Prof. Shirley Lin
@profshirleylin.bsky.social
4.1K followers 1.9K following 110 posts
Associate Professor @brooklynlaw. Work Law, CRT & social movements. Board member, Society for Disability Studies. Legal theory nerd; former community organizer. (she/her) Opinions = own. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1398227
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profshirleylin.bsky.social
Thrilled to contribute to such a fulsome discussion in response to "Futures of Neurodiversity." A dream invite from @bostonreview.bsky.social to address histories & movement leadership that centers DisCrit / race-critical analysis -- and other utilitarian approaches to law. #disabililty #lawsky
bostonreview.bsky.social
More than 20 years after the term was coined, the neurodiversity movement sits at a crossroads.

Our latest forum, led by Robert Chapman with responses from @catherinetan.bsky.social, @profshirleylin.bsky.social, @drstevenkapp.bsky.social, Ari Ne'eman, Liat Ben-Moshe, and Kristin Bumiller
The Future of Neurodiversity - Boston Review
The movement has made important progress, but focusing on rights and representation leaves too many behind.
www.bostonreview.net
profshirleylin.bsky.social
And we were thrilled to join in the discussion you began. Much appreciated, and look forward to seeing more in this vein!
profshirleylin.bsky.social
@leecarpenter.bsky.social's research ensures we pay due attention to @sbworkersunited.org's labor innovations, within an extended body of work sustaining LGBTQIA legal advocacy. Workers, unions, policymakers, labor / employment scholars, and advocates should not lose sight of such ideas even now. /3
profshirleylin.bsky.social
We engage with Prof. @leecarpenter.bsky.social's cogent arguments (linked) that, for low-wage LGBTQ workers, contradictions b/t equality law + organizing's power-shifting goals pose hard questions to those who support queer, minority, and working-class Americans. /2 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
'Strike with Pride': Unionizing as an LGBTQ Rights Strategy
What can a strike led by queer Starbucks workers tell us about today’s LGBTQ rights movement? This article starts with that question, and makes two significant
papers.ssrn.com
profshirleylin.bsky.social
In a response essay invited by Ohio State Law Journal, co-author Michael Nunn @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social '24 and I address labor activism that embraces bold new organizing models amid political polarization, steep corrosion of the rule of law, and open antagonism toward LGBTQIA+ communities. /1
Social Justice Unionism: Intersectionality in the Twenty-First Century Workplace
In <i>“Strike with Pride”: Unionizing as an LGBTQ Rights Strategy</i>, a remarkable wave of organizing at Starbucks tests two pillars of work law: the anti-disc
papers.ssrn.com
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
jentaub.bsky.social
“To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.”

- Judge William Young, September 30, 2025
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
Pretty incredible own goal by liberal institutions and many Democratic electeds to crush the exact type of protests in 2024 that would’ve been the most effective way to slow or stop ICE incursions into American cities in 2025
profshirleylin.bsky.social
🚨: "allowing ICE to use to spyware 'threatens Americans’ freedom of movement and freedom of speech'”
truthout.org
Summer Lee and other lawmakers have sent a letter to the DHS demanding information on any plans ICE has to use Graphite, a spyware program that can access — without the owner’s knowledge or consent — a phone’s location data, photos, and encrypted applications, including WhatsApp and Signal.
Lawmakers Demand Information About Potential Use of Paragon Spyware by ICE
The lawmakers warned that allowing ICE to use spyware “threatens Americans’ freedom of movement and freedom of speech.”…
buff.ly
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
heathercherone.bsky.social
Pritzker is also furious: “Should National Governors Association leadership choose to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization.”
Gov. JB Pritzker’s letter to the National Governors Association
profshirleylin.bsky.social
A 🧵 for a wholly positive task, for a change @academic-chatter.bsky.social.

For an awards nominations committee I've joined, what rubrics have worked well for your review committees?

Here, #disability books, by junior +senior scholars. Global reach and a range of awards, so all welcome.
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
flsjournal.bsky.social
📣🏳️‍⚧️ Call for Papers

We are inviting papers for our special issue, “Feminist Responses to the Regression of Trans Rights: Strategies, Alliances, Hope.” The issue will be dedicated to trans-inclusive feminist legal analysis that addresses attacks on trans rights & lives.

Details below. Please share.
Call for Papers: Special Issue of Feminist Legal Studies 

Feminist Responses to the Regression of Trans Rights: Strategies, Alliances, Hope

Amidst continuing backlash against trans rights, recognition and inclusion, two recent decisions from the UK have substantially impacted not only trans people’s legal status but also legal and social narratives of sex, gender and identity. The narrative that trans inclusion has a chilling effect on the rights of others, particularly women, has been adopted uncritically by both the UK Supreme Court in For Women Scotland and the Office for Students in its finding that the University of Sussex’s trans-inclusion policy had a chilling effect on free speech. These cases highlight a backlash that has been ongoing for some time, and sparks debates and fear of what may lie in the near future for trans people and kin, as well as other gender-variant persons, not only in the UK, but across jurisdictions and in a global perspective. The discourse of the ‘gender critical’ movement is splintering both the feminist and LGBT+ movements globally, with some aligning politically with the Far- and Christian Right against trans rights, adopting their terminology of ‘gender ideology’ and potentially posing a wider threat to sexual and reproductive rights.  

