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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · 24d

Until next time, Vancouver. #APSA2025

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Paul Blumenthal @paulblumenthal.bsky.social · Sep 7

Wrote about Trump's vision of the presidency as a "mini-absolutist monarchy" (as @johnadearborn.bsky.social put it). And since the expansion of executive power has been described as a ratchet, why no future president is likely to give it up willingly
www.huffpost.com/entry/donald...

How Trump Broke The Presidency

Trump’s quest to claim all power for himself is drastically reshaping not just his presidency, but American democracy writ large.

www.huffpost.com

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Sep 6

Scenes from an archival research trip to the Clinton Library. #LittleRock

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Sep 6

This HuffPost article by @paulblumenthal.bsky.social on how the second Trump administration is transforming the presidency includes some thoughts from me.

www.huffpost.com/entry/donald...

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Aug 23

Until next time, #Austin

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Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · Aug 9

Delighted to share my latest, History and Fetishism in the New Separation of Powers Formalism, now live in the Penn Law Review!

The piece traces the emergence of the Supreme Court’s new approach to separation of powers law and argues that it is grounded in a set of basic mistakes. (1/3)

In the last few years, the Supreme Court has embraced a formalist approach to separation of powers law, allegedly justified by the Constitution's "original meaning." It is revolutionary, rapidly remaking the constitutional law of administration. But the Court's engagement with history is selective and idiosyncratic. In particular, it has largely ignored what we know of governmental practice in the early republic.
This Essay attacks the Court's use of history. It uses Jack Balkin's analysis of legal discourse in Memory and Authority to unpack the Court's reliance on historical arguments and to suggest avenues for critique. It draws on recent scholarship on Founding Era practice to show that eighteenth-century understandings of separation of powers were not formalist. And it argues for the restoration of Montesquieu to our constitutional memory. A key figure in the development of the Constitution, Montesquieu's understanding of separation of powers closely tracked early republic practice. He thus points the way towards an alternative interpretation of our constitutional tradition and a more pragmatic and historically accurate structural constitutionalism in place of the Court's growing formalist fetish.

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Aug 6

So excited to see this book out soon! Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the current moment American politics (and especially of interest to presidency and APD scholars).

Julia Azari @juliaazari.bsky.social · Aug 6

Got a book you all are going to love, just a few weeks now until it's available press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

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Studies in American Political Development @studiesapd.bsky.social · Aug 4

New at First view and with open access! David Mayhew and Ethan Yan, "Intensity, Geography, and Time"

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · Jul 28

#OpenAccess from @studiesapd.bsky.social -

Intensity, Geography, and Time: Three Controversies Indexed by Major Repeal Drives - cup.org/40GIqWZ

- David R. Mayhew & Ethan Yan

#FirstView

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Studies in American Political Development @studiesapd.bsky.social · Jul 21

New on first view at SAPD! Sarah Anzia and @trounstine.bsky.social on the growth of public sector unions

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · Jul 21

#OpenAccess from @studiesapd.bsky.social -

The Growth of Public-Sector Unions in Early Twentieth-Century America - cup.org/45bQUI9

- Sarah F. Anzia & @trounstine.bsky.social

#FirstView

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Jul 11

Grateful to have been part of this fantastic interdisciplinary conference. There is so much great, timely research happening on the administrative state.

Yale ISPS @ispsyale.bsky.social · Jul 11

Backseat car hammocks for babies? Thanks to government, they are no longer for sale in the United States. Now, as federal regulators come under attack from within, political scientists and legal scholars gathered for a conference on the future of studying the administrative state: bit.ly/44LJSbW

Blake Emerson, Andrea Katz, and Jennifer Nou listen to a speaker while seated at a table in a classroom.

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John Sides @johnsides.bsky.social · Jun 20

Then, finally, this *extremely* topical piece by @johnadearborn.bsky.social : “Contesting the Reach of the Rights Revolution: The Reagan Administration and the Unitary Executive”

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Jun 20

Ha you are too kind!

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Beau Baumann 🍏 @beaubaumann.bsky.social · Jun 20

I’m not even gonna pitch this. It’s from John Dearborn, whose work is self-recommending.

Contesting the Reach of the Rights Revolution: The Reagan Administration and the Unitary Executive | Studies in American Political Development | Cambridge Core

Contesting the Reach of the Rights Revolution: The Reagan Administration and the Unitary Executive

www.cambridge.org

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Jun 20

Link to the open access article in @studiesapd.bsky.social:

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

www.cambridge.org

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Jun 20

Thanks to @donmoyn.bsky.social for the opportunity to write this piece (drawing on my recent @studiesapd.bsky.social article) about the connection between conflicts over affirmative action and the unitary executive theory in the Reagan administration.

donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-reagan...

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Jun 20

New at Can We Still Govern: Trump hates DEI and loves unitary executive theory. @johnadearborn.bsky.social
traces one of rhe first early articulations of the theory in the Reagan-era assault on affirmative action, featuring a couple of current SCOTUS justices. 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

How Reagan-Era Battles over Affirmative Action Fueled Unitary Executive Theory

A desire to change civil rights policies has long shaped the conservative legal movement’s vision for asserting presidential control over the administrative state

open.substack.com

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Jun 4

Today's @rollingstone.com article by @douglaslucas.bsky.social on the Republican congressional effort to pass the Reorganizing Government Act includes some thoughts from me about the history of presidential reorganization authority.

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Jun 3

Scenes from #London and #Edinburgh

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Beau Baumann 🍏 @beaubaumann.bsky.social · Jun 2

/1 Just realized that my latest article with @yalelawjournal.bsky.social just dropped! This is obviously a huge honor. I really appreciate the editors taking a chance on a young, no-name scholar with an idiosyncratic story to tell.

www.yalelawjournal.org/article/resu...

Resurrecting the Trinity of Legislative Constitutionalism

From 1919 to 1969, the Offices of the Legislative Counsel in the Senate and House drafted precedential opinions to advise lawmakers on constitutional and subconstitutional questions. This Article lift...

www.yalelawjournal.org

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · May 29

Thanks to @mattgrossmann.bsky.social for having me on the Science of Politics podcast to discuss my research on the Reagan administration, civil rights, and the unitary executive theory.

www.niskanencenter.org/the-backstor...

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Matt Grossmann @mattgrossmann.bsky.social · May 28

The backstory of presidential power grabs

Reagan controlled civil rights agencies, building the unitary executive theory. 1st Trump admin controlled immigration courts, but by building them up

New #ScienceOfPolitics with John Dearborn & David Hausman

www.niskanencenter.org/the-backstor...

The backstory for presidential power grabs - Niskanen Center

President Trump is claiming power over independent agencies and trying to redirect the administrative state, saying he is its unitary executive.

www.niskanencenter.org

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · May 22

"Dada's book" (aka 'Congressional Expectations of Presidential Self-Restraint,' by Jack Greenberg and me) is now out in print!

www.amazon.com/Congressiona...

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · May 8

My article "Contesting the Reach of the Rights Revolution: The Reagan Administration and the Unitary Executive" is now online (and open access) in @studiesapd.bsky.social.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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Studies in American Political Development @studiesapd.bsky.social · May 8

Want to know more about the origins of the unitary executive? @johnadearborn.bsky.social looks to the Reagan Administration. New at SAPD!

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · May 8

#OpenAccess from @studiesapd.bsky.social -

Contesting the Reach of the Rights Revolution: The Reagan Administration and the Unitary Executive - cup.org/3YyHa7j

- @johnadearborn.bsky.social

#FirstView

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John Dearborn @johnadearborn.bsky.social · Apr 26

Scenes from an archival research trip to Texas.

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