Robert Gordon
@robertgo.bsky.social
Distinguished Visiting Fellow, McCourt School, Georgetown U. Former White House Domestic Policy Council, HHS, OMB, Michigan DHHS, etc. Government should work for everybody.
If you want Zohran Mamdani to succeed, you should want him to fix the crazy way NYC hires.
www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...
www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...
Vital City | New York’s Civil Service System vs. Public Sector Progress
Mamdani must fix city hiring if he wants to get big things done
www.vitalcitynyc.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:04 PM
If you want Zohran Mamdani to succeed, you should want him to fix the crazy way NYC hires.
www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...
www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...
Not long ago, the idea of polling judges and asking them to cast votes, but not offer reasons, would have seemed reductive. "That's not what judges do."
On the emergency docket today, this is all the Supreme Court does. Red and blue dots are perfect.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
On the emergency docket today, this is all the Supreme Court does. Red and blue dots are perfect.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
October 11, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Not long ago, the idea of polling judges and asking them to cast votes, but not offer reasons, would have seemed reductive. "That's not what judges do."
On the emergency docket today, this is all the Supreme Court does. Red and blue dots are perfect.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
On the emergency docket today, this is all the Supreme Court does. Red and blue dots are perfect.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
Reposted by Robert Gordon
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
September 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
September 6, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Robert Gordon
I read a couple of pieces this week that show how people are not just protesting but actively resisting Trump-era abuses and putting themselves on the line to protect their neighbors. They're well worth your time.
August 2, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I read a couple of pieces this week that show how people are not just protesting but actively resisting Trump-era abuses and putting themselves on the line to protect their neighbors. They're well worth your time.
Reposted by Robert Gordon
This is a superlative post. All constitutional law professor and students should read it -- and then, of course, go read Richard's great book, too.
I continued to be somewhat amazed/alarmed, however, ... [1]
@williambaude.bsky.social @johnmikhail.bsky.social @jackbalkin.bsky.social
I continued to be somewhat amazed/alarmed, however, ... [1]
@williambaude.bsky.social @johnmikhail.bsky.social @jackbalkin.bsky.social
Today the Balkinization blog features my reflections at the end of its seven-scholar symposium on my new book The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power. You can find my short essay at the link below.
Many thanks to the participants.
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/grat...
Many thanks to the participants.
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/grat...
Balkinization: Gratitude, and a Reply in Two Parts
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
July 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
This is a superlative post. All constitutional law professor and students should read it -- and then, of course, go read Richard's great book, too.
I continued to be somewhat amazed/alarmed, however, ... [1]
@williambaude.bsky.social @johnmikhail.bsky.social @jackbalkin.bsky.social
I continued to be somewhat amazed/alarmed, however, ... [1]
@williambaude.bsky.social @johnmikhail.bsky.social @jackbalkin.bsky.social
Reposted by Robert Gordon
Carving out Jews as the special exception to the general anti-DEI rules of the federal government makes Jews into a specially protected buffer class, which both engenders resentment from others and enables the government to make us scapegoats if things go bad. It’s Court Jews all over again.
Wait wait wait wait so Columbia MUST create a DEI office for Jewish folks but MAY NOT create a DEI office for anyone else? Am I reading this right?
July 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Carving out Jews as the special exception to the general anti-DEI rules of the federal government makes Jews into a specially protected buffer class, which both engenders resentment from others and enables the government to make us scapegoats if things go bad. It’s Court Jews all over again.
Reposted by Robert Gordon
🏙️ Cities getting it right: Instead of blanket cuts, smart governments are modernizing! New in @nytimes.com by @pahlkadot.bsky.social @robertgo.bsky.social showcase pioneers using AI & digital tools to improve services, including @innovateus.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...
Opinion | The Cities and States That Are Getting It Right
www.nytimes.com
July 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
🏙️ Cities getting it right: Instead of blanket cuts, smart governments are modernizing! New in @nytimes.com by @pahlkadot.bsky.social @robertgo.bsky.social showcase pioneers using AI & digital tools to improve services, including @innovateus.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...
Reposted by Robert Gordon
A $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Is THIS Close to Happening. Here’s What It’d Look Like. www.thebulwark.com/p/medicaid-c... from @citizencohn.bsky.social
A $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Is THIS Close to Happening. Here’s What It’d Look Like.
Republicans are about to slash a lifeline for the needy. In North Carolina, people are preparing for chaos and calamity.
www.thebulwark.com
June 29, 2025 at 12:39 PM
A $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Is THIS Close to Happening. Here’s What It’d Look Like. www.thebulwark.com/p/medicaid-c... from @citizencohn.bsky.social
Little-known, big-government & anti-work story from the Big Beautiful Bill: Literally looking for work can cost you your health care. More here:
June 29, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Little-known, big-government & anti-work story from the Big Beautiful Bill: Literally looking for work can cost you your health care. More here:
Striking and spot-on from a blue-state governor: “Democrats should not shy away from talking about accountability and outcomes,” Kotek said in an interview. “That’s a winning message.”
