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Josh Pasek

@joshpasek.com

5K followers 1.9K following 760 posts

Prof of Comm & Media and Polisci @Umich studying how people get and use political information and social measurement. Skills/competencies: data sci, DIY solar, election analytics, carpooling, #polcom, #polpsych, survey methods, AI (views are my own) .. more

Political science 40%

Communication & Media Studies 23%

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 1d

As an individual, this makes sense.

But the question that gets messy is when you can justify institutions no longer treating what the Supreme Court says as a legal order.

You can’t do that just because you expect them to violate the social contract, they need to have blatantly violated it.

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 1d

I think there’s a strong case for this, but I also think it’s debatable in a way where say overriding birthright citizenship would not be subjected to debate.

I think the evidence en mass suggests bad faith, my point is the difficulty of actually drawing a clean line.

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 1d

We can identify SC bad faith if:

1) rulings that are being made are facially incompatible with Constitution

2) rulings are sufficiently self-contradictory with so little justification that any reasonable actor would conclude

No obvious case of 1, strong case for 2 but determination is subjective

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 1d

The real question is how one decides when the Supreme Court crosses the line.

But because the goal is Constitutional interpretation in the face of ambiguity, there is just about always a claim for legitimacy.

How then can we identify bad faith?

I see two approaches

Reposted by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 1d

So let me get today's news clear -- Antifa is almost 100 years old and a continuous tradition from Weimar Germany and we just arrested one of its founders's girlfriends? I guess that is hypothetically possible...

Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 2d

"the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 2 more Richard S.J. Tol, Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce, Mirya R. Holman, Josh Pasek

Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 2d

"the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Mark Lubell, John Mullahy , and 1 more Richard S.J. Tol, Mark Lubell, John Mullahy, Josh Pasek

Catie Haunted Haus-man 👻👻👻 @catiehausman.bsky.social · 2d

Job posting!

apply.interfolio.com/173947

Assistant or Associate Professor of Global Environmental Policy

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: School for Environment and Sustainability

Come be a Wolverine! In Tree Town! In the Mitten!

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 2d

Now, if we can only find a way to use it in an instrumental variable analysis.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 2d

How should university boards prepare?

- Strategize in advance (could happen here)
- Leverage internal expertise (strategize with political scientists, public policy scholars and law faculty)
- Respond collectively and support one another
-Stay true to the mission

This is the real fiduciary duty!

Jackie Gardina @jackiegardina.bsky.social · 2d

@joshpasek.com, @umich.edu, provides boards of trustees a roadmap for responding to external pressue, like the so-called Educational Compact.

@aaup.org @utaustinaaup.bsky.social @aaup-penn.bsky.social

riverside.fm/shared/expor...

One thing boards can d... | Oct 7, 2025 001 - Riverside - HD Podcast & Video Software

Reposted by Josh Pasek

Jackie Gardina @jackiegardina.bsky.social · 2d

@joshpasek.com, @umich.edu, provides boards of trustees a roadmap for responding to external pressue, like the so-called Educational Compact.

@aaup.org @utaustinaaup.bsky.social @aaup-penn.bsky.social

riverside.fm/shared/expor...

One thing boards can d... | Oct 7, 2025 001 - Riverside - HD Podcast & Video Software

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 2d

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation

www.archives.gov/founding-doc...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

DURBIN: You won't even say whether you talked to the WH about this?

BONDI: I'm not going to discuss any internal conversations with you

D: They're going to transfer TX Guard troops to the state of Illinois. What's the rationale?

B: I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump

Reposted by Ryan Enos, Robert B. Reich, Josh Pasek , and 1 more Ryan Enos, Robert B. Reich, Josh Pasek, Nils Zurawski

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

DURBIN: You won't even say whether you talked to the WH about this?

BONDI: I'm not going to discuss any internal conversations with you

D: They're going to transfer TX Guard troops to the state of Illinois. What's the rationale?

B: I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 3d

My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social:

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.
Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Reposted by Dominik Vogel, Josh Pasek

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 4d

ICYMI yesterday:

I wrote about Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, the struggle to define the boundaries of what is acceptable in America – and why democratic citizens have an obligation to hold the line on what we consider beyond the pale.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵

Where Is the Line?

On Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the struggle to define the boundaries of what is acceptable in America

Reposted by Greg Linden

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 4d

At this point, the experts largely agree that the lack of fascism in a formal sense is because they lack the capacity, not the intent.

Being sober about both where we are and where we aren’t is important, however, because American institutions still have the capacity to reverse the backsliding.

Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 4d

I agree with Tom - we live in an electoral authoritarian regime. It has some fascist elements (e.g., disappearing migrants; masked agents detaining individuals without warrants), but the Trump regime is not (at least, yet) in a full fascist mode.

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 4d

I want to hope that this is just a coincidence, but those hopes feel less and less likely given the timeline we appear to be on.

Worth a reminder that most people from both parties oppose political violence. It is critical for all of us to uphold that norm.

donnadeka.bsky.social @donnadeka.bsky.social · 5d

“Judge Diane Goodstein is known for her recent ruling that blocked the Trump regime from accessing all sensitive information about South Carolina voters.”

www.live5news.com/2025/10/05/3...

