Jason Pierceson
@jpier.bsky.social
Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois Springfield. Author of Before Bostock, LGBTQ Americans in the U.S. Political System, and Sexual Minorities and Politics.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
Harry Enten is same guy who gave us "Soaring Eagle" and "Steady Eddie" (just a couple of weeks ago!) to describe Trump's approval ratings. What a performing clown
Enten: "Trump is doing absolutely awful in the minds of the American people. We're talking about new lows. CNBC, -13 net approval on the economy. It's -19 among Quinnipiac ... He's not just beating himself with record lows -- this is the lowest for any president ever."
October 23, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Harry Enten is same guy who gave us "Soaring Eagle" and "Steady Eddie" (just a couple of weeks ago!) to describe Trump's approval ratings. What a performing clown
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
🚨WOW. A unanimous per curiam (meaning no named author) panel of the 7th Circuit, made up of a Bush appointee, an Obama appointee, and a Trump appointee, decline to step in and block a lower court order barring the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago!
#BREAKING The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refuses to undo an order blocking deployment of National Guard troops within Illinois.
"We conclude that the district court's factual findings … were not clearly erroneous, and that the facts do not justify the President's actions in Illinois."
"We conclude that the district court's factual findings … were not clearly erroneous, and that the facts do not justify the President's actions in Illinois."
October 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
🚨WOW. A unanimous per curiam (meaning no named author) panel of the 7th Circuit, made up of a Bush appointee, an Obama appointee, and a Trump appointee, decline to step in and block a lower court order barring the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago!
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
New study finds Democrats represent public opinion better than Republicans: "the quality of statehouse democracy, here meaning the dynamic relationship between opinion and policy, is substantially weakened by Republican Party control of state government."
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
October 13, 2025 at 11:30 AM
New study finds Democrats represent public opinion better than Republicans: "the quality of statehouse democracy, here meaning the dynamic relationship between opinion and policy, is substantially weakened by Republican Party control of state government."
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
ICE is doing a hell of a lot of harm in the Chicago area *right now.* I don’t mean to trivialize the national guard stuff, it absolutely is an irresponsible escalation, but the guard-centric convo around this really does understate what’s going on without any guardsmen.
October 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM
ICE is doing a hell of a lot of harm in the Chicago area *right now.* I don’t mean to trivialize the national guard stuff, it absolutely is an irresponsible escalation, but the guard-centric convo around this really does understate what’s going on without any guardsmen.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
1/ So many thoughts about this whole, pathetic episode. But two stand out.
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...
How a secret recording of a gender identity lecture upended Texas A&M
Officials have struggled to detail the exact reasons for the A&M professor’s termination, citing a technical issue with her course description. Faculty say the move was politically motivated.
www.texastribune.org
September 23, 2025 at 5:04 PM
1/ So many thoughts about this whole, pathetic episode. But two stand out.
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
Vance’s vision of blood-based citizenship isn’t new and isn’t interesting. You either believe that the Declaration of Independence should mean what it says in our political life, or you don’t. He doesn’t. Great stuff from @jamellebouie.net
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
Opinion | JD Vance Claims One of Our Worst Traditions as His Own
www.nytimes.com
July 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Vance’s vision of blood-based citizenship isn’t new and isn’t interesting. You either believe that the Declaration of Independence should mean what it says in our political life, or you don’t. He doesn’t. Great stuff from @jamellebouie.net
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
1) Read the blog "Before Bostock and the Continuous Fight for Transgender Rights" by @jpier.bsky.social here: kansaspress.ku.edu/blog/2025/06...
2) Pick up Before Bostock and get 50% off with discount code 24SUMMER25: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700633142/.
2) Pick up Before Bostock and get 50% off with discount code 24SUMMER25: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700633142/.
June 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
1) Read the blog "Before Bostock and the Continuous Fight for Transgender Rights" by @jpier.bsky.social here: kansaspress.ku.edu/blog/2025/06...
2) Pick up Before Bostock and get 50% off with discount code 24SUMMER25: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700633142/.
2) Pick up Before Bostock and get 50% off with discount code 24SUMMER25: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700633142/.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
The reasoning in Skrmetti is just repackaged “every race is punished equally, so nothing to see here” logic that Loving v. Virginia emphatically rejected.
June 18, 2025 at 3:19 PM
The reasoning in Skrmetti is just repackaged “every race is punished equally, so nothing to see here” logic that Loving v. Virginia emphatically rejected.
You can take the judge out of the Blackstone fellowship, but you can't take the Blackstone fellowship out of the judge.
