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The Missed Opportunity in the President’s Speech

Benjamin A. Kleinerman

Until the last ten minutes or so, I thought Biden’s speech was mostly a missed opportunity. Perhaps not from the perspective of partisanship, but from the perspective of what he claims to be one of the President’s function: to unify the country. For the last ten minutes, he reflected on the meaning of January 6, 2021 and discussed ways to overcome it; those last ten minutes should have extended across what would have been a shorter but more effective speech. The difficulty is, however, that those reflections came only after a speech that would have made much more sense on … Continue reading The Missed Opportunity in the President’s Speech

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Political Exhaustion and Democratic Collapse

George Thomas

I think Ben misses the point of Charlie Sykes’s piece on exhaustion, and especially Jeff’s thought that exhaustion ought to be studied alongside other political phenomena. The Sykes essay recognizes Ben’s point that in many ways there’s been “too much politics.”  As Sykes notes: “The world is too much with us, of course, but the real problem it is that it so dumb, so infused with mind-numbing bad faith, and a grinding sense of futility that anything will matter or change.” We’re exhausted by the persistent assaults on the public mind by the likes of the Big Lie. We’re exhausted by Republicans gaslighting … Continue reading Political Exhaustion and Democratic Collapse

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Why are we so politically exhausted?

Benjamin A. Kleinerman

My Constitutionalist colleague Jeff Tulis posted a link to Charlie Sykes’s essay, “Thoughts on our Political Exhaustion.” Tulis commends the article and seems to suggest that we ought overcome our exhaustion by understanding it and hope again for the future: “Out of better understanding may come hope, and out of hope may come action.” While respecting Tulis’s call for us to return to politics with renewed vigor, I’d take the opposite lesson from Sykes’s essay. We’re exhausted from politics because there’s been so much of it all the time. And so much of it occurs at a level over which … Continue reading Why are we so politically exhausted?

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Political Exhaustion

Jeffrey K. Tulis

Recommended reading today is at The Bulwark, where Charlie Sykes has a nice piece on political exhaustion. He ably describes the state of being of many of us, and many citizens generally, who are attentive to the news. The Orwellian aspects of Trump-ism, combined with frustrations born of the seemingly endless pandemic, fuse to dishearten and disable public spirited people. Sykes identifies political exhaustion as not just our present condition but a phenomenon that needs to be understood and contended with along with more familiar political and constitutional categories, such as authoritarianism, patriotism, nationalism, white supremacy, fascism, etc. Sykes concludes … Continue reading Political Exhaustion

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Republican Self-Government and Judicial Restraint

George Thomas

I appreciate Greg’s linking judicial restraint to the primacy of republican self-government.  And I especially appreciate his insistence that constitutional issues must be the concern of the political branches and the people, not simply the courts. Indeed, I’ve been perplexed in the last several years by originalists of one form or another who take comfort in the fact that President Trump appointed originalist jurists, while undermining the Constitution in so many other ways. “But Gorsuch” was a perverse embrace of judicial supremacy and a legalized Constitution. So Greg and I are in ready agreement that the Court, despite its claims to the contrary, is not … Continue reading Republican Self-Government and Judicial Restraint

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Restraining Judicial Restraint

Greg Weiner

I agree with George that judicial restraint in and of itself does not provide a standard for judging. It may be worth separating two questions: the scope of judicial authority on the one hand and how it should be used on the other. Left wholly to itself, judicial restraint would be agnostic as to how cases should be decided. It would only care whether they should be decided. In other words, one could be an originalist or a living constitutionalist and still believe judges should be restrained. That is inextricable from a belief that constitutional questions are not the exclusive … Continue reading Restraining Judicial Restraint

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BBB and a d(D)emocratic mandate

Benjamin A. Kleinerman

In the wake of Joe Manchin’s refusal to support the Build Back Better Bill, there has been lots of recriminations of our constitutional system. For instance, this tweet calls for structural change because Manchin was able successfully to oppose the rest of his party. “Healthy democracy” is said to require that the 50 Democratic Senators in an evenly divided Senate completely get their way. After all, Manchin is joined in opposition by 50 Republicans. Might we not ask the opposite question: what type of constitutional democracy is it when 50 Democrats can win on everything despite the opposition of exactly … Continue reading BBB and a d(D)emocratic mandate

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Court Reform and Judicial Self-Restraint

George Thomas

Like Jeff Tulis, I admire Adam White’s work. I appreciate both his skepticism of court-packing and his case for self-restraint. And I certainly appreciate Greg Weiner’s point that political actors should not push their constitutional power to the limit. That institutional restraint can be a virtue. Though, if anything, Congress often seems too restrained.  But two points are in order.  First, White is right to worry about whether court-packing and terms limits might cause the Court to be more politicized. In the current environment, he points to some important problems with 18 year term limits for the justices oriented around … Continue reading Court Reform and Judicial Self-Restraint

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More on January 6th

George Thomas

The January 6 Committee continues to uncover extraordinarily valuable information. It is putting together a comprehensive picture of the disturbing events that led up to that day. And Liz Cheney has been exquisite. She has been clear that the attack on the Capitol was part of a larger effort by President Trump to overturn the election. She’s made the case that he was attempting to hinder Congress in carrying out its constitutional duties in an effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Watch her here. And here.  She’s also clear-eyed that Trump’s elections lies continue to be a threat to the future … Continue reading More on January 6th

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Not Right, Adam White

Jeffrey K. Tulis

I know Adam White, admire some of his work, and like him personally. So I was very surprised to see his statement against reforms of the Supreme Court contained in a Report that had been submitted to the White House and released to the public. The Commission’s Report was approved unanimously by the Commission and released by the White House. The Report does not advocate positions but instead attempts to fairly present the array of views on each side of the reform issues and proposals. Some citizens have criticized the Report and the White House for avoiding hard political choices. … Continue reading Not Right, Adam White