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Maxine Eichner

@maxineeichner.bsky.social

Law Prof. Families, gender, reproductive rights, and inequality. Views definitely not UNC’s.

287 Posts1947 Follower473 Folgt
Maxine Eichner@maxineeichner.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Florida anti-DEI law that the Eleventh Circuit just struck down on free speech grounds is very similar to our new NC law forbidding universities from teaching "divisive concepts." Courts will eventually reach the same result on our law.

Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4mo ago

BREAKING: Eleventh Circuit, on a 2-1 vote, upholds injunction blocking Florida from enforcing its 2022 Stop WOKE Act in the university context. The majority opinion is from Judge Britt Grant, a Trump appointee: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Before GRANT, LAGOA, and WILSON, Circuit Judges. GRANT, Circuit Judge: "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." U.S. Const. amend I. The First Amendment, incorporated against the States in 1868, is this country's written commitment to the idea that freedom of speech is essential to freedom of thought, and that both are essential to maintaining our liberty. The Supreme Court has long been clear that teaching and scholarship are due some measure of protection under the Amendment. But how much? And in what contexts? That Court has not had to say, but this one is now put to the test. The State of Florida legislated a broad set of speech restrictions banning certain viewpoints relating to race, color, sex, and national origin in various settings. The provision at issue here bars Florida's educators from promoting or endorsing those distavored ideas when instructing students. Its prohibition applies not only in primary and secondary education, where states traditionally exercise a great deal of control, but also in public colleges and universities, where the state government's role has been far more limited. When several groups of professors challenged Florida's new restrictions, the State cast about for an existing case or doctrine that could support its speech ban in the university setting. Finding none, it tried to marry public-employee speech cases with government speech doctrine, resulting in a new rule: if the
Art Candee 🍿🥤@artcandee.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Rep. Nanette Barragán to RFK Jr. after he refuses to talk about budget cuts due to pending litigation: "I'm really disappointed that you're here to testify about the budget yet you will not talk about this issue. This is an elimination of Title X funding which is directly to birth control pills."

FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Pope Leo XIV condemns the Trump administration in new speech: "Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth."

BildBild
Brian Stelter@brianstelter.bsky.social · 7mo ago

"The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history," one of the world's top democracy researchers says in a new report. I wrote about it here for CNN: www.cnn.com/2026/03/18/m...

US downgraded in democracy index as press freedom concerns grow | CNN Business

“The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history,” one of the world’s top democracy researchers says in a new report.

cnn.com

Maxine Eichner@maxineeichner.bsky.social · 7mo ago

In almost 38 years as a lawyer, I've never seen anything like this. The Trump administration has, in the span of a year, entirely eviscerated the credibility of federal prosecutors. Judge Orders Prosecutors to Testify www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Judge Zahid Quraishi Ejects New Jersey Federal Prosecutor From Court, Orders Testimony on Office Leadership Structure

Judge Zahid Quraishi of U.S. District Court ejected a federal prosecutor from his courtroom and ordered the three leaders designated to run the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey to return to court ...

nytimes.com

Alicia Bannon@aliciabannon.bsky.social · 7mo ago

NEW: Texas amended its constitution in 2025 to establish parents' fundamental right to make decisions about a child’s upbringing. Texas justices recently suggested this could invalidate state child abuse laws. Here's what to know about the oral argument. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

Texas Parental Rights Amendment Threatens to Invalidate Child Abuse Laws

During oral arguments in a child abuse case, some Texas Supreme Court justices seemed open to the possibility that the amendment protected parental violence against children.

statecourtreport.org

Alicia Bannon@aliciabannon.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Ran out of characters, but this excellent analysis came from @maryrziegler.bsky.social @naomicahn.bsky.social & @maxineeichner.bsky.social. Check it out! statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

Texas Parental Rights Amendment Threatens to Invalidate Child Abuse Laws

During oral arguments in a child abuse case, some Texas Supreme Court justices seemed open to the possibility that the amendment protected parental violence against children.

statecourtreport.org

Ethan Hein@ethanhein.bsky.social · 8mo ago

My wife has a lot of family in Poland, and one of her cousins was asking how the US can possibly afford this. The answer is, our public infrastructure and services suck colossally

Kat Rohn@rohnkat.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Dollars spent don't capture the human cost of this war, but the dollars spent represent a stark choice. "Priced at around $2.2 million, a single Tomahawk missile could cover 775 children on Medicaid for a year or provide more than 3,600 children with meals in the National School Lunch Program."

