Rob Johnson @FreeRangeLawyer Twitter profile

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 years

The green states are where true freedom can be found.

Jeff Brown

@Illini_Hiker

4 years

Tired of the electoral map? Here is a map of the legality of owning a Kangaroo by state.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Los Angeles for oral argument in what may be the most important Fourth Amendment case pending in the United States today. The basic facts: The FBI broke open and searched hundreds of safe deposit boxes without any reason to think the boxholders did

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

The FBI raided Jeni Pearson's safe deposit box and tried to take all the contents using civil forfeiture. Jeni fought back, along with other @IJ clients, and won... Except, when the FBI returned the box contents, $2,000 was missing. So Jeni and @IJ sued again. Yesterday, we got

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

So, now the case moves forward to discovery -- meaning we get to ask the FBI some uncomfortable questions about what exactly happened to the missing $2,000. I literally couldn't be looking forward to that more.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

@IJ So why is the case so important? The fundamental principle at stake is that if the government wants to search and seize your property, it has to have some reason to think you did something wrong. The FBI came up with a blatant scheme to circumvent that fundamental principle, and,

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

Update about this case: Still no decision, but it has been a big month in other ways. And the government has gotten up to some interesting hijinks. I'll explain. For starters, oral argument was fantastic. The judges called the government's conduct "egregious" and "outrageous."

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Los Angeles for oral argument in what may be the most important Fourth Amendment case pending in the United States today. The basic facts: The FBI broke open and searched hundreds of safe deposit boxes without any reason to think the boxholders did

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

The FBI did all that pursuant to a warrant, but, critically, the warrant specifically said that it did not "authorize a criminal search or seizure of the safety deposit boxes." That was an important limitation: The FBI had reason to think that USPV, the business, had violated the

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

The FBI, though, had what must have seemed like an evil genius plan. The warrant allowed the FBI to seize the "nest" of safe deposit boxes -- the metal shell in which all the boxes were housed -- and then, having seized the nest, the FBI decided that it would have to "inventory"

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Update: Victory! Lots to do here, as you might be able to imagine. Will have more to say tomorrow.

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Los Angeles for oral argument in what may be the most important Fourth Amendment case pending in the United States today. The basic facts: The FBI broke open and searched hundreds of safe deposit boxes without any reason to think the boxholders did

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

@IJ Yesterday, the district court rejected that argument. The Takings Clause bars the government from taking private property without just compensation. That means, if the government takes your $2,000 and never gives it back, the government has to compensate you for the loss.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

The only problem is the search the FBI conducted was not an "inventory." An inventory is supposed to safeguard property against claims of theft and loss, but here the FBI was already planning to keep everything in the boxes---using civil forfeiture. The FBI concocted its

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

All in all, the FBI sought to forfeit over a hundred million in cash seized from the vault, plus untold millions more in gold, silver, and other valuable property.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

@IJ sued and largely thwarted the FBI's forfeiture plans. Millions of dollars in property was ultimately returned. But now the FBI retains thousands of pages of records documenting the contents of the boxes -- including legal documents, personal notes, financial records, and

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

Jeni's fight for her missing $2,000 is another chapter in the story of U.S. Private Vaults, a safe deposit box facility in Beverly Hills that the FBI raided in March 2021. @IJ challenged the raid, and, earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit held that the raid violated the Fourth

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

@IJ When Jeni sued, the government argued there was literally no remedy for the loss of her $2,000. The government invoked a doctrine called "sovereign immunity" -- the idea that you can't sue the government for damages. And, when Jeni also sued the individual officers involved in

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

@IJ So, how does Jeni know that $2,000 went missing from her box? Whenever she visited the box, she took a picture of the contents. And, when she visited the box in February 2021--just a month before the raid--she took a picture of the cash. But when the FBI returned the contents

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Today was the day - we had argument this morning in our case challenging the FBI’s search and seizure of hundreds of safe deposit boxes. I don’t make predictions, but I’ll say this: The judges were asking the right questions. They were pressing the government hard on how this

