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Abby Matthews

@abbymatthews.bsky.social
249 followers 193 following 22 posts

Political scientist @University at Buffalo, lawyer, matriarch of 2 large dogs and average-sized human, unintentionally types and texts like Chuck Grassley.

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Reposted by Abby Matthews
Katelyn Stauffer @kstauffer.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
ATTENTION WOMEN OF #polisky! Monica Komer & I are organizing our annual women's March Madness bracket! Open to any woman-identifying or non-binary political scientist. Entry fee $10, up to 2 per person. Loser gets money back. Pot split 80-20 btw 1st and 2nd. DM if interested & spread the word!
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 14/03/2026
NEW: They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth. Two Florida women had to attend virtual court hearings while in labor to argue for their right to choose their own medical care. By @amyyurkanin.bsky.social
propublica.org
They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth.
Two Florida women had to attend virtual court hearings while in labor to argue for their right to choose their own medical care. As their state pushes to expand some types of medical freedom, it has a...
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Interested in access to justice, children's rights, or IR? Check out @andreavilan.bsky.social & @rjschoner.bsky.social's fantastic new work in the Journal of Human Rights "Children’s participation in international organizations: Individual petitions in the United Nations."🔥🔥 doi.org/10.1080/1475...
Abstract
Recent scholarship in international relations has shown that nonstate actors’ access to international institutions has expanded, including for victims of human rights abuse. Yet, although children are protected by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and are considered ideal victims, they face significant barriers to justice. In 2011, children gained direct access to submit petitions to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Who are these children, and what do they petition about? We introduce novel data on children’s petitions, including country targets, topics, ages, legal representation, and decisions. We find that migration is a dominant topic of petitions and that young children are unlikely to be the authors of petitions. In contrast to scholarship for other treaty bodies, we also find that children are overwhelmingly accompanied by lawyers and family members in the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This article centers children themselves as active participants in international governance and provides meaningful insights into both academic and policy debates over children’s agency and nonstate access to international institutions.
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Jessica Schoenherr @jessicaann87.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Relevantly, @elizabethlane.bsky.social and I have a JOP coming out on this very topic, where we examine 34 years of citation data to address attorney targeting of justices. TLDR: yes, they do it and yes, it works. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
journals.uchicago.edu
Cite and Sway? Attorneys, Briefs, and Persuasion at the U.S. Supreme Court | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/02/2026
Trump on his multiple suits against the federal government: "I'm supposed to work out a settlement with myself ... We could make it a substantial amount, nobody would care, because it's gonna go to numerous, very good charities."
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
We see you with that SCOTUS pack on the interim/shadow docket, @tdunc17.bsky.social!
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Spring Law and Courts Women's Writing Groups are a go! Link to sign up is below, due date for signing up is 1/30. Come join us! Good work across the law and courts subfield gets done here! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
link.sbstck.com
Law and Courts Women's Writing Group
Writing groups for the Spring 2026 semester
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
One basic pattern here is that DHS officials are engaging in violence simply because they are irritated at citizens protesting them. There is no plausible threat of violence here. He just wants to inflict pain, and believes there will be no penalty for doing so.
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Something fun and lighthearted to talk about around the Thanksgiving table tomorrow: are SCOTUS justices racist? Here's @lizmaltby.bsky.social and my perspective:
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LSE US Politics and Policy blog - USAPP @lseusablog.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Supreme Court justices use racial stereotypes when deciding cases find Elizabeth Maltby of @unlv.edu and @abbymatthews.bsky.social of @sunyofficial.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
How Supreme Court justices use racial stereotypes when deciding cases | USAPP
Conservative justices are consistently less likely than liberals to side with criminal defendants, and that gap grows wider for defendants of color.
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
IMPORTANT EXTENSION! The SPSA Neal Tate Best Paper Committee is extending the deadline to Nov 3, 5:00 pm EST. The 2026 Neal Award is given to the author(s) of the Best Paper on Judicial Politics presented at the 2025 SPSA Annual Meeting. Email papers to spsa.finance@spsa.net.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
The New York Times publishes a handy guide to which federal forces are terrorizing us at any moment. This is America, 2025.
“Making Sense of the Federal Forces on the Streets,” with photos of how they’re uniformed and equipped
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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 14/10/2025
wrote about last week's super interesting tribal sovereignty decision in Washington Supreme Court one justice wrote a standalone concurrence basically saying 'the court applied the law correctly, but also the law is terrible and it's our responsibility to say so' ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...
ballsandstrikes.org
A Washington State Supreme Court Justice Condemns Federal Indian Law as Racist and Awful
"Each time a court cites a case that has as its foundation such racist fallacies, it is incumbent on us to call out that racism, even if just in a footnote."
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
NEW: Judge William Young's ruling against Rubio and Noem is a lesson for all in the Trump era. Young lays bare the unconstitutionality of the Trump administration's student deportation efforts — and issues a challenge to America. Today, at Law Dork:
lawdork.com
Judge William Young's ruling against Rubio and Noem is a lesson for all in the Trump era
Young lays bare the unconstitutionality of the Trump administration's student deportation efforts — and issues a challenge to America. Also: More court pushback.
