Phil Rocco
@philiprocco.bsky.social
politologue // yinzer // co-editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism // author of "Counting Like a State" https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700638758/counting-like-a-state/
Most posts are first drafts, comments welcome.
Most posts are first drafts, comments welcome.
Summing up one of the structural problems that allows this to keep happening over and over again.
November 10, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Summing up one of the structural problems that allows this to keep happening over and over again.
I guess you could put it like that.
November 5, 2025 at 1:54 AM
I guess you could put it like that.
Doing a keyword search for “labor”, “union”, and “worker” in this report. Getting…no hits.
October 27, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Doing a keyword search for “labor”, “union”, and “worker” in this report. Getting…no hits.
We are a city of spirits.
October 12, 2025 at 3:03 AM
We are a city of spirits.
On the other hand, I think it shows that the governors are aware of the limits of the traditional legal repertoire. As Pritzker emphasizes, while the lower courts are holding the line now, there's obviously little reason to be confident that will continue on appeal.
October 11, 2025 at 3:47 PM
On the other hand, I think it shows that the governors are aware of the limits of the traditional legal repertoire. As Pritzker emphasizes, while the lower courts are holding the line now, there's obviously little reason to be confident that will continue on appeal.
On the other hand, I think it shows that the governors are aware of the limits of the traditional legal repertoire. As Pritzker emphasizes, while the lower courts are holding the line now, there's obviously little reason to be confident that will continue on appeal.
October 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
On the other hand, I think it shows that the governors are aware of the limits of the traditional legal repertoire. As Pritzker emphasizes, while the lower courts are holding the line now, there's obviously little reason to be confident that will continue on appeal.
The time is nigh: Pynchon night in Milwaukee
October 7, 2025 at 4:42 AM
The time is nigh: Pynchon night in Milwaukee
How many times must it be repeated, in this case by a Trump-appointed judge, that everything that is happening is just nakedly lawless and tyrannical, before it is metabolized?
![Furthermore, this country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs. “That tradition has deep roots in our history and found early expression, for example, in . . . the constitutional provisions for civilian control of the military.” Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1, 15 (1972); see also James Madison, Address to the Constitutional Convention (1787), reprinted in 1 Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, at 465 (Max Farrand ed., 1911) (“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence [against] foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.”). This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power—to the detriment of this nation.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mik42bfdf6kubkkw3ia6njdk/bafkreicfnaw4lfzb2hzmexqhn3ofvotgh27kzubnkwfw4t2wzd42og4e24@jpeg)
![Because the President is federalizing the Oregon National Guard absent constitutional authority, his actions undermine the sovereign interest of Oregon as protected by the Tenth Amendment. Oregon has a Tenth Amendment power to control its National Guard to the extent it is not cabined by the Militia Clause. And as discussed above, Defendants have acted outside the scope of this constitutional authority conferred by Congress. Put another way, Defendants “interfere[d] with the constitutional balance of power between the federal and state governments” by federalizing state National Guardsmen for federal service when no statutory or constitutional authority permitted their federalization. Brief for the State of California and Governor Newsom as Amici Curiae, ECF 41-1 at 9.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mik42bfdf6kubkkw3ia6njdk/bafkreicnpjdaqk4hqwcxw43fvn5ok6i6bbpf3vbbddugjj4nmxxmribxxu@jpeg)
October 5, 2025 at 2:59 AM
How many times must it be repeated, in this case by a Trump-appointed judge, that everything that is happening is just nakedly lawless and tyrannical, before it is metabolized?
Being There (1979)
September 30, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Being There (1979)
Remember, say, the impotence of the SCOTUS reform commission in 2021?
September 27, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Remember, say, the impotence of the SCOTUS reform commission in 2021?
In this AAUP-UC suit, there’s a powerful case to be made that much of what Trump is attempting via hijacking federal grants amounts to unconstitutional coercion under 10A jurisprudence (and is frankly a far more bright line example than many others). www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
September 17, 2025 at 3:13 AM
In this AAUP-UC suit, there’s a powerful case to be made that much of what Trump is attempting via hijacking federal grants amounts to unconstitutional coercion under 10A jurisprudence (and is frankly a far more bright line example than many others). www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
Ex ante, one would think this kind of thing should be top-of-fold news.
