Autocratic Legalism Kim Lane Scheppele Upd !full! -

Neutralizing independent media, the opposition, and civil society through regulatory changes or litigation (e.g., libel or slander suits).

Scheppele argues that legalistic autocrats follow a predictable "script" to hollow out liberal democracies from within:

Her insight was revolutionary: modern authoritarians do not need to burn the constitution. They can weaponize it. By exploiting legal procedures, constitutional amendments, and judicial reviews, incumbents can entrench power while maintaining a veneer of legality. But as we move through 2024–2026, Scheppele’s framework has evolved. This article provides an update (“UPD”) on her theory, new case studies, and the global trajectory of law-driven authoritarianism.

Autocratic Legalism: How Modern Dictators Use the Law to Kill Democracy autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd

Stages and processes (how autocratic legalism unfolds)

As of May 2026, Scheppele's work highlights a critical shift in how these regimes are evolving and how they can be resisted. The Rise of "Sovereignty" Laws

The government uses its lawful majority to change the rules of the political game—lowering judicial retirement ages, redrawing districts, capturing appointment commissions—in ways that, if done by the opposition, would be called fraud. Autocratic Legalism: How Modern Dictators Use the Law

: Autocrats cloak their tactics in formal legal reforms, making it difficult for observers and citizens to diagnose the underlying autocratic intent. Exploiting Weaknesses

is a governance strategy where democratically elected leaders use their legal mandates and existing constitutional frameworks to systematically dismantle the systems of checks and balances from within. First framed in contemporary democratic backsliding by Javier Corrales and significantly expanded by Princeton sociologist Kim Lane Scheppele in her seminal 2018 University of Chicago Law Review article, this phenomenon explains how democracies die not by military coups, but by the hands of "lawyers-in-chief" utilizing the very letter of the law.

In her landmark 2018 article, Autocratic Legalism (University of Chicago Law Review), Scheppele draws a sharp line between two familiar forms of governance. The first is —the brute-force law of dictatorships, where courts are rubber stamps and legal forms are mere window dressing for raw power. The second is liberal legality —the ideal of the rule of law, where general, public, prospective, and consistent norms bind both citizen and sovereign. Princeton University (Sociology & International Affairs)

Legal and civic countermeasures

In recent years, Scheppele has turned her attention to the United States. In a January 2026 interview on the podcast Amicus , she issued a stark warning about the pace of democratic backsliding in the country. Contrasting the slow, incremental model seen in Hungary, Scheppele argued that the legal gambits in the early days of the second Trump administration signaled that the U.S. had switched to the The speed and viciousness of executive orders on government funding, the military, and other areas were not anomalies but evidence of a familiar, chillingly effective global playbook in action.

Princeton University (Sociology & International Affairs); University of Pennsylvania Law School (former); Central European University (former visiting faculty).

Capture the courts and legislature to remove checks on executive power. Replace neutral civil servants with loyalists.