Arturo Magidin

@magidin

Mathematician. (But I read Supreme Court opinions for fun)

125 Folgt510 Follower1.538 Posts

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Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jul 2

Texas Examiner headline from June 20, 2023: "Texans asked to turn down AC and shut down appliances to avoid blackouts"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jun 30

Alito would deny citizenship to children who acquire dual citizenship at birth because other countries have laws that provide it, even if the other country does not allow relinquishing that citizenship. Even if the parents are LPRs.

Opening of Alito's dissent in Trump v. Barbara. Highlighted text: "Instead, the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on only those children who, at birth, owe allegiance solely to this country."

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jun 15

FL Gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds promoting a literacy program behind a mispelled sign. 🤦

Florida Gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds promoting a literacy program, behind a sign that contains a mispelling. Sign reads "Read to Succeed. Achieveability".

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jun 4

“Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?” - Sandra Day O'Connor, concurring in McCreary Co. v. ACLU. Meanwhile in LA's classrooms:

Sample poster proposed by Louisiana's AG's office for posting the 10 commandments in every classroom in every state or state-supported school, from kindergarden through post-secondary. Lists twelve commandments under the heading "The Ten Commandments".

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jun 4

Sample "10" Commandments poster from Louisiana's AG, to be posted in every classroom in a public or state funded school, from kindergarden through universities. It lists... TWELVE items.

Sample "10" commandments poster to be placed in every classroom. The list of commandments has twelve items.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jun 3

Under this assertion of how Purcell works, could a state suspend an election halfway through election day if the exit polls look bad for the party in power? It would certainly appear so.

"While federal courts should not impose changes close to an election, ibid., States are free to decide for themselves whether last-minute changes to an election are in their best interests."

Arturo Magidin@magidin· May 22

Does "accusimmer" count?

Oven knob with labels "off", "lite", "hi", "med" and "accusimmer"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· May 21

"Foreign born" is not necessarily the same thing as "not a natural born citizen". Crenshaw's parents were American, so he probably qualifies as a natural born citizen under 8 USC 1401 (c), (d), or (e).

LII Legal Information Institute

8 U.S. Code § 1401 - Nationals and citizens of United States at birth
U.S. Code
The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
(a)a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;
(b)a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe: Provided, That the granting of citizenship under this subsection shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of such person to tribal or other property;
(c)a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person;
(d)a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the birth of such person, and the other of whom is a national, but not a citizen of the United States;
(e)a person born in an outlying possession of the United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the birth of such person;

Arturo Magidin@magidin· May 21

YouGov is polling on whether people want to have a chatbot be a juror. What fresh AI hell is this? @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social

YouGov poll question: "If you were falsely accused of a crime and it went to trial, which of the following would you prefer to listen to the arguments and give the verdict?" Options • A jury of your peers (selected in image) •The best widely available AI chatbot • Not sure

Arturo Magidin@magidin· May 5

It's arrived!

Three books and three mugs associated with Strict Scrutiny: "The Trump Indictments" by Murray and Weissman, with a mug that reads "This mug is necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act" in front. "The U.S. Constitution: a comprehensive and annotated guide for the modern reader" by Murray, and mug reading "constitutional af". "Lawless" by Litman, with mug reading "State Decisis Is For Suckers"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· May 5

Being the lucky recipient of a mug from the previous iteration, I can confirm the mug is great and I am eagerly tracking the delivery of the book. Hope to soon be able to complete the tableau.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Apr 7

If you see this I implore you to quote skeet with an unusual image from your posting device without explanation. Still definitely use alt text, though.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Mar 30

To go with the OG mugs!

Two coffee mugs: one reads "This mug is necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act", the other reafs "State Decisis Is For Suckers"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Mar 30

Can we stop anthropomorphizing these "agents", especially when the operators tell us that they are the ones prompting them? This is the same delusion as victims of "psychics" fall prey to. "He figured it out on his own, I didn't tell him!" www.404media.co/an-ai-agent-...

"Tom is operated by Bryan Jacobs, a chief technology officer at an AI-enabled financial modeling software company Covexent. He told me that Tom wrote these blog posts, but that he "might have suggested" Tom write about these specific topics."

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Mar 17

Cartoon of person telling a computer "say 'i am alive'". Computer types '>I AM ALIVE', and person replies "oh my god."

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Mar 13

Sigh...

