Melissa S. Williams
@melissa1008.bsky.social
Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto
The Department of Political Science is searching for a tenure track position (Assistant Professor) in Indigenous Politics, and the ad is now live: jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-... Please share widely! And please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
Assistant Professor - Indigenous Politics
Assistant Professor - Indigenous Politics
jobs.utoronto.ca
An interesting piece out from @democratictheory.bsky.social. One of the things Mamdani’s campaign & admin does that is replicable & good for democracy beyond policy is to broaden opportunities for civic connection & tell increasingly layered stories of peoplehood w/ “the people” being New Yorkers.
Mamdani’s Mending Story: Rescaling Democratic Peoplehood in an Age of Interregnum | Democratic Theory | Cambridge Core
Mamdani’s Mending Story: Rescaling Democratic Peoplehood in an Age of Interregnum
cambridge.org
New searchable timeline to track academic freedom cases in higher education in North America. Search by a university, system, state or institution type. afi.mesana.org/timeline/
Make sure you are up to date with the latest content from Democratic Theory by registering for email alerts here - https://cup.org/3KFE9hH
NEW: Now that the Supreme Court has rendered the last remaining pillar of the VRA toothless, Republicans in eight states are free to gerrymander more than a dozen congressional districts that had been designed to remedy discrimination against Black and Latino voters. We catalog them all here -->
With the VRA gutted, the GOP could target over a dozen Black and Latino House districts
The assault would be devastating for minority voting rights—and for Democrats
the-downballot.com
A white Mississippi state leader is calling for the elimination of the state’s only majority-Black U.S. House district after the U.S. Supreme Court diminished the Voting Rights Act. "Mississippi might no longer have a district drawn to protect Bennie Thompson," State Auditor Shad White said.
Mississippi Official Calls to Axe Its Only Majority Black House District After Voting Ruling
A white Mississippi state leader called to eliminate of the state’s only majority-Black congressional district after a landmark voting rights ruling.
mississippifreepress.org
The court has simply recreated the pre-Brown world in allowing racial discrimination across a broad number fields as long as it is “facially neutral,” gutting the Reconstruction Amendments in the process.
NEW: Exclusive research by Democracy Docket finds that the Supreme Court's ruling this morning gutting the Voting Rights Act will derail at least 28 pro-voting lawsuits. The legal challenges aim to stop states from drawing electoral maps that dilute minority voting power.
Supreme Court ruling derails 28 lawsuits defending minority voting rights, Democracy Docket research finds
The legal cases are primarily concentrated in the South, where America’s legacy of racial discrimination still casts the longest shadow over voting rights.
democracydocket.com
We can be glib, but the fact is the Supreme Court destroyed the America the Civil Rights Movement built today. And I have no confidence whatsoever that the Dems will react w/ urgency to curb the return of Jim Crow voting. It is a dark day. And requires serious reflection on what is to be done.
It is just pure sophistry to insist that it is not racial gerrymandering when race tracks partisanship. Absolutely insulting in its reasoning.
Given the argument that ended the VRA, I think it’s time liberals did some self reflection about the now decades long obsession with partisan polarization as the problem, as opposed to authoritarianism, extremism, oligarchy, and racism
Very pleased that this special issue festschrift for Joe Carens is now out in CRISPP. Featuring @simonechambers.bsky.social @abizadeh.bsky.social, @melissa1008.bsky.social, Sarah Song, Jim Johnson, Rainer Baubock, Courtney Jung, Tom Malleson, Kiran Banerjee, me, and Joe Carens. Quite proud of this!
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy
Title: The Political Thought of Joseph Carens Editors: Kiran Banerjee; Abraham Singer; Melissa S. Williams. Volume 29, Issue 3 of Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy
tandfonline.com
"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...
CNN calling Tom Homan "well respected" and "not as hardline as Bovino" is an interesting choice. The dude took a $50,000 bribe in a fucking Cava bag and says all the same fascist shit as Bovino and Noem.
Protesters in Los Angeles projected an anti-ICE video onto the Twin Towers, an ICE-linked detention facility where the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department actively collaborates with ICE for deportation screenings.
