump
(DIR) Post #AtfAGZCGDJEyfSkbgG by vruz@mstdn.social
2025-05-01T21:46:28Z
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@Nonilex How interesting that the alarms weren't being raised in 2024 when all these anti-constitutional things were being done, preparing the terrain for fascism.
(DIR) Post #AtfAIrYUvZP0BYFN3Y by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:46:55Z
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#EmilBove, a snr #Trump #DOJ ofcl, ordered an immediate investigation, primarily of one particular #student group, #Columbia University Apartheid Divest…Bove told prosecutors in the #CivilRights division to obtain a membership #list…. Investigators…pushed back on those instructions because they were skeptical such a list existed, given the amorphous nature of online forums, & even if it did, scrutinizing people for membership seemed like a violation of their #FirstAmendment rights.#law #ethics
(DIR) Post #AtfAg8MKcM4kxgeWvo by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:51:07Z
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One of the #DOJ attys assigned to the case was Samantha Trepel, an experienced #CivilRights prosecutor who secured a federal conviction against #DerekChauvin, the police officer who killed #GeorgeFloyd….The prosecutors were told…that #EmilBove was seeking a #list so it could be shared w/ #immigration agents…. Prosecutors came to fear that their #criminal investigation was a pretext to facilitate an #intimidation & #deportation campaign by the #Trump admin against #student #protesters….#law
(DIR) Post #AtfApsgljbJHFyrNdw by MasterMischief@mastodon.social
2025-05-01T21:52:48Z
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@Nonilex I just do not understand where Gym Jordan is. He HATES the weaponization of the DOJ.I mean...that is what he said. Was he...was he lying to us?
(DIR) Post #AtfAvTF7FsN64hahDU by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:53:54Z
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The #CivilRights Prosecutors refused to compile such a list that could be given to #ICE agents….#EmilBove then shifted his focus to obtaining a search #warrant for the group’s #Instagram account…. He ordered prosecutors to apply for a search warrant for the nonpublic data associated with the account, these people said.The premise of the application was also contentious within the department.#law #DOJ #ethics #Constitution #FirstAmendment #dissent #autocracy #tyranny #Trump
(DIR) Post #AtfBHr1dVqJYCpxWuO by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T21:57:54Z
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#EmilBove insisted that the #Instagram account in question had been used to make a threat, while line prosecutors said the statement at issue did not meet the #legal definition of a #threat. In late March, the #SocialMedia company suspended the group’s account for failing to meet its “community standards.”#law #ethics #Constitution #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #immigration #dissent #autocracy #authoritarianism #tyranny #dictatorship #Gestapo #ThoughtPolice #Trump
(DIR) Post #AtfBczm2BJo7Q5k56O by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T22:01:45Z
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…#EmilBove’s demands frustrated people in the #CivilRights division, but many of the managers were afraid to push back, having watched a month earlier as Bove pressed prosecutors in a different division, the #PublicIntegrity section, to drop #criminal charges against #NYC Mayor #EricAdams…. That section, which once had about 30 lawyers, now has only a handful.#law #ethics #Constitution #FirstAmendment #dissent #immigration #autocracy #dictatorship #Trump
(DIR) Post #AtfBnMe7zsXhFlzLY8 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T22:03:37Z
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Bennett Gershman, a Pace University #law professor who specializes in prosecutorial #ethics, said the described conduct of #EmilBove was “staggering.”“He did something that prosecutors are absolutely forbidden to do — use the law enforcement powers of the government to try to intimidate these individuals or destroy their rights,” Gershman said. “This is so far past the line of prosecutorial professionalism & the commitment to principles of #justice.”#law #FirstAmendment #immigration #Trump
(DIR) Post #AtfC2wqFhmDlr75fYu by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T22:06:27Z
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…When the federal prosecutors involved in the investigation of #student #protesters applied for a #warrant, a magistrate judge in NY rejected the request, finding that the govt did not have sufficient probable cause…In an unusual move, #EmilBove insisted that the prosecutors appeal the ruling to a district court judge…. After weighing the request, Judge John Koeltl of Federal District Court of the SDNY instructed the chief magistrate judge, Sarah Netburn, to reconsider the application…#law
(DIR) Post #AtfCPqDMVkqrxhof5c by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T22:10:35Z
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But the 2nd time, the #DOJ fared even worse. Judge Netburn not only rejected the request…, but she also ordered the govt to abide by a special condition: Should they ever try to refile such an application before another federal judge, they had to include a transcript of the sealed discussions in her court…Part of the judge’s skepticism…stemmed from the absence from the case of attys w/the Manhattan prosecutor’s office. But prosecutors in #SDNY were wary of signing onto the effort…#law #Trump
(DIR) Post #AtfCtcgxLvNwi3rMVU by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-05-01T22:15:58Z
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As #CivilRights prosecutors conducted the investigation #EmilBove demanded, they pushed back against steps he wanted taken, arguing they were either not justified by available facts or contrary to #law, or both.At one point,Bove instructed #FBI agents on the NY joint terrorism task force to put on their raid jackets, go to #Columbia & stand in a phalanx near #protesters. Within the civil rights division, the instruction was viewed as deeply improper & a blatant attempt to #intimidate #students.
(DIR) Post #AtgisBk0XN93Q1cNW4 by Edelruth@mastodon.online
2025-05-02T15:48:47Z
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@Nonilex One is reading this, appalled, until one gets to "Emil Bove", and then one just grimaces and is glad real legal eaglesxare pushing back.