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.

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

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.

Opinion | The Cities and States That Are Getting It Right

🏙️ 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...

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.

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

More in my testimony here:
bsky.app/profile/donm...

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.

How Medicaid Work Requirements Betray Work and Waste Money I Oversaw Work Requirements in Michigan - Here is What I Told Congress

More below, from my testimony the other day.

donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-medica...

The bills suspend work requirements based on high unemployment only when the rate gets extraordinarily high: if the national unemployment rate is 7.5%, and the county rate is 11%, the requirements apply.

Under the bill, the process of getting removed from Medicaid takes about three months. But when unemployment gets above 7 percent, most people need more than three months to find their next job. So if they're just looking for work, they'll lose their Medicaid.

"Work program" is a term of art. Big ones have shrunken for decades, more since January. The bill provides no funding for them. There's no reason to think most people will be able to get into them even if they try. It's not clear why should they need to, if they just want to look for work.

To meet the new law's "community engagement" requirement, a person has to work, do community service, go to school half-time, be in an approved "work program," or do a mix of the above, for 80 hours a month.

If an unemployed worker just wants to look for work, that's not good enough.

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!

Good vibes and good question in Alexandria today

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.

I don't think welfare reform in 1996 is a cause of Medicaid cuts today. They want to cut Medicaid and will do it one way or another. And esp now, progressives don't need to win an argument against work requirements in principle. This is work requirements for health care and food, for families.

But compared to the 1996 debate, the argument for Medicaid work requirements is worse on the merits and the evidence since. There is legit space for people to say they supported welfare reform then but don't support what's on offer now, as I said in @delaneyrules.bsky.social's piece.

what a treat to see your name! hope all is well, at least personally.

I didn't support welfare reform at the time, but it was a closer question than the work requirements in the House reconciliation bill.

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.

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...

Notable statements from a former Israeli Prime Minister.

Wild that the Supreme Court now makes major rulings in two-page squibs that don’t even bother w dissents. Almost like a Trump EO

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

Opinion | On Student Aid, It’s Congressional Republicans vs. DOGE Accountability measures require a strong Department of Education.

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...

Outsmarting the Constitution Trump’s approach to a possible third term in office reveals his approach toward American law more generally.

“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”:

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.

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...

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...