Reading what lawyers write about the presidency, it surprises me how often they make empirical predictions about what will happen if we adopt their view of the law. Thanks to Trump, data is pouring in about policy under a unitary executive. It isn't good. www.civitasoutlook.com/symposium-ar...

Promises of the Unitary Executive

Conservatives should remember that unitary control’s core pathologies will remain for the next left-wing president.

civitasoutlook.com

Rice is recruiting 2(+) professors this Fall! Open rank, open field. Looking forward to meeting people who want to come do their best work in our growing Department, at a growing University. (I am not on the committee, but feel free to reach out with questions.) apply.interfolio.com/190537

My son and I are happy to announce that I will be joining @ricepolisci.bsky.social this coming academic year as a Postdoctoral Associate! I will be working with @lowande.bsky.social  in the Executive Policy Research Group (EPRG) to examine the effects of unilateral policymaking. 🍚🦉

How should scholars who study American politics change what they do in a political time like ours? I'm skeptical it will get much circulation on this site, but in a new review, I critique the emerging turn toward a kind of political advocacy mixed with research. myumi.ch/w9R2W

NYT giving the president exactly what he wants. IT doesn't matter if this is legal or if it works. The point is the story. "The President Tried to Pay the TSA, but Congress Wouldn't Let Him"

This only holds if think presidential approval ratings measure anything meaningful in American politics today. Is focusing so much energy on them in both academic and journalistic work helpful for understanding the world? (I don't think so.)

Andrew Rudalevige@rudalev.bsky.social · 8mo ago

This is a travesty and for presidency scholars something of a tragedy… thehill.com/homenews/med...

This is technically true. But if the rule of law is actually an attitude, and people believe EOs matter, then the technicality doesn't matter. This is why presidents sign symbolic orders anyway. The hope that people will believe in them.

Erin C.@erincikanek.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are

i see your bat signal and respond by throwing a book

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 12mo ago

heggseth's weird podcast rant (delivered to 800 generals and admirals for some reason) is just another sign of how this is a tv presidency. they don't really know how to do policy. their instinct is theater. encounter a problem? put on a spectacle

The Trump admin owns the public narrative by taking executive action, over and over. Our new study shows this strategy has detectable impacts on Google search traffic for the incumbent president. Ballpark est. similar to pop artists when they release a new album.

NEW STUDY: White House staff hiring over 1996-2024 shows the diploma divide is in the White House. Elite universities sent far more alumni to work for Democratic presidents. Full paper: myumi.ch/pVMM5 Details: First --> Overall, Democratic presidents tend to value more credentials... 1/6

The DOD has billions in military hardware circulating among state and local police. Pleased to announce a tool developed to visualize and track this equipment, along with clean, historical data on all controlled items circulated between 2014-2025. police.executivepolicy.org

Counterpoint: there's never been more data available about what the government actually does. Most political scientists just have a soft spot for what happens between peoples' ears.

Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · last yr.

I’m as guilty as anyone, but it’s sad that we study voters and behavior because that’s where the data is. I want to be bold and study the real small N causes of policy, like Thiel or Musk or smartphones or the libs who boosted JD Vance to stardom

My book won the 2025 Neustadt award for best book on the American presidency. Presidents enact bad policies, on purpose, because it helps them define their brand & gives the impression they're in charge. If that basic message resonates, please give it some of your reading time: lnkd.in/dVPsriXt

When someone tells you a unitary executive will lead to more "energy" (a la Hamilton) remember that the President is a decision-making bottleneck. It's not complicated. The more things you put on his plate, the slower government moves.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · last yr.

I don’t think we’re getting those “90 deals in 90 days.” 😔

The modern White House has the annual turnover rate of a Chili's. Full paper: shorturl.at/9u1LX

Rick Wilson@therickwilson.bsky.social · last yr.

"The Purge" is not a phrase staffers want to hear, but working in this White House, it's entirely on-brand: www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-plo...

Why 100 days? Because humans like this number. How many policies were pushed out the door before they should have so the administration could pad its stats? More than any American should be comfortable with.

The irony is that Congress started delegating this power a century ago because taking it out of their hands helped REDUCE uncertainty about economic winners and losers after elections.

Bill Kristol@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · last yr.

NEW. @jasonfurman.bsky.social on Trump's tariffs. "I don’t see how the president can get rid of what is now a massive amount of uncertainty...The only way to put that genie back in the bottle would be for Congress to take tariff-setting power back to itself." youtu.be/b6HAqPdgixE?...

