When at Times the Mob Is Swayed

Yes, democracies can give way to authoritarian government. And though it can happen here, it probably won't. Why? Because, explains revered constitutional lawyer Burt Neuborne, there are whole chunks of our democratic system, protected by the Constitution, that just aren't up for grabs by Donald Trump or anyone else. In his new book, Neuborne identifies, celebrates, and defends the "parchment barriers" of our "Untouchable Constitution;" an enduring set of protections that stand between us and an authoritarian regime fronted by Donald Trump's tweets. This untouchable Constitution is defended by the courts, who, though they may be swayed by the political winds, are bound to the text of the law and the precedents of the case. Seeking to distinguish the "value-driven issues" that are up for debate and battle today from the bedrock constitutional principles that are not up for grabs, Neuborne argues that there is no imaginable composition of the Supreme Court that would allow a clear infringement of free speech that would pose a serious threat to equality or democracy.

Every unilateral exercise of presidential power can be scrutinized by independent judges, and Neuborne reminds us that the separation of powers and the federal system of states remain firmly intact. Further, Neuborne assures us that respect for the rule of the law would make it impossible for Trump to, for example, reintroduce legal discrimination against the gay community, return women to second-class status by denying them reproductive rights, or re-introduce government supported racism. But although Neuborne has great faith in the courts, he realizes that the true check on the power of an authoritarian government remains in We the People to resist, to bring the cases, to practice nonviolent protest?and that is why this book will be essential for us all to read, so that we may remain We the People.

Burt Neuborne is the Inez Milholland Professor of Civil Liberties and the founding legal director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. He has served as the national legal director of the ACLU, as special counsel to the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, and as a member of the New York City Human Rights Commission. During his fifty years of public interest practice, Neuborne has participated in more than two hundred cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. He played Jerry Falwell's lawyer in Milos Forman's The People vs. Larry Flynt and was the Court TV commentator for the trial of O.J. Simpson. Neuborne is the author of Madison's Music and When at Times the Mob Is Swayed (The New Press) as well as more than fifty scholarly articles, and he has contributed to The Nation. He is married to Helen Redleaf Neuborne and they live in New York.