Similar themes from several other folks, including me.
Similar themes from several other folks, including me.
New: Democrats find themselves increasingly divided over how to approach K-12 education. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Debate Over Improving Public Schools Is Dividing Democrats
Some Democrats are using tough rhetoric about public-school performance, signaling an emerging divide within the party over K-12 education.
www.wsj.com
June 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Striking and spot-on from a blue-state governor: “Democrats should not shy away from talking about accountability and outcomes,” Kotek said in an interview. “That’s a winning message.”
Similar themes from several other folks, including me.
Similar themes from several other folks, including me.
Millions of working people rely on Medicaid. If they are laid off, spending all day every day looking for a job will not be good enough to meet new work requirements. If they take too long to find a new job--which most people will, when unemployment is high--they'll lose their health care. 1/x
June 27, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Millions of working people rely on Medicaid. If they are laid off, spending all day every day looking for a job will not be good enough to meet new work requirements. If they take too long to find a new job--which most people will, when unemployment is high--they'll lose their health care. 1/x
Thanks for posting @donmoyn.bsky.social!
New, from Robert Gordon at Can We Still Govern: Trump's work requirements will force working people into a bureaucratic maze that prevents them from working, wastes their time, and hurts their health.
Rather than fight waste, the law creates waste. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-medica...
Rather than fight waste, the law creates waste. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-medica...
How Medicaid Work Requirements Betray Work and Waste Money
I Oversaw Work Requirements in Michigan - Here is What I Told Congress
donmoynihan.substack.com
June 26, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Thanks for posting @donmoyn.bsky.social!
Good vibes and good question in Alexandria today
June 14, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Good vibes and good question in Alexandria today
Reposted by Robert Gordon
Here’s a New York Times photo of the Chicago “No Kings” rally. NYT said the march that followed spanned at least 10 blocks.
June 14, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Here’s a New York Times photo of the Chicago “No Kings” rally. NYT said the march that followed spanned at least 10 blocks.
Got my copy today. The kids are fighting over who gets to read it first. Gonna be me—very excited.
Professor @richardprimus.bsky.social's book is out TODAY!
In it, he argues against the long-standing orthodoxy that Congress can do only what the Constitution expressly authorizes it to do—and nothing more.
More: michigan.law.umich.edu/news/5qs-ric...
Order: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
In it, he argues against the long-standing orthodoxy that Congress can do only what the Constitution expressly authorizes it to do—and nothing more.
More: michigan.law.umich.edu/news/5qs-ric...
Order: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
5Qs: Richard Primus’s New Book Asks the Oldest Constitutional Question | University of Michigan Law School
In his new book, Michigan Law’s Richard Primus argues against the long-standing orthodoxy that Congress can do only what the Constitution expressly authorizes it to do—and nothing more.
michigan.law.umich.edu
June 4, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Got my copy today. The kids are fighting over who gets to read it first. Gonna be me—very excited.
On a bad welfare reform analogy:
It's not, "‘Oh, I’m not going to earn cash because I am getting it already.’ Instead, it’s, ‘I’m not going to earn cash because I have health insurance.’ It’s a much weaker theory of the case... and it is wrong,” Gordon said.
www.huffpost.com/entry/work-r...
It's not, "‘Oh, I’m not going to earn cash because I am getting it already.’ Instead, it’s, ‘I’m not going to earn cash because I have health insurance.’ It’s a much weaker theory of the case... and it is wrong,” Gordon said.
www.huffpost.com/entry/work-r...
The Long Shadow Of Bill Clinton Over The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’
Republicans are using the former president as a shield against Democratic attacks on work requirements.
www.huffpost.com
May 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
On a bad welfare reform analogy:
It's not, "‘Oh, I’m not going to earn cash because I am getting it already.’ Instead, it’s, ‘I’m not going to earn cash because I have health insurance.’ It’s a much weaker theory of the case... and it is wrong,” Gordon said.
www.huffpost.com/entry/work-r...
It's not, "‘Oh, I’m not going to earn cash because I am getting it already.’ Instead, it’s, ‘I’m not going to earn cash because I have health insurance.’ It’s a much weaker theory of the case... and it is wrong,” Gordon said.
www.huffpost.com/entry/work-r...
Reposted by Robert Gordon
Notable statements from a former Israeli Prime Minister.
This is extremely significant. Former 🇮🇱 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (2006-9) wrote in a May 22 Haaretz op-ed that Israel is:
🔴 intentionally waging a war of annihilation
🔴 premeditatedly adopting a policy of starvation
🔴 massacring civilians
🔴 making declarations of genocide
A thread:
🔴 intentionally waging a war of annihilation
🔴 premeditatedly adopting a policy of starvation
🔴 massacring civilians
🔴 making declarations of genocide
A thread:
May 25, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Notable statements from a former Israeli Prime Minister.
