Law professor. Renegade prosecutor. @MSNBC and @NBCNews legal analyst. Author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men (Out Now) msnbc.com
Washington, DC
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Thrilled to announce that Chokehold is back in stock on Amazon! It's also available at independent bookstores and public libraries. I appreciate the love from booksellers, librarians, activists, authors, community groups, and the media. And the LA Lakers! amazon.com/Chokehold-Policin…
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Some personal news. Honored and excited to be named a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. washingtonpost.com/pr/2020/1…
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In my defense @Lesdoggg I do live there but the kitchen was just renovated and it's so purdy I'm scared to cook or eat in it! But don't you worry, me and Black Santa gon be alright!
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Oh. My. Freakin. God. Thanks goes to the Board of Governors and of course to Black Jesus. To all the kids out there with a vision of a Skype room that does not include cacti or pineapples – just do you. Dreams do come true.
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Of course grateful for the 9. Thanks to God and the Academy, etc. Still the lawyer in me is considering an appeal. I thought for sure this was a 10. And please no comments about how I need a perfectly placed pineapple. Not going there.
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Hot diggity dog! Moving on up. A brother is still going for that 10 tho. #Goals
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Yo @TuckerCarlson I'm a Black MSNBC commentator and I agree with @JoyAnnReid and @DrJasonJohnson that @DanielCameronAG sold out for his own political benefit. I'm hurt you left me out of your hissy fit!
mediaite.com/a/qyapj via @mediaite
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What @JoyceWhiteVance said.
One lasting impression from this election: it’s essential that Congress pass a new Voting Rights Act to avoid voter suppression in future elections. Our civil rights are on the ballot in Georgia. Remind your friends who live there to have a plan to vote in the Senate runoff.
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What a relief. I was worried the pineapples might be interpreted as pandering to @ratemyskyperoom but now I’m all @sally_field at the Oscars: You like me, you really really like me. I actually bought those bad boys to eat but feel bad now that they’re famous.
Good kitchen set up. Flowers will come into bloom. Rare double pineapple placement. Minor ring light issue. 9/10 @LawProfButler
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My work here is almost done. Coveted 8/10. I ain't quitting until I get that 10, tho.
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Proud to be one of more than 1000 former US Justice Department officials standing up against Barr's corruption and deceit.
Very proud that so many former DOJ officials (myself included) are speaking out about Barr. 1100 in just a short time & growing via @nytimes ⚖️🙏⚖️ nytimes.com/2020/02/16/us/po…
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Here's a gorgeous remembrance of Midwin Charles from @DrJasonJohnson. thegrio.com/2021/04/07/legal…
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I feel sorry for my former colleagues at the Justice Department. William Barr is a sorry excuse for an Attorney General. msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/fm…
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washingtonpost.com/politics/…
I told the Washington Post that if a defendant in DC Superior Court was as belligerent and disrespectful as Judge Kavanaugh, he would be held in contempt and locked up. Of course most of those defendants are poor people of color.
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We won! Arizona reversed its ban of my book "Chokehold: Policing Black Men" after threat of a lawsuit by the ACLU. This is a victory for the inmate who wanted to read my book, and for literacy and justice. The struggle continues for the 2 million plus souls locked up in the US.
VICTORY: Today the AZ prison system announced it will reverse its ban on the book, "Chokehold: Policing Black Men."
People in prison have the right to read and educate themselves about the criminal justice system. We will remain vigilant in our efforts to protect that right.
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Nice to be named a "Superstar Legal Analyst" by
National Jurist, along with my wonderful @MSNBC colleagues @Mimirocah1 and @BarbMcQuade. Shout out to my friends @ProfMMurray, @thelauracoates and @kim_wehle, who are also recognized. mydigitalpublication.com/dis…
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Much respect @JoyceWhiteVance Like I said on @hardball an excellent trial lawyer like you could get a jury to convict Roger Stone of false statements just with what's in the public record.
I always learn something from @LawProfButler. Glad to have a chance to join him on @hardball with @HardballChris tonight.
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Proud of my students.
We, the Georgetown’s Black Law Students Association, write on behalf of the Georgetown University Law Center student body, to demand the revocation of @ishapiro employment contract and to condemn his racist tweets. @GeorgetownLaw
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Ironically, Sac. Police Chief Hahn attended my event for Chokehold in Sacramento. There he said all the right things. Hoping he's going to do the right thing here. A good start would be firing every cop who muted their body cams!
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I'm proud to be one of more than 500 former federal prosecutors who think we could prove in criminal court, beyond reasonable doubt, that @realDonaldTrump committed obstruction of justice.
