Julie Novkov

@jnovkov.bsky.social

9.9K followers 1.2K following 5.2K posts

Academic (poli sci, law, and US political development), administrator, gymnastics fan, resident of upstate New York. Go Great Danes! Views expressed here are solely my personal opinions. Born at 321 PPM CO2. #polisky #skystorians .. more

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Julie Novkov is an American political scientist, currently a professor of political science and women's, gender, and sexuality studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. She studies the history of American law, American political development, and subordinated identities, with a focus on how laws are used for social control while also being affected by social reform movements. .. more

Political science 54%

Law 14%

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Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 11h

Oooooh, I forgot Illia was coming back!

Reposted by Julie Novkov

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 16h

Supplement makers and other purveyors of snake oil like to add the phrase “clinically proven” to their advertisements.

I’ve read the studies. They are usually:

1. Tiny studies of less than 50 people that examine 100 or more endpoints

2. Studies of actual food falsely conflated with supplements

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 20h

Others could do this as well.

Unofficial BBCNews (World) Bot @bbcnews-world-rss.bsky.social · 1d

Slovakia PM's national security adviser resigns over Epstein links

Miroslav Lajčák steps down after newly released exchanges showed him discussing girls and diplomacy with the late sex offender.

www.bbc.com

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 21h

I'm imagining a 6-3 or 5-4 ruling sometime in 2029: something something the Emoluments Clause is not self-executing and who has standing anyway?

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 21h

Now the federal government is attacking the people and denying rights plainly written in the Bill of Rights. The president further demands that states and localities assist in this depredation.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 21h

The Fourteenth Amendment empowered the federal government to come in and enforce rights if the states failed to do so, or if the states themselves attacked and denied the rights of the people.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 21h

We are living in a weird mirror of what the Republicans who designed the Fourteenth Amendment imagined. They rewrote the constitution to require the states to respect the rights of all people, charging the states to assume and execute that responsibility.

Reposted by Julie Novkov, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Unofficial BBCNews (World) Bot @bbcnews-world-rss.bsky.social · 1d

Slovakia PM's national security adviser resigns over Epstein links

Miroslav Lajčák steps down after newly released exchanges showed him discussing girls and diplomacy with the late sex offender.

www.bbc.com

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 1d

I keep telling them they are obligate carnivores and they keep not caring.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 1d

1. Shakespeare I and II
2. History of Ancient Greece and Rome
3. Jazz: An American Music
4. Ancient Political Theory (from Harvey Mansfield)
5. Continental Political Theory

(I would have taken a Tolkien course 5 TIMES!)

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 1d

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. History of Science from Galileo to Newton
2. Kant's First Critique
3. Game Theory and Politics
4. Tolkien and Modern English Culture
5. Theological Hermeneutics

Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 1d

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Marine Biology (we got to go out on a boat!)
2. The History of the Holocaust
3. Logic and Critical Thinking
4. Eastern Religions
5. The French Revolution

Reposted by Bruce D. Baker, Joshua Goodman, James Goodwin , and 1 more Bruce D. Baker, Joshua Goodman, James Goodwin, Julie Novkov

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 1d

Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 1d

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 2d

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:

1. Origins of Nazism
2. Dante’s Divine Comedy
3. Behavioral Ecology & Conservation Biology
4. Principles of Evolution
5. Thinking and Speaking About Thinking and Speaking

Reposted by Julie Novkov

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

WTF is happening to Paine in that last . . . no, no, nevermind, let's not discuss.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

Oh, I should also mention the Journal of American Constitutional History here! Pretty new and very good! jach.law.wisc.edu

Journal of American Constitutional History

The Journal of American Constitutional History is a peer-reviewed web-based journal publishing high-quality scholarship on U.S. constitutional history. Our editorial board includes over 60 leading sch...

jach.law.wisc.edu

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

Law & Social Inquiry, the Law and Society Review, and the Journal of Legal History are all very good journals for which I've reviewed. Sitting on an invite from Global Constitutionalism right now (sorry, Austin! I'll do it, I promise!).

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

More than there used to be, but still not very many. I don't think any law school's flagship law review operates with peer review. Best resource I know of to search is Washington & Lee's ranking. Feel free to post others. managementtools4.wlu.edu/LawJournals/

Law Calendar

managementtools4.wlu.edu

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

Oooof. That has to be difficult.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

Exactly. Just like conducting ICE operations at court is intended to deter people from attending required hearings/check ins to put them in a state of non-compliance and render them deportable.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

Probably ought to keep an eye on this.

Prof Gavin Yamey @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 2d

At his talk, via Zoom, to my university earlier this week, Jay Bhattacharya said, rather terrifyingly, that he sees the NIH as the research arm of the MAHA movement

Yup, RFK Jr’s anti-vaxx MAHA movement

He’ll be talking at the MAHA Institute later today; he really has become a MAHA & MAGA hero

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 2d

Big Event Today

MAHA INSTITUTE PRESENTS
Reclaiming Science: The People's NIH
with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

January 30, 2026
12:00–5:00pm
Registration Starting at 11:00am
The Willard Hotel
The Crystal Room
1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20004

1/5

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

That won't be the case, however, if when the person's file reaches the university committee for review, the History prof looks at it and says, "oh, this person published on one of those law reviews! Those things are total garbage!"

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

Anyway, while small among your concerns, have a thought for that junior person who really does want to engage with you. We social scientists would like to be able to keep telling that person that some law review pubs on the CV are fine.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

I also think that well-executed peer review makes it less likely that the wrong stuff gets through in the first place. (Note: this means selecting a good mix, not solely likely boosters to grease publication or detractors to sink it.)

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

I don't claim that this is perfect or that wrong stuff never stands. But there is a system for challenging it, and if it is shown to be wrong, addressing that in a stronger way than having the wrong article pick up eleventy billion cites from pieces published elsewhere saying "it's wrong."

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

In egregious situations, we retract. We follow COPE guidelines and procedures (which are terrific!). publicationethics.org

Welcome to COPE

Welcome to COPE: The membership organisation for publication ethics

publicationethics.org

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

But (as a former editor and someone who's been on multiple advisory boards) in our top journals, when we are notified of errors, we investigate. The journal that published may publish a short piece by a critic noting problems. If something is shown to be wrong, we publish a correction.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

I'm NOT claiming that wrong stuff can't be published in PR journals! It happens! Some folks will use journal prestige as a proxy for quality, and yes, top journals are rigorous about PR and articles often go through multiple rounds. That lessens but doesn't eliminate the possibility of errors.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

By maintaining a system in which demonstrably empirically incorrect work can be published in your top outlets, you undercut my ability to make this argument.

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

So whenever I write a letter for someone who has law review pubs, I insert a paragraph in which I explain that, even though they are not PR articles, law review articles are scholarly contributions with weight and influence. I argue that a full LR article should count the same as a PR article.

Reposted by Anna O. Law

Julie Novkov @jnovkov.bsky.social · 2d

In the social sciences at a university, there's a big distinction between peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed pubs, and non-PR pubs are discounted, at some places entirely. But it is good for law-oriented social scientists to engage with other people who study law!

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