Joey Cozza

Some professional news: after 8 years in Texas, I’m heading back east. Starting in July, I’ll be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at @smithcollege! I’m going to miss my community here in Houston, but I’m very excited for this new adventure!

This is heartbreaking. Ran was a member of my dissertation committee and his work was a huge inspiration. His feedback no doubt made my work stronger and made me a better scholar. He was a brilliant, transformative, and generous scholar and mentor who will be sorely missed 💔

First year in the books! Lots to reflect on, but one thing is clear: Smith is a very special place. Happy Commencement, Smithies!

The Supreme Court finds that a group of African American voters failed to prove that an earlier Louisiana map, containing just one majority-Black district, violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and that, as a result, "no compelling interest" justified the intentional consideration of race in drawing a second. Alito said the Constitution "almost never permits" discrimination on the basis of race.

The court says their ruling does NOT overturn Gingles, which is the case that lays out a test for whether a map violates Section 2 of the VRA. They're "updating it." (Again, this is from the syllabus, not from Alito's majority opinion.)

The Supreme Court has ruled in Callais v. Louisiana. It's a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines that throws out Louisiana's congressional map as a racial gerrymander.

@robert_stagg Yes!

@JoeFCozza !! Is that Aimee too?

Still a Houston celebrity 💅

BREAKING: The Supreme Court takes up two new cases for next term, including a case over Colorado’s exclusion of Catholic preschools from public funding. The case specifically raises a question the court has circled around for years: Whether 1990’s Employment Division v. Smith should be overruled.

Supreme Court turns away parental rights dispute involving child's gender transition in school. cbsn.ws/4dYpo66

BREAKING: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán concedes defeat to Peter Magyar after "painful" election result, ending 16 years in power. apnews.com/article/hungar…

My family in Philly insist on telling people I live in Boston no matter how many times I remind them Western Mass is actually quite far from Boston

Article I, Section 4, Clause 1

The court's first and only opinion for the day is in Chiles v. Salazar, on whether a Colorado law barring conversion therapy violates free speech. The opinion is from Justice Gorsuch and the vote is 8-1, with Justice Jackson dissenting.

Pleased to report that I've reached the stage of my career where I no longer have stress dreams about taking an exam for a class I didn't know I was enrolled in. Now I have stress dreams that I have to teach a class I didn't know I had been assigned to teach.

Jürgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. apnews.com/article/juerge…

Last semester in Con Law, instead of giving my students a hypothetical case, they assessed the Learning Resources case. They predicted both the outcome and logic of today's opinion from the Court. Very proud!

Key section of Roberts' opinion. "The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs... he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it."

The Supreme Court is clear that tariffs are taxes.

6-3 decision. “It is also telling that in IEEPA’s half century of existence, no President has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs, let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope.” “Accordingly, the President must “point to clear congressional authorization” to justify his extraordinary assertion of that power. He cannot.” supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf…

NEW: The Supreme Court has held that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf…