Nov 15, 2024
Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In theory,
the US Constitution established a system by which the three
branches of government keep each other in check. Political
scientist and constitutional scholar COREY
BRETTSCHNEIDER argues that, in fact, it has more often
been citizen pressure – not the courts or the legislature – that
has rescued us from the anti-democratic exercise of presidential
power. In his discussion with historian Matthew Roth, he describes
how the core democratic principles of the Constitution, beginning
with the opening phrase of the preamble, have inspired citizens to
oppose autocratic presidents from John Adams to Richard Nixon and
to push against the disastrously exclusionary racial politics of
James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Woodrow Wilson. In doing so,
they have often interpreted the constitution in ways that put them
at odds with learned members of the judiciary. Brettschneider
suggests that we might learn from their examples to recover fully
from the first (and now second) Trump administration.
Brettschneider is author of the new book, The Presidents and
the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens
Who Fought to Defend It.
*Note: This podcast was recorded in October of 2024, prior to
the most recent presidential election.