Jennifer Szalay, a non-fiction book critic for the New York Times, reviewed a book by University of California Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and argued that the Constitution is “trapped in amber.”
Chemerinsky's book “Democracy Will Not Last Forever,” released on August 20, United States Constitution “It is an irredeemable threat to American democracy.” Szalay argued that “constitution worship” could be damaging to the American political system. reviewCiting Chemerinsky and other liberal legal scholars, they argue that the document created conditions for a minority to seize tyrannical power and block it. (Related: Law School Dean Tells MSNBC It's Time to Abolish the Constitution)
University of California Berkeley Law President Erwin Chemerinsky said the new constitution is crucial because it formalizes the United States' evolution into a purely national democracy: “The Electoral College is increasingly inclined to choose the president who loses the popular vote. Having two senators for each state… pic.twitter.com/FXpD1YGRg2
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 30, 2024
“The harms of constitutional worship, according to this argument, extend to the structure of the political system itself: the nation's politics increasingly flow through the judiciary, and control of the courts, especially the Supreme Court, has become a means of consolidating power regardless of the wishes of the majority of the population,” Sarai writes. “The disempowerment of the majority, combined with extrajudicial political gridlock and institutional paralysis, fuels public discontent. The document that is meant to be a bulwark against authoritarianism risks fostering widespread skepticism that fosters the spread of authoritarianism.”
The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions on abortion, gun rights, presidential immunity and the eligibility of former President Donald Trump have angered liberals, who have responded by proposing to impose term limits on justices or expand the size of the court.
Sarai noted that some of the reforms Chemerinsky sought could be achieved through constitutional reform, but seemed to suggest that such changes were unlikely to occur because of the disregard for the 1992 constitutional ratification. 27th Amendmentargued that the ratification of the 26th Amendment in 1971, which lowered the voting age to 18, was the last “big” change to a document she claims was “locked in amber.”
Chemerinsky on August 23 Editorial The Los Angeles Times said Americans should consider a new governing document that criticizes equal representation for states in the U.S. Senate as “deeply undemocratic” and opposes the filibuster.
Democrats had sought to abolish the filibuster under the Biden administration, but were blocked at the time by Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Chemerinsky also wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times against the Electoral College, citing the 2000 and 2016 elections in which Republicans George W. Bush and Donald Trump won the presidential election despite losing the popular vote.
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