Rosen

Interesting TNR piece; O'Connor represents the will of American people more so than Congress.

But far more significant than these political flip-flops is the fact that the House and Senate are no longer reliable representatives of most Americans' constitutional views. This is a dramatic and important shift. For most of U.S. history, all of the great constitutional issues--from the meaning of free speech to the meaning of equality--were debated in the House and Senate, which reflected the views of democratic majorities more precisely than the president or the courts. But, as political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson argue in their forthcoming book, Off Center: George W. Bush, Tax Cuts, and the Erosion of Democracy, recent changes have made Congress an unreliable representative of majority will. Now that incumbents, thanks to partisan gerrymandering, are virtually assured reelection, politicians have a strong incentive to pander to their most reliable supporters--including partisan activists and high-stakes donors--in order to avoid the primary challenges that now decide elections. This means that representatives and senators can increasingly ignore the preferences of the moderate majority without suffering electoral consequences.