Sam Feldman
Appellate public defender, trade unionist, NYC-DSA member. Washingtonian by birth, Chicago alum. He/him. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanWe put on an all-Yiddish community production of fiddler on the roof in Philadelphia and cast member and local artist Sofie Rose Seymour created the most amazing show poster that ever was
- If I were a wealthy AIPAC donor, I’d think twice about trusting them with my money in the future after they aimed their fire at a moderate they were miffed at and accidentally elected the candidate most opposed to them.
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- The CURB Act would ban some of the NYPD's most notorious tactics against protesters, like kettling, tear gassing, and using sound cannons. Almost half the city council co-sponsored it last term, but it doesn't seem to have been reintroduced yet this year.
- The immigration court system was never a real court system, and under the Trump administration it resembles one less and less. The next administration should go in the opposite direction and allow people the government is trying to deport the protections of a real, independent Article III court.
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanNew: UAW reaches landmark tentative contract deal with Volkswagen in Chattanooga Tennessee, including 20% across-the-board pay hikes www.bloomberg.com/news/article... "This contract is proof that if you stand up and stick together, you can win a better life”
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanA Minneapolis City Council committee delayed action Tuesday on renewing liquor licenses for two Minneapolis hotels that have housed federal immigration officers.
- The federal government has a large workforce of lawyers who sought out their jobs for some combination of prestige, stability, and desire for public service. The demands of the Trump administration have caused many to leave, and the remainder are starting to break down.
- Attorney's fees is an arcane & boring-sounding area of law that matters a lot because it provides public funding that makes legal representation possible even for poor people. In several circuits, people thrown in immigration detention may be able to get freed through lawyers even if they can't pay.
- 3d Cir. holds that habeas corpus petitions challenging immigration detention are "civil actions," so prevailing noncitizens may be entitled to attorneys' fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Gonna be a loooooooooot of these. www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/242...
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanCurrently, congestion pricing and bus fares raise roughly comparable amounts of money. If we need a billion dollars a year for transit improvements, why would we choose to get that from retaining bus fares, rather than raising the congestion fee?
- As a federal district, DC can't even set its own tax policy without Congress trying to interfere. No one in Congress can justify why they should have this power, and none of them ever try to. And yet there are members of the Senate Dem caucus (Mark Kelly, Angus King) who don't support DC statehood.
- I think this is the key to the periodic debate about whether buying food from restaurants is cheaper than making food at home. Home cooking for one person is historically unusual and can be inefficient and expensive.
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- Reposted by Sam FeldmanMayor Mamdani names criminal justice reformer Stanley Richards as NYC’s new Department of Correction commissioner Richards is the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the city’s jails system @gothamist.com @wnyc.org gothamist.com/news/mamdani...
- The streets of NYC are filled with giant snowbanks and temperatures are staying below freezing for the foreseeable future, so I was really glad to learn the city has a giant machine to melt snow down by dumping it into a hot tub-like contraption.
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanToday, Luke Farrell (@lukef.bsky.social) explains how complex eligibility requirements have turned America’s safety net into a lucrative revenue stream for monopolistic private contractors.
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- Very audacious of the @aclu.org to invoke free speech and posture against the Trump administration while at the same time it’s asking Trump’s NLRB to change labor law by restricting free speech rights at work. All this to avoid admitting it illegally fired an employee!
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanOne thing I found deeply moving about resistance in the Twin Cities was the universalism of loving your neighbor, the philosophy driving the opposition to the ICE/BP invasion. I couldn't help but notice the contrast with the blood and soil-ism of Miller and Vance. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanThe G train has 50,000 more daily riders than it did in 2010—when the MTA cut service between Long Island City and Forest Hills. @emilyassembly.bsky.social has led on this for years. I’m with her: bring it back. Read @johnsurico.bsky.social's s op-ed at @nyc.streetsblog.org.
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanThirty-one known defendants have been charged in Chicago with non-immigration crimes tied to “Operation Midway Blitz.” With today’s acquittal, 15 of them have been cleared. No one has been convicted.
- #BREAKING: Federal jury finds Chicago man NOT GUILTY of offering $10K for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino. The trial of Juan Espinoza Martinez was the first to result from “Operation Midway Blitz”: chicago.suntimes.com/live/closing...
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanYou read things like this and you can only hope that when the time comes, if it comes, when it is your community's turn to be tested, that you acquit yourselves half as well.
- Every politician across the U.S. is taking credit for their unique efforts that drove down the local crime rate, when in fact violent crime is plunging across the country. "The surge in violence in the early 2020s was a departure during a time of massive social upheaval, not a new normal."