3 hospitalized following reported Edisto Beach fire, SLED investigating

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating a house fire that hospitalized three people Saturday afternoon.

www.live5news.com

Reposted by Josh Pasek

Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 4d

I agree with Tom - we live in an electoral authoritarian regime. It has some fascist elements (e.g., disappearing migrants; masked agents detaining individuals without warrants), but the Trump regime is not (at least, yet) in a full fascist mode.

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Brendan Nyhan, Rebecca Tushnet , and 6 more Cas Mudde, Brendan Nyhan, Rebecca Tushnet, Andrew Jacobs, Josh Pasek, Daxton R. Stewart, Aviel Roshwald, Seth Frey, David Darmofal

Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 5d

I was told not to teach a class on the intellectual histories of Zionism and Anti-Zionism next year - not because they doubted I could teach it fairly, but because it would attract too many politicians scrutinizing the syllabus.

A society where that is a valid fear is no longer fully democratic.

Reposted by Josh Pasek

donnadeka.bsky.social @donnadeka.bsky.social · 5d

“Judge Diane Goodstein is known for her recent ruling that blocked the Trump regime from accessing all sensitive information about South Carolina voters.”

www.live5news.com/2025/10/05/3...

3 hospitalized following reported Edisto Beach fire, SLED investigating

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating a house fire that hospitalized three people Saturday afternoon.

www.live5news.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio , and 24 more Stephen M. Walt, Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio, Norbert Schwarz, Nancy Kanwisher, Brendan Nyhan, Joshua S. Weitz, Tom Clark, Scott L. Greer, Steven S. Smith, Martin Paul Eve, Charles West, Elaine Treharne, Bonnie Honig, James Grimmelmann, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Jacob T. Levy, Margot C. Finn, Michael Jones‐Correa, Kate Starbird, Josh Pasek, Georg Weizsäcker, Robert L. Tsai, Charles T. Mathewes, Adam Sacarny, Kimberly A. Clausing

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 5d

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6d

There is almost certainly a large portion of Jews who both identify as Zionist and perceive what has happened as a reprehensible genocide.*

Probably a much rarer view among Christian Zionists.

*Not as a self-contradictory sentiment, but has more to do with varied definitions of Zionism.

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6d

Important finding - merits a reminder that the vast majority of folks supporting Israeli government actions have always been Christian Zionists, not Jewish ones.

Emily Guskin @emgusk.bsky.social · 6d

Most American Jews say Israel has committed war crimes

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Reposted by Dean Eckles, Dana R. Fisher, Josh Pasek

Emily Guskin @emgusk.bsky.social · 6d

Most American Jews say Israel has committed war crimes

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Josh Pasek, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Andrew Perfors @andyperfors.bsky.social · 6d

I'm a bit late to the game on this, but I finally read it and if you haven't done so, do check it out. It is a very thoughtfully kind (yet incisive) examination of where a lot of people on the left are right now, with Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates serving as rhetorical poles of sorts.

You don't have to swallow frogs

Klein and Coates show that if you don't know what your core beliefs are, you're going to get played.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6d

Just a reminder that the right response is trying to reclaim the flag such that it becomes a symbol of protest against the administrations anti-American actions.

Help it become something they are uncomfortable with.

Spooky Scott Kelley Ernest, BSPH 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ #mtpol @mxscottkernest.bsky.social · 6d

Trump says American flag burners will be ‘immediately arrested’ under executive order
www.foxnews.com/politics/tru...

Trump says American flag burners will be ‘immediately arrested’ under executive order

President Donald Trump said American flag burners would be arrested and face a year in prison in a Truth Social post citing his August executive order on flag desecration.

www.foxnews.com

Reposted by Josh Pasek

Spooky Scott Kelley Ernest, BSPH 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ #mtpol @mxscottkernest.bsky.social · 6d

Trump says American flag burners will be ‘immediately arrested’ under executive order
www.foxnews.com/politics/tru...

Trump says American flag burners will be ‘immediately arrested’ under executive order

President Donald Trump said American flag burners would be arrested and face a year in prison in a Truth Social post citing his August executive order on flag desecration.

www.foxnews.com

Reposted by Josh Pasek

Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 7d

A petition for alums of University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia!

Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now

Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.

alumni.controlshift.app

Reposted by Ann Bartow, Josh Pasek

Jackie Gardina @jackiegardina.bsky.social · 7d

The webinar is now available. Watch @joshpasek.com, @umich.edu, and David Rabban, @utaustin.bsky.social, discuss political pressure, academic freedom, and the boards responsibility to resist the former to protect the latter. @aaup.org @utaustinaaup.bsky.social

agb.org/events/webin...

The Integral Relationship Between Board Independence and Academic Freedom

Watch this Webinar on Demand to explore the foundational role of board independence in preserving academic freedom and the pursuit of knowledge.

Reposted by Josh Pasek

Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 7d

at the post we have a small team of professional pollsters who have to review the full methodology behind any survey results before we can feature them in a story. they’re super annoying sometimes and i’m also very grateful that we have them

The Independent @the-independent.com · 8d

Nearly a third of Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

1 in 3 Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

www.independent.co.uk