Kirsten Widner
@kirstenwidner.bsky.social
Assistant professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I study the political representation of marginalized groups. Co-author of Race, Gender, and Political Representation: Towards a More Intersectional Approach.
Have you considered ordering them to work on it with all deliberate speed? www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Justices wonder how Trump could refund tariffs, if they decide against him
Justice Amy Coney Barrett cautioned during oral arguments Wednesday that the logistics of refunding companies that have paid the disputed duties would be “a mess.”
www.politico.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Have you considered ordering them to work on it with all deliberate speed? www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Kirsten Widner
NEW: By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to cancel Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants.
KBJ, dissenting, says she "cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference" while "lives hang in the balance."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
KBJ, dissenting, says she "cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference" while "lives hang in the balance."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
October 3, 2025 at 8:36 PM
NEW: By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to cancel Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants.
KBJ, dissenting, says she "cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference" while "lives hang in the balance."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
KBJ, dissenting, says she "cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference" while "lives hang in the balance."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
Never thought I’d say this, but I kind of miss the major questions doctrine
September 27, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Never thought I’d say this, but I kind of miss the major questions doctrine
We had one of these Charlie Kirk events on our campus last spring. It was right outside my building. Life lost to violence is always tragic, but I can’t stop thinking about the poor students who witnessed it. They have a right to feel safe on their campus
September 10, 2025 at 9:08 PM
We had one of these Charlie Kirk events on our campus last spring. It was right outside my building. Life lost to violence is always tragic, but I can’t stop thinking about the poor students who witnessed it. They have a right to feel safe on their campus
“Expedited”
NEW: the Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump‘s appeal in the tariffs cases on a highly expedited basis. Oral argument will be during the first week of November.
September 10, 2025 at 12:11 AM
“Expedited”
Reposted by Kirsten Widner
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
September 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
These decisions are so discouraging. Where is the remedy if the Court won't uphold basic constitutional standards? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...
Trump Administration Live Updates: Supreme Court Lifts Restrictions on Immigration Stops in L.A.
www.nytimes.com
September 8, 2025 at 4:36 PM
These decisions are so discouraging. Where is the remedy if the Court won't uphold basic constitutional standards? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...
University of Tennessee Political Science is hiring! We have two open positions, one in comparative politics with a focus on China/Asia (apply.interfolio.com/1714560, and one in American Institutions (apply.interfolio.com/171457)! Come be my colleague! Knoxville is a great place to live!
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
August 19, 2025 at 10:34 PM
University of Tennessee Political Science is hiring! We have two open positions, one in comparative politics with a focus on China/Asia (apply.interfolio.com/1714560, and one in American Institutions (apply.interfolio.com/171457)! Come be my colleague! Knoxville is a great place to live!
Look, I know that it’s not the only/best reason to love Justin Jones, but THAT JACKET
As TN State Rep Justin Jones reminds us, our elders and ancestors in the fight for equality were fighting for us.
Now, it is our job to fight for the next generation and the generations to come after that. Join the fight in your community.
Now, it is our job to fight for the next generation and the generations to come after that. Join the fight in your community.
July 19, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Look, I know that it’s not the only/best reason to love Justin Jones, but THAT JACKET
CBS has lost all credibility/integrity
CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery.
America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.
Watch and share his message.
America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.
Watch and share his message.
July 18, 2025 at 2:05 AM
CBS has lost all credibility/integrity
Reposted by Kirsten Widner
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
July 2, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
Look, I don’t have to think Mandami is the best candidate to celebrate the fact that the sexual predator might not win
June 25, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Look, I don’t have to think Mandami is the best candidate to celebrate the fact that the sexual predator might not win
New publication alert! @elizabethlane.bsky.social and I examine how the institutional interests of the Office of the Solicitor General shape its positions and the justices' reactions to them 1/3 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Mixed Signals? Rethinking How Ideology and Institutional Motivations Shape the Solicitor General’s Positions - Kirsten Widner, Elizabeth A. Lane, 2025
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) wins more cases before the US Supreme Court than any other party. Recent scholarship shows that justices are most like...
journals.sagepub.com
June 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
New publication alert! @elizabethlane.bsky.social and I examine how the institutional interests of the Office of the Solicitor General shape its positions and the justices' reactions to them 1/3 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Kirsten Widner
As J. Sotomayors dissent says, the Republican Justices seem to think the Trump admin is injured “any time a court orders…it to refrain from doing something it would like to do.”
