Timothy R. Johnson
@trjumn.bsky.social
Horace T. Morse Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Law and nationally recognized expert on U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments and decision making.
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
It was a honor to speak with Julie Rose on the Top of Mind Podcast about the Supreme Court's role today and which branch, in 2025, holds the bulk of power in the U.S. federal government's system of Separated Powers.
Does America Have a Balance of Power Problem? - BYUradio
How is the balance of power supposed to work when a U.S. President aggressively pushes for more?
www.byuradio.org
September 1, 2025 at 2:01 PM
It was a honor to speak with Julie Rose on the Top of Mind Podcast about the Supreme Court's role today and which branch, in 2025, holds the bulk of power in the U.S. federal government's system of Separated Powers.
It's always nice when research from years ago comes back into the discussion. I loved working on the original piece with my friend and mentor Valerie Hoekstra and on the update with Valerie and my former student Tom Pryor. www.abajournal.com/web/article/...
It’s Not Always Over When It’s Over: SCOTUS allows rearguments in some cases
The ABA Journal is read by half of the nation's 1 million lawyers every month. It covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.
www.abajournal.com
August 26, 2025 at 12:22 AM
It's always nice when research from years ago comes back into the discussion. I loved working on the original piece with my friend and mentor Valerie Hoekstra and on the update with Valerie and my former student Tom Pryor. www.abajournal.com/web/article/...
@julieblaha.bsky.social You are amazing!!!!
August 24, 2025 at 8:29 PM
@julieblaha.bsky.social You are amazing!!!!
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Today’s Daily Cartoon @newyorker.com
August 13, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Today’s Daily Cartoon @newyorker.com
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
South Park releases brutal new Kristi Noem ICE Barbie clip.
August 12, 2025 at 11:47 AM
South Park releases brutal new Kristi Noem ICE Barbie clip.
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Boom.
Judge Boardman certifies a class of every baby in the country subject to Trump’s citizenship-stripping EO and blocks the unconstitutional order nationwide.
Look how she throws Alito’s words back at him as the CASA case heads back up towards SCOTUS.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Look how she throws Alito’s words back at him as the CASA case heads back up towards SCOTUS.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
August 8, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Boom.
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Article 1, Section 9 & 10 have been removed from the official Govt website on the US Constitution. Among numerous points:
•Section 9 forbids suspending The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
•Section 10 forbids ex post facto laws
This better be a joke. Ignoring these is full blow dictatorship
•Section 9 forbids suspending The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
•Section 10 forbids ex post facto laws
This better be a joke. Ignoring these is full blow dictatorship
August 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Article 1, Section 9 & 10 have been removed from the official Govt website on the US Constitution. Among numerous points:
•Section 9 forbids suspending The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
•Section 10 forbids ex post facto laws
This better be a joke. Ignoring these is full blow dictatorship
•Section 9 forbids suspending The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
•Section 10 forbids ex post facto laws
This better be a joke. Ignoring these is full blow dictatorship
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Congratulations to @trjumn.bsky.social on receiving the @apsa.bsky.social Law & Courts Lasting Contribution Award for his coauthored article "The Influence of Oral Arguments on the U.S. Supreme Court."
Learn more about the article and its impact: cla.umn.edu/polisci/news...
Learn more about the article and its impact: cla.umn.edu/polisci/news...
Timothy R. Johnson Receives Lasting Contribution Award
Congratulations to Professor Johnson on receiving the American Political Science Association Law & Courts Lasting Contribution Award for coauthored article.
cla.umn.edu
July 17, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Congratulations to @trjumn.bsky.social on receiving the @apsa.bsky.social Law & Courts Lasting Contribution Award for his coauthored article "The Influence of Oral Arguments on the U.S. Supreme Court."
Learn more about the article and its impact: cla.umn.edu/polisci/news...
Learn more about the article and its impact: cla.umn.edu/polisci/news...
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Yes. There is no escaping the US’s downward spiral toward authoritarianism without genuine institutional reform.
