Kate Jackson
banner
katejackson.bsky.social
Kate Jackson
@katejackson.bsky.social

Associate Professor of Law at a regional midwest public law school. Political theory, corps & admin. 🧶👽👾🧙🏽‍♀️🦅🎮 My views are my own and reposts are not endorsements.

SSRN author page
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=3568227 .. more

Political science 37%
Law 28%

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

What a great day for a renewed spoils system:

(1) the constitutionality of merit-based civil service laws is questioned at SCOTUS

(2) Trump announces an arbitrary $12bn clientelistic payout to “farmers” (funding source and statutory authority TBD I guess)

Roscoe Conkling would be so proud

Yes!!

I was gonna ask - is notable soybean farmer Scott Bessent going to be getting a check?

lol authoritarianism is … intellectually generative ….

I think their game plan is to use (1) MQD/non-delegation and/or (2) 1st amendment lochnerism to kneecap democratic administrations (presuming there is one in the future)

The word you’re looking for is “clientelism”

Trump Promises Farmers $12 Billion to Blunt Fallout From His Trade War www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/u...
Trump Promises Farmers $12 Billion to Blunt Fallout From His Trade War
www.nytimes.com

Netflix isn’t buying the CNN part

35 years ago, paramount tried to buy Time - and Time was allowed to fend off their bid by arguing that paramount (an entertainment company) would pose a threat to Time’s identity as a news organization.

I am curious to see what Warner Bros (CNN) does to fend off this new hostile tender offer

When they said “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” I dunno if he mean 1980s-style hostile takeover litigation
Nepo Mogul brings in Saudis, Jared Kushner and his ultra rich daddy who is pals with Trump to prove how “unfair” Netflix is. Hollywood could not write this nonsense: Paramount Makes Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/b...
Paramount Makes Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery
www.nytimes.com

I love that sauer’s parade of horribles — congress and the president together passing a statute creating an agency headed by multi-member bipartisan experts to pursue the public interest responsibly - is like my idea of really good government

🤣

This is known as “but your mommmm-inalism”

Justice Kavanaugh: independent agencies give too much power to congress and not the president

Also justice kavanaugh: independent agencies create too much uncertainty because political appointments by presidents cause policy swings

Make it make sense pls thnks

Reposted by Kate Jackson

“They’re pulling all the starter homes off of the market in low-income, high-minority-density neighborhoods.” #Boston www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
How Private Equity Is Changing Housing
In some communities, corporations control more than 20 percent of properties.
www.theatlantic.com

The conservative justices are asking Agarwal (questions about a ‘limiting principle’) to design on-the-spot the perfectly constitutional admin agency. Will they, like in the Texas gerrymandering case, will use the absence of such a design to argue that the Trump admin’s position must be correct?

Reposted by James Goodwin

I fear it is impossible to overstate this, but I wonder if what we are listening to is a third reconstruction (counter-construction?) of our entire federal government.

Either we go full autocracy, destroy federal government state capacity altogether, or make the court a super-legislature.
So yeah sauer just said that we have two choices:

1 all agencies are au fond unconstitutional because they excercise legislative and judicial functions or

2 the prez must have unrestrained control over every aspect of them because their powers are (in a formal legal sense) executive

So the fiduciary/corporate scholar in me wonders why sauer’s answer to ACB’s question about “why wouldn’t the take care clause provide a limiting principle?” (It’s “no”) is screaming “good faith! Good faith! Take care laws are *faithfully* executed!”

Reposted by Kate Jackson

Nepo Mogul brings in Saudis, Jared Kushner and his ultra rich daddy who is pals with Trump to prove how “unfair” Netflix is. Hollywood could not write this nonsense: Paramount Makes Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/b...
Paramount Makes Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery
www.nytimes.com

“Don’t worry this won’t blow up the government”

Ok so gorsuch helpfully resolves this sophie’s choice by doubling down on the MQD. so basically the court will become our super sovereign - all in the name of democracy 🎉🎉🍾

Reposted by James Goodwin

So yeah sauer just said that we have two choices:

1 all agencies are au fond unconstitutional because they excercise legislative and judicial functions or

2 the prez must have unrestrained control over every aspect of them because their powers are (in a formal legal sense) executive

Reposted by James Goodwin

Omg sauer literally wouldn’t answer the question of “is the Pendleton act unconstitutional”
So, in honor of today’s argument in Trump v Slaughter, we watched Death by Lightening this weekend. And I hope future civil service reform won’t require another assassination.

The natural law of central banking 🥸

The thing with the “the fed is a sui generis quasi private entity” argument from the Trump admin - the fed can avoid arbitrary executive removal power - is that it’s a bit like baby Jesus. It just happened, like an act of god, and there’s no way mere humans in congress can create something similar

She cites some random “amicus brief” 😬

Reposted by James Goodwin

So, in honor of today’s argument in Trump v Slaughter, we watched Death by Lightening this weekend. And I hope future civil service reform won’t require another assassination.