Sara Rankin
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profsararankin.bsky.social
Sara Rankin
@profsararankin.bsky.social
2.2K followers 780 following 180 posts
Law professor, social justice warrior, homeless rights and housing advocate, rescue dog fanatic. Posts mine, not my employer’s, but my work matters to me: t.co/1cWHLWyao2 and http://ssrn.com/author=1572922
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profsararankin.bsky.social
Sara Rankin @profsararankin.bsky.social · Nov 17
Homeless Rights Advocacy Project: law.seattleu.edu/centers-and-...
Scholarship: ssrn.com/author=1572922
Homeless Rights Advocacy Project | Center for Civil Rights and Critical Justice | Centers and Institutes | Seattle University School of Law
law.seattleu.edu
Reposted by Sara Rankin
mehdirhasan.bsky.social
“I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR's Juana Summers.
Former DOGE engineer says federal waste and fraud were 'relatively nonexistent'
NPR's Juana Summers talks with Sahil Lavingia, who worked for the Department of Government Efficiency as a software engineer assigned to the Department of Veterans Affairs, about his experience.
www.npr.org
June 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
acyn.bsky.social
Budzinski: Families making over $700,000 a year will see a boost of $12,000 almost entirely from tax cuts. Shockingly, households making $23,000 a year or less are set to lose about $1600 a year, mostly due to deep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance
June 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
tatsgill.bsky.social
My latest comic for @realchangenews.bsky.social - new issue out today! Given the recent police violence towards LGBTQ+ rights protestors in the park named after him, telling Cal Anderson’s story felt imperative. #calanderson #calandersonpark #gayrightsmovement #pride🌈 #seattlehistory
CAL ANDERSON 1948-1995 Drawing of Cal’s face. STATE SENATOR CALVIN BRUCE ANDERSON WAS WASHINGTON'S FIRST OPENLY GAY LEGISLATOR. Drawing of Cal swearing in CAL JOINED THE LEGISLATURE IN 1988. HE SPONSORED LEGISLATION TO COMBAT DISCRIMINATION AND HATE CRIMES. HE WORKED TO EXTEND THE WA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW TO INCLUDE GAYS AND LESBIANS. IT WASN'T UNTIL 2006 THAT THE LAW WAS AMENDED TO INCLUDE SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY. CAL DIED OF AIDS IN 1995. NEARLY 2,000 PEOPLE ATTENDED HIS FUNERAL. AFTER HIS DEATH, HIS PARTNER DISCOVERED A LARGE PILE OF DEATH THREATS TOWARDS CAL. Drawing of the fountain and landscape at the park. IN 2003, SEATTLE NAMED THE PARK BY THE LINCOLN RESERVOIR CAL ANDERSON PARK. THIS MAY THERE WAS AN ANTI-LGBT+ HATE RALLY AT CAL ANDERSON PARK. WHEN PEOPLE COUNTERPROSTED THIS HATE, THE POLICE PROTECTED THE HATE RALLY AND WERE VIOLENT WITH THE COUNTERPROTESTORS. By Tatiana Gill
June 25, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
bencollins.bsky.social
Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.
June 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
sifill.bsky.social
Start every day with this reality:

EVERY HOUSE SEAT and 33 Senate seats are up for election in 2026. THAT must be the focus. Let’s get disciplined.
#LeaveNoPowerOnTheTable

ballotpedia.org/United_State...
United States Congress elections, 2026
Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics
ballotpedia.org
May 25, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
brian-goldstone.bsky.social
Demonizing homeless people isn't some sort of heroic truth-telling.

It's a political tactic meant to divert attention from the poverty wages, unaffordable housing, and engineered neglect that created America's homelessness crisis.
Screenshot of a post on X by Matt Walsh, responding to a video about a tiny home for homeless people. Walsh writes: "A homeless person will turn this into a horrifying shit and trash filled drug den in about 45 minutes. Homeless people are not homeless because they fell on hard times. They’re homeless because they are completely dysfunctional drug-addled vagrants who have no ability to live in civilized society, and no interest in even trying. It's time for everyone to grow up and start being honest about this issue." Below his post is a video from Mila Joy (@MilaLovesJoe) showing a man opening a tiny home on a city sidewalk, with the caption: "He created a tiny home that could solve homelessness."
May 11, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
leahgreenberg.bsky.social
just so we’re all clear: the reason they keep using dolls as their example is because they’re trying to frame caring about material stuff as feminine and thus inherently shameful
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 6
Bessent says that little girls who are sad about having fewer dolls should just have it explained to them that they will have a better life for it
May 6, 2025 at 11:30 PM
profsararankin.bsky.social
“Education” Secretary Linda McMahon writes with the skill of a rabid toddler
ericcolumbus.bsky.social Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · May 6
🚨🚨 Deranged letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Harvard’s president, cutting off federal funding for any new grants.

