When at times the mob is swayed : a citizen's guide to defending our republic / Burt Neuborne.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

How good are the brakes on the democracy train? -- Why the sudden concern about fixing the brakes? -- Would you buy this house? : repairing the cracks in democracy's foundation -- Do the external judicial brakes work anymore? -- The Fortas fiasco : how not to maintain the brakes -- What's law got to do with it? : please don't kill all the lawyers-yet -- In praise of seventh-grade civics : separation of powers in the time of Trump -- Applying separation of powers in the time of Trump : five test cases -- Which shell is the power under? : federalism as a protection of the weak -- Night sweats : what if it all comes apart?

On November 9, 2016, many Americans feared that our democracy was on the verge of collapse. But is it? In an erudite and brilliant evaluation of the current state of our government, noted constitutional scholar Burt Neuborne administers a stress test to democracy and concludes that our unprecedented sets of constitutional protections, all endorsed by both major parties, stand between us and an authoritarian federal regime fronted by Donald Trump’s tweets: namely the division of powers between the three branches, the rights reserved to the states, and the Bill of Rights. Neuborne parses the genius of our constitutional system and the ways its built-in resilience will ultimately survive current attempts to dismantle it. While many important issue areas—women’s right to choose, LGBTQ rights, separation of church and state—risk erosion, Neuborne argues that while the Constitution’s inherent defense mechanisms can buy us time, only an active citizenry will allow us to fulfill Ben Franklin’s charge to keep our republic. When at Times the Mob Is Swayed is an invitation from one of our most respected legal lights to identify, celebrate, and defend our bedrock constitutional principles.