September 6, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Ex ante, one would think this kind of thing should be top-of-fold news.
Once again tapping the sign catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
September 5, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Once again tapping the sign catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
“The kind of thinking that presents both A and C as undesirable, and therefore settles on B, hardly serves any other purpose than to divert the mind and blunt the judgment for the multitude of real possibilities,” Arendt writes.
August 25, 2025 at 12:46 AM
“The kind of thinking that presents both A and C as undesirable, and therefore settles on B, hardly serves any other purpose than to divert the mind and blunt the judgment for the multitude of real possibilities,” Arendt writes.
I hate tapping the sign: catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
August 22, 2025 at 12:11 AM
I hate tapping the sign: catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
After epistemic closure, there is only George Webb
August 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
After epistemic closure, there is only George Webb
Ah “restoring federalism”. thehill.com/homenews/sen...
August 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Ah “restoring federalism”. thehill.com/homenews/sen...
If you’re in Sheboygan this weekend for the Kohler Midsummer Festival, visit @thistlewik.bsky.social who is selling more of her brilliant felted interstate landscapes at booth 112.
July 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
If you’re in Sheboygan this weekend for the Kohler Midsummer Festival, visit @thistlewik.bsky.social who is selling more of her brilliant felted interstate landscapes at booth 112.
This is within range of the estimates of coverage loss from the so-called “skinny repeal” of the ACA in 2017.
June 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
This is within range of the estimates of coverage loss from the so-called “skinny repeal” of the ACA in 2017.
Two headlines that must be presented together.
June 22, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Two headlines that must be presented together.
That neither Schumer nor Jeffries would sign on to the War Powers Resolution tells you precisely how effective Democrats are going to be in this moment.
June 22, 2025 at 1:20 AM
That neither Schumer nor Jeffries would sign on to the War Powers Resolution tells you precisely how effective Democrats are going to be in this moment.
Amazing how even one footnote in Sotomayor's dissent just eviscerates so much of not just Alito's concurrence but the majority opinion itself.
![JUSTICE ALITO insists that the words “sex” and “gender” in our equal
protection precedents refer to an “ ‘immutable characteristic determined
solely by the accident of birth.’ ” Ante, at 2 (opinion concurring in part
and concurring in judgment) (quoting Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U. S.
677, 686 (1973)). SB1 discriminates along those very lines: Adolescents
displaying male “characteristic[s]” at birth are precluded from accessing
the same medications those with female characteristics can freely receive. Id., at 686.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mik42bfdf6kubkkw3ia6njdk/bafkreiaeqqobbu52iepaurwsclcfl4tgrnupwglbsou6nqypaatzicqzpi@jpeg)
June 18, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Amazing how even one footnote in Sotomayor's dissent just eviscerates so much of not just Alito's concurrence but the majority opinion itself.
In a little less than a week, “Counting Like a State” will be in print!
For anyone in MKE, stop by the book launch next Tuesday (6/17) at 6:30pm at Boswell! I’ll give a short talk about threats to official statistics and what we can do about it. More info here: www.boswellbooks.com/upcoming-eve...
For anyone in MKE, stop by the book launch next Tuesday (6/17) at 6:30pm at Boswell! I’ll give a short talk about threats to official statistics and what we can do about it. More info here: www.boswellbooks.com/upcoming-eve...
June 12, 2025 at 12:43 AM
In a little less than a week, “Counting Like a State” will be in print!
For anyone in MKE, stop by the book launch next Tuesday (6/17) at 6:30pm at Boswell! I’ll give a short talk about threats to official statistics and what we can do about it. More info here: www.boswellbooks.com/upcoming-eve...
For anyone in MKE, stop by the book launch next Tuesday (6/17) at 6:30pm at Boswell! I’ll give a short talk about threats to official statistics and what we can do about it. More info here: www.boswellbooks.com/upcoming-eve...