Matt Motta

There is a very direct line between Russ Vought's attacks on the *people* behind government-funded research, and OMB's latest efforts to unlawfully impound NIH grant funding.

Volume 50 Issue 4 | Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law | Duke University Press

New in JHPPL: special issue marking Medicare’s 60th anniversary.

read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/issue/...

Preexisting immunity to the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus reduces susceptibility to H5N1 infection and disease in ferrets Prior infection with the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus confers protection against H5N1 infection and disease in ferrets.

Yet another reason why seasonal flu vaccination is so important: it may provide partial protection against bird flu infection.

(All the usual caveats about this being an animal-based modeling study apply here)

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The result—an increase of executive power at the expense of legislative authority-does not stand alone. Just last week, this Court granted another stay allowing the President to ignore a federal statute. That decision permitted the President to push forward in dismantling the Department of Education, even though Congress created that agency and tasked it with performing vital functions. See McMahon v. New York, 606 U.S. (2025) (SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 1). If the majority had any valid basis for taking that action (relating, say, to the breadth of the District Court's preliminary injunction) it did not appear on the face of the Court's unreasoned or-der. See id., at _ (order) (slip op., at 1); id., at (SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 18). That order simply signaled that the President could carry on, even in the face of a conflicting statute. So too does this order, and with the same lack of care. The majority has acted on the emergency docket—with "little time, scant briefing, and no argument" —to override Congress's decisions about how to structure administrative agencies so that they can perform their prescribed duties. Wilcox, 605 U.S., at _ (KAGAN, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 5). By means of such actions, this Court may facilitate the permanent transfer of authority, piece by piece by piece, from one branch of Government to another. Respectfully, I dissent.

By a 6-3 vote, SCOTUS lets Trump fire the Dem members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, who are protected against removal by statute.

Dissenting, Kagan says the majority is undertaking a “permanent transfer of authority” from Congress to the president.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Policy agendas of the American state legislatures - Scientific Data Scientific Data - Policy agendas of the American state legislatures

Here's a treat for state politics and policy researchers: Ethan Dee and I published a dataset in Nature: Scientific Data with the universe of state legislative bills since ~2009 coded by 28 policy areas. We used a machine learning model built off open source components.

🚨🚨🚨 The Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley is looking for a postdoc on US voting/election policy. Part of a partnership with the Brennan Center running the Voting Laws Roundup. (I have a feeling this work is gonna be important...)

Apply here: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04879

Science and Democracy Under Siege Documenting Six Months of the Trump Administration’s Destructive Actions

We are six months into the second Trump administration and the scale and severity of its assault on our nation's science and democracy has been unrelenting.

Today, @ucs.org releases a detailed assessment of the damage so far and where we go from here: www.ucs.org/resources/sc... #ProtectScience

About 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry they or someone close to them could be deported About four-in-ten immigrants (43%) say they worry a lot or some, up from 33% in March.

About 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry they or someone close to them could be deported.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/06/27/about-1-in-4-us-adults-worry-they-or-someone-close-to-them-could-be-deported/

very true!

Makary's comments are a perfect example of how Kennedy's HHS manipulates science.

When (real) scientific claims are politically inconvenient, the administration demands "gold standard" RCTs.

But when false claims are politically expedient, they're happy to accept anecdotal evidence as fact.

Everyone mad about "censorship" was actually just a substantive supporter of what they felt was being "censored" (read: criticized).

Now they are substantive opponents of what is being censored (no scare quotes), and so they do not care

You're totally right -- it's so hard to care about *everything.* I think it's up to us to make a convincing case that these issues are worth the attention; however difficult it may be.

Attacks on Higher Education Are Attacks on All Americans If Americans don’t fight back against efforts to dismantle higher education, the U.S. will lose lifesaving medical research, innovation that spurs our economy and the ability to freely study science and society

“If Americans don’t fight back … the U.S. will lose lifesaving medical research, innovation that spurs our economy and the ability to freely study science and society.”