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Los Angeles for oral argument in what may be the most important Fourth Amendment case pending in the United States today. The basic facts: The FBI broke open and searched hundreds of safe deposit boxes without any reason to think the boxholders did

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

It should go without saying, but the FBI and the DOJ typically don't like being compared to King George. So the government does something interesting: It files one of the more peculiar filings I've ever seen, which my colleague described as a "Motion to Lose Without Published

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

Now, maybe this sounds great. Winning is good! But there's a hitch. Obviously, we want to get a remedy for our clients; we want a court to order the FBI to destroy records generated during its illegal search. But we also want a decision that will stop the FBI from doing this

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

And, the coup de grace, the day after Christmas the government filed a reply. The reply is annoying in lots of ways, but the really important part comes at the end. I've screenshotted it. The government's reply makes explicit what was only implicit before: "The government of

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

Now, fortunately, this isn't going to work. There's actually a lot of case law about what happens when the government raises the white flag of surrender to avoid a bad decision: The court still decides the case. In fact, it turns out the government agreed the plaintiffs should

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

What I've been working on lately: Pasco County, FL, used a crude computer algorithm to "predict" who would commit future crimes--and then subjected their families to relentless harassment. They called it "Intelligence Led Policing." This is Robert Jones, one of our clients. His

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

@Rob_J_Hodgson Oh boy I have another case for you.

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

1 year

The court overturned the money laundering charge on the ground that Ian didn't actually know about the alleged illegal transaction. ... But let stand the conviction for transmitting money without a license (rejecting Ian's argument that the statute doesn't apply to crypto).

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

6 months

Joined my @IJ colleague Jared McClain in San Francisco this morning for oral argument before the Ninth Circuit (screenshot of the argument below). We’re representing a group of property owners in Humboldt County, CA, who are facing massive fines imposed because other people

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

@FreddyMagnus They admitted it in depositions. Took some pulling by my colleague @Robert_Frommer but it came out.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Okay, tomorrow is here, so, as promised, I'm going to offer thoughts on the decision. First the substance of the decision, then some thoughts on what happens next. (I have meetings coming up, so if I get interrupted mid-thread may pick this up again this evening.)

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Update: Victory! Lots to do here, as you might be able to imagine. Will have more to say tomorrow.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

After police seized Cristal Starling's $8,040, the DEA spent three years trying to keep it through civil forfeiture. After @IJ stepped in to represent her, they finally gave it back. This week, they filed a brief arguing they should not have to pay any interest on the funds.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

For years, a Texas attorney worked simultaneously as both a prosecutor and a law clerk. He not only worked with the same judges, but actually worked on the same cases--advising judges on over 300 cases where he was also serving as the prosecutor. Today, the Fifth Circuit

Patrick Jaicomo

@pjaicomo

8 months

Here’s the legal question at issue (and our brief):

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

CERT PETITION TO WATCH: Can the government take your property just because it doesn't like you, so long as it leaves your property a vacant lot? Brinkmann's Hardware -- a second-generation family business in New York -- had plans to open a new hardware store in Southold New

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

More on the US Private Vaults situation here.

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

Worth a listen: My colleague @RobertFrommer discussed this case on a recent podcast with National Review's @charlescwcooke . Link in next tweet.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

For now, here's one of my favorite parts of the opinion.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

There is a fascinating lawsuit currently pending in district court, challenging a regulation that will impact tens of millions of small businesses across the country. The case has not gotten nearly enough attention. The regulation imposes new reporting requirements on over 36

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 years

So . . . we filed a thing.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

A TALE OF TWO OPINIONS: Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down a terrible opinion about civil forfeiture. Later the same day, @IJ got an excellent opinion from a Tennessee appellate court in a Fourth Amendment case. There's a lesson here, and it's not just that you win some

