Writer on law etc.; Cato Institute. Election law, Maryland civic stuff, cooking. Blogged at Overlawyered back when. No kings, no tyrants.https://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mx2rh7wtes2o"Bivens was never necessary in the first place. The People who adopted the Constitution knew that money damages were available from those who wronged them, even if they worked for the federal government." Matthew Cavedon on Cato brief in Nielsen v. Watanabe https://www.cato.org/blog/nielsen-v-watanabe-brief-constitution-only-permission-americans-need-sue-federal-agents04 Oct 2026 15:59 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mx2rh7wtes2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mx2ji3ensc2vRFK Jr. is a professed admirer of what AI can do in health care, so @citizencohn.bsky.social asked Claude and three other AI assistants to evaluate four of the wayward heir's pronouncements on vaccines. None of them rated any of the claims as true. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/rfk-jr-wants-to-ai-ify-health-care-claude-says-he-is-full-of-crap04 Oct 2026 13:36 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mx2ji3ensc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwyjmihuts2mMinneapolis prosecution: "'I seem to be indicted for holding meetings,' one defendant told the judge... As The Verge summarized the indictment, 'the DOJ is trying to punish people for trailing ICE officers—and if it succeeds, other activists could be next.'" [@ericboehm87.bsky.social, @reason.com] https://reason.com/2026/10/03/the-real-resistance/03 Oct 2026 18:34 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwyjmihuts2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwwpz34m622jFrom colleague Stephen Richer: a judge has struck down the federal law against noncitizen voting on the grounds that the Constitution bases federal voting eligibility on the standard states use for their legislatures. (In practice, be it noted, every state bans noncitizen voting.) https://www.cato.org/blog/noncitizen-voting-ruling-big-implications-save-america-act03 Oct 2026 01:23 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwwpz34m622jhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwwlipi3hs2vSpaghetti squash topped with a Carol Field kale-walnut pesto. #Cooksky #FoodSky #BlueskySupperClub03 Oct 2026 00:02 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwwlipi3hs2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwwgmui3xs2qMichael Munger on YIMBY reform: "the remedies that have actually worked share one feature: they take the 'Reject' option off the table for at least one party, rather than hoping better arguments at the microphone will change local minds." https://www.econlib.org/econlog/the-nimby-prisoners-dilemma02 Oct 2026 22:35 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwwgmui3xs2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwvmt53o622jThey wanted a baby. Could AI help? https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/our-ai-midwife02 Oct 2026 14:53 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwvmt53o622jhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwvlz4xbrc2j"New records reviewed by CNN suggest that several DOJ monitors deployed during this year’s primaries helped challenge Trump’s 2020 election loss. Another pleaded guilty to illegally accessing a government elections website in 2016." https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/25/politics/trump-election-monitors-voting-machines-vis02 Oct 2026 14:38 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwvlz4xbrc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwvlsj2s6k2jNew survey of Australian teenagers finds most did not comply with government's social media ban on under-16s. "Such bans are easy to circumvent, and being off a platform is individually costly when one’s peers remain on it." [Bursztyn, Sunstein et al. Cato research brief] https://www.cato.org/research-briefs-economic-policy/australias-social-media-ban-did-not-change-norms02 Oct 2026 14:35 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwvlsj2s6k2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/walterolson.bsky.social/post/3mwvkctqdmc2jBrookside, Alabama, a town of about 1,300 people with almost no serious crime, had an officer-to-resident ratio almost five times the national average. It kept busy squeezing millions from hapless drivers with methods that included bogus stops, towing, and court costs. [Jacob Sullum] https://reason.com/2026/10/01/judge-preliminarily-blesses-1-5-million-settlement-for-victims-of-a-tiny-towns-policing-for-profit/02 Oct 2026 14:08 +0000at://did:plc:efpytyxmwow5ffwi3dphhrlq/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwvkctqdmc2j