Thomas M. Keck
@tmksyracuse.bsky.social
Mostly free speech and democratic backsliding. Also Syracuse politics and Baltimore sports. https://tomkeck.beehiiv.com/
My 18yo just sent me this classic post-apocalyptic Ray Bradbury story. Which I definitely read as a kid. And which includes this sentence yikes
BOOM. The AAUP is suing Texas A&M University System over their censorship policy that prohibits faculty from discussing topics & viewpoints related to race, sexual orientation, & gender. www.aclutx.org/app/uploads/... 1
![AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS, LEONARD BRIGHT, VANITA REDDY, LANDON SADLER, and AARON GEORGE,
Plaintiffs,
V.
ROBERT L. ALBRITTON, JAY GRAHAM, DAVID
C. BAGGETT, JOHN W. BELLINGER, JAMES R.
BROOKS, MICHAEL A. HERNANDEZ III,
WILLIAM MAHOMES JR., KELLEY SULLIVAN GEORGIADES, and SAM TORN, in their official capacities as members of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents,
Defendants.
CIVIL ACTION NO.
COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
COMPLAINT
Plaintiffs American Association of University Professors ("AAUP"), on behalf of
its members in the Texas A&M University System ("Texas A&M"), and individually named member professors Leonard Bright, Vanita Reddy, Landon Sadler, and Aaron George (collectively, "Plaintiffs") challenge Texas A&M System Policy ("System Policy") 08.01's prohibition on teaching "gender and race ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation, and gender identity" in academic coursework (the "Censorship Policy" or the "Policy").
On its face, the Censorship Policy imposes a complete prohibition, in all core-
curriculum courses, on courses "advocat[ing]" particular disfavored views of race or gender, or
any topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity, but the Policy does not impose any corresponding ban on opposing views on these issues.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jcats4toei4ybf5ibk3njty3/bafkreidml3fbnbiivajg7rverpx3nckfhv3zdron6klbxc7kaffoyslpty)
Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain or Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Sign of the Times
Mia Murphy 🏳️⚧️@miamurphy.com · 4d agoWhat's the best three album run from a band? (the correct answer is Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure by Rush, but I'm excited to learn second place)
This project is great and much needed. I don’t know what other pieces are in the hopper, but I hope someone is looking at local media, libraries, and legal aid orgs.
Alex Hertel-Fernandez@awhf.bsky.social · 5d agoOver the past year, Sam Berger, Sophie Jacobson, and I have been thinking about how a federal rebuilding must center power-shifting, building civil society power for democracy. In @donmoyn.bsky.social's Substack we wrote up our lessons; we're excited to share what we're learning! 1/
A strong dissent from denial of rehearing by Judge Willett in McKesson - the case where the Fifth Circuit upheld liability for a Black Lives Matter leader when there is no evidence he had anything at all to do with a police officer's injury. 1/ www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...
Experiencing temporary discomfort from a piece of fiction is perhaps the most benign kind of discomfort one can experience. Discomfort is not some horrible thing to be avoided at all costs, but rather a fact of life you must learn to manage.
Thomas M. Keck@tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 6d agoAmong other things, this incident illustrates that a central component (I would say _the_ central component) of academic freedom is that faculty can legitimately face employment sanctions only after a process that involves participation by faculty
This guy’s qualifications for serving as college president will surprise no one
Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social · 6d agoFree speech on campus! www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/u...
@ifightforbooks.bsky.social any interest in sitting down for a Zoom interview for publication on my blog? It would be a good follow up to my recent post on Pico and Llano. And I think my students (among others) would be really interested in hearing directly from a real-life claimant
I read Giroux in undergrad women’s studies classes almost 30 years ago, and he’s still bringing the fire
Truthout@truthout.org · last wk.Contemporary proponents of “institutional neutrality” fail to grasp that universities have never been outside politics. buff.ly/GUvxlyU
“Together, [Pico & Llano] reveal significant erosion of 1st Amendment guardrails against suppression of dissent … Autocratic governments worldwide have cracked down on the self-expression of relatively powerless minority groups, and the failure of independent courts to push back is an alarm bell. “
Thomas M. Keck@tmksyracuse.bsky.social · last wk.My new post focuses on 2 library book removal cases, one from the Reagan era, the other from last year. Read together, they signal significant erosion of civil libertarian guardrails in the context of Trump-era democratic backsliding tomkeck.beehiiv.com/p/pico-and-l...