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Some quick takeaways: Median # of pubs for tenure in 1980s: 7 2010s: 10 2020s (so far): 12 more coauthors+broader outlets We map publication trends, coauthorship, institutional divides & gendered patterns. This is important for Law & Courts scholars but also relevant for all political scientists
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Publish or perish…but what exactly does it take to earn tenure in Law & Courts? 📈👩🏽‍⚖️ Our new article tracks 40+ years of tenure portfolios—spoiler: expectations are rising, collaborations are up, but inequities remain. 👇 @alyxmark.bsky.social @melineberger.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/jlc....
cambridge.org
Publishing Public Law: Publication Trends in Law and Courts | Journal of Law and Courts | Cambridge Core
Publishing Public Law: Publication Trends in Law and Courts
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
We're back, y'all! Hitting that #TenureTrackHustle hard, but finding time to support our fellow #JudicialWomen nonetheless! LET'S GO!!!!!!!!! (PS - follow @lawcourtsapsa.bsky.social for all your official APSA Law and Courts content) (PPS - We are not judges, please don't tag us to yell at them!)
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
media.tenor.com
two women are sitting at a table with the words women & power written on it
Alt: two women are sitting at a table with the words women & power written on it
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
I know it may be shocking, but what if some of the Supreme Court justices were racist? Our findings show that litigant race, crime type, and justice ideology jointly shape judicial votes. Out now at JREP with Liz Maltby. cup.org/46JFvjZ #polisky #LawSky
cup.org
Supreme Prejudice: Examining the Supreme Court’s Racial & Criminal Biases | Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics | Cambridge Core
Supreme Prejudice: Examining the Supreme Court’s Racial & Criminal Biases
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Research & Politics @respol.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
@abbymatthews.bsky.social & Rachael Hinkle's analysis of judicial citations demonstrates that diversity in race, gender, *and* partisanship plays a critical role in the evolution of legal doctrine, with judges sharing all 3 salient traits experiencing a 25% increase in citation probability.
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
This will have to count as my Supreme Court term review. I make that point that there's no point in reviewing what the Supreme Court has done because the rule of law is dead in this country anyway. My latest in @thenation.com
thenation.com
The Rule of Law Is Dead in the US
The rule of law presupposes that there are rules that provide a consistent, repeatable, and knowable set of outcomes. That’s no longer the case.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government. That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Thinking about devastating cuts to NSF: US gov-funded science has been the engine upon which most of the tech wealth was generated. But the oligarchs (currently hoarding much of that $) think it’s their own brilliance & not the accident of standing close to the scientific engine that made them rich.
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Southern Political Science Association @spsanews.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Does a litigant’s race or gender influence public support for Supreme Court decisions? Read more: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... #JOP #SupremeCourt #PublicOpinion #PoliticalPerceptions Authors: @jamilscott.bsky.social @elizabethlane.bsky.social @jessicaann87.bsky.social
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Lawprofblawg @lawprofblawg.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
It's student evaluations time. As we ponder them, let's ponder how to fix them. abovethelaw.com/2018/10/weap...
abovethelaw.com
Weaponizing Student Evaluations (Part III) - Above the Law
LawProfBlawg offers some ways to fix student evaluations.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Michigan has a new Supreme Court Justice, as of today. Governor Whitmer appointed Noah Hood, a lower court judge, to the seat of a retiring Republican justice. This means Democratic or Democratic-nominated justices now have a majority of 6-1 on this court. Brief thread:
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Congratulations!! 🥳
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Timothy R. Johnson @trjumn.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
I am always proud of my former graduate students. Today, @rachaelhouston.bsky.social just published this excellent commentary on the @lseusablog.bsky.social. Nice job my friend! @umnpolisci.bsky.social @judicialwomen.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social
blogs.lse.ac.uk
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Friendly reminder that it’s award season! Nominations for Law and Courts section awards are due 3/1! 🏆 Nominate yourself! Nominate good work! Nominate good people! In the famous words of Michael Scott via Wayne Gretzky - "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Take the shot!
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
So excited for you and the dept, congratulations!!
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
🚨New paper alert from Francesca Parente: "The Price of Justice: Compliance and Damages Awarded by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights," in Journal of Law & Courts doi.org/10.1017/jlc.... We saw this in writing group and it's 🔥. #ReadItCiteItSyllabusIt #polisky
Abstract states: What factors explain compliance with monetary damages awarded by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR)? States comply with the payment of monetary damages at higher rates than other forms of reparation. However, the higher compliance rate belies the significant variation in time to compliance with the payment of monetary awards. We identify three case-level characteristics that explain this variation: size of awards, number of victims, and victim identity. We test our hypotheses utilizing original datasets on compliance with monetary damages and case characteristics in IACtHR judgments through 2019, and find support for all three factors on time to compliance.
