Rick Pildes's guest appearances

Rick Pildes

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Let's Find Common Ground

Digging a Hole: The Legal Theory Podcast

In Lieu of Fun

Leah Litman

Stephen Wertheim

Noah Feldman

Oona Hathaway

Scott Peterson

David Plotz

Mike Pesca

Kate Darling

Danielle Citron

Daryl Davis

Emily Oster

David Frum

Matt Yglesias

Ross Douthat

Katharine Hayhoe

OwlTail

On this week’s pod, Dave welcomes one of his former professors – Rick Pildes! Professor Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University Law School, an appointee to President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, and a contributor to the New York Times. He’s a leading scholar on the legal issues concerning democracy, and in this episode, we focus on his recent article “Political Fragmentation in Democracies of the West.”  To begin, Professor Pildes provides evidence for his main claim that center-left, center-right, and establishment political authority has fragmented across the west, from first-past-the-post to proportional representation systems. Having established this fragmentation, we then discuss potential explanations for why political power has fragmentented. Beyond a slew of economic issues, including globalization, the 2008 financial crisis, and rising income inequality, we also push on the role of immigration and race both in American politics and in other countries. Next, we talk about another big pillar of Professor Pildes’ paper – the communications revolution and how it enables politicians to act more as individual actors rather than a cog in their party. After, we overview several potential remedies to this fragmentation of democracy.  Lastly, we ask Professor Pildes about his recent work on reforming the electoral college process, including changes to the primary election structure and creating competitive election districts.  Referenced Readings  “Political Fragmentation in Democracies of the West,” Richard Pildes. Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America, Hans Noel. “How Congress can fix the Electoral Count Act,” Edward B. Foley, Michael W. McConnell, Richard H. Pildes, and Bradley Smith. 

On this week’s pod, Dave welcomes one of his former professors – Rick Pildes! Professor Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University Law School, an appointee to President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, and a contributor to the New York Times. He’s a leading scholar on the legal issues concerning democracy, and in this episode, we focus on his recent article “<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3935012" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Political Fragmentation in Democracies of the West</a>.” To begin, Professor Pildes provides evidence for his main claim that center-left, center-right, and establishment political authority has fragmented across the west, from first-past-the-post to proportional representation systems. Having established this fragmentation, we then discuss potential explanations for why political power has fragmentented. Beyond a slew of economic issues, including globalization, the 2008 financial crisis, and rising income inequality, we also push on the role of immigration and race both in American politics and in other countries. Next, we talk about another big pillar of Professor Pildes’ paper – the communications revolution and how it enables politicians to act more as individual actors rather than a cog in their party. After, we overview several potential remedies to this fragmentation of democracy. Lastly, we ask Professor Pildes about his recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/04/congress-fix-electoral-count-act/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">work</a> on reforming the electoral college process, including changes to the primary election structure and creating competitive election districts. Referenced Readings <ul> <li>“<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3935012" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Political Fragmentation in Democracies of the West</a>,” Richard Pildes.</li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Political-Ideologies-Parties-Cambridge-Psychology/dp/110762052X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America</a>, Hans Noel.</li> <li>“<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/04/congress-fix-electoral-count-act/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Congress can fix the Electoral Count Act</a>,” Edward B. Foley, Michael W. McConnell, Richard H. Pildes, and Bradley Smith.</li> </ul>

Wherein, NYU law professor Rick Pildes argues against so much voting. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wherein, NYU law professor Rick Pildes argues against so much voting. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Rick Pildes Makes the Case for Fewer Elections

American democracy is being challenged by hyper-polarization, widespread distrust of competing parties, and extremists who seek to weaken democratic values and institutions. In a recent poll, only one-in-six Americans said our democratic system is working very well, while nearly two-in-three voters told a Pew Research Center survey that major reforms are needed."I certainly feel we are more vulnerable than we have ever been in the modern era," says our podcast guest, constitutional law scholar, Rick Pildes, a professor at New York University’s School of Law, and author of the book, “The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process.”In this episode, we discuss proposed changes aimed at strengthening democracy— from ranked-choice voting and reform of political primaries, to limiting gerrymandering, and campaign finance reform. 

American democracy is being challenged by hyper-polarization, widespread distrust of competing parties, and extremists who seek to weaken democratic values and institutions. In <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-norc-poll-us-democracy-403434c2e728e42a955c72a652a59318" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a recent poll</a>, only one-in-six Americans said our democratic system is working very well, while nearly <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/03/31/many-in-us-western-europe-say-their-political-system-needs-major-reform/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">two-in-three voters</a> told a Pew Research Center survey that major reforms are needed."I certainly feel we are more vulnerable than we have ever been in the modern era," says our podcast guest, constitutional law scholar, Rick Pildes, a professor at New York University’s School of Law, and author of the book, “The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process.”In this episode, we discuss proposed changes aimed at strengthening democracy— from ranked-choice voting and reform of political primaries, to limiting gerrymandering, and campaign finance reform.

Guardrails of Democracy: Law and Reform. Rick Pildes