Matthew Clair

Justin J. Pearson of the 'Tennessee Three' Has Had It With 'Mediocrity' -- So He's Running for Congress

Justin J. Pearson — the 30-year-old Memphis representative and member of the “Tennessee Three” who protested gun violence — has announced a bid to primary 76-year-old Democrat Steve Cohen for a seat in the U.S. House.

The Supreme Court v. Democracy The Nation’s justice correspondent previews the court’s coming term—and explains why it will never stand up to Trump.

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Toward the Next American University: A Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Higher Ed - Public Books The path higher education was on before Trump’s reelection was neither certain nor stable. There is not much to go back to now.

A thoughtful series of essays on the present crisis, and possible future, of higher education in @publicbooks.bsky.social

www.publicbooks.org/toward-the-n...

Punishment in All but Name - Mary Ellen Stitt - Inquest Drug diversion programs are hyped by reformists as alternatives to prison—but they function just like punishment and people often end up incarcerated anyway.

"Treatment providers are asked to exercise . . . coercive control over their court-mandated clients, warping the therapeutic relationship." Mary Ellen Stitt w/
@uchicagopress.bsky.social on how treatment ends up feeling a lot like punishment when courts get involved:

Race and Racism in Trump 2.0 With Victor Ray and Hakeem Jefferson Right Now With Perry Bacon

Thanks to @victorerikray.bsky.social and @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social for a great conversation. You can watch or download via Apple Podcasts and listen. newrepublic.substack.com/p/race-and-r...

Pls share w/ your students -- Univ. of Minnesota's Sociology department is hosting a "how to apply" event for PhD applicants. Visit cla.umn.edu/sociology/gr... for more info. The world of higher ed (and beyond) is in crisis, but sociology can help us better understand the problems + solutions.

New article ahead of print!

Read Matthew Clair and colleagues' latest article -- Spatial Burdens of State Institutions: The Case of Criminal Courthouses

How does space shape access to state institutions and deepen inequality?

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

We're hiring for a senior appointment at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor!

Apply here: facultypositions.stanford.edu/en-us/job/49...

We know we haven’t been very active here, but rest assured we are active in real life!

Save the date for the LPE in Europe Summer Academy 2026: 10-12 June, University of Glasgow.

Call for applications will follow!

Sounds amazing!

bsky.app/profile/lpei...

Inside the Memphis Chamber of Commerce’s Push for Elon Musk’s xAI Data Center In the face of intense public opposition, the city’s Chamber of Commerce has gone to unusual lengths to promote Musk’s xAI facility: sending out a mailer, for the first time in recent memory, that inc...

Shelby County, where Musk’s xAI facility sits, has Tennessee’s highest rate of ER visits for asthma.

For the majority-Black residents of the area, emissions from the company’s methane gas turbines exacerbate longstanding public health concerns.

By @wendicthomas.bsky.social

The Supreme Court says colleges can’t consider race. But ICE can. So much for the justices' promise of a "colorblind Constitution."

The Supreme Court is forging an America where weighing race can be used to harm minorities, but not to protect them.

Huge win for women and also for New Mexico, the economy, businesses, children, and society at large!

✍️ In grad school, @courtneyboen.bsky.social and I talked often about the emotions that seemed to undergird racism. Trayvon, Tamir, Mike Brown and too many more changed us. Ten years later, our findings in @sfjournal.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...

For Gen Z, the Library Is Political People say libraries are dying. Young librarians think they’re just evolving — and expanding their social conscience as they do.

Very happy to read about these young, principled, and interesting librarians working in various places in Philadelphia 📚

www.phillymag.com/news/2025/08...

Them: “Cities are all rotting hellscapes!”

Cities:

Black organizers, elected leaders are preparing for Trump’s possible military deployment to Chicago • The TRiiBE Although details are scarce, Black organizers are coming up with a response plan to protect Chicagoans if Trump sends in the military.

NEW — Black organizers and elected leaders gathered today to denounce Trump’s threats to send military forces to Chicago.

They are developing a 30-day emergency response plan, which includes establishing mutual aid hubs and Know Your Rights training sessions.

thetriibe.com/2025/08/blac...

Flyer “calling all scholar-activists” to apply for fellowships with the Center for Engaged Scholarship. Application period is between October 1-December 1.

A great funding opportunity for ABD graduate students in the social sciences and humanities whose research is focused on social justice.
cescholar.org

Flyer “calling all scholar-activists” to apply for fellowships with the Center for Engaged Scholarship. Application period is between October 1-December 1.

A great funding opportunity for ABD graduate students in the social sciences and humanities whose research is focused on social justice.
cescholar.org

UPDATE: Lisa Cook says she's not going anywhere and Trump's bid to fire her is baseless. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Says He Is Removing Lisa Cook From Federal Reserve Board

The Supreme Court’s conservatives bear SO much blame for this disaster. They really thought they could let Trump fire every agency leader EXCEPT members of the Fed, and Trump would abide by their stern admonition to leave the Fed alone. Embarrassing stupidity. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...

Law Firm Pressures Brown University to Erase Research on Anti-Wind Groups

My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up.

NYT just covered it. 1/n

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...

Eager to read, and think with, this important book by @galvinalmanza.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/galv...

Comment by Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law saying that The Price of Mercy is, quite simply, the gutsiest book ever written about the gritty reality of something nobody who reads this astonishing inside-the-walls account can continue to call the criminal justice system.

Comment by Jane Mayer, Author of Dark Money, saying "Anyone who cares about justice should read this book."

Picture of the book, which has a cream cover with a black crack down the middle and a small woman in a suit standing on the edge of the crack, which splits her shadow. The title The Price of Mercy is in red, and the subtitle, in blue, reads Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender's Search for Justice in America. The author's name, Emily Galvin Almanza, is in red at the bottom. The image notes that the book will be on sale February 17th, 2026.

Quote from Congressman Jamie Raskin reading "A serious game-changer for America---if we're listening."

I have big news: I wrote a book!

It’s called The Price of Mercy, and it’s about the violence, cruelty, and dysfunction baked into our legal system, and what we can do about it.

It’s full of real-world stories, hard data, and the voices of people fighting to fix what’s broken.

A New Narrative of Civil Rights | Harvard Magazine Political philosopher Brandon Terry’s vision of racial progress

“But if all you teach is hopelessness and that nothing can change,” Terry added, “you don’t train people to look for unexpected contingencies.”

www.harvardmagazine.com/social-scien...

Foundations step in to offer $37 million lifeline to public media The Knight, MacArthur, Ford and Robert Wood Johnson foundations, plus the Schmidt Family Foundation and the Melinda Gates-led group Pivotal Ventures are contributors.

Major philanthropic organizations including Knight, MacArthur, and Ford announced they're committing nearly $37 million in emergency funding to keep public media stations afloat after Donald Trump's rescissions package stripped away federal funding.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

This oped builds off this news from last week that I want to share because that's a boss headline

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/08/m...

Border Patrol agents stage show of force at Newsom's 'big beautiful press conference' Border Patrol agents arrested at least one person, who a coworker said was delivering strawberries, outside of Gov. Gavin Newsom's event in Little Tokyo.

Border Patrol agents stage show of force at Newsom's 'big beautiful press conference'