The Constitutional Politics of the Tea Party Movement

We would like to conclude our series on the constitutional politics of the Tea Party movement by offering a recording of the panel discussion that gave rise to the four essays published in the Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy. The panel convened for the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools held in San Francisco on January 6, 2011. In this discussion, Colloquy contributors Sanford Levinson, Randy Barnett, Jared Goldstein, and Ilya Somin, along with Nathaniel Persily, explore the emergence of the Tea Party movement and offer perspectives on its history, membership, rhetoric, and ambitions. 

You can listen to the recording below or here.

 

 

The Tea Party Movement and Popular Constitutionalism

Ilya Somin[*]

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Introduction

The rise of the Tea Party movement followed a period during which many academic students of constitutional law focused on “popular constitutionalism”: the involvement of public opinion and popular movements in influencing constitutional interpretation.[1]  Many of these scholars argue that popular constitutional movements have a beneficial impact on constitutional law,[2] and some even contend that popular constitutionalism should supplant judicial review entirely.[3]  At the very least, the last generation of constitutional scholarship has established that public opinion influences and significantly constrains judicial interpretation of the Constitution.[4]

Can Popular Constitutionalism Survive the Tea Party Movement?

Jared Goldstein[*]

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The sudden emergence and prominence of the Tea Party movement raises important questions about the role of the Constitution in popular politics.  More than any political movement in recent memory, the Tea Party movement is centrally focused on the meaning of the Constitution.[1]  Tea Party supporters believe that the nation is facing a crisis because it has abandoned the Constitution, and they seek to restore the government to what they believe are its foundational principles.[2]

The Tea Party, the Constitution, and the Repeal Amendment

Randy Barnett[*]

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On February 19, 2009, CNBC financial correspondent Rick Santelli stood on the bustling floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and pronounced what will be historic words: “We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July.  All you capitalists that want to show up at Lake Michigan, I’m going to start organizing it.”[1]  Rallies were held around the nation on April fifteenth of that year.  Over the summer, Tea Party members showed up en masse at Congressional town halls.  A September twelfth march on Washington drew thousands of people to the National Mall.  This, in a nutshell, was how the social movement called the Tea Party was born.

The Constitutional Politics of the Tea Party Movement

Richard Albert[*]

Editor's Note: this is the beginning of a series based on a panel that took place at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools on the subject of The Constitutional Politics of the Tea Party Movement.

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The Tea Party movement and its constitutional vision for the United States is perhaps the hottest topic in American public law today.  The rising tide of popular support for the Tea Party movement has transformed what was once cast aside as a fleeting faction into a formidable force in American politics—one that could augur significant consequences for the contours of American constitutional law in the years ahead.