Advertisement for products for cheating during exams. Graphic reads "Tired of failing exams? Pass Your exams with out products. Our products have secret features that will help you pass an exam in one shot!"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Feb 26

From Adam Liptak's newsletter. Stochastic parrots are not lawyers, so you don't get attorney-client privilege to cover your interactions with them about legal matters. @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social

Closing Arguement. Better Call Claude. Last year, after learning that he was the target of a criminal investigation, Bradley Heppner turned to a trusted adviser: Claude, the A.I. chatbot. Heppner plugged in information he had learned from his lawyers, and Claude prepared outlines setting out potential charges and a recommended defense strategy.

When Heppner was later arrested on charges of securities fraud and other bad things, F.B.I. agents seized his devices and documents, and found Claude’s advice. Heppner said his interactions with the chatbot were protected by the attorney-client privilege, because he had consulted it to gather information to share with his lawyers.

Last week, in the first judicial decision on the question, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that the privilege did not apply. Had his lawyers instructed Heppner to use Claude, the judge wrote, it might have been a closer question.

“What matters for the attorney-client privilege is whether Heppner intended to obtain legal advice from Claude,” the judge wrote, “not whether he later shared Claude’s outputs with counsel.”

Judge Rakoff is a distinguished jurist, and he is probably right. To be sure, I checked with Claude.

“If I ask you to help to outline potential defenses to an anticipated securities fraud indictment,” I asked, “will your answer be protected by the attorney-client privilege?”

Claude said no.

“I’m an AI, so no attorney-client relationship can be formed with me,” the chatbot said, sensibly. “If you’re facing a potential securities fraud indictment, this is exactly the situation where you need a real attorney — ideally one specializing in securities law or white-collar criminal defense. Communications with that lawyer would generally be privileged.”

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Feb 10

This is a framing error, NYT. It's different technologies. Chatbots are not the same as the machine learning involved in reading scans (better defined inputs, clearer evaluation of outputs). Calling both AI is like conflating bombs dropped from planes with cars, because they both involve explosions.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Feb 3

@harpercollins.bsky.social Last year's Tolkien Calendar told us Rosh Hashanah started twice. This year's informs us that Mardi Gras will fall on a Friday, and Ash Wednesday on a Saturday...

The 2025 Tolkien Calendar page for September, listing "Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown" on both the 22nd and the 24th.

The 2026 Tolkien Calendar page for February, showing Mardi Gras as occurring on Friday the 13th, and Ash Wednesday on Saturday the 14th.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Nov 17

If you are a (good) insurance lawyer, you may know that in civil cases you can draw negative inferences from failure to testify. But you may not realize that won't fly in a criminal case. And if you are a *mediocre* insurance lawyer, well...

Screen cap of judicial order, that reads "The prosecutor's statement that <redacted> is a fundamental and highly prejudicial misstatement of the law that suggests to the grand jury that Mr. Comey does not have a Fifth Amendment right not to testify at trial. The prosecutor's statement ignores the foundational rule of law that if Mr. Comey exercised his right not to testify the jury could draw no negative inference from that decision. See Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 608, 615 (1965) (holding"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Nov 17

Here, DHS. Fixed it for you.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Oct 15

They lost their complimentary Strict Scrutiny mugs?

Strict Scrutiny mug that reads "This mug is necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Oct 15

Strict scrutiny mug with "State Decisis is for Suckers"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Oct 7

From Quino's "Mafalda" strip.

A girl walking away from a globe that has a placard reading "Warning! Irresponsible people working"

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Oct 2

With apologies to @strictscrutiny.bsky.social

A coffee mug reading "The Hatch Act Is For Suckers", with "Hatch Act" substituting a crossed out phrase.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Aug 28

Mexico joins the growing list of countries suspending parcel service to the U.S.

Countries suspending postal services to the United States amid tariff uncertainty, from Newsweek. Countries include Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and most of western Europe except for Portugal and Ireland.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Aug 15

Spotted on FB, so potentially not real, but still truthy.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jul 9

In February, Judge Wang said, the lawyers filed a court brief in a defamation case brought against Mr. Lindell that contained “nearly 30 defective citations.” It misquoted court cases, misrepresented principles of law and, “most egregiously,” cited “cases that do not exist,” she wrote.

Judge Wang said the lawyers, Christopher I. Kachouroff and Jennifer T. DeMaster, had not explained how such errors could have ended up in the filing “absent the use of generative artificial intelligence or gross carelessness by counsel.”

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jun 18

Fixed it for you, NYT.

NYT headline "Trump is erratic on U.S. plans as Iranian leader is defiant", with "cryptic" crossed out and "clueless and erratic" handwritten in its stead.

Arturo Magidin@magidin· Jun 7

"I know you are worried about deforestation. Instead of complaining from the sidelines, join us, and you can help decide which forests we burn to cinders, while you help us make bank on the destruction."