We speak with journalist and author Ari Berman about his new book, Minority Rule, which details how the United States has since its founding prioritized the rights and interests of a small elite over the needs of the majority. It explains how, for the first time in U.S. history, five of the six conservative Supreme Court justices were nominated by Republican presidents who lost the popular vote, and confirmed by senators elected by a minority of Americans. Berman argues that the composition of the Court is the product of two asymmetrical institutions: the way we elect our presidents through the electoral college and the way we appoint U.S. senators – both of which are flawed because they violate the principle of 'one person, one vote, violating the principle of equal representation. and empowering white, rural, conservative, and wealthy citizens at the expense of more diverse and progressive parts of the country. “Our institutions are so outdated, so undemocratic, that we need fundamental reform to change them, to democratize them,” Berman says.
Transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/26/ari_berman
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