Leftist professors urge Biden to defy Supreme Court rulings
Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet and San Francisco State University political scientist Aaron Belkin urged Biden to assert an alternate constitutional interpretation when he disagrees with the Supreme Court.
'[T]he threat that MAGA justices pose is so extreme ... and advocates and experts should encourage President Biden to take immediate action to limit the damage,' the professors suggested.
On July 19, two leftist professors penned a letter to President Biden encouraging him to defy Supreme Court rulings by ‘MAGA justices’ they consider are “based on gravely mistaken interpretations of the Constitution”.
Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet and San Francisco State University political scientist Aaron Belkin urged the president to immediately address what Biden has called “not a normal” Court in their piece, “An Open Letter to the Biden Administration on Popular Constitutionalism.”
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“We urge President Biden to restrain MAGA justices immediately by announcing that if and when they issue rulings that are based on gravely mistaken interpretations of the Constitution that undermine our most fundamental commitments, the Administration will be guided by its own constitutional interpretations,” the professors began.
The professors defined the term “popular constitutionalism” as the ability to assert an alternate interpretation when the President “disagrees with a Court’s interpretation of the Constitution”.
Tushnet and Belkin repeatedly labeled the Court’s conservative majority as ‘MAGA justices’, implying the judges have a political relationship to former president Donald Trump, despite their duty to remain impartial on the Court.
The professors said that when conservatives rule on high-stakes cases that damage liberal priorities, based on “gravely mistaken constitutional interpretations,” the President should act on his own interpretation of the Constitution in order to “substantially mitigate the damage posed by the ruling in question.”
“[T]he threat that MAGA justices pose is so extreme that reforms that do not require Congressional approval are needed at this time, and advocates and experts should encourage President Biden to take immediate action to limit the damage,” the pair suggested.
They accused MAGA justices of basing their rulings on “untrue” and “misleading” claims, and said that these rulings erode democracy and limit individual’s rights, further suggesting “popular constitutionalism” as a solution.
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The professors used the recent ruling on affirmative action as an example and proposed that Biden could emphasize that the ruling applies only to certain college institutions, while still vigorously pursuing affirmative action in other contexts because his administration firmly believes the Court’s interpretation is “egregiously wrong.”
“The President has the power to clip MAGA justices’ wings now. To protect democracy and the rule of law, President Biden must prevent them from exercising exclusive authority over constitutional meaning,” the letter concluded. “We urge the President to exercise leadership in this regard before it is too late.”
Campus Reform has contacted all relevant pirates for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
