Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jan-Werner Mueller

AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 6h

"It is going to be disastrous if this continues"

Nobel Prize physics laureate John Clarke says Trump cuts will 'cripple' US scientific research

u.afp.com/SmAy

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 6h

The First Amendment explicitly guarantees:

-the right of the people peaceably to assemble
-to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
-the free exercise of religion
-freedom of speech

If this priest had also been press, ICE would have violated all five 1A freedoms at once.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 9h

Here’s video of the incident

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 10h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Media 🇮🇹 @mediasit.skyfleet.blue · 7h

Antonio Scurati: la democrazia dei lettori ci salverà dai sovranismi

Per la prima volta da cinque secoli la base della piramide di chi legge si restringe. E così la capacità di interpretare il mondo arretra a favore delle sempli…

www.repubblica.it

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 20h

Rarely has so much creativity been poured into the creation of euphemisms: "tradition-bucking, " "norm-breaking," etc. ...

NPR @npr.org · 20h

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

n.pr

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 15h

👇

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 20h

CBS News current president Tom Cibroski praised Weiss on the call, saying "Bari's energy and passion is infectious and you will feel it, big time." He also added that the Free Press and CBS News "are going to learn a lot from each other...that's what this is all about."

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 20h

"Precisely because they have been losing court cases over free speech and visas for foreign students, Trumpists now seek to entrap universities in a deal that effectively removes the protections of federal law and gives the administration arbitrary power over them."

US universities must reject Trump’s ‘compact’. It is full of traps | Jan-Werner Müller

The administration is trying to make nine universities an offer they seemingly cannot refuse

www.theguardian.com

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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 18h

Exactly right. See also by Professors Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg: "Holding hostage federal loans and grants, the “compact” is essentially a unilateral executive decree that cannot be refused"

www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 20h

Rarely has so much creativity been poured into the creation of euphemisms: "tradition-bucking, " "norm-breaking," etc. ...

NPR @npr.org · 20h

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

n.pr

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 20h

"Precisely because they have been losing court cases over free speech and visas for foreign students, Trumpists now seek to entrap universities in a deal that effectively removes the protections of federal law and gives the administration arbitrary power over them."

US universities must reject Trump’s ‘compact’. It is full of traps | Jan-Werner Müller

The administration is trying to make nine universities an offer they seemingly cannot refuse

www.theguardian.com

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Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 22h

"All nine institutions must reject this proposal: it is a thinly veiled attack on academic freedom; it is a test case for whether Trumpists can get away with demanding loyalty oaths; it exceeds the president’s powers to begin with..."
- @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social

US universities must reject Trump’s ‘compact’. It is full of traps | Jan-Werner Müller

The administration is trying to make nine universities an offer they seemingly cannot refuse

www.theguardian.com

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 1d

👇Alas, work on architecture and politics also underrated…

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 1d

This Thursday, we celebrate the retirement and work of Michael Minkenberg, one of the most underrated scholars of far-right politics. I will give an online keynote but there is also a great in-person panel with, among others, @andreapirro.it & @veghzsuzsanna.bsky.social

Sign up here! 👇

Keynote und Diskussion: Rechtsextremismus-Studien in Zeiten von Trump • Europa-Universität Viadrina

Pressestelle: Die öffentlichen Veranstaltungen der Universität

www.europa-uni.de

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Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 1d

Students from countries with better university systems continue to come to U.S., whereas those from countries with lesser university systems have dropped significantly.

Seems foreign students understand racism of Trump 2.0 very well — even if some underestimate the randomness of the repression.

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Michael S Roth @msroth.bsky.social · 1d

Sounds like #HigherEd "lawyers who used to uphold the standards of the legal profession are compromising them to adapt to the Trump era" @aaup.org @aceducation.bsky.social @aacu.org @cato.org @chronicle.com @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social @mollyjongfast.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/m...

‘Bow to the Emperor’:We Asked 50 Legal Experts About the Trump Presidency

www.nytimes.com

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Michael S Roth @msroth.bsky.social · 1d

How authoritarianism works: “But many of them..don’t want to speak on the record. These are people with stature…custodians of the American Bar….But now they’re worried about retribution, for their law firms or their family members, if they draw Trump’s ire” #highered www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/m...

‘Bow to the Emperor’:We Asked 50 Legal Experts About the Trump Presidency

www.nytimes.com

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Project Syndicate @projectsyndicate.bsky.social · 1d

The US government shutdown is not about policy disagreements; it is about a chief executive governing by whim and with impunity. The Democrats' case is easy to make, and easy to understand, notes @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social.
bit.ly/4pVwImp

How the Democrats Can “Win” the US Government Shutdown

Jan-Werner Mueller urges the party to adhere to some key lessons about confronting would-be autocrats.

bit.ly

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 1d

'Putin used the example of US president Donald Trump as a leader who reoriented his country away from the “globalist agenda” and towards resolving domestic issues—just as Europeans should be doing. Putin praised Trump and his politics at least six times during his speech and Q&A...'

Enemy number one: What Putin’s foreign policy speech says about Europe

At this year’s Valdai club, Vladimir Putin gave his most anti-EU speech yet, citing his determination to see new anti-establishment politicians to come to power and improve Europe’s relations with…

ecfr.eu

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Michael S Roth @msroth.bsky.social · 3d

My take on Compact for Collaboration: “Federal funding for universities should never depend on a loyalty oath...The health of our democracy depends on the freedom to work with the federal government without having to follow the ideological dictates of those in power.” www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Nine Colleges in Hot Seat as Trump’s Sweeping ‘Compact’ Sparks Sharp Reactions

Universities weigh whether to sign on to the president’s operating principles in exchange for a funding advantage.

www.wsj.com

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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 2d

Reup

Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · Sep 6

“The senior administration official, as well as other Trump officials, note that it is a priority of the president’s that these kinds of military deployments — in L.A., and now D.C., in times of relative calm — become normalized in American political culture”

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

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 2d

The legal basis of Trump higher ed "compact"
-"the most sweeping pile of unconstitutional conditions that any Am. constitutional lawyer has ever seen" (UCLA law prof) balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
-"a rather blatantly unconstitutional attempt" (Chicago) blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 2d

See also Eugene Volokh (UCLA), who lists numerous ways in which the "Compact" is unconstitutional reason.com/volokh/2025/...

The Proposed "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education" and the First Amendment

[1.] There's a lot going on in the Trump Administration's proposed "Compact," and there's a lot that we might want…

reason.com

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 2d

Crucial analysis by Fishkin:

"...so all universities have to do now is do nothing—no accepting the compact, no counter-offers, nothing—and the government will be left with no more power to coerce and control the First Amendment-protected activities of major American universities than it has today."

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com