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
📚📚New book by @cbambrick.bsky.social "Constitutionalizing the Private Sphere: A Comparative Inquiry" with @cambridgeup.bsky.social. The book examines when courts understand private actors, such as private individuals, businesses, schools, and hospitals, to be responsible for constitutional rights.
cambridge.org
Constitutionalizing the Private Sphere
Cambridge Core - Constitutional and Administrative Law - Constitutionalizing the Private Sphere
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Hot off the presses! The new issue of American Politics Research features an article by @jessicaann87.bsky.social and Miles Armaly! Curious about how judicial friendship affects people's perceptions of the Supreme Court? Keep reading! (it's open access!) t.co/RijpfWaXEe #ReadItCiteItSyllabusIt
The image is the abstract text, which is: “Cross-aisle” interpersonal relationships on the Supreme Court receive significant attention from the justices and the media that covers them. When speaking to the public, justices frequently deflect questions about legal differences with each other by pointing to their ability to get along off the bench, suggesting everyone is just doing their job and there are no hard feelings when opinions go the other way. We theorize these tales of off-bench collegiality create a non-judicial avenue for public evaluation of the Court and its justices. But we also suspect that case outcomes limit these stories’ influence. To test this theory, we conducted a survey experiment that exposed individuals to several stories about judicial friendships. We find that discussing friendships influences attitudes toward the Court most when such stories include a clear cue about the friendly justices’ opposing ideologies. When accounting for ex ante policy preferences, however, that influence is entirely attenuated. Our results indicate these stories impact evaluations of the Court, but outcome-based evaluations prove more critical, suggesting the menu of options for the Court to bolster public support is limited in the context of case outcomes.
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
📚 Congratulations to @alyxmark.bsky.social for her new book about state courts! 🎊 In Courts Unmasked (what a great title!), she examines state courts' responses to the pandemic but she also speaks to broader questions of access to justice and access to courts. Learn more below & get your copy today.
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
It's that time yet again! Join our writing groups! If you (1) study law and courts; (2) identify as female or non-binary; and (3) are post-PhD/pre-tenure, come hang! The research is erudite, the conversation perfect, and the vibes immaculate :)
media.tenor.com
a man is taking a picture of himself with a cell phone and the words `` guess who 's back ... back again '' .
Alt: a man is taking a picture of himself with a cell phone and the words `` guess who 's back ... back again '' .
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Done! Thanks for all your reporting.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 16/01/2025
one thing i’m stuck on is this idea that “masculine” energy means license to act like a chud in public, as opposed to more traditional notions of public masculinity, such as those that put a premium on the performance of integrity, honesty, honor and generosity.
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
🏆🏆Congratulations to @rachaelhouston.bsky.social, @christinecbird.bsky.social and Marcy Shieh for winning the Neal Tate Award! #WomenWinAwards #WomenWhoJudicial
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 19/12/2024
NEW: Women experiencing pregnancy loss in states with abortion bans told us they wished they had known what to expect and how to advocate for themselves. We created this guide for anyone who finds themselves in the same position. ⤵️
propub.li
If You’re Pregnant, Here’s What You Should Know About the Medical Procedures That Could Save Your Life
Women experiencing pregnancy loss in states with abortion bans told us they wished they had known what to expect and how to advocate for themselves. We created this guide for anyone who finds…
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Congratulations, @thaliagerzso.bsky.social! 🏆x2⃣! #WomenWinAwards #JuniorsWhoJudicial
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
📚New book alert! 📚 Important and timely work from @kirstenwidner.bsky.social and @annagunderson.bsky.social #polisky
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
The United States has oligarchs now. Not merely rich people with more personal influence on politics than poorer people have, but a few extremely rich people closely connected to the national leader who act in government-like roles despite never being elected or nominated to any official position.
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Abby Matthews @abbymatthews.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
It looks fascinating--congratulations! I can't wait to read it.
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Steve Rogers @steverogersinfo.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Created a Starter Park for the State Politics Community go.bsky.app/LDDwKA9 (Happy to add folks!) #polisky
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Law & Courts Women @judicialwomen.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
SLAY!!!! We love this piece! "280 Characters of Contention: Analyzing Partisan Behavior on Twitter During Supreme Court Confirmation Processes" by Maron W. Sorenson, @rachaelhouston.bsky.social & Amanda Savage. Now out at Journal of Law and Courts. t.co/bmbLle1qfY #polisky
Abstract
We analyze a cache of tweets from partisan users concerning the confirmation hearings of Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Using these original data, we investigate how Twitter users with partisan leanings interact with judicial nominations and confirmations. We find that these users tend to exhibit behavior consistent with offline partisan dynamics. Our analysis reveals that Democrats and Republicans express distinct emotional responses based on the alignment of nominees with their respective parties. Additionally, our study highlights the active participation of partisans in promoting politically charged topics throughout the confirmation process, starting from the vacancy stage.
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Joe Patrice @joepatrice.bsky.social · 31/10/2024
The Constitution makes ONE simple demand of officeholders. Like instructing Adam & Eve to lay off the fruit, the Framers said, "you may want a fancy European title but the nation's integrity demands you refuse." Alito just ignored the Constitution's command.
abovethelaw.com
Sam Alito Got Knighted… Just Like The Founding Fathers EXPLICITLY MADE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
It turns out Sam Alito hates the Constitution as much as you thought he did.
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