Prof. June Carbone Co-Authors Opinion Piece on Preventing Military Dictatorship

Professor June Carbone, Robina Chair in Law, Science and Technology, co-authored an opinion piece in Newsweek about polarization in the United States and how this is allowing norms and traditions of the nation to be weakened and a fading of reverence for the Constitution. They wrote, “Shattered democracies litter history from Ancient Rome to modern Russia. They fell in deeply polarized times when slim majorities elected a political leader who used the military to oppress his opposition. … The Framers carefully studied history. They crafted the Constitution as a fortress against an ambitious elected political leader at the head of a cynical faction who would use the military to seize power and oppress his political opposition. To protect against this, the Framers made it difficult for one person, or even a small group, to direct the military, especially when deployed inside the U.S. … The Congress, states, and people must act to protect their civil rights and the Constitution itself.”