Andrew Rudalevige

@rudalev.bsky.social

Posts

Bowdoin College professor of political science visiting at LSE and UCL in 2023-24: feed includes posts on presidential power, bureaucratic politics, and carping about Boston sports and European football.

Posts Replies Media

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Andrew Rudalevige

"But people don't click the link." "Why don't people click the link?" "Because paywalls. And laziness." Definitely not for the mentally lazy, but: Here's a thoughtful and delightfully wonky, yet accessible, piece on this egregious SCOTUS decision that is *not* paywalled.

Independence Day seems an appropriate occasion to ponder presidential immunity on @goodauth.bsky.social … goodauthority.org/news/immunit...

The Supreme Court’s immunity decision sidesteps historygoodauthority.org Immunity for Donald Trump and future presidents does the Constitution, the country, and even the Supreme Court itself no favors.

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Andrew Rudalevige

The Supreme Court’s immunity decision sidesteps history. Those who framed the Constitution agreed that unchecked presidential power was a terrible idea. Read the latest from @rudalev.bsky.social here: goodauthority.org/news/immunit...

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Andrew Rudalevige

This clearly-written, level-headed breakdown of Trump v. United States by @rudalev.bsky.social via @goodauth.bsky.social would be a great teaching tool for anyone teaching Intro American or the presidency this fall.

Independence Day seems an appropriate occasion to ponder presidential immunity on @goodauth.bsky.social … goodauthority.org/news/immunit...

Wondering how the opinion would claim that allowing the president to break the law does not make the president above the law? Simple! via perfectly circular argument: per Justice Thomas, "as the Court explains, the President's immunity from prosecution for his official acts *is* the law."

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Andrew Rudalevige

Key point, exactly correct:

roberts essentially ignores the purpose of separation of powers, which was not to create entirely separate spheres of action but to prevent the emergence of unchecked authority. instead, he says, separation of powers *demands* unchecked authority.

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Andrew Rudalevige

Studying the 2024 election: it's frustrating but we don't have to throw our hands up and give in to vibes: goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/making-sen...

Making sense of the 2024 electiongoodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com When nothing seems to make sense, social science can still help

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Andrew Rudalevige

John Oliver does the best policy explainers. This is why I was excited to talk to Last Week Tonight's producers about the effects of Schedule F on government. Watch the segment, and read more about this attack on public services: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-public...

The Public Opposes Trump's Plans to Politicize Public Servicesdonmoynihan.substack.com And John Oliver provides a Project 2025 explainer for you to share

The Court's decision about the bump stock ban is not hugely surprising - effectively they adopted the Obama administration's reading of the relevant statute and overturned Trump's... for more, see this 2018 Monkey Cage piece now living on @goodauth.bsky.social goodauthority.org/news/does-pr...

Does President Trump actually have the power to ban bump stocks?goodauthority.org No one has ever accused Donald Trump of being humble (well, except Donald Trump). Yet at times, the president takes actions pitched as flowing from a

Suddenly impoundment is a thing again? Luckily @goodauth.bsky.social is there for you. goodauthority.org/news/good-to...

Trump wants Nixon’s impoundment power. What’s impoundment?goodauthority.org Congress took the impoundment option off the table decades ago. Now Trump wants to use impoundment to slash programs.

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Andrew Rudalevige

The arc of milkshake bends toward justice

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Andrew Rudalevige

My major non-joking response to the verdict is that every time we say that random citizens are “peers” of the holder of the highest, most powerful federal office, I consider it a world-changing act that justifies the importance and greatness of the American democratic experiment.

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Today is the day Donald Trump became precedent

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Andrew Rudalevige

Another tidbit from the Time interview: the Trump camp says the 1974 Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional and that as president he will refuse to spend appropriated funds. Some thoughts about about impoundment's past and prospects on @goodauth.bsky.social goodauthority.org/news/good-to...

Trump wants Nixon’s impoundment power. What’s impoundment?goodauthority.org Congress took the impoundment option off the table decades ago. Now Trump wants to use impoundment to slash programs.

