Alex McCourt

Trump Administration Puts New Chokehold on Billions in Health-Research Funding The National Institutes of Health can’t award grants to outside researchers under a new White House restriction.

NEW
The White House is blocking the NIH from awarding new research grants for the rest of the fiscal year

Chokes off billions in research funding

Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol... with @nidhisubs.bsky.social

I’ve got a paper on whether the govt can lawfully outsource its reasoning to AI for rulemaking. TL;DR nope!

Ahhh our casebook is officially published & on the way!!! If you have any interest in teaching (or learning about!) the Second Amendment or firearms law, I hope you'll consider our casebook! Feel free to reach out with any questions about the book or the field!!

www.westacademic.com/Blocher-Char...

Independent Articles Psychiatrists’ Awareness and Use of Voluntary Self-Prohibition as a Firearm Suicide Prevention Tool in Virginia Bryan Barks1, Shannon Frattaroli2 and Paul S. Nestadt3,4 1Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network, Nashville, United States; 2Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, United States; 3Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States and 4Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, United States Abstract Background: Voluntary self-prohibition (VSP) is a suicide prevention policy that allows individuals who recognize their risk for suicide to voluntarily prevent themselves from purchasing firearms through systems requiring background checks. It is unclear whether psychiatrists are aware of this suicide prevention tool or when to recommend it appropriately. Aims: To evaluate Virginia psychiatrists’ awareness and use of VSP alongside Substantial Risk Orders (SROs) to inform policy and practice. Methods: A convenience sample of Virginia psychiatrists was surveyed on knowledge and use of VSP and SRO, including vignettes of patients at varying risk levels. Results: Sixty-three psychiatrists completed the survey. Most (66.7%) were unaware of VSP or SRO. After brief education, 74.1% of respondents chose VSP in the vignette where it was most strongly indicated and 72.2% chose SRO in the vignette where it was most strongly indicated. After learning about VSP, 83% agreed or strongly agreed that VSP could be a useful tool. Limitations: The sample was small and did not collect certain information which may have provided additional insight into respondents’ choices. Conclusion: After brief education, most respondents found VSP potentially useful. Ensuring knowledge of VSP and SRO may improve the uptake of both policies and suicide prevention efforts. Keywords: Suicide; Firearms; Lethal Means; Voluntary Self Prohibition; Substantia…

New on FirstView: "Psychiatrists’ Awareness and Use of Voluntary Self-Prohibition as a Firearm Suicide Prevention Tool in Virginia" by Bryan Barks, Shannon Frattaroli, & Paul S. Nestadt of ‪@jhucgvs.bsky.social‬ reviews mental health professional use of VSP and SRO.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

No, a LOT of them think that. Science may be one of the most social forms of knowledge production we have. Arguably it’s at least as social as creative writing. Actual scientists will tell you this. Yet, millions of people think they can do science alone with an LLM.

New paper out today! Loved working with @drcrifasi.bsky.social and @kellyewroskam.bsky.social on this. We looked at public opinion on gun carrying in “sensitive locations” and found broad support, including among gun owners, for restricting guns in bars, stadiums, and protests.

When we discuss administrative burdens in class, I ask students for examples from their own lives. Language barriers/translation issues *always* come up. A clear burden for members of the public and for agency staff.

The secret to Baltimore's extraordinary year This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.

For everyone who has ever asked, on seeing my Baltimore homicide charts, "How did they do that?"

Trans girl housed in male unit has jaw broken at D.C. juvenile detention center Officials said they've launched a "full review" after the Youth Services Center resident was transported to the hospital following the incident.

A transgender girl housed in a male unit of a Washington, D.C., juvenile detention center has been hospitalized after sustaining multiple injuries, including a broken jaw, during an incident on July 7.
www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...

This is a beautiful essay

JUST IN: A judge has certified a nationwide class aimed at blocking the effects of Trump's birthright citizenship order. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

BREAKING: The Supreme Court *allows* the Trump administration to implement large-scale layoffs and reorganization plans across the federal government, despite a pending legal challenge. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissents. #SCOTUS
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

Collecting Migrant Children’s DNA: A Troubling, but Predictable, Trend in the U.S. : The Hastings Center for Bioethics Recent reports reveal that the U.S. government is systematically collecting DNA from migrant children, some as young as 4 years old, and storing it

www.thehastingscenter.org/collecting-m...

