Pat Sobkowski

For folks keeping track at home, GAO has now found 5 Impoundment Control Act violations by the second Trump Administration.

And they have at least 30 more ongoing ICA investigations.

Executive Disorder, by William G. Howell, Terry M. Moe

Good essay by Will Howell and Terry Moe. From their forthcoming book. harpers.org/archive/2025...

"If Harvard wants the Brown deal, then it has to be like Brown, and I just think it's not," May Mailman, the top White House official under Stephen Miller who has served as the architect of the administration's crusade against top schools, said in an interview in the West Wing last week. Ms. Mailman, who graduated from Harvard Law School, pointed out that Brown, unlike Harvard, did not sue the administration. She challenged Harvard to reach an agreement that included terms that would allow the government to more closely scrutinize its behavior.

Harvard: “We’re suing you for unconstitutionally retaliating against us.”

Trump lawyers: “This demands retaliation!”

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/u...

DSotM is also zero skips for me.

Abbey Road

I've been struggling with when to post this draft article, but last week's news about Trump firing the Commissioner of Labor Statistics convinced me I better share it now. It unpacks both the promise and the peril of what I call "informational administration."

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Real Strains Inside the BLS Made It Vulnerable to Trump’s Accusations The agency has faced tighter budgets, falling response rates to its surveys and a staff shortage.

Okay, but even if this is true, it’s still pretext.

www.wsj.com/economy/real...

It’s pretty crazy that he wrote this as a law student.

Yes. And unless I’ve missed something, they’ve been pretty quiet about the authoritarian threat to universities.

This was the thing with Haidt/Lukianoff. No one is saying that shouting down speakers is great. But the instances are few and far between, and that hardly supports their argument that everyone is too fragile or that universities are in crisis.

Post calling them “low IQ individuals”

When you suck at coaching football, run for Congress.

Abrams v. US, 250 US 616 (1919) (Holmes, J., dissenting).

Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said “our Constitution is an experiment as all life is an experiment.”

What the quote doesn’t capture is the possibility of funding for the experiment being stopped at the barrel of a gun.

Good point. I’ve never had caviar but it doesn’t sound appealing to me.

Would take fish over it any day. I’d also take shrimp over it.

I genuinely do not get the hype surrounding lobster. It’s mediocre.

One of my souvenirs from Harvard Book Store.

Also got Richard Fallon’s “The Dynamic Constitution” and Claire Priest’s “Credit Nation.”

I guarded on the wave pool. You should’ve seen the layer of body fluid, sunscreen, etc. on the surface after a busy day.

Waterparks suck. I lifeguarded at one for four years and it’s gross.

Thoughts about the unitary executive and “accountability” in light of Trump’s firing of BLS commissioner.

The commissioner of BLS is not protected from removal. The statute says a term of 4 years, but they really serve at the pleasure of the president.

Always listen to and read, Noah:

bsky.app/profile/naro...

Another valuable thread👇🏻

bsky.app/profile/phil...

Despite the lack of statutory removal protection and Trump acting “lawfully”, this exposes a huge flaw in the “democratic accountability” justification for the unitary executive:

How can the People hold a president accountable for the economy if they don’t have reliable economic data? They can’t!

This is clear cut retaliation against a civil servant tasked with compiling and maintaining complex economic data.

Trump’s brand of totalitarianism privileges vanity over reality. And there’s a chance he will cost us something very valuable: reliable economic data.

Some people will hand wave this away—“well Trump acted lawfully, just read the statute!”

This misses the point and I think the only way you can reach the above conclusion is by turning a blind eye to what Trump is trying to do.

Thoughts about the unitary executive and “accountability” in light of Trump’s firing of BLS commissioner.

The commissioner of BLS is not protected from removal. The statute says a term of 4 years, but they really serve at the pleasure of the president.

A few scattered thoughts on BLS:

Trump would have done better to install a loyalist before the jobs numbers started looking like trouble. The post-revision tantrum and sacking will make it, if anything, harder rather than easier to cook the books without anyone taking notice (1/x)

I heard the Princeton Law Review is looking for submissions

I’m honestly for insulating everyone from removal. Even cabinet members. And I think Congress has the authority to do it.