William Myers
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themyersproject.bsky.social
William Myers
@themyersproject.bsky.social

Political Scientist talking judicial politics, political behavior, and federalism. IRB Chair. Book Review Co-Editor at Publius. Otherwise football, Legos, and board games. Show me pictures of food.

William, Wil, Bill, or Billy Myers may refer to:

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 39%
Art 13%
The leading cause of death among ICE officers? COVID-19.
How dangerous is it really to work for ICE?
According to ICE’s own data, none of its officers have been killed by an immigrant in the agency’s history.
www.motherjones.com

All credit goes to Greg Goelzhauser and David Konisky. I first saw it in their State of American Federalism article from 2020.

Reposted by Anna O. Law

Punitive federalism really taking off.
The US Department of Agriculture suspends all federal funding to Minnesota, effective immediately.
The US Department of Agriculture suspends all federal funding to Minnesota, effective immediately.
They don't have capacity to terrorize more than 2-3 cities at a time.

Which means they rotate teams to new cities without relief.

Which means consistent resistance by fresh activists in each new city will break them over time.

Which means if you're city's not occupied, rest up and get ready.
"The Department of Homeland Security plans to pause operations in Chicago — where Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official, has led controversial arrest efforts — to support the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota."
Trump Administration Deploying More Border Patrol Agents to Minnesota
www.nytimes.com
"The Department of Homeland Security plans to pause operations in Chicago — where Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official, has led controversial arrest efforts — to support the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota."
Trump Administration Deploying More Border Patrol Agents to Minnesota
www.nytimes.com
BREAKING: Minnesota investigators say they can't access evidence after fatal ICE shooting and the FBI won't work jointly on probe.

Follow for live updates.
Live updates: State investigators say they can't access ICE shooting evidence after FBI takes case
Protesters in Minneapolis gathered to protest the killing of motorist Renee Nicole Macklin Good by an ICE officer. Mayor Jacob Frey said federal agents should leave the city.
bit.ly

Reposted by William Myers

Trump pulls out of long list of international organizations, conventions, treaties.... including (of particular note to digital rights folks) the Freedom Online Coalition. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United
www.whitehouse.gov

Reposted by William Myers

Further proof for the point that Jay Rickabaugh, @jen-nelles.bsky.social and I make here. The era of reliable intergovernmental partnerships is over. The challenge is not just resistance to federal diktats but horizontal forms of solidarity across affected govts. We discuss a few ideas here
Incredible how little attention this is getting outside Germany. "In its third full day, a ... power failure in Berlin resulting from an arson attack...tens of thousands...making do without heat, electricity, cellphone service & warm food or drinks." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/w...
Thousands in Berlin Go Days Without Power and Cell Service After Cables Are Set on Fire
www.nytimes.com
NPR @npr.org · 5d
NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.
Jan. 6, 2021: A visual archive of the Capitol attack
NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.
n.pr

I feel this in my bones.
if personnel is policy, then the most fundamental questions about an institution is not "what are the policy directives" but rather "what will get you promoted" vs. "what will get you fired"

Reposted by William Myers

if personnel is policy, then the most fundamental questions about an institution is not "what are the policy directives" but rather "what will get you promoted" vs. "what will get you fired"
Cover reveal. It's about how & why colonies/states controlled international & domestic migration until 1888, why in the late 19th c the feds took over, & what it was like for politically disfavored groups to live under that arrangement of power. You can't understand voluntary migration history 1/
CNN @cnn.com · 10d
Chief Justice John Roberts touted the independence of the federal judiciary as a “counter-majoritarian check” and urged Americans rattled by partisan politics to keep faith with the Constitution. https://cnn.it/3LsloyF
USPS quietly changed its postmark rules — mail is no longer dated when you drop it off. The “official” date is when it hits automated sorting — sometimes days later

Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
Incredible social science & data use here.

The immediate story is about how the opioid epidemic (pushed by pharma in high cancer areas), resulted in major opioid death & economic hardship which - through various media/political channels - resulted in a sustained rise in support for the Republicans

This thread is a wild ride. Give me a book length treatment!
I've got a weird interest in this after experiencing rent in multiple cities and countries. I was there when Berlin implemented rent control, and it was strict even by German standards. I'm trying to picture why this would have made all the YIMBYs.

Reposted by William Myers

I've got a weird interest in this after experiencing rent in multiple cities and countries. I was there when Berlin implemented rent control, and it was strict even by German standards. I'm trying to picture why this would have made all the YIMBYs.
Birthright citizenship under the common law, a thread:

I have done this many times on social media, in print, and in media interviews, but not to be accused of taking others’ not seriously enough, by plainly stating the law and history of birthright citizenship, I’m taking the time here:

Punitive federalism.
This is, quite unambiguously, an extortion racket.

Reposted by William Myers

This is, quite unambiguously, an extortion racket.
Survey experiments' popularity in political science is getting attention. What is good and bad about them? How can one maximize their benefits and mitigate their downsides?

Greg Huber and I wrote up our thoughts:
Paywalled: doi.org/10.1016/bs.h...
Free: m-graham.com/papers/Huber...
New data release from the Deportation Data Project:

Every ICE arrest, detainer request, and book-in to detention nationwide between September 1, 2023 and October 15, 2025.

deportationdata.org/news/2025-12...
Deportation Data Project
deportationdata.org
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
the primary thing that TPUSA provides to young conservatives is a blueprint for weaponizing the abject cowardice of university administrators against individual teachers and instructors, and university admins should take a long look in the mirror and think about what that says about them
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
FYI: law and science, political science, and sociology all still have DDRIG programs run outside of the NSF but funded by NSF. The rest of these programs unfortunately do not.

I run the political science DDRIG.
NEW from me - NSF cancels grant scheme for social science research.

Seems the NSF quietly archived ALL calls for DDRIG grants in the SBE directorate. This is a massive blow for PhD students wanting to do cutting-edge social science research. 🏺🧪
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Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
www.livescience.com