In the electronic republic, the judiciary will have the increasingly difficult and sensitive role of protecting the rights of unpopular minorities and thwarting the popular will when it gets out of hand. Under the constitutional system of checks and balances, the courts have the ultimate responsibility to stop any tyrannical exercise of power, even by impassioned majorities of sovereign citizens. In the absence of such court protection, it is unlikely that any barrier would remain to protect unpopular majorities from being trampled on by majorities who believe they are in the best position to know what is in their own best interest … Protecting the essentially anti-majoritarian doctrine of judicial review will become the key to preserving democracy in the electronic republic and preventing it from succumbing eventually to a popular tyranny or demagogic leader.
Predictor: Grossman, Lawrence K.
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age,” Lawrence Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS, writes: ”As the political systems grows ever more responsive to the majority impulses, and the legislative and executive branches feel increased pressure to bend to the public will, the judiciary remains the branch of the government in the best position to serve as a brake upon the people … In the electronic republic, the judiciary will have the increasingly difficult and sensitive role of protecting the rights of unpopular minorities and thwarting the popular will when it gets out of hand. Under the constitutional system of checks and balances, the courts have the ultimate responsibility to stop any tyrannical exercise of power, even by impassioned majorities of sovereign citizens. In the absence of such court protection, it is unlikely that any barrier would remain to protect unpopular majorities from being trampled on by majorities who believe they are in the best position to know what is in their own best interest … The courts cannot escape the increasing burden of providing vigilant judicial review even of those laws that the voters themselves enact under the evolving democratic procedures of the electronic republic. Protecting the essentially anti-majoritarian doctrine of judicial review will become the key to preserving democracy in the electronic republic and preventing it from succumbing eventually to a popular tyranny or demagogic leader.”
Biography:Lawrence Grossman wrote the book “The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in an Information Age” (Penguin, 1995). The former executive at NBC and PBS urged people to realize that digital communications had altered how things can and should be done. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: The Electronic Republic (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 7: The Shape of the Electronic Republic: The Citizens, the Congress, the Presidency, and the Judiciary
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 162-164
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne