David Daley: ANTIDEMOCRATIC and Madiba Dennie: THE ORIGINALISM TRAP

Join The Ivy Bookshop for a conversation to help us engage more fully and critically with this particular political moment, featuring David Daley, author of Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections and Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back.

Both books, published this summer, help us understand that the law and its interpretation is something that we not only can engage with, but should.

Antidemocratic is a riveting yet disturbing history of the fifty-year Republican plot to hijack voting rights in America, its profound implications for the 2024 presidential election, and the crucial role that Chief Justice John Roberts has played in determining how we vote. The Originalism Trap gives a rallying cry for a more just approach to the law that bolsters social justice movements by throwing out originalism—the theory that judges should interpret the Constitution exactly as conservatives say the Founders meant it.

This is sure to be a lively conversation and we hope you’re able to join us on our back patio event space.

David Daley is the author of the national best-seller “Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count,” which has been credited for helping kickstart the movement to reform gerrymandering. His journalism has been published by the New Yorker, the New York Times and the Atlantic, among other publications. He is a senior fellow at FairVote and the former editor in chief of Salon.

Madiba K. Dennie is an attorney, columnist, and professor whose work focuses on fostering an equitable multiracial democracy. Her debut book, The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back, is now available wherever books are sold. Dennie is the Deputy Editor and Senior Contributor at the critical legal commentary outlet Balls and Strikes. In her previous role as a counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, she provided legal and policy analysis regarding a range of democracy issues including the census, the courts, and attempts to disempower communities of color. Her legal and political commentary has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and more. Dennie has been interviewed on-air about race, gender, and the law on outlets including the BBC and MSNBC. She has taught at Western Washington University and NYU School of Law. She earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, where she concentrated in Politics and earned a certificate in African-American Studies. Her hot takes are not legal advice.