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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Reading what lawyers write about the presidency, it surprises me how often they make empirical predictions about what will happen if we adopt their view of the law. Thanks to Trump, data is pouring in about policy under a unitary executive. It isn't good. www.civitasoutlook.com/symposium-ar...

civitasoutlook.com

Promises of the Unitary Executive

Conservatives should remember that unitary control’s core pathologies will remain for the next left-wing president.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Rice is recruiting 2(+) professors this Fall! Open rank, open field. Looking forward to meeting people who want to come do their best work in our growing Department, at a growing University. (I am not on the committee, but feel free to reach out with questions.) apply.interfolio.com/190537

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Isaiah Johnson @icjohnson.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

My son and I are happy to announce that I will be joining @ricepolisci.bsky.social this coming academic year as a Postdoctoral Associate! I will be working with @lowande.bsky.social in the Executive Policy Research Group (EPRG) to examine the effects of unilateral policymaking. 🍚🦉

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

How should scholars who study American politics change what they do in a political time like ours? I'm skeptical it will get much circulation on this site, but in a new review, I critique the emerging turn toward a kind of political advocacy mixed with research. myumi.ch/w9R2W

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

NYT giving the president exactly what he wants. IT doesn't matter if this is legal or if it works. The point is the story. "The President Tried to Pay the TSA, but Congress Wouldn't Let Him"

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

This only holds if think presidential approval ratings measure anything meaningful in American politics today. Is focusing so much energy on them in both academic and journalistic work helpful for understanding the world? (I don't think so.)

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

This is technically true. But if the rule of law is actually an attitude, and people believe EOs matter, then the technicality doesn't matter. This is why presidents sign symbolic orders anyway. The hope that people will believe in them.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

i see your bat signal and respond by throwing a book

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

The Trump admin owns the public narrative by taking executive action, over and over. Our new study shows this strategy has detectable impacts on Google search traffic for the incumbent president. Ballpark est. similar to pop artists when they release a new album.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

NEW STUDY: White House staff hiring over 1996-2024 shows the diploma divide is in the White House. Elite universities sent far more alumni to work for Democratic presidents. Full paper: myumi.ch/pVMM5 Details: First --> Overall, Democratic presidents tend to value more credentials... 1/6

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

The DOD has billions in military hardware circulating among state and local police. Pleased to announce a tool developed to visualize and track this equipment, along with clean, historical data on all controlled items circulated between 2014-2025. police.executivepolicy.org

police.executivepolicy.org

Police Map - EPRG

Interactive map showing Department of Defense equipment on loan to local law enforcement

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Counterpoint: there's never been more data available about what the government actually does. Most political scientists just have a soft spot for what happens between peoples' ears.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

My book won the 2025 Neustadt award for best book on the American presidency. Presidents enact bad policies, on purpose, because it helps them define their brand & gives the impression they're in charge. If that basic message resonates, please give it some of your reading time: lnkd.in/dVPsriXt

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

When someone tells you a unitary executive will lead to more "energy" (a la Hamilton) remember that the President is a decision-making bottleneck. It's not complicated. The more things you put on his plate, the slower government moves.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

The modern White House has the annual turnover rate of a Chili's. Full paper: shorturl.at/9u1LX

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Why 100 days? Because humans like this number. How many policies were pushed out the door before they should have so the administration could pad its stats? More than any American should be comfortable with.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

The irony is that Congress started delegating this power a century ago because taking it out of their hands helped REDUCE uncertainty about economic winners and losers after elections.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Journalists always frame stories about executive action with words that assign more credit to the Pres, relative to Congress. Executive action is a PR win, even when it's bad policy. (Dark bars: news with exec. action. Light: everything else about the pres, frm Ch 6 of my book: shorturl.at/eilg2)

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

As someone educated outside the elite doctoral programs, EITM was huge for me. If you want to be good enough at finding stuff out (i.e., "research") to be paid to do it, there's no substitute for being around the best of the best and trying to learn from them.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Again: The Trump admin is showing you they have capacity constraints -- they can only do this shake-down procedure piecemeal. If these institutions want this to stop, they'll refuse to negotiate and take them to court. Hold the line, create a bottleneck.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Someone get me a formal theorist stat, I need to know if inter-party bargains are possible when there's no credible commitment for any deal.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Going to the bargaining table guarantees this will continue. But if the goal is to stop executive action, they'd ignore the "review" period and take the gov to court. The President needs to know that if he uses this tactic, that's all his legal counsel will be doing for months. Every time.

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Nick Bednar @nicholasbednar.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

This opinion is a good introduction to the debate in the Appointments Clause. I have one gripe, which is just shameless self-promotion. The gripe is about whether unitary executive theory is "efficient." The efficiency argument ignores administrative capacity. 1/

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Grateful to have had the opportunity to talk about presidential power at the annual Teach In at OU's Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAd6...

youtube.com

Teach-In | University of Oklahoma

YouTube video by University of Oklahoma

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Julian Davis Mortenson @jdmortenson.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Excited to join an amazing group at Oklahoma for tomorrow’s IACH Teach-In—“Presidential Power and the Constitution.” Incredible lineup: Bailey, Lowande, Albert, Katz, Rozelle, Thrower, and Rudalevidge. The whole event will stream tomorrow. www.ou.edu/iach/events/...

ou.edu

Teach-In

The University of Oklahoma

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Center for Political Studies @umisrcps.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

The controversial executive orders under Trump 2.0 are unique because political wins are their primary objective, and because they appear to be illegal by design, says Kenneth Lowande @umisrcps.bsky.social, an expert on executive power. Will they succeed? ➡️ myumi.ch/nyMm5 #PoliSky

myumi.ch

What is unique about executive orders under the second Trump administration? And will they succeed? - Center for Political Studies (CPS) Blog

The EOs under the Trump administration are "unprecedented because they are illegal power grabs by design."

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David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com · 18/02/2025

Unilateral actions serve as window dressing more often than you might think--they allow presidents to make it *look* like they're addressing issues without *actually* doing so. Interested in learning more? Check out @lowande.bsky.social's new book, False Front! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

press.uchicago.edu

False Front

A provocative new perspective on presidential power. Border walls, school bathrooms, student loans, gun control, diversity, abortion, climate change—today, nothing seems out of reach for the president...

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Its now probably obvious to everyone that the American presidency is the most important political institution in the world, but I almost never meet young scholars who say they want to study it.

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Kenny Lowande @lowande.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Full interview: www.npr.org/podcasts/510...

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Bill Resh @billresh.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

I talked with KCBS Radio's Doug Sovern about Trump's use of executive powers and how it fits with historical trends (and doesn't). There's a shout out to @lowande.bsky.social and his great book on the symbolic nature of EOs, among other topics. www.audacy.com/podcast/the-...

audacy.com

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