I am rooting hard for Zohran Mamdani, but if he’s going to deliver better for less, he needs to be as tough on bureaucratic nonsense as he has been on billionaires. In @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social, I wrote about what that means. www.vitalcitynyc.org/mamdani-nyc-...

How Mamdani Can Run NYC Government Cheaper and Better

New York City can run more cost effectively, but it'll require fixing what's broken inside the bureaucracy.

vitalcitynyc.org

Of the people, who are funny too

Our collective response to Trump generally, and ICE violence specifically, has been wildly inadequate. Please think about what we should do: A nationwide (or states willing) strike, in which everything shuts down? A march on Washington, where millions turn out? Something else? What are your ideas?

If you want Zohran Mamdani to succeed, you should want him to fix the crazy way NYC hires. www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...

Vital City | New York’s Civil Service System vs. Public Sector Progress

Mamdani must fix city hiring if he wants to get big things done

vitalcitynyc.org

Not long ago, the idea of polling judges and asking them to cast votes, but not offer reasons, would have seemed reductive. "That's not what judges do." On the emergency docket today, this is all the Supreme Court does. Red and blue dots are perfect. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool

#freedc #freechicago

I read a couple of pieces this week that show how people are not just protesting but actively resisting Trump-era abuses and putting themselves on the line to protect their neighbors. They're well worth your time.

This is a superlative post. All constitutional law professor and students should read it -- and then, of course, go read Richard's great book, too. I continued to be somewhat amazed/alarmed, however, ... [1] @williambaude.bsky.social @johnmikhail.bsky.social @jackbalkin.bsky.social

Today the Balkinization blog features my reflections at the end of its seven-scholar symposium on my new book The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power. You can find my short essay at the link below. Many thanks to the participants. balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/grat...

Carving out Jews as the special exception to the general anti-DEI rules of the federal government makes Jews into a specially protected buffer class, which both engenders resentment from others and enables the government to make us scapegoats if things go bad. It’s Court Jews all over again.

Paul Gowder@gowder.io · last yr.

Wait wait wait wait so Columbia MUST create a DEI office for Jewish folks but MAY NOT create a DEI office for anyone else? Am I reading this right?

🏙️ Cities getting it right: Instead of blanket cuts, smart governments are modernizing! New in @nytimes.com by @pahlkadot.bsky.social @robertgo.bsky.social showcase pioneers using AI & digital tools to improve services, including @innovateus.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

Opinion | The Cities and States That Are Getting It Right

nytimes.com

A $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Is THIS Close to Happening. Here’s What It’d Look Like. www.thebulwark.com/p/medicaid-c... from @citizencohn.bsky.social

A $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Is THIS Close to Happening. Here’s What It’d Look Like.

Republicans are about to slash a lifeline for the needy. In North Carolina, people are preparing for chaos and calamity.

thebulwark.com

Little-known, big-government & anti-work story from the Big Beautiful Bill: Literally looking for work can cost you your health care. More here:

Striking and spot-on from a blue-state governor: “Democrats should not shy away from talking about accountability and outcomes,” Kotek said in an interview. “That’s a winning message.” Similar themes from several other folks, including me.

Matt Barnum@mattbarnum.bsky.social · last yr.

New: Democrats find themselves increasingly divided over how to approach K-12 education. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Millions of working people rely on Medicaid. If they are laid off, spending all day every day looking for a job will not be good enough to meet new work requirements. If they take too long to find a new job--which most people will, when unemployment is high--they'll lose their health care. 1/x

Thanks for posting @donmoyn.bsky.social!

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · last yr.

New, from Robert Gordon at Can We Still Govern: Trump's work requirements will force working people into a bureaucratic maze that prevents them from working, wastes their time, and hurts their health. Rather than fight waste, the law creates waste. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-medica...

Good vibes and good question in Alexandria today

Here’s a New York Times photo of the Chicago “No Kings” rally. NYT said the march that followed spanned at least 10 blocks.

Got my copy today. The kids are fighting over who gets to read it first. Gonna be me—very excited.

Michigan Law@umichlaw.bsky.social · last yr.