Worth reading in full. It is NUTS.
THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON, DC 20202 May 5, 2025 Dr. Alan Garber Office of the President Harvard University Massachusetts Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 Dr. Garber, The Federal Government has a sacred responsibility to be a wise and important steward of American taxpayer dollars. Harvard University, despite amassing a largely tax-free $53.2 billion dollar endowment (larger than the GDP of 100 countries), receives billions of dollars of taxpayer largess each year. Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right. Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these "students" come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public? Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system. This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing "remedial math" program for undergraduates. Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this "acclaimed university"? Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected? Harvard has even been embroiled in humiliating plagiarism scandals, exposed clearly and plainly in the media, with respect to your then… running the institution in a totally chaotic way. Harvard alumnus and highly successful hedge fund manager Bill Ackman noted that, under her leadership, Harvard has become "a political advocacy organization for one party." Ackman has called for the resignation of Pritzker, concluding that the "[t)he mismanagement here is Penny Pritzker" and noting that any serious corporation would have removed her after a litany of recent failings and the fact that, incredibly, "Harvard is not in a good financial position." According to Ackman, one of the world's foremost finance experts, Harvard's so-called S53 billion endowment is "massively overstated as far as what it's really worth," and Harvard has irresponsibly taken out $8 billion in debt. If this is true, it is concerning evidence of Harvard's disastrous mismanagement, indicating an urgent need for massive reform-not continued taxpayer investment. If Harvard prefers not to change, then Harvard should have no problem using its overflowing endowment to fund its bloated bureaucracy. At its best, a university should fulfill the highest ideals of our Nation, and enlighten the thousands of hopeful students who walk through its magnificent gates. But Harvard has betrayed this ideal. Perhaps most alarmingly, Harvard has failed to abide by the United States Supreme Court's ruling demanding that it end its racial preferencing, and continues to engage in ugly racism in its undergraduate and graduate schools, and even within the Harvard Law Review itself. Our universities should be bastions of merit that reward and celebrate excellence and achievement. They should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans. The above concerns are only a fraction of the long list of Harvard's consistent violations of its own legal duties. Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the fede… Federal Agencies. The Administration's priorities have not changed and today's letter marks the end of new grants for the University. These requests will advance the best interests of Harvard University, so it can reclaim its status as a respected educational institution for the future leaders of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter! Sincerely, Linda E. McMahon Secretary of Education
May 6, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
lorennacleary.bsky.social
Ok I am completely broken by this. The Hague and UN need to see this.

#Texas
April 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
profsararankin.bsky.social
Caring for each other, and finding space and support for self care, really is healing.
April 30, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
npr.org
National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day is on April 30. To bring awareness to the day, the Up First newsletter is sharing some stories from readers about how their pet has impacted their lives.
From dogs to rabbits, NPR readers share how adopting shelter pets impacted them
National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day is on April 30. To bring awareness to the day, the Up First newsletter is sharing some stories from readers about how their pet has impacted their lives.
www.npr.org
April 27, 2025 at 3:17 PM
profsararankin.bsky.social
THIS. The law always has been and always will be what we mightily flawed human beings make it. The law is always about power and often NOT about justice.
mskellymhayes.bsky.social Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · Apr 25
When people break the law, and their actions are righteous and appropriate, we should applaud them. When people abide by or enforce the law, and their actions are repugnant, we should condemn them. We should never pretend the law is a moral dividing line.
April 27, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
asharangappa.bsky.social
Seeing claims about the judge "hiding" the defendant. Read the complaint, folks (written by DOJ). The guy was literally in the public area where the agents were. I guess he got on an elevator before they could get to him. The complaint says after letting the defendant exit she came back to the bench
April 25, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
anthonymkreis.bsky.social
THEY HAVE DEPORTED A TWO YEAR OLD CHILD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZEN

This is why I have no patience anymore for people playing games with this stuff.
kyledcheney.bsky.social Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · Apr 26
NEW: A federal judge raised alarm Friday that the Trump administration appeared to have deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras with "no meaningful process" — even as her father was fighting to keep her in the country.

