War on Terrorism and Domestic Politics

[Miguel Schor]

Constitutional moments rest on a tectonic political shift so that 
constitutional changes (such as the growth in the administrative state 
which occurred in the wake of  constitutional revolution of 1937) become 
accepted by a supermajority.  Complying with the spirit, if not the 
letter, of Article V is important if proposed changes are to endure 
beyond the coalition of forces seeking constitutional change.  
Extra-constitutional change, after all, can be as readily undone as 
done.  It is not clear  the constitutional changes--the augmented powers 
of the presidency and the weakening of civil liberties--sought by 
President Bush and Karl Rove currently command that level of support 
among the citizenry.  The war on terror might, however,  lead the 
citizenry to accept a permanent change in the power of the presidency.  
Certainly claims of national security played an important role in 
strengthening the role of presidents and the national security apparatus 
throughout Latin America during the Cold War (particularly in Argentina, 
Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay) and served to justify massive human rights 
violations.  It would be ironic if the problem of constitutional 
dictatorship which the US so vigorously exported south of the border 
during the long struggle against Communism should become firmly 
entrenched north of the border as a result of the ideological struggle 
with Muslim extremism.

Miguel Schor, Associate Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School, 
Boston, MA

Ronald Nelson wrote:

>Sanford Levinson writes:
>
>If Rove is successful, will this count as the "ratifying election" in the Ackermanian system that will signify the completion of  a successful "constitutional moment" that will have fundamentally transformed our constitutional system? 
>
>Indeed, will there be (has there been) such a swing of the pendulum as to let us truly appreciate the plight of the Four Horsemen as the world changed after 1936?
>
>Ron Nelson
>
>Ronald L. Nelson, J.D., Ph.D.
>Assistant Professor and Pre-Law Advisor
>Department of Political Science &
>Criminal Justice
>HUMB 226
>University of South Alabama
>Mobile, Alabama 36688-0002
>251 460 6725 rnelson at usouthal.edu
>
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