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanVery interesting forthcoming article on state constitutional equivalents to the 4th Amendment, and how state courts do and don't interpret them, from Quinn Yeargain. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... #N
- Despite stonewalling opposition from Starbucks, its workers around the country have continued to unionize at a fast rate. Each of the past four years, @sbworkersunited.org has won over 100 union elections and added thousands of workers to its ranks.
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- Reposted by Sam FeldmanIf you’re cold, they’re cold, but you don’t have to let them in. - The third amendment
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- Reposted by Sam Feldman1/3 Are you a lawyer litigating against the Trump Administration? Have you witnessed administration attorneys misbehave? We want to know! We are a nonprofit organization documenting government attorneys misconduct in a public, freely accessible database.
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- A year ago Trump ordered that federal funds be cut off to states that don't assist in immigration enforcement, and last spring DOT tried to cut off transportation funds to sanctuary states. Twenty states sued and won a permanent injunction, and the Trump administration just dropped its appeal.
- Despite tweeting that "ICE should be unmasked both physically and digitally," Torres is not co-sponsoring the actual bill in Congress that would ban ICE agents from wearing face masks (with carefully limited exceptions) and require them to wear badges with their name & affiliation.
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanCondé Nast forgot to renew the trademark for Gourmet and so a group of journalists grabbed it and are relaunching the food magazine as a worker-owned co-op. Love it. [gourmetmagazine.net]
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanThis is the sort of statement that was expected from every university president and law firm partner over the last year. That those statements weren’t made played a huge part in where we are now and people will remember.
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanI think about this quote from the Luddite movement all the time
- Despite the onslaught of attempts by government and private actors to restrict speech, the actual law as decided by U.S. courts remains extremely protective of free speech—arguably more now than at any other time or place in history. This is a good thing for the future of American democracy.
- At one point it looked like Gorsuch might be one of the swingier right-wing justices, but instead he's ended up part of a 3-member hard-right bloc. Roberts and Kavanaugh are clearly the two most gettable right-wing votes these days, followed by Barrett.
- My representative @repdangoldman.bsky.social, facing a serious primary challenge, is trying to look busy by introducing a confusing bill that seems like it might rein in ICE but would in fact do little or nothing. Though he's a lawyer, it's unclear if he even understands this.
- This user blocks the quoter.NEWS --> Reps Eric Swalwell and Dan Goldman are introducing a new bill to strip ICE officers of qualified immunity, making lawsuits and prosecutions easier. They also say agent who killed Renee Good should be prosecuted in Minnesota. They break this news on our pod: newrepublic.com/article/2051...
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- Reposted by Sam FeldmanKristi Noem, herself, supplied the method used to ID the agent. She said he "been dragged by a vehicle” in an earlier incident. @startribune.com reporters, who know their way around court records, quickly unearthed his name and confirmed his identity.
- I'm super excited to send Claire to Congress. She's smart, dedicated, and a fighter. Perhaps most importantly, she's a movement candidate, coming out of @uaw.org & NYC-DSA. I just donated and am looking forward to volunteering for her.
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- This is the same dysfunctional Port Authority that charges a whopping $8.50 to arrive at or leave JFK by AirTrain while allowing cars in for free. Disbanding the Port Authority is probably a good idea, but at the least its airports should be taken away.
- Reposted by Sam Feldmanevery seat in a movie theater should have an "I have to pee" button and if enough people press it they should be able to pause the movie
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanWith all that is going on in the world, it might be easy to overlook that the D.C. Circuit appears to have changed its Special Panel (aka Motions Panel) so that it's no longer in place for a month. I think this change is both really important and really good. (A quick courts 🧵 . . . )
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- Reposted by Sam FeldmanYear-end tally of Trump admin combat actions in 2025: —Yemen—1,000+ strikes* —Somalia—140+ strikes, 1 ground raid** —Syria—78+ strikes, 3 ground raids*** —Iran—3 B-2 strikes —Iraq—1 strike —Nigeria—1 set of TLAM strikes —Caribbean—11 strikes —Eastern Pacific—20 strikes —Venezuela—1 known CIA strike
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanPlease join me in welcoming to the public domain such works as the 1930 Best Picture All Quiet on the Western Front, Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, several Nancy Drew books, some songs you've heard of (Dream a Little Dream of Me; Georgia on My Mind), and more: blog.archive.org/2026/01/01/w...
- Reposted by Sam FeldmanOne thing I wrote about here is how technology has made buses *way* more convenient while techno-futurists were obsessed with flying taxis and self-driving cars.
- I wrote about how surprised I still am a candidate for NYC mayor won in large part by talking incessantly about buses, and also about how making them fast as promised will be an immense challenge. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Reposted by Sam Feldmanthis new years eve I'm reminded of an old Soviet toast: Here's to another average year - worse than the one before it, but better than the one ahead
