Ep. 29: Samuel Moyn on Misplaced Faith in the Courts

Luke talks with Samuel Moyn about what constitutes a constitutional crisis, why faith in the courts versus Trump is misplaced, what people in the academy and legal arena are talking about, and how the Constitution’s undemocratic features got us into our current mess. Sam is the author of Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times (Yale University Press, 2023) and “The Liberal Plot Against Democracy.” He’s co-author of “The Constitution is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed” and “Don’t count on the courts to save democracy.” Sam appeared on the podcast in September to talk about why the Constitution is broken and why we should think beyond constitutions altogether, the warping of liberalism and the meaning of democracy during the Cold War, the Supreme Court’s role in interpreting the Constitution, the continued growth of constitutional discourse alongside a “devil you know” resistance, and how to keep constitutional criticism alive.