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<h1 class="entry-title">Sujit Choudhry from the Center
for Constitutional Transitions on Eric Holder’s Tweet in the Contexts of
a Disintegrating Democracy</h1>
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<div class="gmail-td-post-author-name"><div class="gmail-td-author-by">By</div> <a href="http://releasefact.com/author/releasefact/">Brian Harris</a><div class="gmail-td-author-line"> - </div> </div> <span class="gmail-td-post-date"><time class="entry-date gmail-updated gmail-td-module-date" datetime="2018-03-08T20:55:44+00:00">March 8, 2018</time></span> <div class="gmail-td-post-comments"><a href="http://releasefact.com/2018/03/sujit-choudhry-disintegrating-democracy/#respond"><i class="gmail-td-icon-comments"></i>0</a></div> <div class="gmail-td-post-views"><i class="gmail-td-icon-views"></i><span class="gmail-td-nr-views-1064">42</span></div> </div>
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<div class="gmail-td-post-featured-image"><a href="http://releasefact.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/sujit1.jpeg" class="gmail-td-modal-image"><img class="entry-thumb gmail-td-animation-stack-type0-2" src="http://releasefact.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/sujit1.jpeg" alt="Sujit Choudhry" title="" width="293" height="172"></a></div> </div>
<p>Professor Sujit Choudhry is an internationally renowned scholar whose research addresses a wide spectrum of issues in <a href="https://ceocfointerviews.com/interviews/CenterforConstitutionalTransitions17.htm">comparative constitutional law</a>
and politics. This includes constitutional design as a tool to manage
the transition from violent conflict to peaceful democratic politics,
constitutional design in ethnically divided societies, federalism,
decentralization and secession, semi-presidentialism, constitutional
courts and transitional justice, official language policy, minority and
group rights, bills of rights, constitutional design in the context of
transitions from authoritarian to democratic rule; constitution building
processes, security sector oversight and basic methodological questions
in the study of comparative constitutional law. He has also written
extensively on Canadian constitutional law.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His <a href="https://works.bepress.com/sujit_choudhry/">most recent publication</a> is a book chapter that is planned for release in <em>Constitutional Democracies in Crisis</em>?
In particular, Choudhry focuses on a tweet by Eric Holder, the former
Attorney General under President Obama, that was published to his
followers in December of 2017. In it, Holder called any potential
termination of White House Special Counsel Robert Mueller an “absolute
red line.” He also suggested that, should anything happen, peaceful
demonstrations should ensue. “If removed or meaningfully tampered with,
there must be mass, popular, peaceful support of both. The American
people must be seen and heard – they will ultimately be determinative,”
Holder wrote in his tweet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>According to Choudhry’s dissection of Holder’s tweet, the Attorney
General’s call to action is based upon two concepts – one being the
symbolic “red line,” or an uncontroversial constitutional boundary in
American democracy, and the other concept being that Holder leaves it up
to the American people to determine whether officials have indeed
abused their authority and transgressed said boundary. What is more,
Choudhry underlines that Holder insinuates that the reaction of the
American people will determine how the issue is resolved – that is,
whether the crossing of the red line will be upheld or reversed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Choudhry points out that Holder’s tweet is built on the idea of
“constitutional self-enforcement, built around the concept of a focal
point.” And as constitutions are governing expectations of officials and
citizens that revolve around the appropriateness of the behavior of
public authority by focusing on focal points, or constitutional rules.
Furthermore, violations of these constitutional rules does not warrant a
court to label them as such, and Choudhry expresses a sense of surprise
in Holder’s tweet. He writes, “Indeed, it is striking that Holder, once
the nation’s chief law enforcement official, does not even mention a
legal challenge to attempts to obliterate Mueller’s authority, even in a
supporting role.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>According to Professor Choudhry, another example of a focal point is a
presidential term limit that, in the United States and across the
world, limits an individual to a total of two terms as president. He
goes on to write that an autocrat would want to break that focal point –
or constitutional rule – by attempting to stay in office for longer
“declaring a state of emergency, dissolving the legislature, and/or
suspending elections. It is clear when this is happening, and more
often than not, attempts to do will lead political opponents to mobilize
against such attempts, and bring citizens into the streets.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Choudhry writes that when taken within a specific context, Holder’s
‘red lines’ can be considered an example of a democratic failure. He
further writes, “Disregarding term limits are one example of a more
general category termed the self-coup or <em>autogolpe</em>, which is an
attempt by directly elected executives to extend their power once
elected, invoking a democratic mandate from the people. Another is the
outright unconstitutional seizure of power without any electoral
legitimacy, in a <em>coup d’état</em> (for example, by the military). A
third is blatant electoral fraud by incumbents to maintain the façade
of democratic legitimacy.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sujit Choudhry is an <a href="http://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/u-c-berkeley-law-professor-sujit-choudhry-co-edits-new/article_163b28d6-e9a6-11e6-a1f5-f7dfdfa8c09d.html">internationally recognized authority</a>
on comparative constitutional law and politics whose research focus
spans across a wide variety of comparative constitutional law and
politics issues. He combines a wide-ranging research agenda with
in-depth field experience as an advisor to constitution building
processes, including in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Nepal, South Africa, Sri
Lanka, Tunisia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has lectured or spoken in over two
dozen countries.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Choudhry’s other involvements include an I. Michael Heyman
Professorship of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. His
prior engagements include working as constitutional advisor to emerging
democracies across the world, during which he amended existing
constitutions and drafted new ones. He is currently also a member of the
United Nations Mediation Roster and consultant to the World Bank
Institute at the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Choudhry has also been a constitutional advisor for over two decades.
He is expert in facilitating public dialogue sessions with civil
society groups and other stakeholders, leading stakeholder
consultations, performing detailed advisory work with technical experts,
training civil servants and bureaucrats, engaging party leaders and
parliamentarians, and drafting technical reports and memoranda in the
field.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Choudhry is the founding director of the <a href="http://www.constitutionaltransitions.org/">Center for Constitutional Transitions</a>
that to date has collaborated with over 50 experts from more than 25
countries. It partners with a global network of multilateral
organizations, think tanks, and NGOs. He is currently also a member of
the United Nations Mediation Roster and consultant to the World Bank
Institute at the World Bank and the <a href="https://www.wzb.eu/en/personen/sujit-choudhry">United Nations Development Program</a>.</p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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