Reposted by Robert Gordon
Read this deeply reported piece by @citizencohn.bsky.social on the repeated failure of so-called "work requirements" for Medicaid. Thx to @robertgo.bsky.social for explaining your MI experience & Georgia Budget & Policy Center @gbpp.bsky.social for studying results in GA. @clasp.org
“One of the groups of losers from work requirements are workers”
— Leonardo Cuello @georgetownccf.bsky.social www.thebulwark.com/p/the-gops-b...
— Leonardo Cuello @georgetownccf.bsky.social www.thebulwark.com/p/the-gops-b...
The GOP’s Big Medicaid Idea Was Tried Before—And Failed Badly
Arkansas and Georgia tried work requirements, and the results were not pretty.
www.thebulwark.com
May 21, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Read this deeply reported piece by @citizencohn.bsky.social on the repeated failure of so-called "work requirements" for Medicaid. Thx to @robertgo.bsky.social for explaining your MI experience & Georgia Budget & Policy Center @gbpp.bsky.social for studying results in GA. @clasp.org
Democrats have many reasons to oppose DOGE, but so do Republicans. @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social and I wrote about how House GOP student aid proposals require a Department of Education that DOGE has destroyed.
www.chronicle.com/article/on-s...
www.chronicle.com/article/on-s...
Opinion | On Student Aid, It’s Congressional Republicans vs. DOGE
Accountability measures require a strong Department of Education.
www.chronicle.com
May 16, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Democrats have many reasons to oppose DOGE, but so do Republicans. @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social and I wrote about how House GOP student aid proposals require a Department of Education that DOGE has destroyed.
www.chronicle.com/article/on-s...
www.chronicle.com/article/on-s...
Reposted by Robert Gordon
“Trump is cagey about whether he might try to stay in office after his current term expires,” writes Richard Primus. If the president’s goals conflict with the law, “he will disregard the project of the law as long as he can get away with it”:
Outsmarting the Constitution
Trump’s approach to a possible third term in office reveals his approach toward American law more generally.
bit.ly
May 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
“Trump is cagey about whether he might try to stay in office after his current term expires,” writes Richard Primus. If the president’s goals conflict with the law, “he will disregard the project of the law as long as he can get away with it”:
Reposted by Robert Gordon
Of all the bad SNAP and Medicaid “reform” proposals I’ve seen in 30 years of working on this stuff, the cost shift is the worst. It’s not reform, it’s a bomb.
May 14, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Of all the bad SNAP and Medicaid “reform” proposals I’ve seen in 30 years of working on this stuff, the cost shift is the worst. It’s not reform, it’s a bomb.
The cost shift to states from these SNAP and Medicaid cuts is terrible for the people who depend on them …. And bad news for anyone who depends on state funding for education, or public safety, or transportation. Which is everyone.
www.cbpp.org/research/foo...
www.cbpp.org/research/foo...
House Agriculture Committee Proposal Would Worsen Hunger, Hit State Budgets Hard | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The House Agriculture Committee reconciliation bill would radically alter the structure of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by requiring states to pay a portion of food benefi...
www.cbpp.org
May 14, 2025 at 1:34 AM
The cost shift to states from these SNAP and Medicaid cuts is terrible for the people who depend on them …. And bad news for anyone who depends on state funding for education, or public safety, or transportation. Which is everyone.
www.cbpp.org/research/foo...
www.cbpp.org/research/foo...
Reposted by Robert Gordon
Read @crampell.bsky.social's excellent column on the GOP plan to cut Medicaid and SNAP (with a quote from yours truly)
Opinion | Now might be exactly the worst time to cut Medicaid and food stamps
Cutting the safety net could prolong an economic recession.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Read @crampell.bsky.social's excellent column on the GOP plan to cut Medicaid and SNAP (with a quote from yours truly)
DOGE took over clearing HHS grant announcements a month ago. Guess how many new announcements the agency has posted since then? Zero. Ten were supposed to go up between April 11 and today, but none have. 1/4
Important story that includes some thoughts from me. DOGE is now a superagency, managing processes deep within agencies but core to their missions. And DOGE can now impound funds by refusing to allow grant postings. Next question: Will DOGE begin to approve individual grant awards?
Scoop: DOGE now controls how grant opportunities get posted across government.
DOGE engineer removed users’ permissions to post to Grants-dot-gov without telling them. Now requests flow thru DOGE-controlled mailbox.
with @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social + @hannahnatanson.bsky.social
DOGE engineer removed users’ permissions to post to Grants-dot-gov without telling them. Now requests flow thru DOGE-controlled mailbox.
with @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social + @hannahnatanson.bsky.social
May 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
DOGE took over clearing HHS grant announcements a month ago. Guess how many new announcements the agency has posted since then? Zero. Ten were supposed to go up between April 11 and today, but none have. 1/4