Administrative burden reflects the onerous interactions that people face when accessing state benefits, services, and rights in areas ranging from social welfare and voting policy to immigration and health policy. While these burdens can be technocratic in nature, a result of inefficient or under-resourced organizations, they have also proven to be highly effective political tools in the conservative project to dismantle key social and political rights, including changes to reproductive rights and recent legislation impacting both Medicaid and SNAP. The broader public implications of this work will be discussed - from policy spaces to public understanding - including what it means to be a public sociologist engaged in this work.