Cass Sunstein
|
|
Cass R. Sunstein (b. 1954) is a prominent liberal law professor at the University of Chicago.
His 2001 book, Republic.com, argued that the Internet threatens democracy because it allows citizens to isolate themselves within groups that share their own views and experiences, and thus cut themselves off from any information that might challenge their beliefs, a phenomenon often known by the term cyberbalkanization. His other books include After the Rights Revolution (1990), Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict (1996), Free Markets and Social Justice (1997), Risk and Reason (2002), Why Societies Need Dissent (2003), and Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (2005).
One of his latest books, The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever (2004), discusses the little-known Second Bill of Rights proposed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the Second Bill of Rights, Roosevelt proposed a right to an education, a right to a home, a right to health care, a right to protection against monopolies, and more; Sunstein argues that the Second Bill of Rights has had a large international impact and should be revived in the United States.
Sunstein is a contributing editor to The New Republic and is a frequent witness before congressional commitees; he played an active role in opposing the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998. He has been romantically linked to Chicago philosopher Martha Nussbaum.