Mathias Hong

Mathias Hong

@hongmathias.bsky.social

Human Rights & Constitutional Law • Prof. of Public Law (Kehl) (private account; reposts ≤ endorsement) • 2005-2008: law clerk @BVerfG (Federal Constitutional Court of Germany) • https://verfassungsblog.de/author/mathias-hong/ • (Foto (c) U. Völkner)

2K followers99 following5.6K posts

Mathias Hong reposted

Citizens United could be overturned on the basis of a new understanding of the facts. Limits on expenditures that are narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling objective of fair elections could pass First Amendment scrutiny. But I don’t see this Court doing so, so we must amend the Constitution.

Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social

Billionaire families have spent $1.7 BILLION on the 2026 midterms so far — a 5,200% increase since the 2010 midterms. Citizens United is among the worst decisions in history. It corrupts our system every day. Big Money is the root of our dysfunction.

Mathias Hong reposted

An important part of The Fix is ending gerrymandering. Congress could end it with a statute that requires all states to do what Michigan does — appoint a bipartisan commission to draw fair district lines. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/17/o...

nytimes.comOpinion | How to End Gerrymandering (Gift Article)A ban on extreme partisan gerrymandering could restore much of the congressional diversity that the Voting Rights Act initially made possible.

Mathias Hong reposted

Litman: Susan Collins walking back her vote to confirm Kavanaugh sounds familiar... Murray: Believe Black women.

Mathias Hong reposted

9th Circuit rules Trump illegally federalized National Guard in LA last year. Ruling has little immediate effect, but sets precedent on judicial review of executive invocation of emergency powers for domestic use of military, and on the meaning of “rebellion.” reason.com/volokh/2026/...

reason.comNinth Circuit Rules Trump Illegally Federalized National Guard in Los AngelesThe ruling is an important decision on judicial review of executive invocation of emergency powers to use the military for domestic law enforcement.

Luttig: "House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress." Would the Supreme Court intervene? "At least we *hope* it will, but can we be sure with this court?"

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"So enthralled with the forty-seventh president are today’s House Republicans that they long ago abandoned everything the Republican Party has stood for since its founders first met in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854."

"The Republican Party ... must finally loose the chains of its political and moral enslavement to Donald Trump and separate itself from the MAGA political party cult. The writing is already on the wall, Republicans."

Luttig: "House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress." Would the Supreme Court intervene? "At least we *hope* it will, but can we be sure with this court?"

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"Before..., it was the Republicans who professed to stand for the Constitution... Republicans were the proud party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. It was our party that could be expected to put country before party when the time came ..."

"... as when Barry Goldwater and other party elders told Richard Nixon in 1974 that it was time to resign the presidency. That was then. None of this is true of today’s Republican Party and this Republican Congress."

Luttig: "House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress." Would the Supreme Court intervene? "At least we *hope* it will, but can we be sure with this court?"

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"This is also the court that has cynically authorized Trump’s lawlessness for the past two years through its aptly named “shadow docket,” without so much as briefing, argument, or written opinion. But surely by now this court must understand what it has wrought for the U.S. and the Constitution..."

"... and is aghast as we all are, even if it is not penitent. Surely, surely, it will understand the signal moment in American constitutional history that would be presented, and this time understand its supreme obligation to the nation."

Luttig: "House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress." Would the Supreme Court intervene? "At least we *hope* it will, but can we be sure with this court?"

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"I don’t intend to be overly sanguine about this Supreme Court. This is the court that shattered the one constitutional truth in the U.S. since 1789 that “no man is above the law” and placed Donald Trump of all presidents above the law in Trump v. United States."

"This is the court that betrayed the Constitution by refusing even to decide whether Trump was disqualified from the presidency under the Fourteenth Amendment because of his insurrection against the Constitution, which he clearly was."

Luttig: "House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress." Would the Supreme Court intervene? "At least we *hope* it will, but can we be sure with this court?"

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"It will never be a nonjusticiable political question whether the ... House of Representatives by simple majority vote can refuse to seat a member elected ... in a free and fair election on the pretextual and unsupported assertion that the member-elect’s election was tainted by fraud."

"For in the decision of this question lies the answer to perhaps the most fundamental question under the Constitution: Is the United States of America a democracy, in which “We the People” elect our representatives to the Congress and to the presidency, or is it not?"

Luttig: "House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress." Would the Supreme Court intervene? "At least we *hope* it will, but can we be sure with this court?"

"Judicial review of the House’s decision not to seat Democratic representatives-elect in the 120th Congress would take weeks, if not months, during which time the United States would be in the throes of a paralyzing constitutional crisis ..."

Mathias Hong reposted

Für alle, die am "multidirektionalen Erinnern" interessiert sind: Gerade ist unser prächtiger Sammelband erschienen, entstanden an der Uni Halle und open access lesbar, aber bitte auch Bibliotheken zum Kauf empfehlen.https://www.nomos-shop.de/de/p/erinnern-in-komplexitaet-gr-978-3-487-17129-6

Mathias Hong reposted

Replying to @ericlipton.nytimes.com

The E.P.A. knows how serious the cancer risk is from chemical plants that President Trump gave waivers to. There are thousands of pages of agency documents that detail this risk. We read them.

Mathias Hong reposted

Replying to @ericlipton.nytimes.com

They are among the biggest sources of cancer-causing pollution: chemical manufacturers, steel-making plants, facilities that sterilize medical devices. In 2024, they were required to take steps to reduce toxic emissions. That all changed when President Trump returned to office and gave them a pass.

Mathias Hong reposted

Replying to @ericlipton.nytimes.com

What we learned is that former petrochemical lobbyists now inside the EPA are meeting with former clients and then moving to force career staff at the EPA to rollback public health protections. We found the actual documents detailing these moves. Smoking guns. (Redlines striking protections)

Mathias Hong reposted

JUST POSTED: Today at The NYT we are publishing a major investigation into how President Trump used his executive powers to expose millions of Americans to greater cancer risks. A six month-long investigation built on more than 10,000 pages of FOIA records. Read it www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...

nytimes.comHow Trump Gave the Worst Polluters a Free Pass (Gift Article)The president temporarily waived clean-air rules for industrial facilities that spew cancer-causing gases. Then his appointees worked to gut the regulations altogether.

Mathias Hong reposted

On 17 October I was at Place de la République. The police fired tear gas and stun grenades in astonishing quantities. Most of the people around me were school pupils. I spoke to @verfassungsblog.de about that night and what international law says about policing minors 🧵