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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2180 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026

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Can anyone explain just what exactly a "constitutional crisis" is supposed to be, and how such a thing constitutes a crisis, as opposed to an easily-resolved dispute that changes little but clearing away illusions and making the status-quo more transparent?

Charitably and technically, it's any time the function of government doesn't follow the constitutional rule. When the structure of the constitution runs into the practice of power in reality.

Realistically and politically, it's whenever the opposing side does something that can even tendentiously be considered a constitutional issue.

But there are and will be actual crises. The constitution has been partially suspended using military and emergency powers (Lincoln, FDR, etc.). The Supreme Court has decided presidential elections, and so have private political parties. The President has started an awful lot of wars without a declaration of war.

In reality, unconstitutional behavior only becomes a constitutional crisis if another branch of government is fighting you on it, and both sides are relatively evenly matched.

In reality, unconstitutional behavior only becomes a constitutional crisis if another branch of government is fighting you on it, and both sides are relatively evenly matched.

Exactly, and I don't see how that latter condition in particular ever arises.

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