Maya Sen
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mayasen.bsky.social
Maya Sen
@mayasen.bsky.social

Professor, Harvard Kennedy School | Speaking in a personal capacity | https://msen.scholars.harvard.edu/

Economics 33%
Law 32%

Will never not be funny

lol the number of dinner parties per week is how you know someone is Harvard deep state

Re: Harvard’s negotiations with Trump, I actually did talk to some reporters yesterday and 100% stand by this on-the-record quote here where I explain that nobody knows anything

Eh there’s probdbly several dozen people on campus with second- or third-hand accounts of what’s happening, plus the networks of the corporation members & their kids

Reposted by David Darmofal

Yes, Trump’s accusations re: Harvard’s president are worth flagging

Whether you like him or not, Garber was provost for over a decade - he was the natural choice for interim when Gay was forced out

He’s a consummate administrator

To imply he has the job solely b/c of his religion is…noteworthy
Once again the Crusader Against Antisemitism proves himself the biggest antisemite of all.
Trump is now demanding One Billion Dollars from Harvard, threatening criminal punishment, and insinuating Harvard’s president was chosen because of his religion (?)

My theory: there’s no grand strategy on Harvard’s side

senior faculty simply like to gossip and can’t resist talking to an outlet like the NYT
Once again the Crusader Against Antisemitism proves himself the biggest antisemite of all.
Trump is now demanding One Billion Dollars from Harvard, threatening criminal punishment, and insinuating Harvard’s president was chosen because of his religion (?)

Reposted by Stacy D. VanDeveer

These NYT reporters have been wrong from the get go and have now made themselves main characters in this story

Begging whichever of my colleagues is speaking to them to please stop
Trump is now demanding One Billion Dollars from Harvard, threatening criminal punishment, and insinuating Harvard’s president was chosen because of his religion (?)

Screenshot cut it off but this is Nikolas Bowie

I ask my non-JD students to read Supreme Court opinions regularly

Key goal: for them to stop being intimidated by the gate keeping around constitutional law and SCOTUS

I think this is also true - and not just process but quality of deliberation and reasoning

Many a social scientist have turned to me after listening to an exchange at oral argument and been like “these are the ‘philosophers in robes’?”

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

1) the source of discontent with SCOTUS is not the leaks per se but the substance of recent rulings

And

2) the fewer & less people know about the Court’s rulings the less the public can disagree with them
i am very much of the view that undermining the court’s secrecy is a necessary part of remaking it into something like an actual court (and not some guardian council) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
How the Supreme Court Secretly Made Itself Even More Secretive
www.nytimes.com
i am very much of the view that undermining the court’s secrecy is a necessary part of remaking it into something like an actual court (and not some guardian council) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
How the Supreme Court Secretly Made Itself Even More Secretive
www.nytimes.com

to be clear: carefully managing access to campus is also common sense in the wake of the Brown shootings and the targeting of universities by members of the current administration

genuinely like the public-garden feel of our main campus, but buttressing a potential claim that government agents may not enter private (i.e., university) property without an appropriate warrant seems more important!

IMHO, this piece has a sensational headline but makes a very sensible recommendation: campus access should be restricted to university affiliates for the time being

www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Harvard Must Keep ICE off Campus | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
The University must walk a careful line between concrete steps to protect our community and putting a target on our back. The stakes are too high for inaction and too urgent for indecision.
www.thecrimson.com

Reposted by Maya Sen

Reminder that in Egbert v. Boule the Supreme Court specifically said that Border Patrol agents cannot be sued for violating someone's constitutional rights.

My deep dive from 2023:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
‘He didn’t deserve to die like this’: Supreme Court decision leaves family of a man killed at the border searching for justice
An analysis by NBC News found the court has effectively dismantled the ability to file lawsuits against federal officials accused of violating constitutional rights.
www.nbcnews.com

Hard to know if it’s a coincidence but this is interestingly a 5-min walk from Elizabeth Warren’s Cambridge house

Local folks:

Do Democrats have a plan for when 1) SCOTUS declares majority-minority districts unlawful and 2) the number of Congressional seats from blue states is reduced following the 2030 Census?

Asking for a friend

Reposted by David Darmofal

Taps sign
Not sure if the justices or their clerks are aware of the extent of mockery by People Who Matter of the “federal reserve board exception” to the unitary executive theory

A real emperor has no clothes realization for a lot of people

Bears repeating: had this happened with Joe Biden, Jake Tapper would have devoted an entire book chapter to it
Trump is now confusing Greenland and Iceland: "They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money."
Trump is now confusing Greenland and Iceland: "They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money."

"Polls suggest that most Cuban American registered voters, who tend to be Republican, continue to support Mr. Trump"

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/u...
To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers
www.nytimes.com
Congress can stop ICE. Congress can block the use of force in Greenland. In other words, in this crisis, Congress can act to support civil liberties at home and free nations abroad. To fail to act would be to be complicit in a dreadful outcome.

This is * extremely * embarrassing for the Nobel committee

Not only does it call into question their original judgment but it significantly cheapens the prize
FOX & FRIENDS: In spite of the Nobel Prize Committee saying you couldn't transfer your Nobel Prize to anyone, especially to President Trump, you did. Why did you do that?

MARIA CORINA MACHADO: Because he deserves it. It was a very emotional moment.
FOX & FRIENDS: In spite of the Nobel Prize Committee saying you couldn't transfer your Nobel Prize to anyone, especially to President Trump, you did. Why did you do that?

MARIA CORINA MACHADO: Because he deserves it. It was a very emotional moment.