Critical Conversations: Separation of Powers and the State of American Democracy

National Archives Museum
Online

Separation of powers is a defining feature of the U.S. political system, one with profound implications for both the exercise of power and the performance of government functions. A panel of constitutional and legal experts will discuss the importance of this constitutional principle, how it has been tested, and what is needed to keep our democracy going.

Critical Conversations will be moderated by William Howell, Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, chair of the Department of Political Science, and director of the Center for Effective Government. Our panel of constitutional scholars and legal experts includes Elizabeth B. Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center; Aziz Huq, the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and author of How to Save a Constitutional Democracy; and Jon Michaels, professor of law at UCLA and author of Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic.

This program is in partnership with the Crystal Bridges Museum recent exhibition We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy.