Meghan Leonard
@meghanleonard.bsky.social
Associate Professor - Political Science @ Illinois State University: judicial politics & state supreme courts. cats. women's sports. basketball. she/her
Pinned
#OpenAccess from State Politics & Policy Quarterly -
Court Curbing Lower State Courts in the United States - https://cup.org/4hUcjdK
- @meghanleonard.bsky.social, Hayley Munir & Michael Anthony Catalano
#FirstView
Court Curbing Lower State Courts in the United States - https://cup.org/4hUcjdK
- @meghanleonard.bsky.social, Hayley Munir & Michael Anthony Catalano
#FirstView
In a new paper with Hayley Munir and
@macatalano.bsky.social we find that court-curbing bills addressed at lower courts are explained by legislative professionalization rather than ideological disagreement.
@macatalano.bsky.social we find that court-curbing bills addressed at lower courts are explained by legislative professionalization rather than ideological disagreement.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
On Monday, North Carolina's terrible, draconian law will come into effect. One small piece that has gotten little scrutiny -- judges must consider whether someone has a home when deciding pretrial release.
www.wsoctv.com/news/local/c...
www.wsoctv.com/news/local/c...
County braces for jail surge as Iryna’s Law takes effect Monday
The law was passed after the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on the light rail.
www.wsoctv.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:04 PM
On Monday, North Carolina's terrible, draconian law will come into effect. One small piece that has gotten little scrutiny -- judges must consider whether someone has a home when deciding pretrial release.
www.wsoctv.com/news/local/c...
www.wsoctv.com/news/local/c...
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Probably the worst of them all is the Ring doorbell.
It’s sold as safety, but it’s much more about fear and paranoia in a box that turns you against your community. The more of them in the world, the worse our neighborhoods get. Don’t help the spiral continue.
disconnect.blog/a-tech-criti...
It’s sold as safety, but it’s much more about fear and paranoia in a box that turns you against your community. The more of them in the world, the worse our neighborhoods get. Don’t help the spiral continue.
disconnect.blog/a-tech-criti...
November 25, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Probably the worst of them all is the Ring doorbell.
It’s sold as safety, but it’s much more about fear and paranoia in a box that turns you against your community. The more of them in the world, the worse our neighborhoods get. Don’t help the spiral continue.
disconnect.blog/a-tech-criti...
It’s sold as safety, but it’s much more about fear and paranoia in a box that turns you against your community. The more of them in the world, the worse our neighborhoods get. Don’t help the spiral continue.
disconnect.blog/a-tech-criti...
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
This is a big deal. Order out about an hour ago.
Any effort at fairness would add at least one Democratic seat.
Any effort at fairness would add at least one Democratic seat.
Alert! Wisconsin Supreme Court appoints panels to hear challenges to state’s congressional map
— The Wisconsin Supreme Court today appointed separate three-judge panels to hear two lawsuits seeking new congressional lines ahead of the 2026 elections. The court’s move will be the first use...
pro.stateaffairs.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:04 PM
This is a big deal. Order out about an hour ago.
Any effort at fairness would add at least one Democratic seat.
Any effort at fairness would add at least one Democratic seat.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham has just been named as the principal deputy director at the CDC.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
November 25, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham has just been named as the principal deputy director at the CDC.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
The 1990s basketball fan in me is living for this
Mihailo Petrovic -> Andrej Stojakovic -> Transition Dunk
I love a transition bounce pass.
I love a transition bounce pass.
November 25, 2025 at 2:46 AM
The 1990s basketball fan in me is living for this
This guy was checking out our place for domestication recently
November 24, 2025 at 11:30 PM
This guy was checking out our place for domestication recently
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
One explanation for economic populism in the US is the recurring cycle of bubbles and bailouts that happens without any democratic input
November 24, 2025 at 10:35 PM
One explanation for economic populism in the US is the recurring cycle of bubbles and bailouts that happens without any democratic input
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Get in, losers, we're doing the thing again.
November 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Get in, losers, we're doing the thing again.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
1/Judge Cameron Currie dismisses the Comey prosecution because Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed US Atty.
