Trump and Constitutional Democracy: Are Constraints on Power Holding Up?

• In Event: Executive Power and Democratic Functioning in the Trump Era

Abstract

Scholars describe Donald Trump’s presidency as posing an authoritarian threat to constitutional democracy in the United States (Robert C. Lieberman et al., Trumpism and American Democracy: History, Comparison, and the Predicament of Liberal Democracy in the United States; Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die; Yascha Mounk, The People v. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is In Danger and How to Save It; Brian Klaas, The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy).

It is useful to identify and apply a framework that can help assess specific areas in which there are challenges to constitutional democracy and the rule of law. My paper will do three things. First, I will specifically and extensively (in ways not done by other scholars) catalog actions the Trump administration has taken that challenge constitutional democracy in four areas—(a) the independence of the federal justice system, (b) white nationalism and other forms of bigotry, (c) enrichment while in office/kleptocratic questions and (d) freedom of the press/dissent. Second, I will consider the role various actors have played (or perhaps failed to play) in setting limits on presidential power. These actors include: (a) members of Congress, (b) executive branch lawyers and other officials, (c) the press, (d) scholars, and (e) the courts. Finally, to the extent that limits on power are not holding up, I will consider how the U.S. system could be modified to strengthen constitutional democracy and the rule of law, including through novel proposals not discussed by other scholars.

My methodological approach will be qualitative, based on an analysis of specific actions taken by executive branch actors, legislators, and judges. I will use primary sources, including executive orders, Department of Justice memoranda, and court decisions. I will also draw on relevant scholarship in the area, including the sources mentioned above.

Author

• Chris Edelson, American University