1. Multi-member districts and fusion voting—>multipartyism
2. Voting rights guaranteed for all; no more territories.
3. Justice term limits
3. Expand the House
4. Reduce Senate’s role
1. Multi-member districts and fusion voting—>multipartyism
2. Voting rights guaranteed for all; no more territories.
3. Justice term limits
3. Expand the House
4. Reduce Senate’s role
The purpose of the United States Constitution is to prevent the rise of tyranny.
It failed to achieve that purpose. We can obviously blame political elites across the spectrum for its failure; but it’s also worth contending with the fact that our political system is no longer fit for purpose.
It failed to achieve that purpose. We can obviously blame political elites across the spectrum for its failure; but it’s also worth contending with the fact that our political system is no longer fit for purpose.
July 16, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Yes. There is no escaping the US’s downward spiral toward authoritarianism without genuine institutional reform.
1. Multi-member districts and fusion voting—>multipartyism
2. Voting rights guaranteed for all; no more territories.
3. Justice term limits
3. Expand the House
4. Reduce Senate’s role
1. Multi-member districts and fusion voting—>multipartyism
2. Voting rights guaranteed for all; no more territories.
3. Justice term limits
3. Expand the House
4. Reduce Senate’s role
Yup that tracks!
US Supreme Court sides with Trump in South Sudan deportation fight reut.rs/4lbjSNV
US Supreme Court sides with Trump in South Sudan deportation fight
The U.S. Supreme Court again sided with President Donald Trump's administration in a legal fight over deporting migrants to countries other than their own, lifting on Thursday limits a judge had imposed to protect eight men who the government sought to send to politically unstable South Sudan.
reut.rs
July 3, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Yup that tracks!
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Explain the Big Ugly budget bill to me like I’m five…
Seriously, this demo is a must see—anyone can understand it.
Share it with family and friends.
#VoteNo
Seriously, this demo is a must see—anyone can understand it.
Share it with family and friends.
#VoteNo
July 2, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Explain the Big Ugly budget bill to me like I’m five…
Seriously, this demo is a must see—anyone can understand it.
Share it with family and friends.
#VoteNo
Seriously, this demo is a must see—anyone can understand it.
Share it with family and friends.
#VoteNo
This is quite an honor and I am so happy to have written this article (and others) with Jim Spriggs and Paul Wahlbeck. Their combined mentorship, friendship, and co-authorship, early in my career, made me who I am as a scholar! @umnpolisci.bsky.social @umncla.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social
July 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
This is quite an honor and I am so happy to have written this article (and others) with Jim Spriggs and Paul Wahlbeck. Their combined mentorship, friendship, and co-authorship, early in my career, made me who I am as a scholar! @umnpolisci.bsky.social @umncla.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
"The rule of law is not a given in this Nation, nor any other. It is a precept of our democracy that will endure only if those brave enough in every branch fight for its survival. Today, the Court abdicates its vital role in that effort." —Justice Sotomayor
June 27, 2025 at 2:59 PM
"The rule of law is not a given in this Nation, nor any other. It is a precept of our democracy that will endure only if those brave enough in every branch fight for its survival. Today, the Court abdicates its vital role in that effort." —Justice Sotomayor
This...
Booker: He was made to kneel before the authority of the executive… They treated a member of the United States senate violently after he identified himself, dragged him out of a room, threw him upon the ground, and put him in handcuffs
June 12, 2025 at 11:59 PM
This...
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Q: "Under what authority would members of the military be able to arrest people inside the United States?"
Leavitt: "The president federalized the National Guard...The president understands the legal authority that he invoked."
Leavitt: "The president federalized the National Guard...The president understands the legal authority that he invoked."
June 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Q: "Under what authority would members of the military be able to arrest people inside the United States?"
Leavitt: "The president federalized the National Guard...The president understands the legal authority that he invoked."
Leavitt: "The president federalized the National Guard...The president understands the legal authority that he invoked."
I mean, who doesn’t want to talk about Posse Comitatus on @thedailyshow.com(around the 2 minute mark)? Thanks for using this interview that originally aired on @kare11.bsky.social. @umnpolisci.bsky.social
Trump Faces Off with Newsom As Marines Head to L.A. | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
www.youtube.com
June 11, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I mean, who doesn’t want to talk about Posse Comitatus on @thedailyshow.com(around the 2 minute mark)? Thanks for using this interview that originally aired on @kare11.bsky.social. @umnpolisci.bsky.social
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
I will be damned if I allow a bunch of Confederate-waving January 6th apologists give the American people a lecture on flag waving.
