The Clough Center was pleased to host Professor Aziz Rana (Law School, Boston College) and Professor Shep Melnick (Political Science, Boston College) in a panel discussion exploring the challenges to constitutional democracy in the United States. This panel was a part of the 2025 Spring Symposium held on March 21-22, 2025.

Aziz Rana discussed how the weakening of centrist politics, particularly center-right politics, has become a challenge to US constitutionalism. Rana suggested three main formative elements of constitutional democracy in the US. First, the Constitution fulfills the principles of independence and a commitment to racial liberalism. For example, if we look into the historical development of the late 19th century up to the civil rights movement, we witness an inclusion of racial communities. Second, the Constitution guarantees the protection of speech to distinguish the US from any variation of totalitarianism. Third, the US Constitution guarantees a free market and autonomy from state interventions. Also, there are regulatory institutions that formed under the New Deal in the 1930s and the 1940s.

Rana added that, during the Cold War, the US proceeded with a global project of the rule of law through multilateral organizations. In this period, the political culture of the Cold War allowed center-right wing politics to contain the far-right. However, the financial crisis, coupled with the neoliberal ideology of the 1980s, profoundly undermined centrist politics in both the US and Europe. Therefore, this erosion of centrists, including center-right politics, laid the ground for anti-establishment far-right politicians.

Following Rana’s talk, Shep Melnick offered his reasons for the crisis of constitutional democracy. First, Melnick emphasized the significance of due process and the respect for law. Second, Melnick argued that both Democrats and Republicans have expanded the reach of presidential power over the decades. Melnick touched on unilateral decisions by Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden as examples. Melnick warned that the apparent extension of Executive power at the expense of Congress could be a threat to the principle of separation of powers. Third, Melnick mentioned the growth of some on the right who maintain that the Constitution is so corrupt that it needs to be dismantled and rebuilt. Melnick explained that this is in contrast with principles of classic conservatism. Fourth, Melnick wrapped up his speech by arguing that the US is retreating from its traditional commitment to promoting constitutional democracy on a global scale.

You can watch the full video of this panel, including the Q&A, via the link below on the Clough Center’s YouTube channel.