June 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
You can take the judge out of the Blackstone fellowship, but you can't take the Blackstone fellowship out of the judge.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
For anyone still maintaining hope that Justice Barrett wasn't a "real conservative" or whatever, today closes the door on such wishful thinking. She argues today that a minority group's history of suffering societal discrimination is irrelevant to whether they receive constitutional protection.
![UNITED STATES, PETITIONER v. JONATHAN SKRMETTI, ATTORNEY GENERAL AND REPORTER FOR TENNESSEE, ET AL. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT [June 18, 2025] JUSTICE BARRETT, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS joins, concurring. Because the Court concludes that Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1 does not classify on the basis of transgender status, it does not resolve whether transgender status constitutes a suspect class. Ante, at 16–18; see Geduldig v. Aiello, 417 U. S. 484, 496 (1974). I write separately to explain why, in my view, it does not.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wovz3whdkughp6decczypkqq/bafkreibd7nqvzowdekx75kytzt4qq6h2yrernzrj3qeyjhxd27g73sr4oy@jpeg)
June 18, 2025 at 2:43 PM
For anyone still maintaining hope that Justice Barrett wasn't a "real conservative" or whatever, today closes the door on such wishful thinking. She argues today that a minority group's history of suffering societal discrimination is irrelevant to whether they receive constitutional protection.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
one thing i think people should ask the court conservatives given this ruling is what, specifically, was wrong with plessy?
🚨By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court UPHOLDS Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, concluding that it does NOT discriminate on the basis of sex, is not subject to heightened scrutiny, and survives rational basis review. All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
June 18, 2025 at 2:45 PM
one thing i think people should ask the court conservatives given this ruling is what, specifically, was wrong with plessy?
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
Look at how much work the Court's abortion cases do here. The majority cites Dobbs to say that regulating a medical condition/procedure isn't sex discrimination, and another abortion case, Gonzales v. Carhart, to suggest that legislatures deserve discretion when there is scientific uncertainty.
BREAKING: Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on transgender youth medical care
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on transgender youth medical care
The ruling is a major setback for transgender rights, with more than 20 states enacting laws similar to Tennessee’s.
www.nbcnews.com
June 18, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Look at how much work the Court's abortion cases do here. The majority cites Dobbs to say that regulating a medical condition/procedure isn't sex discrimination, and another abortion case, Gonzales v. Carhart, to suggest that legislatures deserve discretion when there is scientific uncertainty.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
🚨By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court UPHOLDS Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, concluding that it does NOT discriminate on the basis of sex, is not subject to heightened scrutiny, and survives rational basis review. All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
June 18, 2025 at 2:15 PM
🚨By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court UPHOLDS Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, concluding that it does NOT discriminate on the basis of sex, is not subject to heightened scrutiny, and survives rational basis review. All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
I was chief of staff to a Cabinet secretary and vice president. I have a high opinion of the various federal protective services and personnel with whom I worked.
But the fish rots from the head down.
Today’s thuggish behavior in LA is just one of the many corrupting effects of Trump and Trumpism.
But the fish rots from the head down.
Today’s thuggish behavior in LA is just one of the many corrupting effects of Trump and Trumpism.
June 12, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I was chief of staff to a Cabinet secretary and vice president. I have a high opinion of the various federal protective services and personnel with whom I worked.
But the fish rots from the head down.
Today’s thuggish behavior in LA is just one of the many corrupting effects of Trump and Trumpism.
But the fish rots from the head down.
Today’s thuggish behavior in LA is just one of the many corrupting effects of Trump and Trumpism.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
struck by how similar the george fitzhugh, infamous apologist for chattel slavery, sounds to the postliberals. this, from “sociology for the south” is almost indistinguishable from vermuele
May 29, 2025 at 1:57 PM
struck by how similar the george fitzhugh, infamous apologist for chattel slavery, sounds to the postliberals. this, from “sociology for the south” is almost indistinguishable from vermuele
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
Great question by Jackson: what if parents objected to a Trans kid in the class? She is as mad as I have ever heard her because she knows the stakes of this attempt to destroy public schools with religious sounding nonsense.
April 22, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Great question by Jackson: what if parents objected to a Trans kid in the class? She is as mad as I have ever heard her because she knows the stakes of this attempt to destroy public schools with religious sounding nonsense.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
"Anyone who has read the Federalist Papers in their totality knows that some
where between and third and a half of the essays are very specifically about Donald Trump." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/scotu...
where between and third and a half of the essays are very specifically about Donald Trump." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/scotu...