ICYMI: Our very own @ianbassin on with @LawProfButler on #inners explaining why 500+ DOJ alumni signed a statement saying #TrumpObstructed.
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I'm a former prosecutor and here's my opening statement to the jury in the case against Breonna Taylor's killers.
#BLM #BlackLivesMatter #BreonnaTaylor #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor
What could justice for #BreonnaTaylor look like? As a former prosecutor, Georgetown Law's @LawProfButler says the evidence warrants reckless homicide charges against the police officers who killed her. He lays it out in this opening statement he'd give if prosecuting the case.
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'I could have shot you in front of your fucking kids': how cops dehumanize black people | Paul Butler theguardian.com/commentisfre…
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Without the video Christian Cooper might have been arrested. For violating the racial order, as enforced by the NYPD. washingtonpost.com/national/…
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Inspired and moved by #becomingnetflix. Would I have imagined, when we were in law school, that @MichelleObama would be First Lady? Heck no. I would have predicted President.
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Add more? But I’m a minimalist! I’m trying to make it work #ratemyskyperoom – God knows I’m trying - but we’ve hit a couple of rough patches and I’m starting to think we might have some irreconcilable differences…
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‘It’s called white supremacy’: Paul Butler on why Kenosha shooting suspect wasn’t stopped by police msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/… via @msnbc
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If a white person was suspected of using a fake $20 bill, can you imagine the police storming her vehicle, ordering her and her friends out, placing her in handcuffs, and ultimately her winding up dead?
theguardian.com/commentisfre…
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NPR took a deep dive into chokeholds as a police restraining/compliance technique. I told them bans don't work unless they are backed up with consequences for officers who violate them. Typically cops aren't held accountable. npr.org/2020/06/16/877527974…
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Day. Just. Made.
Mr. Butler the honor was mine. To give voice to your harm for the world to understand the damage & trauma of racism in our daily lives is important work.. That is my contribution to the vigilant fight against discrimination.Your book, CHOKEHOLD should be mandatory reading for all
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Thanks Brad. I always pinch myself when I'm on with the legendary @JillWineBanks The coolness!
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This makes a brother's day. California Governor @GavinNewsom visited the great Eso Wan Books in Los Angeles and checked out Chokehold!
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OK so now we’re back to sparring. Flowers and pineapples together would be too much. How many times I gotta tell you, I’m a minimalist. Act like you know @ratemyskyperoom. There, I said it!
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Thank you @POTUS. Important step forward on your pledge to end structural racism. Now please extend that justice to people who sold weed. They were victims of the same race disparities/selective prosecution. Now corporations making big $$$ doing what my ppl got locked up for.
Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives – for conduct that is legal in many states. That’s before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we begin to right these wrongs.
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Steve Bannon has the potential to be a star witness for the prosecution..
msnbc.com/deadline-white-hou…
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The paperback version of Chokehold drops this week with a new forward. Here are the tour dates. Come thru!
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I helped revise the D.C. Criminal Code. Biden and Bowser are wrong. washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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What a great time I had with the young scholars of Theodore Roosevelt High School in DC. So honored that they're reading my first book "Let's Get Free: A Hip Hop Theory of Justice."
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This loss is tragic beyond words. Rest in power Midwin. Thank you for your work in the beautiful struggle. instagram.com/tv/CKZDXF3lWgX…
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And even in the AG’s imagination, he does not know how to try a case. A great lawyer like @JoyceWhiteVance could have won a conviction against all three of those cops for killing #BreonnaTaylor.
.@LawProfButler "The AG had an imaginary jury trial in his mind" sums this up perfectly.
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Where else but @TheBeatWithAri does a nerdy law professor get to spit some @DMX lines?
After Michael Cohen invokes @DMX's tax case to avoid jail time, @mayawiley, @LawProfButler and @chucknicecomic spontaneously quote DMX lines while analyzing the argument in Cohen's sentencing memo on The Beat:
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Here is the opening statement that we will never see in the #BreonnaTaylor case. Here is how a real prosecutor could have brought those killer cops to justice. #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor #BreonnaTaylorMatters #SayHerName
What could justice for #BreonnaTaylor look like? As a former prosecutor, Georgetown Law's @LawProfButler says the evidence warrants reckless homicide charges against the police officers who killed her. He lays it out in this opening statement he'd give if prosecuting the case.
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This is what a law professor looks like. Some of my @GeorgetownLaw colleagues and I at a recent gathering.
