Season 2, Episode 5: Scott Henning - On Sortition

In this conversation, Brett Hennig, co-founder of the Sortition Foundation, discusses the growing global movement to replace elections with democratic lotteries—sortition—to select citizens for political decision-making. He explains how sortition-based citizens’ assemblies, grounded in informed deliberation and representative diversity, can bypass the corrupting influence of money, lobbying, and partisanship inherent in electoral systems. Drawing examples from Ireland, Belgium, and elsewhere, he illustrates how these assemblies have already advised on complex issues like assisted dying and climate policy. While most are currently advisory, his organization campaigns to institutionalize these bodies—such as replacing the UK’s House of Lords with a House of Citizens—to give them real power. He emphasizes the assemblies’ legitimacy not just in producing sound decisions, but also in visibly representing the public’s will, making it harder for elected officials to ignore or override them.