Populism and Presidential Representation

ABSTRACT Populism raises questions about the extent to which public opinion should be a legitimate foundation for executive power. In the United States, it is often thought, such a foundation was established at the beginning of the twentieth century through the creation of a newly “representative” modern presidency (one that enabled the president to represent the popular will). This new presidency, it is held, acts as an agent of populist majorities to undermine constitutional and legal norms. In fact, however, the argument for presidential representation is a long-standing element of politics in the United States. It is appealed to, recurrently, by what might be called the party of opinion against its natural opponent, the party of law.