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The real question is whether Chief Justice John Roberts thinks that Trump could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. I predict the chief will be the decider.
msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/tr…
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It's possible that the Mar-a-Largo search warrant was only to recover classified material and not about prosecuting Trump. That wouldn't be a bad thing. DOJ's best case remains January 6.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Selfie with my former student Michael Avenatti, who represents Stormy Daniels. He took my criminal law class during my time at the great George Washington University Law School.
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Honored beyond words to receive the Dick Gregory Good Brother award from the National Congress of Black Women and its dynamic CEO @DrEFayeWilliams.
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Thrilled to announce a new project: I host a PBS series called Returning Citizens: Life Beyond Incarceration. It's about the challenges faced by people coming home from prison. Inspiring stories from extraordinary folks. Here's a trailer: vimeo.com/922650239?share=co….
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This is what a law professor looks like. Group photo from the 10th annual Langston Scholars Writing Workshop at @howardlawschool
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I'm proud to stand with my former colleagues against the corruption and politicization of the US Department of Justice.
BREAKING: 1,900+ alumni from @TheJusticeDept have published a statement condemning Attorney General Barr for his department’s continued political interference in law enforcement, this time with respect to the prosecution of Michael Flynn. READ—> medium.com/@dojalumni/doj-al…
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Watching the historic Trump impeachment trial @msnbc with the legendary @JillWineBanks, who prosecuted Nixon before he resigned.
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Thank you @TiffanyDCross. That means a lot, coming from you!
I already knew this. But @LawProfButler is SO GOOD! He's invaluable in this #PoliceReformHearing
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On @amjoyshow we discussed whether the media should cover impeachment as a "national emergency." We can't depend on the US Senate or the Supreme Court to check and balance. Free press is vital! msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump… via @msnbc
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Looking forward to joining @TiffanyDCross for some #CrossTalk with my #SistersInLaw @mayawiley and @JoyceWhiteVance on Saturday at 10:30 am ET. @MSNBC.
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Those Memphis cops beat down Tyre Nichols like they were just doing their jobs. I explain in The Washington Post reform is tough when, to many Americans, ain't nothing broke. washingtonpost.com/books/202…
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A pleasure as always @NicolleDWallace.
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Gotta love the old school file cabinet. Thanks @ratemyskyperoom! I ain't gonna fight you this time. I'll be that 9.
Nice author’s setup. One copy of Choke Hold. We are pro award platter. File cabinet. 9/10 @LawProfButler
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Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote an opinion in 2016 stating that lie detectors are “an important law enforcement tool.” The FBI must strap Kavanaugh to a polygraph. As His Honor told the Senate, “What goes around, comes around.”
rawstory.com/2018/09/former-…
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I was just minding my own business having a serious conversation with the fabulous @ChrisJansing and all of a sudden magic happens.
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You didn't say a word that didn't need to be said @esglaude! Honored to be part of this "beautiful struggle" with you, my friend.
@LawProfButler sorry I talked so much. I didn’t mean to. 😕
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In Texas, 17 new judges bring ‘Black Girl Magic’ to courthouses washingtonpost.com/nation/20…
Reason 2 keep hope alive. Sisters are new judges! Latinx woman is chief executive. In Texas! When God comes back, looking like the women in this pic, maybe she won't be so pissed after all.
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Thanks for having me on @NicolleDWallace! And congrats on the important interview with @JamesComeyFBI. It's the closest I've seen him come to acknowledging @realDonaldTrump is guilty of obstruction of justice.
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Police violence is a public health emergency for African Americans. RIP Marquis Jefferson.
The father of Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman who was shot dead by police inside her home in Texas, has died from a heart attack.
Marquis Jefferson’s spokesperson, who confirmed his death, said that Jefferson “just couldn’t get back from what happened with his daughter.”
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Fun hanging out with my former student Michael Avenatti and MSNBC colleague Jason Johnson at MSNBC's After Party for the White House Correspondence Dinner.
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My friend @KatiePhang hits it out the park. "Hands, feet and a skate board v. AR 15 assault weapon." Rittenhouse prosecutor could have used that line in his closing!
.@KatiePhang: "They called Rittenhouse a 'chaos tourist.' Kind of reminded you a little bit of the Jan. 6 insurrection." #TheReidOut #reiders
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We need to talk about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In 38 years of being a judge, Ginsburg has hired one black law clerk. Just one. Much respect to the notorious RBG but Her Honor needs to walk it like she talks it.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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You never know who you are going to run into in the halls of Georgetown! Here with my wonderful colleagues Terrence Johnson, professor of religion and government, and the iconic @MichaelEDyson.
