Three months ago, Venezuela’s beleaguered president, Nicolás Maduro, pushed the nuclear button in Venezuelan politics: He declared that he would convene a Constituent Assembly, a specially elected body that’s allowed to do pretty much anything. There’s nothing quite like it in the U.S.; the Constitution does have a provision for a Constitutional Convention, but it has never been invoked and is merely empowered to propose amendments to the Constitution. La Constituyente, as it’s known in Venezuela, goes well beyond that: It can fire judges, dissolve legislatures, create new offices, even fire the president. If the Constituyente wants to declare Swedish …read more
Source: The New Republic