Journalists always frame stories about executive action with words that assign more credit to the Pres, relative to Congress. Executive action is a PR win, even when it's bad policy. (Dark bars: news with exec. action. Light: everything else about the pres, frm Ch 6 of my book: shorturl.at/eilg2)

Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · last yr.

The headline for today’s NY Times “The Morning” newsletter is “Liberation Day.” And this is the lede paragraph on his tariff event today, framed entirely from Trump’s point of view.

As someone educated outside the elite doctoral programs, EITM was huge for me. If you want to be good enough at finding stuff out (i.e., "research") to be paid to do it, there's no substitute for being around the best of the best and trying to learn from them.

Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models@eitm-institute.bsky.social · last yr.

Applications for the 2025 EITM Summer Institute are now open! Program dates: Aug 4-15. Program location: University of Michigan. Deadline: April 15. eitminstitute.org/institute/20...

Again: The Trump admin is showing you they have capacity constraints -- they can only do this shake-down procedure piecemeal. If these institutions want this to stop, they'll refuse to negotiate and take them to court. Hold the line, create a bottleneck.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2y ago

Breaking News: The Trump administration said it was reviewing billions in federal grants to Harvard, accusing the school of allowing antisemitism to run unchecked on its campus.

Someone get me a formal theorist stat, I need to know if inter-party bargains are possible when there's no credible commitment for any deal.

James Downie@jamescdownie.bsky.social · 2y ago

Politico: "Trump and White House officials have been telling GOP holdouts who want more spending cuts that the administration will pursue impoundment...according to two Republicans who were in a recent meeting with the president." www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Going to the bargaining table guarantees this will continue. But if the goal is to stop executive action, they'd ignore the "review" period and take the gov to court. The President needs to know that if he uses this tactic, that's all his legal counsel will be doing for months. Every time.

Sam Bagenstos@sbagen.bsky.social · 2y ago

This "immediate cancellation" violates the law. If the Admin thinks Columbia has violated Title VI by being deliberately indifferent to antisemitic harassment, it has to give Columbia a chance for a hearing first, make findings on the record, & wait 30 days. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03...

This opinion is a good introduction to the debate in the Appointments Clause. I have one gripe, which is just shameless self-promotion. The gripe is about whether unitary executive theory is "efficient." The efficiency argument ignores administrative capacity. 1/

Jed H. Shugerman@jedshug.bsky.social · 2y ago

Judge Howell rejects Trump's attempt to remove NLRB Commissioner Wilcox and rejects Trump's extreme version of the unitary executive theory. Spot-on citations to the real history by @jdmortenson.bsky.social @kexelchabot.bsky.social, among others - Awesome! storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Grateful to have had the opportunity to talk about presidential power at the annual Teach In at OU's Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAd6...

Teach-In | University of Oklahoma

YouTube video by University of Oklahoma

youtube.com

Excited to join an amazing group at Oklahoma for tomorrow’s IACH Teach-In—“Presidential Power and the Constitution.” Incredible lineup: Bailey, Lowande, Albert, Katz, Rozelle, Thrower, and Rudalevidge. The whole event will stream tomorrow. www.ou.edu/iach/events/...

Teach-In

The University of Oklahoma

ou.edu

The controversial executive orders under Trump 2.0 are unique because political wins are their primary objective, and because they appear to be illegal by design, says Kenneth Lowande @umisrcps.bsky.social, an expert on executive power. Will they succeed? ➡️ myumi.ch/nyMm5 #PoliSky

What is unique about executive orders under the second Trump administration? And will they succeed? - Center for Political Studies (CPS) Blog

The EOs under the Trump administration are "unprecedented because they are illegal power grabs by design."

myumi.ch

@lowande.bsky.social discusses how executive orders work and what they can and can't do.

What is executive action? - Prof. Kenneth Lowande - UM Feb '25 Teach-In

YouTube video by Josh Pasek

youtube.com

Unilateral actions serve as window dressing more often than you might think--they allow presidents to make it *look* like they're addressing issues without *actually* doing so. Interested in learning more? Check out @lowande.bsky.social's new book, False Front! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

False Front

A provocative new perspective on presidential power. Border walls, school bathrooms, student loans, gun control, diversity, abortion, climate change—today, nothing seems out of reach for the president...

press.uchicago.edu

Alice Miranda Ollstein@alicemiranda.bsky.social · 2y ago

Trump campaigned on making IVF free for everyone, either by having the government pay for it directly or forcing insurance companies to cover the full cost. The executive order he signed today doesn't do that. In fact, it doesn't make any policy changes. www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...

Its now probably obvious to everyone that the American presidency is the most important political institution in the world, but I almost never meet young scholars who say they want to study it.

Full interview: www.npr.org/podcasts/510...