Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 8m

I think at least one will retire next spring. That’s the timeline Breyer, Kennedy, and Stevens took. And Rs will hope a summer/fall confirmation battle amps up midterm base turnout.

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 20m

Maybe there’s a long-term plan, but I think the simplest explanation is the 6 R justices are right-leaning elites with power, and we’ve seen right-leaning elites with power, like Senators and billionaires, have been EXTREMELY susceptible to being cowed by Trump. They may not really have a plan.

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Jonathan Gilligan @jgilligan.org · 2d

The Vanderbilt chapter of @aaup.org has issued a statement condemning President Trump's proposed "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education" as an illegal assault on civil rights, academic freedom, shared governance, and institutional autonomy.

vanderbiltaaup.org/2025/10/06/s...

Statement by the Vanderbilt AAUP Executive Committee on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

October 6, 2025 On October 2nd, Vanderbilt was among nine universities “invited” to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” with the federal government. The Compact, however, i…

vanderbiltaaup.org

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 1h

Is the NG actually at the courthouse? Or is this just responding to DHS saying they’ve requested them there?

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Dr. Jessica Lepler @jlepler.bsky.social · 1h

At 7 PM tonight, I will be talking at Water Street Books in Exeter, NH. So excited to share my research! 🗃️
@uncpress.bsky.social

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 2h

At least this time it saved me a click! Half the time the value of an NYT editorial isn’t what it say, but who wrote it, and you usually have to open it to find out. I wish they’d put it on the link card.

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 2h

I’d quibble that it was before industrial warfare. It was the siege gun and the socket bayonet.

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 12h

From Kavanaugh Stop to Kavanaugh Kidnapping.

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 15h

This is really, really good. Will probably assign it next time I teach Law and War.

Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 15h

You should totally read this Joseph Margulies piece in @bostonreview.bsky.social on the moral harms that arguments about legality can obscure: www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

The Moral Stupefaction of the American Public - Boston Review

Trump’s actions are illegal, yes. Worse than that, they are wrong—precisely what the legality debate is meant to obscure.

www.bostonreview.net

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 15h

and he resigned to make room for Kash Patel even though he was legally protected from being fired!

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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 22h

My New One at MSNBC Opinion on How the Supreme Court Seems Poised to Kill Off What Remains of the Voting Rights Act While Few Pay Attention–With Implications for 2026 Redistricting www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb... @msnbc.com

How the Supreme Court could aid the GOP's redistricting games

If the court rules quickly enough in a key voting rights case, it could allow yet another round of partisan redistricting before the 2026 midterms.

www.msnbc.com

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 21h

Yeah, honestly this case is the thing I am MOST worried about for American democracy right now. It’s the one realistic way I can see for the GOP to rig the midterms. (Aside from its terrible long-term consequences)

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Tim Steller @timsteller.bsky.social · 1d

The University of Arizona's faculty senate has voted to ask the UA president to reject the Trump administration's proposed compact. It's among an accumulation of voices who say not to be tempted by the good things in the compact due to its more fundamental threats.
tucson.com/news/local/e...

U of A Faculty Senate opposes Trump compact; provost says no decision yet

The University of Arizona Faculty Senate approved a resolution calling on the UA to reject the White House’s compact requiring ideological, political and financial commitments in return for federal fu...

tucson.com

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 1d

An easy shortcut to classify Ottoman treaties based on the name:

Tiny town on the Danube that you've never heard of? Peace treaty.

Cushy summer resort village on the Bosphorus? Commercial agreement.

Major European city? It's the late nineteenth century, and the Ottoman Empire is in trouble.

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Ian S. Pumpkins @icpetrie.bsky.social · 1d

Penn historian Ben Nathans with an op-ed in our campus newspaper:

"No self-respecting university that values its autonomy and the integrity of its teaching and research should sign the compact."

Benjamin Nathans | Autonomy or obedience

Guest Columnist Benjamin Nathans urges Penn’s leadership to resist the White House’s demands in its “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”

www.thedp.com

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 1d

Dunsterforce?

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Dr. Rebecca J. Epstein-Levi @rjelevi.bsky.social · 2d

Vandy AAUP on the Compact. Share widely!

"We join the @aaup.org National Leadership in urging the Board of Trust, Chancellor Diermeier, Provost Raver, & the Vanderbilt leadership to completely reject this Trump loyalty oath & any other that seeks to commandeer Vanderbilt’s institutional autonomy."

Statement by the Vanderbilt AAUP Executive Committee on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

October 6, 2025 On October 2nd, Vanderbilt was among nine universities “invited” to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” with the federal government. The Compact, however, i…

vanderbiltaaup.org

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Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, “Elliott Gaiser and Josh Craddock are really hoping if they obey blindly Trump then will let them enforce the Comstock Act” probably wouldn’t sound great.

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AAUP @aaup.org · 1d

NO LOYALTY OATHS IN HIGHER ED!

Trump's attacks on our universities are an attempt to consolidate power. This loyalty oath directly undermines our right to academic freedom & goes against every democratic principle our country should uphold.

Please click below, sign, & share.

#DefendHigherEd

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

actionnetwork.org

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 2d

Just so. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

A Compact for Control (opinion)

No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms, Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg write.

www.insidehighered.com

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 2d

@sivav.bsky.social has a really good piece up in TNR that, instead of my earnest and straightforward approach above, goes for belittling mockery of this mockery of higher education.

Which in turn provides an example of the "belittling" the compact demands schools take action against...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 2d

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...

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Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 2d

I am proud of MIT, where our branch of AAUP has voted unanimously to endorse this statement urging MIT leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the Compact wholesale
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Letter Regarding Compact

MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors October 6, 2025 Statement on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” MIT has been invited by the federal governmen...

docs.google.com

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David Kaye @davidakaye.bsky.social · 2d

this statement by the American Council of Learned Societies, one of the key orgs in higher ed, is exactly right.

reject the 'compact'. no ifs, no studies.

read and share and, for your opeds, steal.

I cannot post the entire alt text but it begins: On October 1, the White House proposed to nine leading American universities that they agree to a list of demands in exchange for receiving preferential access to research funding. The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” undermines the long-standing independence of American academia. It works against the best interests of colleges and universities and of every one of us who has benefited from the knowledge they produce. We call for its immediate rejection by all institutions of higher education.

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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 2d

The Senate Judiciary Committee needs to get a copy of this OLC memo publicly released.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/p...

Exclusive: Classified Justice Department opinion authorizes strikes on secret list of cartels, sources say | CNN Politics

The Trump administration has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to multiple peop...

www.cnn.com

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