Profile avatar
samulmschneider.bsky.social
Teaching Constitutional studies, poli sci, political theory, US history topics in Virginia. Own views & comments, these don't reflect my institutional affiliations. Husband / cat person / Madisonian / Lincolnite / Trekkie / strategy gamer / metalhead.
3,471 posts 1,773 followers 1,935 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
Posts 18 Comments 32

I cannot even imagine how overwhelmed candidate recruitment people at state Democratic parties are right now trying to think about potential nominees for midterm seats

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

I wonder if we'll finally get a moment for the coercive use of federal funds doctrine from Sebelius v NFIB to become a living, breathing part of the litigation world for a while as a result of this administration's use of funding as a baseball bat.

submitted 21 hours ago • 1 comment

I am not a big fan of how effectively the polarization machine seems to be working, but as a neutral observation on the efficiency of its operation, the most polarizing members of the House and state governments, the AOCs of the world, are most politically effective at getting attention right now.

submitted 21 hours ago • 0 comments

I find the conversation about Ukrainian elections weirdly polarized. Of course they should hold elections as soon as possible! But it's also impossible to do so credibly when many eligible voters are under occupation and there's a strong chance the polling places will be bombed during voting.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

you can have fights about the Congressional control over other agencies and the take care clause, whether Congress can distance them from unitary executive mgmt etc, but the organization and management post office is a specifically and clearly delegated Congressional power in Article I.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

The 2-3 political cartoons it is easiest to teach in any history class because their symbolism is so timeless and effective are the ones depicting FDR, Jackson as kings. American political culture rejects monarchical style power. And yet, the current White House is happy to embrace kingly symbols.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Trump admin clawing back congestion pricing is one of my favorite examples in a long time of the old saw that everyone believes in state and local power and federalism right up until the moment they are the ones in control of federal power. labs of democracy for me, federal fiefdoms for thee.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

it turns out that the ever-expanding imperial presidency was a mistake everyone and we all gotta hand it to William Howard Taft, people, one of the only voices for a principled, restrained vision of the executive branch to hold the office in more than a century.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

This is one of the more important consequences of handing the keys of DHS to a bunch of monomaniacs. We reorganized the government in 2001-2 not to more efficiently deport farmworkers but to better interdict weapons, plots, and dangerous materials. This is undermining DHS's real core purpose.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

one of the ways the AP program is a strange monster: you still have to "submit a syllabus" for approval, but where two or three decades ago it was a fairly bespoke process to see if you had college level rigor, now you just mechanically submit a pre-written document you haven't read as yr syllabus.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

The future I would prefer is one where I am on the opposite side of a moderately deep policy divide from David French and Bill Kristol, opposing their allies in elections etc instead of finding them to be weirdly strong companions in worrying about the constitutional order.

submitted 6 days ago • 4 comments

I've spent my whole career thinking and teaching about the American constitutional order, about political legitimacy and political systems. This tweet captures how smothering the moment we're in has become.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

I’m going to be blunt. I read the Wurman/Barnett op-ed again. It’s hackery by amateur historians who misstate the legal history and twist their own argument, seemingly unable to decide whether text, intent, or original meaning is what matters. It’s not scholarly. And they should be ashamed of it.

submitted 6 days ago • 19 comments

on a totally lightweight note since your can only talk about the tidal wave of awful but so much: what music do other people grade to? I've been on a Visigoth (a NWOTHM band out of Salt Lake City) kick for the last couple of days. I don't think metal makes me a harsher grader (at least I hope not)

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

If you see this post a gif from one of your comfort shows.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

unless something substantially changes, the Trump admin's recent actions are going to hand the Virginia gubernatorial election, already favoring Spanberger, to her at a landslide proportion. military, government employees, contractors, higher-ed and higher-educated jobs are so disproportionate here.

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

The Sassoon resignation letter was impressive, but this one is...whew. The guy is no liberal squish either, he clerked for Roberts!

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

I didn't figure we'd get a whole-ass Saturday Night Massacre in Week 4 over the Adams thing, if there's one thing consistent about the Trump Administration, last time and this time, it is proving to me I should just never try to prognosticate.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments