Jack Rakove
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jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove
@jrakove.bsky.social
9.5K followers 270 following 700 posts

Native Cook County Democrat, Cubs fan, and long-time historian of the American Revolution and Constitution

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Jack Norman Rakove is an American historian, author, and professor at Stanford University. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 72%
Economics 9%
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jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 2d
da Bears

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 2d
Mon plaisir! And I was able to stay at Tocqueville's chateau for a conference last year.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 2d
Brilliant piece (hope it is not paywalled).
Crucial conclusion: "If the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, a country that inflicts the ultimate punishment on those who dare to be vigilant can no longer be free."

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Crime of Witness | Fintan O’Toole
Renée Good and Alex Pretti were murdered for daring to interfere with the Trump administration’s efforts to normalize abductions and state violence.
www.nybooks.com

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 3d
the problem is that they tend to rule differently when Democrats hold the presidency

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 3d
I have been musing about the hypothesis that the ultimate consequence of SCOTUS's opinion in Trump v. U.S. will be the destruction of the rule of law in the U.S. This gift article helps to explain why, in part by emphasizing the evisceration of the Dept. of Justice.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.
www.nytimes.com

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 3d
On the serious academic side of things, when we need a good diversion from current events, this is a brilliant review by @davidavrombell.bsky.social of the conceptual history of revolution written by my colleague (and neighbor) Dan Edelstein.

issforum.org/reviews/jerv...
Jervis Forum Review 165: Bell on Edelstein, The Revolution to Come
H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum Review 165 Dan Edelstein, The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin. Princeton University Press, 2025. ISBN…
issforum.org

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 5d
What a moron. One has to wonder (though probably not) whether she has read the Va. Statute of Religious Freedom, drafted by Jefferson and steered through the House of Delegates by Madison, admittedly before the presidency existed--but so what?
jackjenkins.me Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 5d
White-Cain of WH Faith Office at the NPB on Trump:

"No president in modern history, or perhaps all of history, has done more, structurally, substantially, and sincerely, to elevate and protect religious liberty."

Note: Trump admin is currently being sued by dozens of religious denominations/groups
Paula White-Cain speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Reposted by Jack N. Rakove

jackjenkins.me
Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 5d
White-Cain of WH Faith Office at the NPB on Trump:

"No president in modern history, or perhaps all of history, has done more, structurally, substantially, and sincerely, to elevate and protect religious liberty."

Note: Trump admin is currently being sued by dozens of religious denominations/groups
Paula White-Cain speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 5d
Thanks!

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 5d
Couldn't agree more, for all the manifest reasons.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, David R. Miller, Jason A. Heppler , and 1 more

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 5d
Playing the grinch at the 250th.

washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/05/p...
Playing the Grinch at America’s 250th Birthday Party
How do we celebrate America's 250th anniversary as ICE and the Border Patrol threaten and abuse ordinary Americans?
washingtonmonthly.com

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 6d
Still good reading, I think. And for all you Cubs fans and Madisonians, look for another piece tied to the relation between the Revolution and the events in Minneapolis that will go live at the Washington Monthly's website tomorrow.
washingtonmonthly.com Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 6d
On affordability, Democrats have the stronger hand. They just need to stop folding.

The winter issue of the Washington Monthly is here, featuring @glastris.bsky.social, @jrakove.bsky.social, @alexbronzini.bsky.social, @billscher.bsky.social, @gooznews.bsky.social + more: shorturl.at/38NmN

Reposted by Jack N. Rakove

washingtonmonthly.com
Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 6d
On affordability, Democrats have the stronger hand. They just need to stop folding.

The winter issue of the Washington Monthly is here, featuring @glastris.bsky.social, @jrakove.bsky.social, @alexbronzini.bsky.social, @billscher.bsky.social, @gooznews.bsky.social + more: shorturl.at/38NmN

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Kim L. Scheppele, Archon Fung , and 10 more

kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 7d
This @bostonreview.bsky.social piece by @adambonica.bsky.social and @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social is an absolute must-read, as are many of the responses to it.