There is ZERO reason to enter an argument about patriotism with people who still worship traitors to America 150+ years later.
They. Are. Breaking. The. Law.
There is ZERO reason to enter an argument about patriotism with people who still worship traitors to America 150+ years later.
They. Are. Breaking. The. Law.
June 11, 2025 at 1:21 AM
I will be damned if I allow a bunch of Confederate-waving January 6th apologists give the American people a lecture on flag waving.
There is ZERO reason to enter an argument about patriotism with people who still worship traitors to America 150+ years later.
They. Are. Breaking. The. Law.
There is ZERO reason to enter an argument about patriotism with people who still worship traitors to America 150+ years later.
They. Are. Breaking. The. Law.
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
Do kids today know the Colbert routine at the Whitehouse Correspondents Dinner where he absolutely savages the press? Just thinking about that for some reason.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-a...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-a...
Watch Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Corresponde...
YouTube video by CNN
www.youtube.com
May 30, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Do kids today know the Colbert routine at the Whitehouse Correspondents Dinner where he absolutely savages the press? Just thinking about that for some reason.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-a...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-a...
I’d leave my job and do this for three years.
This thread is the best thing I’ve read on here today.
Unironically they should buy up the domains for about 60 defunct local newspapers in swing states. Hire two reporters to write almost exclusively about highschool sports and new restaurants opening with every 10th article about how the local GOP is screwing over people.
May 21, 2025 at 3:52 AM
I’d leave my job and do this for three years.
Reposted by Timothy R. Johnson
So I have now read the Big Three Ayn Rand Books, atlas shrugged, the fountainhead, and anthem. And I have this to say: she’s bad at writing books, so bad, in fact, that I find her popularity genuinely strange
May 14, 2025 at 11:35 PM
So I have now read the Big Three Ayn Rand Books, atlas shrugged, the fountainhead, and anthem. And I have this to say: she’s bad at writing books, so bad, in fact, that I find her popularity genuinely strange
I am thrilled to be on the advisory Board of Brown v. the Board Revisited (brown.oyez.org) that just won an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for Multimedia (tinyurl.com/BrownSilverG...) and was named a Webby Honoree (that is, honorable mention) for Law (tinyurl.com/webbybrown).
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Dive into the heart of the courtroom, where technology meets the pivotal moments that shaped civil rights.
brown.oyez.org
May 14, 2025 at 9:56 PM
I am thrilled to be on the advisory Board of Brown v. the Board Revisited (brown.oyez.org) that just won an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for Multimedia (tinyurl.com/BrownSilverG...) and was named a Webby Honoree (that is, honorable mention) for Law (tinyurl.com/webbybrown).
A sad day for the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice David Souter, a moderate GHW Bush appointee, spent 19 years on the high Court (1990-2009).
May 9, 2025 at 2:10 PM
A sad day for the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice David Souter, a moderate GHW Bush appointee, spent 19 years on the high Court (1990-2009).
So excited to write this commentary, with @rachaelhouston.bsky.social and the blueskyless Grace Hertzog, about what the Court can do to save itself and, in so doing, save the U.S. from an authoritarian presidency. @umnpolisci.bsky.social @umncla.bsky.social
To avoid irrelevancy, the US Supreme Court must now speak with the full voice of its constitutional authority write @trjumn.bsky.social and Grace Hertzog of @umnpolisci.bsky.social and @rachaelhouston.bsky.social of Texas Christian University
blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
To avoid irrelevancy, the US Supreme Court must now speak with the full voice of its constitutional authority | USAPP
The Court must now reassert its role as the final interpreter of the Constitution by making explicit judgements that cannot be disregarded.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
May 8, 2025 at 5:30 PM
So excited to write this commentary, with @rachaelhouston.bsky.social and the blueskyless Grace Hertzog, about what the Court can do to save itself and, in so doing, save the U.S. from an authoritarian presidency. @umnpolisci.bsky.social @umncla.bsky.social