Join the #SummerFightForScience to take action here ➡️zurl.co/zG9W5



zurl.co/F0Wyk

Can we train individuals on survey methods to boost their critical processing of public opinion evidence?

"Survey Methods 101" is now accepted to Public Opinion Quarterly.

Apathy (at best) and antipathy (at worst) would explain a *lot* of what's going on right now...

New paper. What happens when a presidential candidate steps way out of line, not only with the public, but even with his own voters? And on a highly salient issue? Candidates typically don’t do that—they’re too strategic. But Trump isn’t. He’s good for social science. 🧵

An Evidence-Based Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination | NEJM To the Editor: In their Sounding Board article (June 26 issue),1 Prasad and Makary ignore the fact that the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection extend beyond acute outcomes such as hospitalization and de...

Our response (me + @sciencewhizliz.bsky.social ) to the Prasad and Makary COVID-19 FDA policy paper was accepted and published today in NEJM! Read our letter below (it’s the third one):
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Definitely! E.g., it could be the case that close to a majority think that NIH cuts will hurt grad student employment, but that many Americans also don't care. We drew a lot on their work in writing this! Also cc-ing @efranklinfowler.bsky.social @rebekahnagler.bsky.social @sarahgollust.bsky.social

Thanks so much!! And yes, we were pretty shocked some of these figures....

right back at you!! we need all hands on deck to fight for science!

Apathy Over Attacks on Higher Education Needs to Change If Americans don’t fight back against efforts to dismantle higher education, the U.S. will lose lifesaving medical research, innovation that spurs our economy and the ability to freely study science a...

Few Americans actively support the Trump admin's attacks on higher ed. But, our data show that many seem to have no problem with it.

@stecula.bsky.social ‬and I discuss why Americans should *demand* that our elected officials stand up for higher ed.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/atta...

SCOTUS was right to USPSTF's ability to make expert recommendations.

The problem is that the Trump administration has already shown that it is willing to weaponize the civil service in order to achieve its partisan objectives.

USPSTF *needs* to be protected from political interference.

Measuring Conflict in Local Politics Mirya Holman1 , Rebecca Johnson2 , and Tyler Simko3

It’s publication day!!🎊 In a new Urban Affairs Review @urbanaffairsreview.bsky.social piece, Rebecca Johnson, Tyler Simko @simko.bsky.social & I ask: How do you measure conflict in local politics in the United States?
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law | Duke University Press

Delighted to announce that as of this month, I'm now the Editor of @jhppl.bsky.social. I'm humbled and grateful to be taking on the role from @oberlanderunc.bsky.social, who has been such a wonderful editor for 6 years. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl

Summary Table of the massive defunding of biomedical research in the United States
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Anti-vaccine advocates battle over narrative in West Texas, downplaying role of measles in deaths After Daisy Hildebrand died of measles, her death was made public first by Dr. Robert Malone, a vaccine skeptic who blamed the hospital for fumbling her care. Daisy’s father told The Texas Tribune he ...

He also spread misinformation about one of the measles victims in Texas, without the consent of her family or consultation with the people who cared for her! He's a monster. www.texastribune.org/2025/04/16/t...

How the reconciliation bill would change America An assault on the poor, on freedom and the future

New, from me:
They are trying to shove through the massive reconciliation bill as quickly as possible.

Stepping back, the bill is:
*an assault on the poor to benefit the richest
*an assault on freedom
*an assault on the future
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-the-re...

‘This is bull——”: National Science Foundation employees protest HUD's takeover Dozens of National Science Foundation employees crowded the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday to protest the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, w...

Another day testing the limits of resilience.

The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.

Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.

The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.

New piece from me: GOP support for bombing Iran rose between 30 and 50% this week — MAGA is not so isolationist after all!

This is a classic example of party identity trumping values.

www.gelliottmorris.com/p/on-iran-a-...

Congress scholars: I've always wondered about possible executive branch interference in the appointment/dismissal of a parliamentarian.

Could POTUS try to interfere by pressuring the Majority Leader to put a partisan willing to bend the rules in the non-partisan post?

Would love your thoughts!