Spread this one far and wide.
How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism
Moderation used to help Democrats win, but its advantages now have been greatly exaggerated.
www.bostonreview.net

Reposted by Jack N. Rakove, Rebecca Tushnet

segalmr.bsky.social
Matthew Segal @segalmr.bsky.social · 7d
This is just a guess, but maybe the rise in dramatic prose from district court judges is partly due to a growing belief among those judges that it's pointless to try to persuade SCOTUS and they must therefore focus on other potential audiences.

Reposted by Marc Lynch, Jack N. Rakove

rachelshelden.bsky.social
Rachel Shelden @rachelshelden.bsky.social · 8d
The idea that the Court should operate entirely in secret is a modern phenomenon. The idea that the Court should be separated from the public is a modern phenomenon. Earlier generations did not accept a powerful, isolated & secretive Court and we shouldn't either 1/6

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
How the Supreme Court Secretly Made Itself Even More Secretive
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Jack N. Rakove, Robert C. Richards, Lilian Edwards , and 10 more

tiffanycli.bsky.social
Tiffany C. Li @tiffanycli.bsky.social · 10d
Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place. Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: "Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?" "A republic, if you can keep it." With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED. SIGNED this 31st day of February, 2026. 7um Jing FRED BIERY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE Credit: Bystander Matthew 19:14 John 11:35 There is also the photo of the boy from the viral stories included.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 10d
We're going for an ocean-side walk at Half Moon Bay and it is overcast, at least for now. Tough work but someone has to do it.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 12d
Please give us a recipe, which @unlawfulentries.bsky.social might also want to see. I use Ottolenghi's version in Plenty (just fed it to a former student and her family last Sunday). Once had some students over by telling them Dr. Shakshuka would be operating (based on the Tel Aviv joint).

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 14d
I reviewed Wendell Bird, Criminal Dissent: Prosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 in the AHR, quite favorably. It is great on individual prosecutions, the fate of the printers, and key Federalist decision-makers. Even a couple of chapters would work well.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 14d
Have to confess this is an issue I have not researched.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 14d
I have a few things to argue with in this provocative review by @tribelaw.bsky.social , but a lot more to think about, especially his discussion of the uses of the 9th Amendment, which would be better if he said more about the reasons for its origins. Great reading for serious constitutionalists.
nybooks.com The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 17d
“Whatever its value as social history, We the People is highly misleading as legal history and jeopardizes today’s urgent project of preserving our republic and protecting its surviving strands of democracy.” —@tribelaw.bsky.social
Is the Constitution ‘Dead, Dead, Dead’? | Laurence H. Tribe
The difficulty of amending the Constitution does not mean that it is a flawed and outdated relic of a distant past.
www.nybooks.com

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 15d
Good point. But most scholars (myself included) think that their correspondence on rights questions from 1787-89 was still consequential.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 15d
Propaganda is a modern term that cannot be easily applied, if at all, to 18th-c. Anglo-American debates. I had a standard routine for my students asking them to define it and then decide whether or not it was analytically useful. The short answer is not.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 15d
Good question. Not sure the "powerful few" would have meant much to him in an era when nearly all political writing was done under pseudonyms. Nor (unlike Hamilton) was he all that eager to take up the pen himself. But he did believe that public opinion could be the dominant force in politics.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 16d
counteract the impulses of interest and passion."

In a general sense, that also seems to be the current situation, when the people themselves and their local and state governments are more firmly committed to maintaining these "fundamental maxims" than the national governing party.

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 16d
But, on the other hand, he also thought that bills of rights would become effective when "The political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free government, and as they become incorporated with the national sentiment, /2/

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 16d
Great cartoon. But the curious thing about it historically is that Madison originally thought that the greatest threats to rights would arise from popular majorities acting within the individual states to influence their legislatures to adopt unjust laws--the opposite of what exists now. /1/
cmewing.bsky.social Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 16d
"Don't forget to add the bit about people only having rights if they agree with what the government is doing."

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Jack N. Rakove, Michael Evans , and 2 more

cmewing.bsky.social
Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 16d
"Don't forget to add the bit about people only having rights if they agree with what the government is doing."

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 16d
But far more intelligent.
dieworkwear.bsky.social derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 16d
that tie knot is the same width as his head
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16d
Kash Patel: "You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It's that simple. You don't have a right to break the law." (Pretti was carrying a gun legally.)