From Justice Jackson's dissent in Trump v. Casa

www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

🚨By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court rules that universal injunctions likely exceed federal courts' authority and rolls back the injunctions protecting birthright citizenship from Trump's attack. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

DOGE enters ATF with mandate to slash gun regulations The agency is working with the ATF general counsel to slash upwards of 50 regulations as the administration cuts the number of agency inspectors.

Exclusive: DOGE enters the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with the goal of revising or eliminating dozens of rules and gun restrictions by July 4.

JUSTICE JACKSON, with whom JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and JUSTICE KAGAN join, dissenting. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 was an exercise in grand ambition. It had to be. In the wake of the Civil War, the American South was consumed by a wave of terrorist violence designed to disenfranchise and intimidate the country’s newly freed citizens and their allies. The threat was existential—not just for the newly liberated, but for democracy itself—and required bold intervention. It was precisely because the goals of the 1871 Act were so ambitious that those most committed to the structures it targeted, including many in South Carolina, opposed the measure so vehemently. A century and a half later, the project of stymying one of the country’s great civil rights laws continues. In this latest chapter, South Carolina urges our Court to adopt a narrow and ahistorical reading of the 1871 Act’s first section, which is codified today at 42 U. S. C. §1983. That venerable provision permits any citizen to obtain redress in federal court for “the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws” of the United States. South Carolina asks us to hollow out that provision so that

In her furious dissent, Jackson writes of the Supreme Court's decision: "The project of stymying one of the country’s great civil rights laws continues." She likens today's ruling to notorious decisions after the Civil War cutting back civil rights statutes. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

BREAKING: On a 6-3 vote, SCOTUS conservatives hold that individuals have no right to sue under the "any qualified provider" provision if a state, here, South Carolina, excludes a medical provider, here, Planned Parenthood from its state's Medicaid program. Jackson, w/ Sotomayor and Kagan, dissent.

🚨By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court ALLOWS states to defund Planned Parenthood, holding that Medicaid does not give patients a right to obtain care from its providers. All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

The article frames Skrmetti as a poor strategic gamble by activists. In reality, Tennessee passed a categorical ban applicable solely to transgender adolescents which was framed in sex-based terms. The choices were (a) challenge it or (b) concede defeat in advance and abandon trans teens nationwide.

This statement from Stable Baltimore is heartbreaking

What? Some good news on a Friday?

Parent Fellowship Notices of Funding Opportunities are up!

F30, F31, F32, F33

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Grateful to the folks at the Center for Public Health Law Research (@templelegalepi.bsky.social‬) for their excellent MonQcle software, and for the opportunity to speak with them about how we used it on our recent project examining postpartum care for immigrants:

phlr.temple.edu/news/2025/06...

Senator Padilla’s office sends me this video of his take-down and detention at Sec. Noem’s press conference in L.A.

I would say this is a nightmare, but you can wake up from nightmares.

Regs

*Taps mic*

Hello! I’m a former long-time civil servant turned academic.

I wanna tell you some stuff.

First, my service was mostly at a place called OIRA, which is an office that oversees federal regulation. I’d therefore rate myself as an above-average tea-leaf-reader for federal regs.

The 2025 Greenwald Family $5000 Award for the best research paper on gun violence/injury prevention/gun policy is accepting nominations now through July 24, 2025. Qualitative and quantitative studies from all academic disciplines are eligible.
www.firearmresearchsociety.org/2025-greenwa...

Let's just pause to think about parents being forced to choose whether to be deported with their toddlers and babies (including a child with cancer) or leave them behind and the idea that this would somehow be ok if that wasn't a lie.

Figure. Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Among Pregnant People With Opioid Use Disorder in Tennessee, 2010-2021

From JAMA Health Forum: Buprenorphine treatment during pregnancy for opioid use disorder was associated with significantly improved maternal and infant outcomes compared to no treatment. #PAS2025

https://ja.ma/3EyF00J

DOJ cancels grants for gun-violence and addiction prevention, victim advocacy
This claw back of Congressionally approved funding robs communities of life-saving programs that address the top concerns of Americans - gun violence, addiction and overdoses, crime victim services + related research.