Review
"Chemerinsky, the dean of Berkeley’s law school, still seemed to place considerable faith in the Constitution, pleading with fellow progressives in his book We the People “not to turn their back on the Constitution and the courts.” By contrast, No Democracy Lasts Forever is markedly pessimistic. Asserting that the Constitution, which is famously difficult to amend, has put the country “in grave danger,” Chemerinsky lays out what would need to happen for a new constitutional convention ― and, in the book’s more somber moments, he entertains the possibility of secession... He hopes that any divorce, if it comes, will be peaceful... The prospect of secession sounds extreme, but in suggesting that the Constitution could hasten the end of American democracy, Chemerinsky is far from alone."
― Jennifer Szalai, New York Times
"Erwin Chemerinsky’s piercing diagnosis of the state of American democracy centers the U.S. Constitution as the protagonist in the story of its unraveling and dares us to reimagine the document’s core principles and embrace a revolutionary refounding of our country. . . . His audacious blueprint for a constitutional convention merits contemplation by anyone invested in the future of the United States―which should be all of us."
― Janai S. Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
"Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, pushes the tradition of constitutional criticism to new heights with No Democracy Lasts Forever. In this brief mix of political commentary and legal analysis, he confidently argues that the time has come to replace the Constitution entirely. His work provides a compelling critique of the current state of American democracy and its foundational document, revealing tensions within the Constitution that are often overlooked by the general public."
― Samuel Goldman, Wall Street Journal
"UC-Berkeley law school dean Chemerinsky (A Momentous Year in the Supreme Court) is a prolific critic of the U.S. legal system. His timely book examines the flaws in the Constitution that he blames for the nation’s current political dysfunction. VERDICT: Chemerinsky’s expertise enhances this examination of the Constitution and benefits readers concerned about the current state of U.S. politics."
― Thomas Karel, Library Journal
"When one of the country’s most distinguished and sober-minded legal scholars argues that the Constitution imperils democracy, Americans should take note. When he further argues that the Constitution is pushing us to the brink of secession, Americans should take action. Erwin Chemerinsky’s No Democracy Lasts Forever offers not only a powerful indictment of the U.S. constitutional system but also a clarifying call to remake our supreme law before it’s too late."
― David Pozen, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
"Chemerinsky soberly proposes that Americans should think about forms of secession... [He] lays out his argument in a methodical and compact way."
― Mary Wisniewski, NewCity Lit
"The book works as a kind of legal-scholarship companion to last fall’s Tyranny of the Minority, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, which employs a political scientist’s lens to analyze many of the same issues . . . Both books identify a similar set of problems: that the counter-majoritarian protections originally designed to foster compromise and unity, including the structure of the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College, now reinforce polarization and gridlock. But while the authors offer some suggestions for how things might improve, all acknowledge that changing the Constitution would require the assent of those who currently benefit from those flaws ― an unlikely prospect."
― Amanda Taub, New York Times, "The Interpreter" newsletter
"Magnificent as the Constitution is, argues Erwin Chemerinsky, it also has great flaws that ultimately may bring about the collapse of the American experiment...No Democracy Lasts Forever is a powerful and profound work of scholarship and reasoning that raises questions worth the attention of all thinking Americans."
― Ellis Cose, author of Race and Reckoning
"Dean Erwin Chemerinsky makes crystal clear how original defects in the U.S. Constitution have combined with judicial decisions to cement minority rule rather than democracy. As a result, majority-backed gun control, reproductive rights, and remedies for racial inequality are nonstarters. This book offers specific reforms that could be adopted even within the current framework. . . . No Democracy Lasts Forever is must-reading for anyone who cares about this nation and its future."
― Martha Minow, former dean, Harvard Law School
About the Author
Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Prior to assuming this position, he was the founding dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, and a professor at Duke Law School, University of Southern California Law School, and DePaul Law School. He is the author of twelve books and over 250 law review articles. He is a contributing writer for the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times and writes regular columns for the Sacramento Bee, the ABA Journal, and the Daily Journal and frequent op-eds in newspapers across the country. He frequently argues appellate cases, including in the United States Supreme Court. In 2016, he was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, National Jurist magazine again named him as the most influential person in legal education in the United States. In January 2021, he was named president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools.
