(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) In a bold and controversial move, a group of far-left professors released an open letter urging the Biden administration to adopt a radical strategy dubbed “Popular Constitutionalism” as a scheme to counter the influence of what they refer to as “MAGA justices” on the Supreme Court.
The letter, signed by Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet and San Francisco State University political scientist Aaron Belkin, proposes a radical approach to handle rulings that go against the far-left policies of the Biden administration.
Effectively calling on President Joe Biden to challenge the court’s authority, the professors begin, “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 argue that the court’s conservative majority, attributed to former President Donald Trump’s appointment of three justices, poses an extreme threat to democracy and fundamental rights. In their view, this necessitates swift action to curtail the influence of what they term “MAGA justices.”
“The central tenet of the solution that we recommend—Popular Constitutionalism—is that courts do not exercise exclusive authority over constitutional meaning. In practice, a President who disagrees with a court’s interpretation of the Constitution should offer and then follow an alternative interpretation,” the letter emphasizes.
The letter further calls for immediate actions to limit the influence of conservative justices, claiming that the threat they pose to democracy and fundamental rights demands swift measures.
However, critics argue that such a strategy could have serious implications for the independence and integrity of the judicial branch.
Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor and legal expert, rebuked the letter in a fiery opinion article in the Hill.
“What is most striking about these professors is how they continue to claim they are defenders of democracy, yet seek to use unilateral executive authority to defy the courts and, in cases like the tuition forgiveness and affirmative action, the majority of the public,” Turley wrote. “They remain the privileged elite of academia, declaring their values as transcending both constitutional and democratic processes.”