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Justice Thomas put out an important message on today's Supreme Court orders list. For those who are paying attention, the opinion may mark the beginning of the end for the nation's rent control laws. On some level, the opinion is a nothingburger. The Supreme Court denied a

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 years

This is a big deal: New York City has entered a settlement resolving @IJ 's challenge to the NYPD's "nuisance" eviction program--or what I like to call the City's no-fault eviction program. And the settlement is nothing short of a complete and utter capitulation by the City.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

2 months

In March 2022, a father went to the superintendent's office to complain about COVID restrictions at his child's school. Then he posted a video of the interaction on social media. Maybe you can guess where this goes next. Note that's March 2022 -- by that point the vaccine had

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

Internal documents uncovered during discovery show all this was by design. In an email, a sheriff's office official told deputies they should focus on people who were "identified as proooooolific offenders," to "target them" and "send a message." "The goal is to get them to move

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

When Robert was arrested the third time, a deputy was captured on body-camera telling him, "We'll just continue on this shit, because you're messing around with an aggressive sheriff. Sheriff Nocco is not playing games, that's the bottom line." Not long after, Robert moved his

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

Tomorrow morning, my @IJ colleague Anya Bidwell will argue in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Sylvia Gonzalez -- a woman who was arrested by the government of her small town because she opposed the incumbent city manager. I've had the privilege of sitting in on some of

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

1 year

Big decision today from the Sixth Circuit -- holds that when government seizes property for civil forfeiture it has to give you a prompt initial hearing where you can challenge the seizure. That may seem obvious. It should be obvious! But it's not how forfeiture usually works.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

New Jersey is stockpiling baby blood. NJ parents, represented by @IJ , have sued to make it stop. Many states draw blood from newborns to screen for disease, but in NJ there's an extra twist: The state keeps the blood for 23 years. Parents are not asked to consent to the storage

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

3 years

@billybinion Ohio works so well in part because lots of people don’t want to live in Ohio. And if everyone moved to Ohio, it wouldn’t be as great. Kind of a paradox.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

Robert wasn't the only one to be arrested because his kid was targeted by Pasco County. Tammy Heilman's son was placed on Pasco's list when he was sixteen years old, and before long Tammy (who had never been arrested before) was arrested twice--once when deputies forcibly

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

UPDATE: The district court in this case struck down the challenged regulation.

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

There is a fascinating lawsuit currently pending in district court, challenging a regulation that will impact tens of millions of small businesses across the country. The case has not gotten nearly enough attention. The regulation imposes new reporting requirements on over 36

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

The decision has three parts, and each part has important implications for the Fourth Amendment. First : All three judges on the panel agree that the search was not a valid "inventory" because it did not follow standardized procedures. Remember that the government's theory

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Andrew Wimer

@andrewwimer

8 months

🚨 Big news in @IJ 's case on behalf of security deposit box owners in L.A. The 9th Circuit reverses and declares the FBI's opening of individual boxes was unconstitutional. Orders government to destroy records. Release here:

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

3 years

The police need a warrant to come on your land and search for evidence of a crime ... Right? Not so much. Under the "open fields" doctrine, courts let police roam your land, no warrant required. @IJ is challenging that doctrine, and yesterday we scored a big win in Tennessee.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

2 years

I've been thinking -- we need a new amendment to make clear that the Constitution protects unenumerated rights. Something really explicit on that point. I'm thinking we can call it "The Unenumerated Rights Amendment." Here's some draft text, I dunno, what do you think?

