The Supreme Court and the Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding

@article{Huq2022TheSC,  title={The Supreme Court and the Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding},  author={Aziz Z Huq},  journal={The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science},  year={2022},  volume={699},  pages={50 - 65},  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:247499952}}
This article explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in contemporary democratic backsliding. I identify three dynamics that have placed American democracy under strain: (1) the incomplete democratization of national institutions created in 1787; (2) a half century of rising inequalities in wealth, market power, and political influence; and (3) a resurgence of intolerant, authoritarian, white-ethnic identity politics associated with the Republican Party. I argue that the Court has proved… 

7 Citations

Courts, the state, and democratization in the United States

The United States is facing an era of acute democratic fragility. The Supreme Court is often understood as a key countermajoritarian institution that often impedes democratization. But adopting an

Stewards, defenders, progenitors, and collaborators: Courts in the age of democratic decline

In this introductory essay to the special issue of Law & Policy, “Global Perspectives on Judicial Politics and Democratic Backsliding,” we critically examine the paradoxical role of courts during

The U.S. Supreme Court and democratic backsliding

    T. Keck
    Political Science, Law
    Law & Policy
  • 2024
This paper assesses the performance of the Supreme Court as democratic guardrail during five prior periods of democratic crisis in the United States. It finds that most such periods witnessed efforts

Erosion, Backsliding, or Abuse: Three Metaphors for Democratic Decline

Drawing on Rosalind Dixon and David Landau’s Abusive Constitutional Borrowing: Legal Globalization and the Subversion of Liberal Democracy, this review essay calls attention to three competing

“Culture and practice eat documents for lunch:” Norms and procedures in the 2020 election cases

The US Supreme Court has been rightfully criticized for its role in contributing to the anti‐democratic processes in the United States. However, the focus on the apex court overlooks the potential

Court-packing and democratic decay: A necessary relationship?

A growing body of literature on the role of courts in democratic backsliding claims that court-packing weakens liberal democracy. However, this is not necessarily the case. The goals of the actors

The Pragmatics of Democratic “Front-Sliding”

Abstract How does a democracy that has survived a close brush with authoritarianism start to recreate conditions of meaningful democratic political competition? What steps are to be taken, and in

76 References

How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy

Is the United States at risk of democratic backsliding? And would the Constitution prevent such decay? To many, the 2016 election campaign and the conduct of newly installed President Donald Trump

How Democratic Is the American Constitution

In this provocative book, one of our most eminent political scientists poses the question, "Why should Americans uphold their constitution?" The vast majority of Americans venerate the Constitution

The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States

An esteemed historian offers a compelling re-thinking of the path America has taken toward its goal of universal suffrage.. Most Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to

Ruling The Void: The Hollowing Of Western Democracy

The argument that Western democracy is being hollowed out, as political participation declines and party allegiance weakens, is now widely cited. Yet the indicators can be uncertain and until now

Political Entrenchment and Public Law

Courts and legal scholars have long been concerned with the problem of “entrenchment” — the ways that incumbents insulate themselves and their favored policies from the normal processes of democratic

Asymmetric Constitutional Hardball

Many have argued that the United States' two major political parties have experienced "asymmetric polarization" in recent decades: The Republican Party has moved significantly further to the right

The Anti-Carolene Court

Once upon a time, Carolene Products provided an inspiring charter for the exercise of the power of judicial review. Intervene to correct flaws in the political process, Carolene instructed courts,

Asymmetric Partisan Polarization, Labor Policy, and Cross-State Political Power-Building

As the Republican Party has moved to the Right, conservative politicians have become more comfortable viewing policy as a means of demobilizing their political adversaries. In this article, I show

The Ironies of the New Religious Liberty Litigation

The plaintiffs in recent religious liberty litigation are very different from plaintiffs in earlier cases. They are not marginalized or politically powerless. They seek to return the country to its

The Supreme Court in American Democracy: Unraveling the Linkages between Public Opinion and Judicial Decision Making

There is wide scholarly agreement that the frequent replacement of justices has kept the Supreme Court generally attuned to public opinion. Recent research indicates that, in addition to this
...

Related Papers

Showing 1 through 3 of 0 Related Papers