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Mary Dudziak @marydudziak.bsky.social · 8d

What a great opportunity! Seminar Native Peoples, American Colonialism and the Constitution with @maggieblackhawk.bsky.social & Ned Blackhawk for grad students & "junior" faculty. In person & virtual. Apply by 10/10.
www.nyhistory.org/education/in...

The New York Historical’s Bonnie and Richard Reiss Graduate Institute for Constitutional History is accepting applications for its fall 2025 seminar for advanced graduate students and junior faculty.
seminar | fall 2025

Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the US Constitution

Fridays, November 7 and 21, December 5 and 12, 2025 | 11 am–2 pm ET
Instructors: Maggie Blackhawk, Ned Blackhawk

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this seminar invites a critical examination of a central paradox in American constitutional history: how can a nation celebrate a founding document and constitutional tradition built, in part, on the dispossession of Indigenous homelands? Indian affairs and westward expansion were foundational to the creation and evolution of the US Constitution, yet Native history remains marginalized within the fields of constitutional history and mainstream constitutional scholarship. This seminar explores emerging historical and legal literature that re-centers Native peoples and American colonialism in the narrative of US constitutional development.

Presented in person at The New York Historical and via Zoom

Apply by October 10, 2025

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 10d

Zohran's big innovation is to attack economic *and* authoritarian power. Those are allied with each other to particularly noxious effect right now, as corporate elites capitulating to Trump's authoritarian takeover are demonstrating. Zohran attacks them as linked to one another, as I show here:

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 10d

Mamdani’s innovation is showing how to emphasize cost-of-living *without* retreating from the defense of immigrants and *without* shirking the mission of centralizing Trump’s authoritarian lawlessness.

He attacks all forms of power, economic *and* authoritarian.

newrepublic.com/article/2011...

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · Sep 4

These two things might seem unrelated, but together they help distill the workings of competitive authoritarianism. When the opposition loses, it gets blamed on their having terrible leaders, but part of why they have terrible leaders is bc any rising leader is hounded by the ruling party.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · Sep 10

A professor who was actually canceled - fired - and crickets from the hysterical “anti-cancel culture” crowd.

Ned Richardson-Little @historyned.bsky.social · Sep 10

A lot of people who were panic mongering about a woke cultural revolution are conspicuously quiet about a youth activist denouncing a professor for wrong think and that professor being fired as part of a campaign of public shaming by political leaders.

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · Sep 10

Update on the Texas A&M professor / cell phone video situation: the professor has been fired by the A&M president
president.tamu.edu/messages/an-...

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · Sep 6

These efforts to impose some state's restrictions (when it's abortion) or lack of restrictions (when it's guns) on other states are absurd

It also feels, imo, weirdly reminiscent of slave states' efforts to impose their laws on free states by demanding that they return people who freed themselves

Ruth Zakarin @ruthz.bsky.social · Sep 6

As I said in this piece, NH is trying to impose their weak gun laws on Massachusetts, and we want other states to respect our strong gun laws. Strong gun laws that work, that are keeping our rates of gun deaths lower than any other state in the entire country.
www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/...

Massachusetts gun licensing law being challenged by New Hampshire as unconstitutional

New Hampshire is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a challenge to Massachusetts' gun licensing laws, arguing the restrictions are unconstitutional.

www.cbsnews.com

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Brian Highsmith @bhighsmith.bsky.social · Sep 2

If you're doing work in this area, do consider applying! I got such helpful feedback last year on my (then-early-stage) research about Gilded Age efforts to use state constitutions to challenge oligarchy, and also had a great time hanging out with other democracy scholars in Lansing. 10/10!

Quinn Yeargain @yeargain.bsky.social · Sep 2

I'm very happy to share that I will be hosting the *Second* Annual Democracy and Public Law Works-in-Progress Conference at the Michigan State University College of Law on April 3–4, 2026! Law scholars (current and aspiring), I'd love to host you!

Application:
msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

picture of the Michigan State University College of Law building

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Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · Aug 15

🚨 150 University of California law professors (and counting) have now signed this open letter to the UC Regents and other officials, explaining the flagrant illegality of the Trump Administration’s UCLA funding cut offs, and urging the UC to fight back. sites.google.com/view/uclawfa...

Dear President Milliken, Regents, and Governor Newsom,
As faculty members of University of California law schools, we endorse Governor Newsom's commitment to resist the Trump Administration's unlawful actions taken against the University of California, Los Angeles. The Governor is on firm legal ground. The Trump Administration's termination and suspension of federal funds has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in numerous ways. Governor Newsom and the University of California Regents will protect the vital interests not only of Californians but of all Americans if they defend the University of California's rights.
The U.S. Department of Justice notified UCLA on July 29, 2025, that it had found that UCLA had "violated its obligations under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Chancellor Frenk subsequently announced that
"the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons" for federal grant terminations. UCLA faces losses of at least $584 million, funding that has supported vital research on matters ranging from treatments for pancreatic cancer to advances in online security.
The Trump Administration has made no pretense of following the law. Title VI permits a federal agency to terminate funding only if it has found that the particular program receiving that funding has violated the law's non-discrimination provisions. Funding cannot disappear just because the agency's policy or political preferences differ from the institution's.
Moreover, the agency can act only after following specific procedural steps. Importantly, Title VI requires a formal administrative hearing—a proceeding much like a trial-before the agency can terminate funding. At the hearing, the agency would have the burden of proving the university's alleged violations of Title VI before an impartial decision-maker. If the agency prevails at the hearing, the university or other interested persons could appea…

