Brian Highsmith

🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

Bay Area cities' tax base compared to the average for the area, per these folks' fascinating interactive. Can kinda tell why services in Oakland might be more strapped than in Marin.

But stepping back, in many ways the bigger problem is Frenk's misunderstanding of his own job. Universities only succeed in our work through particular virtues and practices. We listen carefully. When we speak, we try to do so in an informed way. Frenk offered a master class in how NOT to do that.

The suggestion that representing someone who did horrendous things—and that inviting such a lawyer to speak on a panel at a conference—in any way reflects an endorsement of those terrible deeds is a threat to democracy, at a time when democracy is already teetering.

Very useful and important piece. I will add that another thing both "camps" could unite on is SCOTUS reform, as neither can get far without it.

NEW: Maine is one of 2 states that never strips people’s right to vote, and allows them to vote from prison. But in reality, logistical hurdles abound, & prisoners have organized hard for years to make sure everyone knows their rights. I learned a lot from this amazing reporting.

This state supreme court opinion pulls no punches: “This court does not anchor Hawaiʻi’s due process rights to the federal floor. Especially one that keeps sinking. . . . State constitutionalism makes it easy to consider Roberts Court jurisprudence ‘white noise.’”

yes

One reason to care about state supreme courts: They are only defender of abortion rights in some places. In Kansas, Wyoming, Missouri, New Mexico, justices who ruled in favor of abortion access are on ballot this year. And Right is going after them. Time to learn more—I covered all states:

It's not that I think they have a super-secret plan to overturn the elections and seize power, but you're watching an entire political party, from top to bottom, meme itself into convincing itself that its opponents are inherently illegitimate, and that road doesn't go anywhere good.

And that youngster grew up to be Justice William O. Douglas.

found just now in a 1911 socialist newspaper

Love this paper showing how "the institutional structure of US fiscal federalism allows some jurisdictions to function as tax shelters for wealthy residents and corps, while conversely subjecting other jurisdictions to severe fiscal stress, even in broadly prosperous metro areas." bit.ly/4ykwWYx

roberts et al have a mental model of racism as being defined entirely by the most atavistic mania of the jim crow south. if it isn’t that, if it wears suits and ties and speaks the language of national security and executive authority, then it not only doesn’t count, *it’s not racism*

NEW: What happens when corporations don't just influence government, but begin to function like governments themselves? @bhighsmith.bsky.social argues that powerful companies are increasingly securing special tax breaks, regulatory carveouts, and even governing power that weaken local democracy.

I'm really looking forward to teaching this new experiential seminar, "Local Governance and the Food Culture of Greater Los Angeles," next year at UCLA Law. Reading and restaurant recommendations welcome!

I don’t think people really understand how bad the OMB proposed rule is going to be for state and local govt. We’re talking about putting a full third of state budgets under the explicit control of Russ Vought. (1/2) www.bondbuyer.com/news/cities-...

they are not afraid of him being a bad mayor, they are afraid of him being a good mayor

“In prose as vital and engaging as the cities he celebrates, Resnikoff offers a compelling guide to fixing our urban spaces—and our democracy.”—Yoni Appelbaum, deputy executive editor, The Atlantic and author of STUCK

I’ve been thinking for a while that Slaughter and the preceding decisions are really attacks on the idea of law itself. So I’m very glad to see @nathantankus.bsky.social taking up this argument. www.crisesnotes.com/agency-indep...

i have been thinking about this a lot. my "left-wing" ideas about government reform mostly amount to trying to make the federal government conform with the vision in the constitution: a strong, active and majoritarian congress

if you have feelings about SCOTUS after today, and after the last week, and after the last months and years, remember that at least you can vote for state supreme courts in many places this year, and those matter a ton too my state-by-state guide to every state supreme court contest:

Is it not clear now that reforming the Supreme Court must be at the top of the agenda along with accountability?

the anti-birthright idea didn’t circulate for long enough in conservative legal circles. If it had circulated for another three years it would’ve been a majority opinion. I really do not think this fight is over

The upcoming midterm elections are going to be contested amid a broken Voting Rights Act, "rigorously" invalidated campaign-finance laws, and federal election commissioners who can be fired for no reason. The only people who voted for this absurd legal regime are the unelected justices on the Court

celebrating the supreme court and promoting the fiction that they are standing up against Trump is an insane rhetorical stance for someone in Schumer's position. The Supreme Court Gang of Six is the leading vanguard of the plot to enslave our country, you don't have to hand it to them.

Justice Jackson: "Justice Thomas's telling elides the entire point of the Second Founding: The Reconstruction Amendments were an anticaste, antisubordination reset for the Nation, not a mere spot treatment for the dark stain of slavery."

really cannot be emphasized enough that the drafters of the birthright clause very much considered cases analogous to undocumented immigrants and *included them too*

anyway i think the proper takeaway here is that a bare majority of the court thinks the plain words of the 14th amendment mean what they say, that four members believe there is a secret hidden meaning only recently discovered by hack lawyers

The Birthright citizenship ruling should be a wake up call to any Dem who is still on the fence about court reform. We are essentially one seat change away from the Court undoing Reconstruction by fiat.

With this ruling, the birthright issue is not going away. The right hasn't really begun *organizing* around getting rid of the citizenship clause. Like Roe, this will be their fight for a generation. And if the Democrats just say "we won" and ignore it, like Roe, the Republicans will eventually win.

The thing you need to understand is that there are 2 (TWO) different method for amending the constitution 1) The process laid out in the constititon itself (conventions, or 2/3's of both houses followed by 3/4 of states ratifying) OR 2) find five votes on the Supreme Court.

the other thing is that the extent to which all the republican justices agree that "fraud" is a problem — and the extent to which there is no possible evidence that could dissuade them or other republicans — is a reminder that claims of "fraud" are fundamentally not about the process.

The idea that the FTC must be “overseen” by the President so it does not become “subservient” to Congress seems deeply hostile to the whole enterprise of electoral democracy.

Yes, Congress should be able to do these things. A court this contemptuous of Congress deserves to be packed by Congress, not only to correct these disastrous precedents but also because Congress needs to show both Article II and Article III who’s boss.

need to start thinking now about a full package of judicial reforms: new justices, new circuits, new district courts, ethics reforms, docket reforms, and transparency reforms.

this is a profound misreading of what i said here. which is that if you want to build new housing WITHOUT gentrification, you build it in places where rich people already live while providing amenities in places where low-income people live

The new racist double standard set up by Alito in the TPS ruling: if there’s any other motive in addition to the racism, the racism doesn’t count, but if the state wants to *prevent* discrimination against black people, that is racist and unconstitutional www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

This is such a disturbing flex. He’s basically acknowledging that he and Trump have raised the bar on what scandals presidents can get away with so much that Watergate was nothing compared to them today. True. But yikes.

John Roberts' Constitution forbids any attempt to proactively ameliorate racial discrimination and racial inequality, but permits open racial discrimination as long as there is a facially neutral explanation available, even if it isn't remotely plausible. This, my friends, is "Colorblindness."

It is difficult to read the Supreme Court's opinions over the last week and not see the general trend toward accretion of Court power. Interpretive philosophies like originalism give way to "plain text" readings (by judges) and historical "standards," without any specific guidelines. /1