Very saddened to hear of the loss of Gordon Wood. It seems particularly appropriate to ask of all of us that we make his memory a blessing.

Institutional neutrality mandates are inconsistent with academic freedom, full stop tomkeck.beehiiv.com/p/institutio...

"The Court’s behavior in the Louisiana and Alabama cases over the past six weeks can’t be reconciled with or explained by any coherent understanding of what Purcell supposedly stands for. ... The overall pattern reveals justices behaving in a way that has no obvious explanation other than politics."

A dilemma. Further empowerment of courts is the last thing we need right now, but unless we get a Congress that is willing to create pathways to accountability, I fear that this is exactly what we will get in a post-Trump world.

now, as the whistleblower statement EXPLICITLY tells people so that lawyers can read it and look for these clients, the ~6,000 people who actually DID get wrongfully "killed off" have grounds for successful lawsuits against the government, and they can cite his whistleblower declaration in court

Was expecting a thunderstorm but got this instead.

If I am reading this right*, Orthodox Judaism is listed under "Christian--Orthodox", Reformed (sic) Judaism is listed under "Christian--Reformed" and one of the listed names under Judaism is Messianic Judaism. Wow. *and if it is a real list (I assume this is the actual DoD file)

Just five more days until the Maine primary wraps up, friends! We can do this!

I'm working on a small side quest and revising a messy first draft which I saved under another name to distinguish it from the mess. The tab showed on my desktop as Rev War summer and welp I guess I'm down.

There's so much discussion of the Maine Senate race. Can people who are in the know tell me more about Mississippi?

Opinions in 20 minutes

I went for a 3.5 mile run at a park after work yesterday. When I got out of my car, I saw another car parked near mine with the engine running and no one in the front. There was a (maybe?) teenager in the back. Perhaps resentfully connected to a bunch of little kids playing soccer?

The thing about the Alabama case is that, at the bottom, the question of what drove the drawing of district lines is factual. Faced with the problematic facts found by the district court, SCOTUS just kicked the golf ball onto the green.

With the attention to Alabama, don't forget that court findings that maps are illegal are also being erased in *state* elections. Like here in Mississippi: boltsmag.org/callais-ruli...

Last night, the Supreme Court ruled that the VRA cannot protect even against *intentionally* discriminatory voting policies When we say there is no federal statute remaining the enforce the 15th Amendment, this is what we mean

You know, I remember the Bicentennial pretty well. Exciting run up, lots of fun stuff, and yes, less critical/reflective than it should have been, but most people were on board with the celebratory vibe. You know what I don't remember AT ALL? A single blessed thing that President Ford did around it.

The first polls are about to close — with a busy (and likely late) election night in six states. Here's at least one thing (and often many more) I'm watching in six states! 🧵

I'll be yapping about this a lot when it's out in October, but honestly I am really excited to have a chapter in this volume alongside a remarkable array of brilliant scholars across different disciplines. kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700642960/

A gentle suggestion that if you want to know what it looks like when a historian does truly pathbreaking and illuminating legal research, you can go read Peggy Pascoe's What Comes Naturally. This book should be in far more of these conversations. global.oup.com/academic/pro...

The short version: NYT looked for him and could not find him. His people continue to insist that he will soon fully recover from his "personal medical issue" and return to work. If I were in his district, I'd be tempted to go and write in Casper the Ghost today. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/n...

It’s really important for people to understand that there is no such thing as a national citizenship database. Cases like this are uncommon, but they keep happening (even under prior administrations) because the paperwork is never 100% accurate. That is why due process matters.

Cole Donovan argues the next US administration can't just rebuild science and technology policy on 2021's blueprint. Trump 2.0 will leave agencies in collapse, he says. Recovery hinges on mastering interagency process, not just listing fixes. People and processes drive policy.

As we wait for the SCOTUS decision in Trump v Barbara, I have thoughts on projecting present politics backwards in time. Grateful to @juliaazari.bsky.social @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social @dbernstein.bsky.social for allowing me to use their platform as a guest poster. History is political. 1/

Between 2009 to 2018, CDC had a single non-Senate confirmed appointee, but now has 12. The increase in the power of appointees (tactic #2) is partly due to the removal of career officials (#5) plus a healthy dose of intimidation (#4). donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-creep-...

I really don't want to enter The Discourse, but do people understand that it's going to be difficult for Platner to win in November? To the extent that there will be a blue wave nationally, it depends on generic low R motivation to turn out and strong D motivation.

Please read this thread and write a comment!!! Agencies have to read and take seriosuly these comments. The comments matter. Also, call your reps. www.regulations.gov/document/OMB...

#tdih 1942 Fred Koremastu arrested for resisting Executive Order 9066 (people of Japanese descent incarcerated in U.S. concentration camps.) Convicted & sent to Topaz in Utah. He took case to Supreme Court, DOJ hid key evidence. Read what happened next ⬇️ www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/fr...

Apparently Justice Thomas thinks the Court is not working hard enough and should open its doors to original jurisdiction cases in which one state can sue another for immigration-related grievances. I'll let him explain this himself as I can't do it justice: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

In Louisiana, it looks like infighting between the Callais plaintiffs and the state, with the Callais plaintiffs pushing to eliminate both and not just one Black-majority district. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

need to workshop this into something better when my brain isn't melted but has anyone done something like this, for media reporting of fossil fuel intensified and deadly heatwaves? I've been hunting for analyses that separate climate vs fossil fuel mentions in extreme event reporting but no luck

While everyone's talking about Texas voters, just a note that TX voters in the 35th House district made a good decision, and it wasn't close. www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-3...

There’s already a path. Go to community college for two years, get the prerequisites done, then transfer to a four year institution. There’s also varying levels of AP and IB credits that do the same. We have policymakers trying to fix problems that’s aren’t there.

Hi! Bear with me. This will be a longer one. First: there are 3 republican senators who are still pretty middle of the road on most common sense things. From the jump, if they were on board we stood a good chance. Second: the senator who drew the 2020 map and went to court over it was not

Once again, please remember that DOJ has other important business beyond pursuing political vengeance. If the people's business is not being competently conducted, we are all at greater risk.

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

@mgraber1.bsky.social's reflection on Ran Hirschl's remarkable career and contributions is worth reading. I can't express the magnitude of this loss to the field. balkin.blogspot.com/2026/05/rip-...

The IRS has agreed to not audit Trump's taxes. In 2024, we found the IRS concluded in a long-running audit that Trump effectively claimed the same massive write-off twice on a failed Chicago tower. That audit could have cost him more than $100 million. (From May 2024 w/ @nytimes.com)

Is anyone else considering at this point putting a notice on manuscripts, eval letters, and other miscellaneous writing that states "I do not consent to the upload of this document to a generative AI tool without my explicit permission"?

Writer friends! The AI-generated email scams targeting authors are getting more sophisticated. I got one today w/ a real editor's name on it, which could be very convincing to someone who doesn't know how actual editors communicate, so I annotated it to highlight red flags. Spread the word, ok?

Buckle up for a very busy election night tonight. Do you know the top races to watch? Here's my personal top 10 that I have my eyes on. A 🧵:

If you think that instructors at a research one university don't care ferociously about teaching, click on this link and take a look at the Rockefeller College comments. I'm so happy to be in a college with folks like this.

What do you say about a book that won the Bancroft Prize? We’ll think of something. Join @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, @cnacken1.bsky.social, @jnovkov.bsky.social, Dan Carpenter, Lucy Salyer, and yours truly for a discussion about JOHN DOE CHINAMAN if you are in Boston for the Annual Meeting of APSA

APSA Statement on the Dismissal of the National Science Board

I'm sorry, what?

Sometimes it's really nice not to be surprised!

The funny thing about the story of the American delegation to China having to throw away all the gifts they got before getting on Air Force One to return is that I bet at least one person kept at least one gift. I don't get the impression that most of these people think that rules apply to them.

Hot off the press! @ctgualbany.bsky.social & @rockefellercollege.bsky.social's @jramongilgarcia.bsky.social serves as expert panelist on recent @gao.gov report to #119thCongress. Study focuses on uses & risks of #AI for small business contracting and innovation #research. www.gao.gov/products/gao...

In #CurrentsInUSForeignPolicy @cnwillis.bsky.social and I started, I published an overview of a project on tariffs I have been working on since April 2025: cusfp.substack.com/p/hands-off-... This project looks at support for Trump's tariffs (which have since taken a battering in the courts). /1