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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 13h

One major case of this can be found in my book: bsky.app/profile/phil...

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

I talk about the value of multiple repertoires in my book on the 2020 census. State and local officials simultaneously fought the administration's sabotage attempts in court while promoting census participation, fighting disinformation, and enhancing census accuracy at home. bsky.app/profile/phil...

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · Mar 5

Census 2030 will be the subject of a prolonged political assault. We can learn a lot from what state and local governments and NGOs did to save the 2020 Census. I document those strategies in my forthcoming @univpressofkansas.bsky.social book. kansaspress.ku.edu/978070063875...

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 13h

The basic point here is that federalism doesn’t “work” to produce results because of its institutional structures alone, but because of the habits, customs, scripts that surround those structures. Often those scripts have to be recombined / reworked. More in this thread: bsky.app/profile/phil...

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

This podcast episode is a sort of masterclass in how governors can repurpose the tools available to them to contest federal govt encroachment. Perfect example of what Paul Nolette and I are calling "repertoires of federalism", and why they work. A short thread:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

And, This is Trump's Invasion With JB Pritzker & Tina Kotek

Podcast Episode · This is Gavin Newsom · 10/10/2025 · 43m

podcasts.apple.com

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 13h

In this case what would matter is not merely the design itself but the cultural repertoires governors and others chose to use to enact that structure. Federalism, emphasis on the -ism.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 14h

Same time that Pritzker is telling city and state officials to start arresting and prosecuting federal officials for assaulting Illinois citizens.

OT1H, this is clearly really bad.

OTOH, our federalized design might end up being an absolute godsend.

JB Pritzker looking at prosecuting ICE agents in Chicago

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has suggested that state prosecutors might examine the conduct of ICE agents.

www.newsweek.com

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 15h

Finding out that the people in charge are often petulant hypocrites is one of the most valuable things you can learn in college and will undoubtedly make these student journalists even better at their jobs.

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 16h

And here's a link to a letter from the IDS editors about the firing of the student newspaper director.

www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS: IU fires student media director after he refused to censor the IDS

Indiana University directed the IDS to stop printing news.

www.idsnews.com

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 16h

LFG Brewers

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 18h

This speech act alone is a violation of anything we could consider the spirit of federalism and local election autonomy. www.nydailynews.com/2025/09/29/t...

Trump warns he will starve NYC of funds if Mamdani elected as mayor

Mamdani leads polls of the contest even after Mayor Adams has left the race, leaving a three-way contest.

www.nydailynews.com

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 19h

Really excellent and important work here

State Court Report @statecourtreport.org · 21h

NEW: Victims of excessive force, retaliatory investigations, unlawful property destruction, and other abuses of power by federal actors have scant options re: compensatory damages. But @uwlawdemocracy.bsky.social's Harrison Stark argues that states can offer meaningful relief for these violations.

Resuscitating State Damages Remedies Against Federal Officials

There are forceful legal arguments that individuals can use state civil rights statutes to sue federal employees who violate the U.S. Constitution.

statecourtreport.org

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

State Court Report @statecourtreport.org · 21h

NEW: Victims of excessive force, retaliatory investigations, unlawful property destruction, and other abuses of power by federal actors have scant options re: compensatory damages. But @uwlawdemocracy.bsky.social's Harrison Stark argues that states can offer meaningful relief for these violations.

Resuscitating State Damages Remedies Against Federal Officials

There are forceful legal arguments that individuals can use state civil rights statutes to sue federal employees who violate the U.S. Constitution.

statecourtreport.org

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

Horrifying to watch some of the students in my policy analysis class, who routinely use federal statistics to help define problems for their assignments, watch some of these numbers be erased in real time. — 2/2

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

This is one of the most egregious assaults on data that for nearly 3 decades both R and D presidential administrations have produced because they considered hunger to be a problem worth routinely reporting on or, at least, feared repercussions for turning out the lights — 1/2

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

They also cancelled government data collection about hunger to minimize evidence about their policies

José Sepúlveda @josesepulveda.bsky.social · 2d

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the 94 million pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the #Trump administration’s cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program.

My latest video for @propublica.org.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

(Reuters) - U.S. companies and consumers are bearing the brunt of the country's new import tariffs, early indications show, contradicting assertions by President Donald Trump and complicating the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation.

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/how...

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 2d

But what felt like a cover or somehow adulterated version of

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 3d

We are a city of spirits.

Mookie Betts avoids Milwaukee hotel due to possible ghosts

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 3d

So much ordinary, household Milwaukee magic in that game. LFG Brewers. “We fight back.” — Andrew Vaughn

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 3d

And that’s the NLDS folks. Please never, ever call our field “Wrigley North” again.

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 3d

There’s a scene in Shadow Ticket that takes place effectively in front of our place and it feels distinctly like Pynchon was just lurking around.

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 3d

Dansby Swanson is a Pynchon name

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 3d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Dahlia Lithwick @dahlialithwick.bsky.social · 4d

With Yale Law School military justice expert Eugene Fidell and former JAG Maj. General Steven J. Lepper on the biggest civil/military crisis since the Civil War.

Trump Wants to Use American Cities as a “Training Ground.” It’s Becoming Clear Why.

MAGA cries “Insurrection!”, setting up a dangerous standoff between the American people and the military.

slate.com

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

Ha -- unfortunately, I don't think these repertoires nullify the trends I pointed out in that article. But they are something as opposed to nothing, I think. If that's optimism, it might be the most I can muster.

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

The point: pre-existing repertoires/habits can only go so far. On that point I was struck by something that Saladin Ambar said in his interview for
@gurleygg.bsky.social
's piece on governors: "Life never fully ceases...new institutions, new alliances, are made..." /end prospect.org/politics/202...

Governors Plunged Into Constitutional Crisis

State power brokers step up as a paralyzed Congress bows out.

prospect.org

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

While the combination of those repertoires provides an excellent template for governors in the present moment, they will of course need to be adapted to a situation of unprecedented lawlessness. (Maybe the darkest moment of the interview is the gallows humor on Trump's threat to jail Pritzker.)

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

I talk about the value of multiple repertoires in my book on the 2020 census. State and local officials simultaneously fought the administration's sabotage attempts in court while promoting census participation, fighting disinformation, and enhancing census accuracy at home. bsky.app/profile/phil...

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · Mar 5

Census 2030 will be the subject of a prolonged political assault. We can learn a lot from what state and local governments and NGOs did to save the 2020 Census. I document those strategies in my forthcoming @univpressofkansas.bsky.social book. kansaspress.ku.edu/978070063875...

Counting Like a State

An inside look at the 2020 Census that shows the importance of state and local cooperation in the complex federal project of census taking.The census plays a...

kansaspress.ku.edu

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

Given that stark reality, it makes a great deal of sense to use a diversity of tactics. E.g.: there is both an appeal to local publics and identities and an effort to nationalize the issue ("This is a preview of things to come at voting booths and polling places all across the country.")

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 4d

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.

Well, let me say that I've been pleased to see the decisions so far in these cases, and I'll give you an update before we were finished, because I did just get an update. But I'll just tell you I'm not very confident about what the Supreme Court will do these are as. You know, a plurality of judges that were appointed by Donald Trump himself. So I'm concerned about what will happen at that level. But we have to rely on our courts at the moment.

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