factually supported and consistent with civil rights laws. Without the steps Title VI requires, there is no protection against an administration alleging discrimination as a pretext to force compliance with its policy or partisan preferences. Title VI's procedures guarantee the constitutional due process requirement that no person can be deprived of liberty or property without fair notice and opportunity to be heard. They protect the university and its members' academic freedom, an endowment essential to scientific research, intellectual discovery, and open debate.
We are deeply committed to the core principle of non-discrimination codified in Title VI and in the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. The principle that no person may suffer discrimination because of race, color, or national origin protects equality and ensures fairness in political as well as social life. Allegations of discrimination deserve serious and careful consideration and, where established, effective redress. But this enforcement effort must follow the law.
We urge Governor Newsom and the UC Regents to continue to stand up for the fundamental principles of the rule of law, due process, and equal protection. A defense of the University of California's rights in court will model respect for these bedrock principles of equality and fairness, and it will ensure that the government honors them. The Trump Administration's failure to abide by the law subverts these principles by denying the University of California a fair opportunity to contest the government's charges of unlawful discrimination before an impartial decisionmaker. It is precisely because we cherish the principles of the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution that we encourage Governor Newsom, the UC Regents, and the University of California to fight back.
Through its grantmaking powers, the federal government wields vast influence over social and economic life. If not held to account by the procedural protections enacted by Congres…

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Brian Highsmith @bhighsmith.bsky.social · Jul 21

Found in the archives: In protest of populists' inclusion of "statutory" detail (like labor rights) in the 1910 Arizona constitution, conservatives introduced a petition to constitutionally limit the size of women's "merry widow hats".. honestly, great gag, have to hand it to them.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Jul 20

We either need to enlarge the House so much that this type of hyper-gerrymandering is no longer possible, or we need to eliminate single member districts. Or both. But there is no serious definition of democracy or republic compatible with this level of districting shenanigans.

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Elad Nehorai @eladn.bsky.social · Jul 17

This is why so many of us should have been listening to Black voices and learning far more about the history of racism in America.

All of that led us here. Fascism was already here for many others. And now it’s coming for the rest. If we had fought for others harder, we’d have prevented it.

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · Jul 16

I want to be clear: this is what American prisons are like.

I spent years posting about the humanitarian crisis in U.S. prisons. The criminal legal system consigns Americans who are incarcerated to live like this FOR YEARS. DECADES.

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Jul 16

They held him like this for 100 days.

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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · Jul 19

There’s so much interesting data in this latest by @adambonica.bsky.social on data and democracy. Highlights (or lowlights) to me include Supreme Court acting virtually opposite the lower courts, the U.S. being the biggest gerontocracy & low Dem turnout in 2024.
open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

On Data and Democracy (Mid-Year Roundup): Charting the Assault on American Democracy and A Path Forward

A narrative of a democracy in the balance, told through 29 data visualizations.

open.substack.com

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Jack Iwashyna @iwashyna.bsky.social · Jul 18

Note also that the lawsuit alleges that because race and class are correlated, providing free tuition to lower income students is also racial preference.

They just want a pure aristocracy of inherited wealth

Jack Iwashyna @iwashyna.bsky.social · Jul 18

“Johns Hopkins has not merely preserved its discriminatory DEI framework — it has entrenched, expanded and openly celebrated it as a cornerstone of its institutional identity,”

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/hi...

Conservative group files complaint against Hopkins medical school

America First Legal is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation into diversity policies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · Jul 16

I want to be clear: this is what American prisons are like.

I spent years posting about the humanitarian crisis in U.S. prisons. The criminal legal system consigns Americans who are incarcerated to live like this FOR YEARS. DECADES.

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Jul 16

They held him like this for 100 days.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Jul 15

WOW. A lawyer told @miamiherald.com that a Florida Highway Patrol agent told her that they are calling Border Patrol to investigate anyone who "appears Hispanic" that they pull over.

That is direct evidence of racial profiling — said over the phone to a lawyer! They aren't even hiding it!

Magdalena Cuprys says she has three clients at the state facility. In the case of one of her clients – a Honduran man with a pending asylum application as a victim of human trafficking — Cuprys said she was able to land a bond hearing. But she remains puzzled by his detention. She said her client was originally held at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection building in Dania Beach for about a week after he was stopped at a truck weigh station by Florida Highway Patrol officers on June 25. He has a valid drivers’ license, Cuprys said. She still doesn’t know why he was detained that day. The Honduran man called her when he was stopped and an FHP officer took the phone and told her that anyone who “appears Hispanic” needs to be sent to CBP to have their license verified, she said. Cuprys didn’t name her client publicly, but the Herald/Times was able to independently confirm he is a detainee at the facility.

