Susan Navarro Smelcer
@susansmelcer.bsky.social
Assistant Prof of political science at Wake Forest University, studying political and legal language using data. Licensed attorney and former CRS staff. Currently aghast at *waves arms*.
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Charlotte-Mecklebburg Schools, according to reports, saw 15% of its students absent today amid Border Patrol operations in Charlotte. If that percentage of 15% happens Tuesday in Wake County due to the Border Patrol coming to Raleigh, 24.000 students could be absent from school. #nced #ncpol #wcpss
November 18, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
This echoes the conservative counterargument to union rights a century ago, the so-called "liberty of contract."
As FDR's Interior Secretary Harold Ickes noted, that kind of "liberty" merely gave helpless individuals the freedom to "drive a bargain with a great corporation."
As FDR's Interior Secretary Harold Ickes noted, that kind of "liberty" merely gave helpless individuals the freedom to "drive a bargain with a great corporation."
Trump: "I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance. It's so good. The insurance will be better. It'll cost less. Everybody is gonna be happy. They're gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They're actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance"
November 11, 2025 at 12:21 AM
This echoes the conservative counterargument to union rights a century ago, the so-called "liberty of contract."
As FDR's Interior Secretary Harold Ickes noted, that kind of "liberty" merely gave helpless individuals the freedom to "drive a bargain with a great corporation."
As FDR's Interior Secretary Harold Ickes noted, that kind of "liberty" merely gave helpless individuals the freedom to "drive a bargain with a great corporation."
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
UNC Chapel Hill Won’t Sign Compact
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
UNC Chapel Hill Won’t Sign Compact
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made clear Friday that it won’t sign the federal “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” that has been extended to all institutions after ...
www.insidehighered.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
UNC Chapel Hill Won’t Sign Compact
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
October 11, 2025 at 11:04 AM
More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Americans should not be able to opt into a legal system that’s alien to American values, arbitrary, riddled with dogma, deferential to power, and premised on unearned authority, and that’s why we’re banning … Sharia Law? Shit I thought you guys were going after arbitration clauses
You can try to move on as an artist, but the fans will always demand your greatest hits.
www.newsweek.com/republican-b...
www.newsweek.com/republican-b...
Republican bill seeks to ban Sharia Law in U.S.
The bill reignites long-standing debates over the role of foreign or religious legal systems in U.S. courts, particularly regarding Islamic law.
www.newsweek.com
October 3, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Americans should not be able to opt into a legal system that’s alien to American values, arbitrary, riddled with dogma, deferential to power, and premised on unearned authority, and that’s why we’re banning … Sharia Law? Shit I thought you guys were going after arbitration clauses
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
October 3, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Morning walk
September 26, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Morning walk
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
When we get to pleading in my first-year Civil Procedure class, my students often ask me just how over the top a complaint would have to be for a judge to strike it without even being *asked* to do so.
Thanks to President Trump, we have an answer:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Thanks to President Trump, we have an answer:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
September 19, 2025 at 5:22 PM
When we get to pleading in my first-year Civil Procedure class, my students often ask me just how over the top a complaint would have to be for a judge to strike it without even being *asked* to do so.
Thanks to President Trump, we have an answer:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Thanks to President Trump, we have an answer:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Goebbels Ends Careers of Five 'Aryan' Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime (Published 1939)
www.nytimes.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Just so I'm clear:
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
September 17, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Just so I'm clear:
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
If you feel like yelling at ABC, you can always use the programming feedback portal to voice your opinion. I don't think ABC anticipated this particular use for the feedback portal, but that's what they're getting from me. Happy Constitution Day, y'all.
support.abc.com/hc/en-us/art...
support.abc.com/hc/en-us/art...
How do I submit feedback for shows on ABC.com?
To submit comments or suggestions for your favorite ABC shows, you can give us feedback by following the steps below:
Using a supported web browser, go to ABC.com
Select the Submit Programming Fe...
support.abc.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:17 AM
If you feel like yelling at ABC, you can always use the programming feedback portal to voice your opinion. I don't think ABC anticipated this particular use for the feedback portal, but that's what they're getting from me. Happy Constitution Day, y'all.
support.abc.com/hc/en-us/art...
support.abc.com/hc/en-us/art...
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
The union representing the musicians from Jimmy Kimmel’s band releases a statement calling the FCC’s pressure on Disney “state censorship.”
September 18, 2025 at 1:59 AM
The union representing the musicians from Jimmy Kimmel’s band releases a statement calling the FCC’s pressure on Disney “state censorship.”
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
The following is a statement from the WGA on ABC’s decision to pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
September 18, 2025 at 2:41 AM
The following is a statement from the WGA on ABC’s decision to pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Excited for Jonathan Turley’s testimony that murder is not one of the “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
I know I’m naive but it is pretty wild that the president of the United States just publicly declares he and the military killed some guys on a boat, multiple times, and the entirety of Congress doesn’t immediately hit a giant red IMPEACH button
September 17, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Excited for Jonathan Turley’s testimony that murder is not one of the “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
wrote on charlie kirk for the newsletter this weekend
Opinion | Charlie Kirk Didn’t Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn’t Either.
www.nytimes.com
September 13, 2025 at 3:35 PM
wrote on charlie kirk for the newsletter this weekend
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
I think a lot about a case from law school: Andrews v. United Airlines (9th Cir. 1994). Kozinski writes eloquently in support of an airline passenger injured by falling overhead bags. Explaining why the opinion so thoroughly favored the passenger, the professor said "judges fly on airplanes."