While this a difficult situation for trans people, kin and allies, this special issue seeks to emphasise that legal battles – including battles (temporarily) lost – are also an opportunity to seek to reinforce old alliances and to form new ones, to find new legal frontiers and imaginaries, to reinforce the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of legal arguments as well as intergenerational memory of what feminist legal work is, has been and should be about. How, we ask, do these decisions (and those like them globally) reflect and reproduce structures of coloniality, heteronormativity and cisnormativity? What do these decisions add to critiques of legal feminism? What would be construct…
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
fishkin.bsky.social
The question journalists need to be asking is: WHY is the government trying this?

It’s because they want to control universities in unlawful ways that courts will not allow; it’s not working; so they’re trying to get universities to sign up “voluntarily” for unlawful levels of government control.
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
jeffsharlet.bsky.social
It appears that my employer, Dartmouth, one of the Trump 9, has said no to the compact. All the better given that our president is cited within it. But she’s saying no. Count the small victories when they come.
Office of the President
Dear Dartmouth community,
 
As many of you know, Dartmouth was one of nine universities asked by the White House to give feedback by Oct. 20 on a draft of its “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” 
 
I am deeply committed to Dartmouth’s academic mission and values and will always defend our fierce independence. 
 
You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves. 
 
Best,
Sian Leah Beilock
President
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
qjurecic.bsky.social
that's so weird, john roberts assured me the immunity decision meant this would not happen??
In Going After His Foes, Trump Sets a Precedent That Could Haunt His Allies
President Trump’s retribution campaign risks ushering in a cycle of retaliation in which each new administration takes aim at the last one.
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
meredithshiner.com
Four reporters to come up with this absolutely unhinged framing. People with autism are not a "problem to be solved." They are human beings who should be supported. Polio debilitating and killing thousands of kids annually was a "problem to be solved," and Jonas Salk did that... with a vaccine.
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
propublica.org
These Project 2025 videos were intended to train a second Trump administration’s political appointees "to be ready on day one."

Last August, ProPublica & @documented.net obtained 14 hours of the videos, which covered everything from passing new regulations to rooting out left-wing language:
Watch: 14 Hours of Never-Before-Published Videos From Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy
The videos are part of an ongoing effort to recruit and train thousands of future conservative appointees. Despite Donald Trump’s efforts to disavow Project 2025, most of the speakers in the videos ha...
www.propublica.org
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
propublica.org
#ICYMI: The Trump administration has been pushing its anti-trans agenda globally at the United Nations.

U.S. delegates objected to use of the word “gender” in U.N. documents during forums on topics as varied as women’s rights, science & tech, global health, toxic pollution and chemical waste.
The Trump Administration Is Promoting Its Anti-Trans Agenda Globally at the United Nations
U.S. delegates have objected to use of the word “gender” in U.N. documents during forums on topics as varied as women’s rights, science and technology, global health, toxic pollution and chemical wast...
www.propublica.org
profshirleylin.bsky.social
Next up from Society for Disability Studies, 🍂 Mon. October 6th:
"Disruption & Strategic Engagement: Bridging Critical Pedagogy and Disability Activism" feat. Sara M. Acevedo and Suzanne Stolz. Register here: bit.ly/4gtwiiQ
Flyer from Society for Disability Studies, entitled "Disruption and strategic engagement: Bridging critical pedagogy and disability activism"

Black and white profile photo of event speakers, Suzanne Stolz and Sara Acevedo

Date & Time:
Oct 6, 2025 12:00-1:15PM EST


This presentation examines the collaborative autoethnographic work of Dr. Acevedo and Dr. Stolz with pre-service professionals in disability studies courses. The session explores how community partnerships support critical pedagogy and disability activism, with a particular emphasis on the role of conscientization in promoting a culturally affirming understanding of disability. 

45 min presentation with 30-min Q&A  

Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/st-7A7IaQ328y09HlOXI6w#/registration
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
ninaturner.bsky.social
If having a felony conviction on your record doesn’t disqualify someone from being the President, it shouldn’t disqualify someone from voting.

People with felony convictions should be able to vote.
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
sifill.bsky.social
@joyannreid.bsky.social is asking the right question.This may be the most dangerous period.When the dog catches the car & realizes he can’t open the doors or satisfy its hunger. Now there’s rage, snarling and vicious humiliation at having exhausted itself pursuing something that has no real meaning.
profshirleylin.bsky.social
Absolutely, Sam! You're so generous, I'm sure your input will be invaluable.
profshirleylin.bsky.social
Such wonderful convos and questions in presenting Race-Conscious Data @apsa.bsky.social #APSA2025. And glad I brought print-outs of the piece - old tech to go with the new!
Photo of Shirley Lin, masked, black glasses and black hair, standing in a convention hall before large monitors featuring papers
Reposted by Prof. Shirley Lin
athul.acharya.cc
"Harvard can't use race as a factor in admissions, but ICE can use race as a factor in detentions" is a retrenchment essentially to a pre-Civil War understanding of the Constitution. It's vanishingly few steps removed from "Latinos have no rights which the white man is bound to respect."
profshirleylin.bsky.social
Enjoying a few gems already from Du Bois Review, courtesy of @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org Open Access journals at #APSA2025. Poli sci journals should be an easy crossover for @cambup-law.cambridge.org at AALS2026.
Journal cover for Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, with portrait photo underlay of WEB.