SCOTUS Can Let the President Break the Law; They Can’t Change It
We are now cranking up another edition of the “will he or...
talkingpointsmemo.com
April 18, 2025 at 4:11 PM
"Anyone who has read the Federalist Papers in their totality knows that some
where between and third and a half of the essays are very specifically about Donald Trump." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/scotu...
where between and third and a half of the essays are very specifically about Donald Trump." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/scotu...
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
Listen, I hate it too but the fact that Trump has dramatically lost popularity by doing exactly what he said he would do underscores the importance of vibes over policy agendas in modern elections
April 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Listen, I hate it too but the fact that Trump has dramatically lost popularity by doing exactly what he said he would do underscores the importance of vibes over policy agendas in modern elections
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
The thing about this guy is that he’s a total product of right-wing affirmative action and you literally would never have heard of him if he was a liberal.
The conservative activist Christopher Rufo has become an influential voice in the ear of the Trump administration as it turns his strategy into a crackdown on higher education.
Listen to our interview with Rufo on today's episode of "The Daily."
Listen to our interview with Rufo on today's episode of "The Daily."
The Conservative Activist Pushing Trump to Attack U.S. Colleges
Christopher Rufo has helped inspire Republican messaging and bills on hot-button issues.
www.nytimes.com
April 11, 2025 at 2:02 PM
The thing about this guy is that he’s a total product of right-wing affirmative action and you literally would never have heard of him if he was a liberal.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
Thanks goodness the corruption of DEI is behind us, and we can create a new, golden age of merit:
Rubio and Hegseth have installed this twenty-something DOGE affiliate, Nate Cavanaugh, as acting president of the U.S. Institute of Peace, per filing.
Before DOGE took control of USIP, the duly appointed president was George Moose, a career diplomat who first joined the foreign service in 1967.
Before DOGE took control of USIP, the duly appointed president was George Moose, a career diplomat who first joined the foreign service in 1967.
March 31, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Thanks goodness the corruption of DEI is behind us, and we can create a new, golden age of merit:
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
I really mean this, and it’s important to understand.
These people do not want a smaller federal government. They want one that has an incredible amount of coercive force to dominate people. They want to hollow out the stuff that empowers people.
These people do not want a smaller federal government. They want one that has an incredible amount of coercive force to dominate people. They want to hollow out the stuff that empowers people.
This is your deconstructed administrative state.
The truth is they don’t really want to deconstruct it, they want to use it for reactionary purposes. It’s yet another lie. If you thought otherwise, you were being played.
The truth is they don’t really want to deconstruct it, they want to use it for reactionary purposes. It’s yet another lie. If you thought otherwise, you were being played.
NEW! The Trump administration appears to have sent a married father with NO CRIMINAL RECORD in any country to rot in a prison in El Salvador because of a PAPERWORK ERROR.
This man doesn’t even have tattoos! But his paperwork has two different peoples’ ID numbers listed and the wrong last name!
This man doesn’t even have tattoos! But his paperwork has two different peoples’ ID numbers listed and the wrong last name!
March 27, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I really mean this, and it’s important to understand.
These people do not want a smaller federal government. They want one that has an incredible amount of coercive force to dominate people. They want to hollow out the stuff that empowers people.
These people do not want a smaller federal government. They want one that has an incredible amount of coercive force to dominate people. They want to hollow out the stuff that empowers people.
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
More gratuitous cruelty towards trans people from the Fifth Circuit courtesy of Judges Jones, Oldham, and Hendrix
www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unp...
www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unp...
March 26, 2025 at 6:12 PM
More gratuitous cruelty towards trans people from the Fifth Circuit courtesy of Judges Jones, Oldham, and Hendrix
www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unp...
www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unp...
Reposted by Jason Pierceson
Judge REYES on a tear, telling DOJ she won't be "gaslit" by effort to say their ban on transgender people in the military isn't actually a "ban."
She notes SecDef Hegseth literally called it a ban on X.
"You're saying one thing in public. You're saying a different thing in court," Reyes said.
She notes SecDef Hegseth literally called it a ban on X.
"You're saying one thing in public. You're saying a different thing in court," Reyes said.
March 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Judge REYES on a tear, telling DOJ she won't be "gaslit" by effort to say their ban on transgender people in the military isn't actually a "ban."
She notes SecDef Hegseth literally called it a ban on X.
"You're saying one thing in public. You're saying a different thing in court," Reyes said.
She notes SecDef Hegseth literally called it a ban on X.
"You're saying one thing in public. You're saying a different thing in court," Reyes said.