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Clarence Thomas wanted Curtis Flowers to be tried a 7th time for a crime that he did not commit. Thomas is "the cruelest justice." Mississippi Goddamn.
journals.uchicago.edu/doi/fu…
washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Wait, what? Hold up. I need a moment. I’m all verklempt.
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John Lewis was Black Lives Matter before it was cool. I wrote about what they wouldn't let him say at the March on Washington because it was too real. vox.com/the-highlight/2020/1… via @voxdotcom
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Thrilled to announce the screening of "10 Commandments for Black Men." It's a short video based on my book Chokehold. The premier is free and open to the public. The video drops on social media Thursday January 17 at 12:15 pm.
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How long does it takes to sign 900 books? Let me find out thanks to DiversityInc! Chokehold is in the gift bag for the DiversityInc Top 50 Gala.
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I had the honor of meeting Maryse at 30 Rock and she was a delight. Later at a studio in another city the makeup artists mentioned that you'd recently been there and were great but they couldn't stop raving about how nice your wife was. My deepest condolences @MalcolmNance
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If these folks were mainly Black...arrests and citations. Some "law" would have been discovered. Sometimes white privilege is literally death defying.
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On the Reid Report we made the case that Breonna Taylor's killer cops should be charged immediately. Today. Now. #BreonnaTalyor msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/… via @msnbc
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I wrote in The Washington Post that the most important trial of police officers for killing a Black man has not yet happened washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Appreciate all the interest in my book Chokehold: Policing Black Men. Amazon is running low (more to come soon!) but Barnes and Noble has copies immediately available:
barnesandnoble.com/w/chokeho…
It's also available from many local and independent book sellers.
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What did most White voters learn from the National Reckoning on Race? Nothing. My latest Washington Post column: washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Unimpeachable record.
WATCH: Senators scrutinize Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's legal resume at Supreme Court confirmation hearing. #MTPDaily
@LawProfButler: "When they look at Judge Jackson's record it's unimpeachable. When you're the first you have to be the best."
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On the Ari Melber show, we discussed the implications that Trump's Supreme Court nominee would have for abortion rights, voting rights, the power of corporations, affirmative action and much more.
msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-…
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Things had been getting heated between @ratemyskyperoom and I, so we took some time off. Just in time for the holidays, we’re feeling each other again. Twitterverse, can we please make a deal? I won’t complain about not getting a 10 if nobody says a damn word about succulents.
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YES!!!
JUST ANNOUNCED: Tune in for the premiere of @MSNBC’s new show “The ReidOut” with anchor @JoyAnnReid starting on Monday, July 20 at 7pm ET. bit.ly/3gEMjSS
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I write in The Washington Post that real conservatives, who actually had values, would convict Trump. washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Honored beyond words to be portrayed by the brilliant @WendellPierce as Apple TV presents this extraordinary new show. Watch me get stopped by cops on my own damn street! Plus other funny, heartbreaking and enraging stories about Black people and the police. This is fire.
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Rudy Giuliani is going down. Only question is whether he's taking Trump with him. msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/bu…
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I'm excited about coming to my hometown to talk about my book Chokehold: Policing Black Men. Come thru, my Chicago homies!
Join us Wednesday, 4/10, for a book talk with Georgetown Professor Paul Butler/@lawprofbutler, author of "Chokehold: Policing Black Men" (The New Press 2017). This event is eligible for one hour of IL #CLE credit. RSVP: bit.ly/2WM4wnw
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Right back at you @JoyceWhiteVance ! It's fun being on your team. Wouldn't want to be on the other side!
I was just listening to @LawProfButler on MSNBC this afternoon & thinking how great he is. I really enjoy listening to everyone's analysis - and that's how prosecutors work in the real world. We all collaborate to get to the right answers.
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#MeToo is doing some House cleaning! 75% of elected officials who were accused of sexual misconduct are no longer in office after this week's midterms. Important research by my @GeorgetownLaw colleague Professor Jamillah Bowman Williams.
With latest #MidtermElections results, at least 104 of 138 elected and appointed officials accused of sexual misconduct will be out of office, according to new research by #GeorgetownLaw Professor Jamillah Bowman Williams. Read the report: bit.ly/2DvFUtN
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Paul Butler: Postmaster General DeJoy could have violated ‘federal and state campaign finance laws’ msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/paul-b… via @msnbc
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What a terrific time I had talking with, and learning from, these bright and engaged advanced placement English students. I'm expecting great things from these amazing future leaders! Shout out to Penn/Faulkner Foundation for blessing the students with copies of Chokehold.
Recently, @LawProfButler joined KIPP DC College Preparatory 11th grade AP English students and discussed his new book "Chokehold: Policing Black Men".
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