Professor @richardprimus.bsky.social's book is out TODAY! In it, he argues against the long-standing orthodoxy that Congress can do only what the Constitution expressly authorizes it to do—and nothing more. More: michigan.law.umich.edu/news/5qs-ric... Order: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

On a bad welfare reform analogy: It's not, "‘Oh, I’m not going to earn cash because I am getting it already.’ Instead, it’s, ‘I’m not going to earn cash because I have health insurance.’ It’s a much weaker theory of the case... and it is wrong,” Gordon said. www.huffpost.com/entry/work-r...

The Long Shadow Of Bill Clinton Over The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

Republicans are using the former president as a shield against Democratic attacks on work requirements.

huffpost.com

Notable statements from a former Israeli Prime Minister.

Monica Marks@monicamarks.bsky.social · last yr.

This is extremely significant. Former 🇮🇱 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (2006-9) wrote in a May 22 Haaretz op-ed that Israel is: 🔴 intentionally waging a war of annihilation 🔴 premeditatedly adopting a policy of starvation 🔴 massacring civilians 🔴 making declarations of genocide A thread:

Read this deeply reported piece by @citizencohn.bsky.social on the repeated failure of so-called "work requirements" for Medicaid. Thx to @robertgo.bsky.social for explaining your MI experience & Georgia Budget & Policy Center @gbpp.bsky.social for studying results in GA. @clasp.org

Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn@citizencohn.bsky.social · last yr.

“One of the groups of losers from work requirements are workers” — Leonardo Cuello @georgetownccf.bsky.social www.thebulwark.com/p/the-gops-b...

Democrats have many reasons to oppose DOGE, but so do Republicans. @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social and I wrote about how House GOP student aid proposals require a Department of Education that DOGE has destroyed.  www.chronicle.com/article/on-s...

Opinion | On Student Aid, It’s Congressional Republicans vs. DOGE

Accountability measures require a strong Department of Education.

chronicle.com

“Trump is cagey about whether he might try to stay in office after his current term expires,” writes Richard Primus. If the president’s goals conflict with the law, “he will disregard the project of the law as long as he can get away with it”:

Outsmarting the Constitution

Trump’s approach to a possible third term in office reveals his approach toward American law more generally.

bit.ly

Of all the bad SNAP and Medicaid “reform” proposals I’ve seen in 30 years of working on this stuff, the cost shift is the worst. It’s not reform, it’s a bomb.

The cost shift to states from these SNAP and Medicaid cuts is terrible for the people who depend on them …. And bad news for anyone who depends on state funding for education, or public safety, or transportation. Which is everyone. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

House Agriculture Committee Proposal Would Worsen Hunger, Hit State Budgets Hard | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The House Agriculture Committee reconciliation bill would radically alter the structure of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by requiring states to pay a portion of food benefi...

cbpp.org

Read @crampell.bsky.social's excellent column on the GOP plan to cut Medicaid and SNAP (with a quote from yours truly)

Opinion | Now might be exactly the worst time to cut Medicaid and food stamps

Cutting the safety net could prolong an economic recession.

washingtonpost.com

DOGE took over clearing HHS grant announcements a month ago. Guess how many new announcements the agency has posted since then? Zero. Ten were supposed to go up between April 11 and today, but none have. 1/4

Robert Gordon@robertgo.bsky.social · last yr.

Important story that includes some thoughts from me. DOGE is now a superagency, managing processes deep within agencies but core to their missions. And DOGE can now impound funds by refusing to allow grant postings. Next question: Will DOGE begin to approve individual grant awards?

When I led Michigan's DHHS, the state worked hard to implement work requirements humanely. Even so, more than 100,000 Michiganders were on track to lose their health care. Then, fortunately, the state's law was enjoined. That story here: www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2025/mi... 1/2

More Than 100,000 Michigan Residents Nearly Lost Medicaid Coverage Under Work Requirements

Proposed rule changes to ACA marketplace plans from the Trump administration would increase costs and reduce the financial protection plans offer.

commonwealthfund.org

Happened upon a Good Friday procession in DC tonight. Prayers in Spanish, signs in five languages. Not my faith, except American.