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

This morning #SCOTUS hears oral argument in DeVillier v. Texas. So what's the case about? Short version: Is the Constitution's just compensation clause self-executing? Longer version: If the government takes your stuff and refuses to pay for it, can the courts do anything

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

6 months

Thank you, community notes.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Another little thing I can't resist highlighting. After the argument, the government tried to avoid a decision in the case by filing a ridiculous motion where they agreed that we should win, without actually agreeing that their conduct violated the Fourth Amendment:

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Yesterday the Supreme Court held oral argument in Jarkesy v. SEC, a.k.a. "the case that could destroy the government." I attended in person, which is something I've been trying to do lately for cases that I care about. And I have a few thoughts: 1. Destruction is imminent. Not

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

There are also other cases pending in the courts, raising other questions related to the raid--including lawsuits that @IJ filed on behalf of Jeni Pearsons and Don Mellein. Jeni's box at USPV had $29k in silver, plus $2,000 in cash. The FBI returned her silver, but it claims to

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Since this is responding to a post about my case, I’ll bite: Change will come because we will make it. It’s been a crazy last couple days. Very proud to be fighting for the constitution @IJ .

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

10 months

@JTLonsdale It will come

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Recording here, for those who are curious:

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

3 months

IMO, the most important decision of the term.

Anthony Sanders

@IJSanders

3 months

SEC v. Jarkesy is out. Jury trial is required in civil enforcement actions that ask for a fine. MAJOR victory for the Seventh Amendment!

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

In a remarkable exchange at oral argument in the Second Circuit, the lawyer for the town was asked -- what if the government took the property of all the Jews in the town and replaced their homes with "passive parks"? Would that be a valid use of eminent domain? The lawyer for

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

That’s me in the photos—almost a decade ago now. I was a young lawyer, had never even argued in court. But, not long after starting work at @IJ , I was testifying before a packed congressional hearing. That could be you. @IJ is hiring. When I graduated from law school, I

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

2 months

Fortunately, though, the district court's opinion wasn't the last word. The dad appealed to the First Circuit, and, last week, that court reversed. "We," the court explained, "have a hard time picturing a more textbook First Amendment violation." The court continued: "If the

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Beyond that, though, there's the question of accountability. And, in that regard, I'm hoping we can get Congress to look into what happened here. Say what you want about Congress--and I'd say a lot--but Congress has a unique power to subpoena information from government

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

1 year

Happy Friday! A fantastic decision from the Second Circuit today reversing the forfeiture of my client's $8,000 and allowing her the chance to contest the forfeiture on the merits.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

Judge Menashi, the judge who asked the tough questions at oral argument, dissented. In Judge Menashi's words, "the Constitution contains no Fake Park Exception to the public use requirement of the Takings Clause." What about the majority's argument, that a park is a valid use

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

2 months

Congrats to @marcorandazza and @wolmanj , who represented the dad on appeal. Their brief's argument is simple enough: It's clearly established that the First Amendment bars government censorship. As the brief says: "If Freedom of the Press stands for anything, it stands for a

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

The effect of the regulation is to create a new database that can be mined by law enforcement for information about small businesses. And we really are talking about small businesses. The regulation exempts publicly traded corporations, as well as businesses with more than 20

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

It is, frankly, bonkers to me that this isn't getting more coverage. This regulation applies to every small business in the entire country!

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

UPDATE: The district court in this case struck down the challenged regulation.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

@mysqrlfeed Thanks for the support -- Tammy and Robert aren't looking for a big pay day, just to hold Pasco accountable and to secure a decision that will make sure this doesn't happen to other parents.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

And ....... the government has now appealed. This is going to be an important one to watch if you care about financial privacy, or even if you just happen to run a small business.

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

UPDATE: The district court in this case struck down the challenged regulation.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Third: One judge filed a concurrence saying that the inventory exception to the warrant requirement should never apply to a vault of safe deposit boxes. This would be the broadest, most privacy-protective way to dispose of the case. It would draw a hard line and say that this

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Second: Two judges agree that the government here exceeded the scope of the warrant. Remember, the warrant specifically stated that it did not authorize a "criminal search or seizure" of the contents of the safe deposit boxes. The court in this part of the decision goes in

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

So now @IJ is petitioning for cert -- with Judge Menashi's dissent front and center. As non-lawyers know, the gold standard for a cert petition is a split of authority in the lower courts. And we have that here in spades, as Judge Menashi explained.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