Thank you, President Roth. No official at my university (Harvard) can make a statement like yours as an official because our institutional voice policy forbids it. That’s too bad, because the successful defense of democracy just might require leaders of its institutions to speak up and defend it.
James Sims@simsjames.bsky.social · 9mo ago"We should bear witness to the brutality and demand that our government protect our freedoms—not crush them with armed, masked men who think they can act with impunity. As people who have chosen learning, it’s the least we can do." —Wesleyan University President @msroth.bsky.social on Minneapolis
The majority of organizing happening in Minnesota isn’t just peaceful, it’s INVISIBLE. Moms showing up who won’t be interviewed on TV, people whose ICE patrols don’t turn into viral video. The grocery runs, the donations, the people filming bc they happen to be there. Please remember this.
If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine
Philadelphia Inquirer@inquirer.com · 9mo agoMore than 400 years of history and a decade of advocacy were torn down Thursday afternoon when National Park Service employees removed every single display at the President’s House. 🔗 What's next? We explain: www.inquirer.com/politics/nat...
Two women trained as first responders were abducted by three ICE agents. One of the agents starts seizing. The other two don’t know what to do. The women jump into action and save the agent’s life, only to be re-handcuffed and processed. www.startribune.com/detained-by-...
Detained by ICE, two women became first responders during agent’s seizure
The women say they guided agents through the emergency, later raising concerns about medical protocols, weapons safety and accountability.
startribune.com
I spent the morning at the San Antonio immigration court. It’s out of control. Crawling with ICE - arresting legal immigrants showing up for court appearances. I asked one officer who they are prioritizing. His answer: everyone. I need to share with you what I saw.
A YouTube link for those looking for it. No words. youtu.be/btqHDhO4h10?...
Mark Carney's full speech at the World Economic Forum
YouTube video by National Post
youtu.be
Carney’s speech in Davos today was sober, honest, and bracing. I will suggest to my students (who are reading “Politics as a Vocation”) that it is worth reading through the lens of Max Weber’s ethic of responsibility.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 9mo agoCarney: "American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, a stable financial system... this bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition... recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as a weapon. Tariffs as leverage ... "
Check out this report documenting censorship in higher education in the US. It chronicles record-breaking numbers of state bills that directly or indirectly censor classroom speech and an unprecedented federal campaign to exert ideological control over research, teaching, and campus life.
PEN America@penamerica.bsky.social · 9mo agoNew PEN America Report Warns of Expanding Web of Control as Politicians Escalate Campaign to Censor U.S. Colleges and Universities https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-warns-of-expanding-web-of-control-as-politicians-escalate-campaign-to-censor-u-s-colleges-and-universities/
More information from the guy whose car had smoke grenades and other stuff thrown in it. The baby's heart stopped and EMS was called to the scene. Yeah, ICE may have almost killed a 6 month old baby yesterday
Tonight marked the last broadcast of PBS News Weekend for the foreseeable future. As the show signs off the air, anchor John Yang looks back at some of our top stories and highlights over the years. https://to.pbs.org/4pxYe7W
Highlights from PBS News Weekend as show goes off the air
This Sunday is the final broadcast of PBS News Weekend, at least for the foreseeable future. PBS cancelled the show due to the loss of federal funding for public media. As our team signs off the air, anchor John Yang looks back at some of our top storie...
to.pbs.org
Across the country, Americans are honoring Renee Nicole Good and mourning all the lives ICE has taken and destroyed. Hundreds of marches and vigils are planned this weekend. Please join us to say ICE Out For Good: www.mobilize.us?tag_ids=2913...
Test run for 2026. Here's what I wrote in the NY Times about the federal government potentially interfering with the 2026 elections and what we need to do about it. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/o...
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸@elizabethweill.bsky.social · 12mo agoBreaking: The Department of Justice announced it will "monitor polling sites in six jurisdictions [in New Jersey and California] ahead of the upcoming November 4, 2025, general election to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law." www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justi...
