An Empty Guarantee?

Abstract

Self-governance constitutes the foundation of a republican form of governance. Three pressing threats to self-governance warrant closer scrutiny of the long-forgotten and wrongly interpreted Guarantee Clause (the Clause). Election interference and other limitations on the right to vote may deny individuals the control over their officials required by republican governance. Corporate consolidation of economic, cultural, and political capital likewise threatens to disturb the ability of individuals to act as free agents-unbeholden to one or a few companies for critical information and free and able to pursue their own private goals. And, finally, intentional manipulation of citizens by state governments in order to increase lottery revenues, which diminishes the economic security of individuals already struggling to get by. Each of these threats constitutes a significant antirepublican trend. This essay makes three important contributions to a growing body of scholarship focused on defending republican values and governance. First, that the three aforementioned threats may trigger the federal government's obligations under the Guarantee Clause. Second, the Guarantee Clause protects not only republican forms of governance but also the substance of republican self-governance. And, third, that specific federal interventions may be necessary to stem the aforementioned threats. 

Keywords: constitutional law, self-governance, democracy, institutional design, federalism