November 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
1/Judge Cameron Currie dismisses the Comey prosecution because Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed US Atty.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
We are getting some all-time judicial tantrums from the Fox News-pilled lunatics who are on the bench now
Texas Gerrymandering Case Prompts Fifth Circuit Judge to Crash Out In Alarming, Antisemitic Fashion
Someone needs to take the Fox News machine away from Jerry Smith’s chambers.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 24, 2025 at 5:12 PM
We are getting some all-time judicial tantrums from the Fox News-pilled lunatics who are on the bench now
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Really looks like the United States is about to launch a regime change war against Venezuela with:
-No casus belli
-No authorization from Congress
-No allies or international support
-No plan for a post-Maduro Venezuela
-No preparation for any sort of stabilization or containment of the fallout
-No casus belli
-No authorization from Congress
-No allies or international support
-No plan for a post-Maduro Venezuela
-No preparation for any sort of stabilization or containment of the fallout
November 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Really looks like the United States is about to launch a regime change war against Venezuela with:
-No casus belli
-No authorization from Congress
-No allies or international support
-No plan for a post-Maduro Venezuela
-No preparation for any sort of stabilization or containment of the fallout
-No casus belli
-No authorization from Congress
-No allies or international support
-No plan for a post-Maduro Venezuela
-No preparation for any sort of stabilization or containment of the fallout
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
I claimed some months ago that Trump's autocratic power was underwritten NOT by his national popularity, as is the case with other autocratic leaders (since he's not popular), but rather his deathlock on the Republican primary electorate. But leaving office entirely removes this discipline...
PUNCHBOWL: “.. GOP members messaged us over the weekend saying that they, too, are considering retiring in the middle of the term. Here’s one particularly exercised senior House Republican:
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I claimed some months ago that Trump's autocratic power was underwritten NOT by his national popularity, as is the case with other autocratic leaders (since he's not popular), but rather his deathlock on the Republican primary electorate. But leaving office entirely removes this discipline...
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Wanna know how bad the Arizona legislator's petition forgeries were? Here's the examples from the Austin Smith indictment.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...
November 24, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Wanna know how bad the Arizona legislator's petition forgeries were? Here's the examples from the Austin Smith indictment.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
As we all wait for Callais to come down, our piece showing that Shelby County increased the racial turnout gap in most of the covered parts of the country has cleared the replication check and is incoming at JOP.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
November 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
As we all wait for Callais to come down, our piece showing that Shelby County increased the racial turnout gap in most of the covered parts of the country has cleared the replication check and is incoming at JOP.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Just this week alone.
November 23, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Just this week alone.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
A good friend of mine (and an amazing photojournalist) is going through something similar. He has stage IV cancer, and was diagnosed at 30. It’s a nightmare.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/o...
Opinion | Cancer Patients Like Me Are Casualties of MAHA’s Hypocrisy
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:40 PM
A good friend of mine (and an amazing photojournalist) is going through something similar. He has stage IV cancer, and was diagnosed at 30. It’s a nightmare.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/o...
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Devastating essay about living with a terminal cancer diagnosis at 35, made more devastating by the author's relation to the health and human services secretary who's spent the past year cutting cancer research.
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Devastating essay about living with a terminal cancer diagnosis at 35, made more devastating by the author's relation to the health and human services secretary who's spent the past year cutting cancer research.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
She’s resigning to spend more time yelling racial and ethnic slurs at cashiers
November 22, 2025 at 2:13 AM
She’s resigning to spend more time yelling racial and ethnic slurs at cashiers
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Months into ICE raids, Chicago teachers and community members are finding ways to help students cope with trauma inflicted on their communities.
Borderless reports: blockclubchi.co/49ynB5s
Borderless reports: blockclubchi.co/49ynB5s
November 22, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Months into ICE raids, Chicago teachers and community members are finding ways to help students cope with trauma inflicted on their communities.
Borderless reports: blockclubchi.co/49ynB5s
Borderless reports: blockclubchi.co/49ynB5s
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Put it in The Louvre of US political history. The look on Mamdani's face is priceless.
November 22, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Put it in The Louvre of US political history. The look on Mamdani's face is priceless.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
November 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
There's gonna be (hell, there already is) a body count for the second Trump administration. We'll never know the exact number, and we may not even have a rough estimate for decades. But it will be real and measurable.
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 7:39 PM
There's gonna be (hell, there already is) a body count for the second Trump administration. We'll never know the exact number, and we may not even have a rough estimate for decades. But it will be real and measurable.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Thinking a lot lately about the simple fact that college allows people to spend about 15 weeks immersed in a disciplinary conversation with an expert in that field. And what a special thing that is.
November 21, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Thinking a lot lately about the simple fact that college allows people to spend about 15 weeks immersed in a disciplinary conversation with an expert in that field. And what a special thing that is.
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
This is one of those points as an academic and researcher who focuses on authoritarianism and fascism I don’t like to make but:when the leader of the fascist movement that holds the government starts posting about murdering their opposition specifically political opposition you are in massive danger
November 20, 2025 at 4:20 PM
This is one of those points as an academic and researcher who focuses on authoritarianism and fascism I don’t like to make but:when the leader of the fascist movement that holds the government starts posting about murdering their opposition specifically political opposition you are in massive danger
Reposted by Meghan Leonard
Uhhh, this belated dissent in the Texas districting case—written by a 79-year-old Reagan appointee—is quite a ride storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 19, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Uhhh, this belated dissent in the Texas districting case—written by a 79-year-old Reagan appointee—is quite a ride storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...