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 8mo ago

This footnote in the Kagan dissent specifically called out how they avoided this sdp claim in the Skrmetti case but then decided it here in an emergency shadow docket posture here. It's all calvinball where the principal is whatever hurts trans people.

Another contrast—this time, between this case and United States v. Skrmetti, 605 U. S. 495 (2025)—is also striking. In Skrmetti, several parents challenged Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The suit raised claims grounded in both equal protection and substantive due process. As to the latter, the parents in Skrmetti, similarly to the parents here, asserted a right “to make decisions concerning medical care for their minor children.” Pet. for Cert., O. T. 2023, No. 23–466, p. 34; see id., at 18 (invoking a “right of parents with respect to the care, custody, and control of their children, including in decisions about medical care”). And in support of that right, the Skrmetti parents relied on the same precedents the Court does today: Parham, 442 U. S. 584, and Pierce, 268 U. S. 510. See Pet. for Cert., No. 23–466, at 34–36; ante, at 5–6. But the Court, when deciding to grant certiorari in Skrmetti, limited its review to the equal protection issue: It would not even hear the parents out on their substantive due process claim.
Mark Joseph Stern@mjsdc.bsky.social · 8mo ago

A disturbing and hypocritical ruling on so many levels. Especially the due process holding. The court JUST said there’s no deeply rooted right for women to control their own bodies. But there is a deeply rooted right for parents to know if their kids question their gender at school? Come on.

Steven Mazie@stevenmazie.bsky.social · 8mo ago

NEW at SCOTUS: the court votes 6-3 to block a California law preventing public schools from outing gender-questioning students to their parents.

Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 8mo ago

War is not a morality play. The relevant question isn’t: Are the targets bad people who have done bad things? The relevant question is: Will going to war make things better, achieving something that’s worth the death and suffering it causes?

Maxine Eichner@maxineeichner.bsky.social · 8mo ago

This Guardian op-ed nails it: “On the right, female athletes are only significant in the shadow of the transgender menace. They are …useful pawns for a political project aimed not at advancing women’s sport but purging transgender people from public life.” www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f...

Trump says he is a savior of women’s sports. His ice hockey joke showed what he really thinks | Austin Killips

The president and his allies have never been interested in helping or elevating female athletes. His true feelings were exposed on Sunday

theguardian.com

Robert Downen@robertdownen.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Happening now: Texas leaders announcing a rollout of a statewide program to put TPUSA chapters in high schools and colleges across the state. Gov. Abbott adds that schools that stand in the way should be reported to the Texas Education Agency.

A large group of young Republicans and Texas GOP leaders at the Texas Governors Mansion.
Sam Bagenstos@sbagen.bsky.social · 11mo ago

The best reading of this article: Trump is going to use FDA to restrict medication abortion, but he wants to wait until after the midterms so the Republicans don't experience blowback. But that just makes the midterms more important. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

FDA Slow Walking a Long-Awaited Abortion Pill Safety Study

The Food and Drug Administration has delayed a promised review of safety data for the abortion drug mifepristone at Commissioner Marty Makary’s request to put it off until after the midterm elections,...

bloomberg.com

Joe Walsh@walshfreedom.bsky.social · 11mo ago

In line to become U.S. citizens, they were asked what country they’re from. If they were from certain countries, they were pulled out of line. Just horrible. The very antithesis of what America is. Every Republican should lose in 2026 bcuz of this. Every single one.👇 www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide

Trump administration is pausing naturalizations for immigrants from 19 countries.

wgbh.org