Details w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
April 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
sethabramson.bsky.social
BREAKING: The constitutional crisis has arrived. We knew it was coming, just not when.
April 25, 2025 at 2:43 PM
profsararankin.bsky.social
New Trump rules for homeless service providers: no help for undocumented people, no funds for orgs that practice “gender ideology.” It’s not about shelter or services, it’s about punishing already marginalized people. Depravity as policy.
April 25, 2025 at 1:40 AM
profsararankin.bsky.social
So interesting
April 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM
profsararankin.bsky.social
So many horrors
April 24, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
measuredandslow.bsky.social
Hi I used to work at Starbucks customer service: if you call or email about this, they are absolutely tracking those numbers, and a sufficient amount of public pushback does make them rethink shit sometimes, so now would be an EXCELLENT time to let them know they’re being ableist shitheads
April 24, 2025 at 4:42 AM
profsararankin.bsky.social
“His platform says only that he will introduce "a 'housing first' approach to eliminating homelessness." ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR LACKING HOUSING IS NOT HOUSING FIRST
nativecalgarian.bsky.social Native Calgarian 🪶🧡>🇨🇦 @nativecalgarian.bsky.social · Apr 24
“Poilievre is also promising to give police the power to dismantle encampments while ensuring the people who live in them are connected with housing, addiction treatment and mental health services. This proposal was not included in Tuesday's platform.”

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Poilievre promises to let police dismantle encampments, arrest occupants | CBC News
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to clean up Canada's streets and parks by giving police the power to dismantle encampments and arrest their occupants for setting up tents and shelter...
www.cbc.ca
April 24, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
newyorker.com
The U.S. capacity for health and humanitarian impact has been largely dismantled, leading to severe consequences for people abroad. Now, with the defunding of universities, the destruction will have severe consequences for people here as well.
The Cost of Defunding Harvard
If you or someone you love has cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, or diabetes, you have likely benefitted from the university’s federally funded discoveries in care and tre...
www.newyorker.com
April 23, 2025 at 2:33 PM
profsararankin.bsky.social
Abominable
April 24, 2025 at 5:11 AM
profsararankin.bsky.social
Abominable
carlbergstrom.com Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Apr 24
Today’s unconstitutional executive order aim to tie accreditation to hiring right wing professors.

Sorry guys, you don’t get to go around saying shit like “the professors are the enemy” and “we need to tear down higher education entirely” and then act surprised the professors don’t like you.
The WHITE HOUSE (iii) accreditation requires that institutions support and appropriately prioritize intellectual diversity amongst faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning;
April 24, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
audiosand.bsky.social
This is a direct attack on the civil rights act — something that comes as a surprise to none of the scholars that have been paying attention: www.npr.org/2025/03/17/n...
April 24, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Reposted by Sara Rankin
annabower.bsky.social
So, uh, it certainly looks like DOJ intended to file a letter to Judge Liman in MTA v. Duffy, but….it accidentally filed a letter containing its legal advice to the Department of Transportation instead

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Re: MTA v. Duffy, No. 25 Civ. 1413 (S.D.N.Y.) Dear Erin: We write with respect to the above-referenced litigation brought by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority ("MTA") against the U.S. Department of Transportation ("DOT"), U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, the Federal Highway Administration ("FHWA"), and Executive Director of the FHWA, Gloria Shepherd, to provide you with information concerning (1) the litigation risk that DOT faces in defending the Secretary's February 19, 2025 decision to terminate the New York City Central Business District Tolling Program ("CBDTP") agreement, and (2) a process for terminating the CBDTP agreement outside of the current litigation for DOT to consider. As discussed below, there is considerable litigation risk in defending the Secretary's February 19, 2025 decision against plaintiffs' claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, that the decision was contrary to law, pretextual rocedurally arbitrary and capricious, and violated due process. For the reasons outlined below, it is unlikely that Judge Liman or further courts of review will accept the argument that the CBDTP was not a statutorily authorized "value pricing" pilot under the Value Prising Pilot Program (" ar FHWA may, however, be able to properly terminate the CBDTP value pricing pilot pursuant to established Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") regulations concerning the termination of cooperative agreements. Termination of the CBDTP agreement pursuant to these OMB regulations would still allow FHWA to end the CBDTP for the Secretary's stated reasons, but would do so as a matter of changed agency priorities rather than arguing the CBDTP was not statutorily authorized in the first instance. Importantly, DOT can seek termination of the agreement pursuant to the OMB regulations in addition to, and not in place of, defending the rationale laid out in the Secretary's letter. Case 1:25-cv-01413-LJL Document 65 Filed 04/23/25 Page 2 of 11 Page 2
April 24, 2025 at 1:55 AM