Morrison v Olson was 7-1, the majority opinion written by crazy liberal Chief Justice Rehnquist.

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Andrew Rudalevige

beyond straightforward partisanship the basic logic of the republican justices seems to be that trump is an ordinary president experiencing an extraordinary prosecution and not that trump is being prosecuted because he engaged in extraordinary actions!

Alito tries to turn things on their head, by saying that to encourage peaceful transitions of power, you need to give incumbents absolute immunity so they will leave and won't worry about prosecution later. This is the most insane thing I've heard today (and there have been many crazy things).

A book Justice Alito might want to read -- all three branches endorsed internment. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

By Order of the President — Harvard University Presswww.hup.harvard.edu On February 19, 1942, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and Japanese Army successes in the Pacific, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a fateful order. In the name of security, Ex...

The Trump argument about having to be impeached and removed before any prosecution can proceed -- leaving aside his lawyers argued the opposite when he was actually being impeached -- is ass-backwards. The "plain language" is that the president can be prosecuted *even if* he is removed from office.

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Andrew Rudalevige

at this point, he’s very clearly trying to get tossed in jail, and i think both the prosecutors and the judge should stop protesting and give him exactly what he wants.

This is what you want your client to be posting after a difficult hearing about what your client has been posting.

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Andrew Rudalevige

On this week's Chatter, @davidpriess.bsky.social spoke to @profsaunders.bsky.social about her new book, "The Insiders' Game," the meaning of foreign policy "elites," their actual influence on presidents and the public, how polarization changes the dynamics of elite influence, and more.

Chatter: Why Foreign Policy Elites Matter with Elizabeth Saunderswww.lawfaremedia.org What influence does the

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Andrew Rudalevige

A newspaper editor — Chris Quinn of the Cleveland Plain Dealer — says it as clearly as he can: "Our Trump reporting upsets some readers, but there aren’t two sides to facts." www.cleveland.com/news/2024/03... Quinn writes of a different kind of access. Access to our own eyes and ears:

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Andrew Rudalevige

Mon March 23, 2020 An Arizona man dies from swallowing a toxic fish tank cleaner called chloroquine phosphate after hearing Trump tout hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the virus. "We were afraid of getting sick," his wife told reporters. "Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure."

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Sunday March 22, 2020: “Romney’s in isolation? Gee, that’s too bad,” says Trump, smirking.

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Andrew Rudalevige

After Claudine Gay's resignation, Rufo learned that plagiarism was a smear that he could use to attack scholars of race, no matter how flimsy the evidence. New, from me. Please share if you want people to understand the machinery behind these attacks. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/open-seaso...

This is a witch hunt targeted primarily at scholars of color who study race. Chris Rufo now going after Christina Cross for "plagiarism" - his go-to example is *descriptions of data that are similar.* There are only so many ways you can describe data!

Open season on scholars of racedonmoynihan.substack.com They are facing both personal attacks and institutional censorship

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Andrew Rudalevige

Reply to

Four Years Ago Today

The president of the United States tweets out praise for a drug cocktail that has never shown efficacy against the virus.

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Andrew Rudalevige

New at Tusk: Americans think the economy stinks but their own financial situation is pretty good -- historically those two things don't always line up.

When will people acknowledge the economy is good? They might not.open.substack.com People's impressions of their own financial situation and the country's don't always align

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Andrew Rudalevige

Reply to

NPR

Want to do something to make voter suppression less successful? Serve as a poll worker—and volunteer to go wherever you’re needed most. It won’t make everything better, but you can make your little corner of the election run more smoothly, professionally, & lawfully. More poll workers, more voting.

Poll Worker Resources for Voters | U.S. Election Assistance CommissionLockwww.eac.gov The EAC encourages those interested in becoming poll workers at the polls on Election Day to learn more about what is required and how to sign up to work with your local election office.

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Andrew Rudalevige

Quite literally, he put up "national security" tariffs on our closest allies & started a trade war with China 🤷‍♂️ on.ft.com/3wGVwYe

And yet presidents have functioned for more than 230 years.