Woodrow Wilson's War Against the Constitution

Recently, Justice Clarence Thomas used a speech at the University of Texas at Austin to remind Americans why Woodrow Wilson still matters in the fight for constitutional government. “Since Wilson’s presidency,” Thomas warned, “progressivism has made many inroads into our system of government and our way of life. It has coexisted uneasily with the principles of the Declaration. Because it is opposed to those principles, it is not possible for the two to coexist forever.” That is the right frame. Wilson did not merely fail the Constitution. He rejected its central premises—and helped build the machinery that continues to threaten the Founders’ vision of limited constitutional government...

Wilson believed the Constitution’s system of checks and balances was holding America back... His aim was not to preserve the Constitution’s jealous division of power...

Before entering politics, Wilson argued that the system designed by the Founders was outdated... Elected officials would set broad goals, but the real work of governing would be carried out by trained specialists inside bureaucracies...

This reflected Wilson’s impatience with Congress and with any deliberative process that required compromise, a dirty word to him. It was a radical break from the Founders’ view that government existed primarily to protect individual rights and that power should always be divided and restrained. Wilson instead envisioned a government that would evolve and expand as society “progressed,” guided by experts rather than limited by constitutional barriers...

One of the most damaging aspects of Wilson’s presidency was how his Southern upbringing warped his views and policies on race...

He appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, helping ensure that his vision would outlast his presidency...

But Wilson’s real legacy... lies in the model of presidential and administrative power he advanced, the belief that smart, well-intentioned people in Washington can and should reshape American society from the top down...

Woodrow Wilson stands, in my judgment, as the worst president in American history.