It is genuinely difficult for me to believe that he is this stupid.
September 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I think a lot about a case from law school: Andrews v. United Airlines (9th Cir. 1994). Kozinski writes eloquently in support of an airline passenger injured by falling overhead bags. Explaining why the opinion so thoroughly favored the passenger, the professor said "judges fly on airplanes."
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
"From a boring, bureaucratic perspective, the key role of the Court is to settle a single interpretation of the Constitution that governs all lower courts, allowing individuals to conduct themselves with assurance as to what the law actually is."
lol
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-have-no-s...
lol
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-have-no-s...
September 3, 2025 at 8:34 PM
"From a boring, bureaucratic perspective, the key role of the Court is to settle a single interpretation of the Constitution that governs all lower courts, allowing individuals to conduct themselves with assurance as to what the law actually is."
lol
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-have-no-s...
lol
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-have-no-s...
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Firing and demoralizing feminized jobs as enemies of the state while brazenly bribing men with violent jobs that almost instantly puts them into the middle of middle class is very basic gendered warfare. Fulfilling the manosphere’s promise.
It is insane to me that the government can find money to pay ICE agents increasingly larger sums of money, yet teachers have to buy their own pencils.
August 15, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Firing and demoralizing feminized jobs as enemies of the state while brazenly bribing men with violent jobs that almost instantly puts them into the middle of middle class is very basic gendered warfare. Fulfilling the manosphere’s promise.
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Teachers and academics, enjoy the last week of summer. August is a lie we tell ourselves.
July 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Teachers and academics, enjoy the last week of summer. August is a lie we tell ourselves.
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
This is unconscionable. Our entire profession should be up in arms.
Masked law enforcement and now anonymous lawyers. Our courts are open as is our legal system. If you can’t put your name to your representation as a lawyer then you should not be allowed to appear in court. @americanbar.org
Masked law enforcement and now anonymous lawyers. Our courts are open as is our legal system. If you can’t put your name to your representation as a lawyer then you should not be allowed to appear in court. @americanbar.org
“We’re not really doing names publicly,” said Judge ShaSha Xu — after stating her own name and those of the immigrants and their lawyers.
ICE Lawyers Are Hiding Their Names in Immigration Court
ICE attorneys fighting to deport immigrants are able to obscure their identities — no masks required.
interc.pt
July 21, 2025 at 10:01 PM
This is unconscionable. Our entire profession should be up in arms.
Masked law enforcement and now anonymous lawyers. Our courts are open as is our legal system. If you can’t put your name to your representation as a lawyer then you should not be allowed to appear in court. @americanbar.org
Masked law enforcement and now anonymous lawyers. Our courts are open as is our legal system. If you can’t put your name to your representation as a lawyer then you should not be allowed to appear in court. @americanbar.org
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
Read Justice Sotomayor's dissent. This decision is bad enough, but the majority's refusal to give any reasons for a decision of this magnitude is pure lawlessness. Infuriating.
Here we go again: Over an acerbic dissenting opinion by Justice Sotomayor (joined in full by Justices Kagan and Jackson), #SCOTUS, with no explanation, grants a stay in the Department of Education RIFs case—effectively clearing the way for the Trump administration to dismantle much of the agency:
www.supremecourt.gov
July 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Read Justice Sotomayor's dissent. This decision is bad enough, but the majority's refusal to give any reasons for a decision of this magnitude is pure lawlessness. Infuriating.
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
I was adopted via closed adoption, born in North Carolina.
It was closed so I have no knowledge of or access to my biological mother’s details. It also means my biological mother isn’t on my birth certificate.
So if birthright citizenship becomes a patchwork right, what’s someone like me to do?
It was closed so I have no knowledge of or access to my biological mother’s details. It also means my biological mother isn’t on my birth certificate.
So if birthright citizenship becomes a patchwork right, what’s someone like me to do?
June 27, 2025 at 8:01 PM
I was adopted via closed adoption, born in North Carolina.
It was closed so I have no knowledge of or access to my biological mother’s details. It also means my biological mother isn’t on my birth certificate.
So if birthright citizenship becomes a patchwork right, what’s someone like me to do?
It was closed so I have no knowledge of or access to my biological mother’s details. It also means my biological mother isn’t on my birth certificate.
So if birthright citizenship becomes a patchwork right, what’s someone like me to do?
Reposted by Susan Navarro Smelcer
More and more I understand this moment as reverse Reconstruction.
This is an assault on the Reconstruction Amendments by a Neo-Confederate Court wedded to the far-right argument that those amendments were illegitimate and destroyed the original intent of the Founders, which was to create a white man's country
June 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
More and more I understand this moment as reverse Reconstruction.