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Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · Jul 15

It’s really not acceptable that this Court is allowing Trump to dismantle the federal government without even a hint of legal reason or explanation. Just raw power. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 24A1203
LINDA MCMAHON, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, ET AL. v. NEW YORK, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY
(July 14, 2025]
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE JACKSON and by her referred to the Court is granted. The May 22, 2025 preliminary injunction entered by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, case No. 1:25-cv-10601, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and
JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
This case arises out of the President's unilateral efforts to eliminate a Cabinet-level agency established by Congress nearly half a century ago: the Department of Education. As Congress mandated, the Department plays a vital role in this Nation's education system, safeguarding equal access to learning and channeling billions of dollars to schools and students across the country each year.
Only Congress has the power to abolish the Department.
The Executive's task, by contrast, is to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." U. S. Const., Art. II, §3. Yet, by executive fiat, the President ordered the Secretary of Education to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · Feb 24

The fact that impeachment, the obviously-intended remedy for our situation, is seemingly off the table means that the Constitution is at /best/ suspended rn. It may have value as a symbol, but understanding that we are operating outside its frame makes our predicament & our options clearer.

Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · Feb 24

Like I hate to keep coming back to it, but in the limit, the constitutional remedy for impoundment and presidential misconduct is impeachment, not litigation. Folks, but *especially* congressfolks need to beat this idea that "courts will save us" out of their vocabulary. It is *your* job.

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Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · Jul 15

What the current administration understands -- and what Democratic establishment and many of my liberal fellow-travelers have ignored for far too long -- is that there are no *fundamental* rules in the game of politics.

The rules are created by humans, and they are enforced by humans. Or not.

2/

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · Jul 14

The Supreme Court's disdain for Congress, the statutory design of agencies, and the public services they provide to millions truly astounds.

Destroying a 50-year-old Cabinet-level department may be the biggest violation of the Take Care Clause in U.S. history—and six justices simply ... don't care.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Jul 14

BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to move forward with the abolition of the Department of Education. It gives no explanation for its order. All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

From Sotomayor's dissent:

Lifting the District Court’s injunction will unleash
untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities
and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual
assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal
resources Congress intended. The majority apparently
deems it more important to free the Government from paying employees it had no right to fire than to avert these very
real harms while the litigation continues. Equity does not
support such an inequitable result.
* * *
The President must take care that the laws are faithfully
executed, not set out to dismantle them. That basic rule
undergirds our Constitution’s separation of powers. Yet today, the majority rewards clear defiance of that core principle with emergency relief. Because I cannot condone such
abuse of our equitable authority, I respectfully dissent.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · Jul 14

I have no words. Everyone prepared for the constitutional crisis of the President defying the SCOTUS. The crisis is the SCOTUS being fully aligned with Trump’s vision of presidential power. So here we are.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Jul 14

BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to move forward with the abolition of the Department of Education. It gives no explanation for its order. All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

From Sotomayor's dissent:

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 14

The veneration of the Supreme Court by American lawyers was also a big, big mistake.

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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · Jul 14

The Department of Education exists by statute. Its funding comes from Congress. The EO expresses a plan to dismantle without Congress’s consent. And now the Judicial Branch has co-signed that radical plan rather than defending the separation of powers.

All without explanation.

Owen Barcala @obarcala.bsky.social · Jul 14

With at least some of the cases you could believe the court thinks they need to credit the admin's claim that it's just a "reduction in force," but this EO says multiple times that the intent is to close the Dept of Ed and "return" its functions to the states. There's no fig leaf.

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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · Jul 14

The majority may think: "We're not ruling on the legality of Trump's actions; it's just a stay." Bullshit. With the injunction stayed, Trump and McMahon will be able to effectuate their evisceration of the Department of Education and it will be impossible to put Humpty Dumpty back together.

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · Jul 14

The Supreme Court's disdain for Congress, the statutory design of agencies, and the public services they provide to millions truly astounds.

Destroying a 50-year-old Cabinet-level department may be the biggest violation of the Take Care Clause in U.S. history—and six justices simply ... don't care.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Jul 14

BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to move forward with the abolition of the Department of Education. It gives no explanation for its order. All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

From Sotomayor's dissent:

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Jul 14

Since April 4, #SCOTUS has issued 15 rulings on 17 emergency applications filed by Trump (three birthright citizenship apps were consolidated).

It has granted relief to Trump ... in all 15 rulings.

It has written majority opinions in only 3.

Today's order is the 7th with no explanation *at all.*

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Jul 14

Here we go again: Over an acerbic dissenting opinion by Justice Sotomayor (joined in full by Justices Kagan and Jackson), #SCOTUS, with no explanation, grants a stay in the Department of Education RIFs case—effectively clearing the way for the Trump administration to dismantle much of the agency:

www.supremecourt.gov

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