And there it is... the Chamber has sued to challenge the FTC's noncompete rule. That was fast! From a pure policy perspective, there are plenty of good libertarian arguments in favor of the FTC's rule. Non-competes restrict the freedom to earn a living, and they interfere with

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

10 months

Home. As a lawyer for the constitution, I get to travel a lot—and I love it. In the last two months, I’ve made two trips to Los Angeles, three trips to D.C., one to Wilmington, DE, and one to New Haven, CT. But it’s good to be home.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

2 months

Congrats also to my colleagues @IJ , who filed an amicus brief--joined by @FIRE on the brief as well. Our brief summed it up: "[T]he school district threatened Berge with legal action under an inapplicable statute because he engaged in the most quintessential of First

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

I'm partial to the Fourth and Fifth Amendment arguments. If the government needs access to information for law enforcement, the Constitution has a simple answer: Get A Warrant.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

Discovery requests are out, and now we're waiting for responses. First deposition could be in as soon as two weeks. Meanwhile, trial is set for December. Things are moving here, my friends.

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

So, now the case moves forward to discovery -- meaning we get to ask the FBI some uncomfortable questions about what exactly happened to the missing $2,000. I literally couldn't be looking forward to that more.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

Justice Jackson in Loper Bright: "what I'm worried about is courts becoming a kind of super-legislature." A revealing comment, and one that gets to the core of what's wrong with Chevron. (Caution: Nerdy ad-law discussion below.) Why is it revealing? Because it suggests that

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 years

@IJ sued on behalf of victims of these practices--including Sung Cho, a laundromat owner who was threatened with eviction (and forced to waive his Fourth Amendment rights) because undercover cops committed crimes at his laundromat. (I'm not kidding!)

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

5 months

Sixth Circuit oral argument happening right now: If a SWAT team destroys your house, looking for a fugitive, are you owed compensation?

Thursday, 05/09/2024 at 9:00 a.m. before : Bush Nalbandian Murphy

23-3840 USA v. Alexander Sittenfeld23-5765 Mollie Slaybaugh v. Rutherford County, TN23-1472 NLRB v. Metro Man IV, LLC

www.youtube.com

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

Alright, here we go. Argument is starting. #IJatSCOTUS #DeVillierVTexas .

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

This morning #SCOTUS hears oral argument in DeVillier v. Texas. So what's the case about? Short version: Is the Constitution's just compensation clause self-executing? Longer version: If the government takes your stuff and refuses to pay for it, can the courts do anything

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

@RMFifthCircuit @IJ The Court granted cert--with @IJ now representing Richie directly, not as an amicus--and today my colleague Bob McNamara will be arguing the case at #SCOTUS . The merits are (or should be) simple: The Constitution says the remedy for a taking is just compensation. Richie

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

Three months later - we have an opinion!

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

Tomorrow morning, my @IJ colleague Anya Bidwell will argue in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Sylvia Gonzalez -- a woman who was arrested by the government of her small town because she opposed the incumbent city manager. I've had the privilege of sitting in on some of

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

3 months

I want to talk about some of the @IJ cases where we're challenging the use of agency judges -- cases that are going to be directly impacted by today's decision in Jarkesy. We filed an amicus in the Jarkesy case on behalf of all these clients. First up, Sun Valley Orchards.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

9 months

And make no mistake--the point of this is to target small businesses for enforcement. Just last month, FinCEN put out a rule that will determine who has access to this new database. Federal agencies will have basically blanket access, without any requirement obtain a warrant.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

So why would rent control be unconstitutional? Simple answer: The Supreme Court has said that an important part of the right to property is the "right to exclude." And a regulation that limits the right to exclude is a per se taking. Rent control is just such a restriction on the

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 years

To recap: New York law allowed NYPD to evict tenants who did nothing wrong, simply because crime OCCURRED at their home or business. And NYPD used the threat of eviction to extract agreements waiving constitutional rights.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