My new post focuses on 2 library book removal cases, one from the Reagan era, the other from last year. Read together, they signal significant erosion of civil libertarian guardrails in the context of Trump-era democratic backsliding tomkeck.beehiiv.com/p/pico-and-l...
Pico and Llano County
On the removal of books from school libraries, in the Reagan era and today
tomkeck.beehiiv.com
As promised, Monday’s post will return to bad news—reading the 5th Circuit’s 2025 book removal decision in light of a similar Reagan-era case that came out the other way. Read together, they show clear erosion of civil libertarian guardrails
Thomas M. Keck@tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 2w agoMy new post takes a look at recent federal court decision invalidating DeSantis's Stop WOKE Act. The case is a good indicator of the continued possibility of democratic guardrail work by US federal courts But don't worry, next week's post will return to bad news tomkeck.beehiiv.com/p/florida-s-...
This argument dates at least to Raoul Berger’s early originalist work on the 14A
Joe Dudek@joedudekjd.bsky.social · 2w agoFrom Flowers's brief on behalf of Richard Epstein in the birthright case: We must always remember that the framers were deeply racist, so their laws should be interpreted as being similarly racist.
My new post takes a look at recent federal court decision invalidating DeSantis's Stop WOKE Act. The case is a good indicator of the continued possibility of democratic guardrail work by US federal courts But don't worry, next week's post will return to bad news tomkeck.beehiiv.com/p/florida-s-...
Florida's Stop WOKE Act is dead
On federal courts as democratic guardrails in the Trump era
tomkeck.beehiiv.com
“as we think through what Reconstruction in a post-Trump US – which must also be an anti-Trump US – requires, one question should be high on the agenda: do so many institutions in civil society need to be as authoritarian as they currently are?”
Jan-Werner Mueller@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 3w ago"This wave of anticipatory obedience is all the more egregious because – just as in the debates at Yale – non-leaders might sometimes just know better."
Among other things, this book has the best short account I’ve read of the intellectual architecture behind the Jan 6 attempted coup (mostly John Eastman)
Thomas M. Keck@tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 3w ago#11 Read this on a friend’s recommendation. I thought it would be too abstract for me, but I actually found it gripping
The 5th Circuit Llano County case is a good contrast. It’s about library book removals rather than university classrooms, but en banc plurality said library holdings are government speech. Seems likely they would extend the same logic to campuses
Deena Varner@deena-varner.bsky.social · 3w ago15/15 Like the Eleventh Circuit’s Stop WOKE ruling, Reges rejects the idea that public university teaching is simply state-controlled speech. Together, the cases defend the university as a place of academic judgment, disagreement, and intellectual risk, not ideological control.
New post from @gabalbertoo.bsky.social observing that Brazilians should not uncritically import U.S. First or Second Amendment law without attending to Brazil's distinctive constitutional history www.iconnectblog.com/make-brazils...
Make Brazil’s 1988 Constitution Great Again
--Gabriel de Moraes, PhD Candidate in Law at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) The false comfort of constitutional importation Brazilian consti
iconnectblog.com
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Mostly free speech and democratic backsliding. Also Syracuse politics and Baltimore sports.
tomkeck.beehiiv.com
Thomas M. Keck@tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 4w agoI’m working on a newsletter post about this case and what we can learn from it about the continued viability of US courts as democratic guardrails
Great read. Especially love @mobreezy213.bsky.social's point about the "chicken-egg" problem of member-disengagement faced/reproduced by most labor orgs in their current top-down approach to elections. 🙏 @tmksyracuse.bsky.social for eliciting + documenting these evaluative insights.
Thomas M. Keck@tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 3w agoMy interview with @mobreezy213.bsky.social is up. We talk about his recent primary election win, grassroots organizing in CNY, and more tomkeck.beehiiv.com/p/my-intervi...