But it cares nothing for the people sent to countries they don’t know - places they’re at risk of slavery, torture, more.
But it cares nothing for the people sent to countries they don’t know - places they’re at risk of slavery, torture, more.
#BREAKING: Over a (sharp) public dissent from the three Democratic appointees, #SCOTUS clears the way for the Trump administration to remove migrants to third countries *without* giving them an additional opportunity to contest whether they face persecution or other forms of mistreatment there:
www.supremecourt.gov
June 23, 2025 at 9:56 PM
As J. Sotomayors dissent says, the Republican Justices seem to think the Trump admin is injured “any time a court orders…it to refrain from doing something it would like to do.”
But it cares nothing for the people sent to countries they don’t know - places they’re at risk of slavery, torture, more.
But it cares nothing for the people sent to countries they don’t know - places they’re at risk of slavery, torture, more.
Reposted by Kirsten Widner
Rubio is a lawyer and officer of the court.
Q: “Have you been in touch with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia? Has a formal request from this administration been made?”
Rubio: “I would never tell you that. And you know who else I'd never tell? A judge.”
Rubio: “I would never tell you that. And you know who else I'd never tell? A judge.”
April 30, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Rubio is a lawyer and officer of the court.
Teared up talking to my students about the Abrego Garcia case today. This is an absolutely wild time to be teaching Constitutional Law
April 15, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Teared up talking to my students about the Abrego Garcia case today. This is an absolutely wild time to be teaching Constitutional Law
My brilliant honors student just gave a great talk about the Tennessee anti-suffrage movement to a packed public audience 1/2
April 11, 2025 at 10:26 PM
My brilliant honors student just gave a great talk about the Tennessee anti-suffrage movement to a packed public audience 1/2
I’m your huckleberry
April 2, 2025 at 5:03 AM
I’m your huckleberry
Reposted by Kirsten Widner
Disappeared Tufts Human Dev. PhD student Rumesya Ozturk is also a graduate of Teachers College - she’s a dev. psychologist studying children’s media & prosocial development. She also bakes without recipes and binge-watches cartoons. She is our colleague & she was abducted on the street w/ our tax $.
March 27, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Disappeared Tufts Human Dev. PhD student Rumesya Ozturk is also a graduate of Teachers College - she’s a dev. psychologist studying children’s media & prosocial development. She also bakes without recipes and binge-watches cartoons. She is our colleague & she was abducted on the street w/ our tax $.
Rereading Trump v. US in prep for tomorrow's class and struck by language from Thomas's concurrence and its relevance to DOGE: "By requiring that Congress create federal offices by Law, the Constitution imposes an important check against the President—he cannot create offices at his pleasure." 1/2
February 25, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Rereading Trump v. US in prep for tomorrow's class and struck by language from Thomas's concurrence and its relevance to DOGE: "By requiring that Congress create federal offices by Law, the Constitution imposes an important check against the President—he cannot create offices at his pleasure." 1/2
RIP to a very good boy: www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
Hurricane, the most decorated K-9 in White House history, dies at 15
The Belgian Malinois was lauded for protecting President Barack Obama and his family after an intruder hopped the White House fence in 2014.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 20, 2025 at 6:19 PM
RIP to a very good boy: www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
I have smart friends who write important things: goodauthority.org/news/misinfo... @carolyneholmes.bsky.social
What South Africa's new land act really says.
The Trump administration's executive order against South Africa makes unfounded claims about the new land act.
goodauthority.org
February 18, 2025 at 11:25 PM
I have smart friends who write important things: goodauthority.org/news/misinfo... @carolyneholmes.bsky.social