2 years

After @IJ sued Pasco County over their "predictive policing" algorithm, we obtained bodycam footage showing the program in action. The footage is creepy, disturbing, enraging -- and confirms everything we've been saying.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

2 months

The government can't "demand" that you stop speaking. So the dad sued. The district court dismissed the case on qualified immunity grounds. You may have heard of qualified immunity: it's a legal doctrine that protects government officials from liability for violating the

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

1 year

If you want to feel a mess of conflicting emotions, I commend to you this decision from a FCC bureaucrat deciding not to arbitrarily take away a man's livelihood.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

7 months

The government's en banc deadline in the U.S. Private Vaults case has passed, with no petition filed. Unless the government files a cert petition (which seems unlikely) we go back to the district court to enter final judgment.

Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

The decision has three parts, and each part has important implications for the Fourth Amendment. First : All three judges on the panel agree that the search was not a valid "inventory" because it did not follow standardized procedures. Remember that the government's theory

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Putting constitutional limits on rent control would, incidentally, be good policy. It's economics 101: Price controls ultimately constrain supply, causing real prices to rise. Rent control is no exception.

Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair 🦥

@senatorshoshana

8 months

"When economists studied rent control policies in San Francisco, they found that they actually reduced the number of apartments available for rent in the area by 15% … and thus made housing in San Francisco more expensive."

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

The Supreme Court has weighed in on a question that, ultimately, only it can resolve: Who won Devillier v. Texas? You may recall that, after the Court issued its decision in Devillier, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed victory. Much laughter was had by all, as it was

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Okay, so that's the substance of the decision. What happens next? Most immediately, we go back to the trial court, where we hammer out exactly what the court order resolving the case should look like. The opinion excerpt in the tweet just above spells out the remedy in broad

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 months

The Second Circuit bought that argument. In the Second Circuit's view, all that matters is the government is taking the property to build a park--even a "passive" park. Their reasoning: A park is a public amenity -- like a road or a school -- so building a park is a classic use

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

6 years

This is big. Not just a cert grant -- but a cert grant on a major issue of constitutional law. This is the kind of case that will be cited for decades to come.

Anthony Sanders

@IJSanders

6 years

BREAKING: Timbs v. Indiana, case on whether excessive fines clause is incorporated against the states, granted cert in SCOTUS!!!!! @IJ 's sixth time at the Surpeme Court!

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

1 year

The court overturned the money laundering charge on the ground that Ian didn't actually know about the alleged illegal transaction. ... But let stand the conviction for transmitting money without a license (rejecting Ian's argument that the statute doesn't apply to crypto).

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

6 months

This week, a team of @IJ lawyers are at trial in Idaho, defending a woman's right to live on private land in a tiny home. Chasidy Decker bought a 252-square-foot tiny home on wheels when she found herself priced out of Boise's real estate market--one of the hottest real estate

Dan Alban

@DanAlban

6 months

Outside in the #Boise sunshine after a great Day 1 of #trial ! ⚖️ @IJ Idaho #TinyHome Trial Team #PropertyRights #Housing 🏘 #FreeSpeech #ConstitutionalRights #PublicInterestLaw #ProBono #ImpactLitigation

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

1 year

Among other problems with the court's reasoning, the fact that Congress later amended the law to include crypto is some pretty strong evidence that the law *didn't* include crypto previously.

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

8 months

Justice Thomas says this particular case wasn't granted because the petitioners didn't do a good enough job framing the issues. (Note he uses the word "our," signaling this isn't just his idiosyncratic view.) He says it wasn't clear exactly what regulations were at issue, who

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Rob Johnson

@FreeRangeLawyer

4 years

That program was around for decades, and it affected thousands of people throughout New York City. And all of those agreements are gone, unenforceable, as if none of it ever happened. Of course it did happen, and we can't change that, but it's still amazing to see this result.

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