Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

An untapped constitutional clause could rein in big tech

U.S. Constitution
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images

Our Constitution contains an empty promise.

Article IV, Section 4 (known as the guarantee clause) imposes a duty on the federal government: Congress, the courts and the president “shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” This promise is admittedly a difficult one to fulfill. Unclear language, though, cannot justify this status quo.


The Founders had a clear understanding that republican liberty must receive federal protection. In short, per Seattle University law professor Kip Hustace, the clause "obligates the federal government to redress domination where it arises.” Realization of this promise cannot wait. Massive corporations increasingly dominate the social and economic lives of Americans, in part due to the failure of state governments to curb the power of those companies.

Much of the Constitution places constraints on the federal government — clearly specifying what it may not do. The guarantee clause, however, places an affirmative responsibility on each branch to step in when states diverge from republican values and systems. Yet, like a coach who tells you to simply “do better,” the clause falls to provide specific instructions.

Scholars, judges and all those who have sworn to uphold the Constitution have long debated various aspects of the clause. Does it really place a duty on each branch of government? What qualifies as a republican form of government? How should the federal government intervene if a state does fall off the republican path? The difficulty of these questions and the ramifications of some answers to those questions have led the clause to become the equivalent of a dormant volcano — no one doubts it contains tremendous power, but few expect that power to ever be unleashed. Courts have generally avoided interpreting the clause. Congress has very rarely invoked the promise. And, presidents have only addressed it on a few occasions.

Those under oath to uphold the Constitution do not get to avoid its more complex and uncertain provisions. It would have been nice if the Founding Fathers had added a detailed footnote on their expectations for the clause. That omission is not an excuse for constitutional neglect. A more robust engagement with the meaning of the clause reveals some fundamental principles of republican governance that the Founders sought to protect.

The capacity to self govern is at the core of a republican form of governance. The founding generation had a very specific understanding of whether an individual had that capacity. They specified that only “free agents” could actively participate in governance. Others — those controlled by or dependent upon a private or public actor — lacked the independence to make neutral decisions for the good of the community.

Today, corporations such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta dominate the lives of millions of Americans. A few facts shared by former Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) reveals the constellation of corporate control that confines republican liberty: Amazon captures 70 percent of all online marketplace sales; more than 100 million Americans use an iPhone and, by extension, rely on Apple's selection of apps, financial services and media; Google is responsible for 90 percent of searches online and, consequently, directs much of our online activity; and Meta operates the most popular social media platforms and shapes America’s information ecosystem.

Corporations of this size and scale did not exist at the founding. Madison, Washington and others had no reason to include a specific “watch out for multinational corporations” clause. They nevertheless had the wisdom to place an affirmative duty on the federal government to watch out for all threats to republican governance in the states. That duty continues today.

States, as the political authorities that incorporate companies like the Big Four, have the power and responsibility to make sure that corporations do not infringe on our capacity to self-govern. Yet, Americans today find it harder and harder to pursue their entrepreneurial ideas, to seek out information that has not been delivered to them via an algorithm, to live their daily lives without concern about their data being collected, aggregated and sold.

The cumulative control over our daily lives exercised by just a few large companies is very much a threat to republican governance. How best to respond to that threat is a difficult question. The first step, though, is acknowledging that the status quo is not only problematic, but unconstitutional.

Frazier is an assistant professor at the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University and a Tarbell fellow.

Read More

They’re calling her an influencer. She’s calling it campaign strategy.

Deja Foxx poses for a portrait at her home in Tucson, Arizona, on June 21, 2025. 

Courtney Pedroza for The 19th

They’re calling her an influencer. She’s calling it campaign strategy.

TUCSON, ARIZ. — On a Saturday afternoon, Deja Foxx is staging a TikTok Live in her living room. A phone tripod is set up in front of her kitchen table. The frame is centered on a slouchy sofa against an adobe wall, where a chile ristra hangs on one side.

“All right, everybody, take your seats,” she tells the mix of young volunteers, family members and campaign staff who are gathered to help her. “You have some really great mail to open, and I’m so excited because usually it’s just me and my mom that do this.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Ten Things the Future Will Say We Got Wrong About AI

A team of

Getty Images, Dragos Condrea

Ten Things the Future Will Say We Got Wrong About AI

As we look back on 1776 after this July 4th holiday, it's a good opportunity to skip forward and predict what our forebears will think of us. When our descendants assess our policies, ideas, and culture, what will they see? What errors, born of myopia, inertia, or misplaced priorities, will they lay at our feet regarding today's revolutionary technology—artificial intelligence? From their vantage point, with AI's potential and perils laid bare, their evaluation will likely determine that we got at least ten things wrong.

One glaring failure will be our delay in embracing obviously superior AI-driven technologies like autonomous vehicles (AVs). Despite the clear safety benefits—tens of thousands of lives saved annually, reduced congestion, enhanced accessibility—we allowed a patchwork of outdated regulations, public apprehension, and corporate squabbling to keep these life-saving machines largely off our roads. The future will see our hesitation as a moral and economic misstep, favoring human error over demonstrated algorithmic superiority.

Keep ReadingShow less
I Fought To Keep VOA Independent. Now It’s Gone.

A Voice of America sign is displayed outside of their headquarters at the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building on June 17, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

I Fought To Keep VOA Independent. Now It’s Gone.

The Trump administration has accomplished something that Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and other dictators desired. It destroyed the Voice of America.

Until mid-March, VOA had been on the air continuously for 83 years. Starting in 1942 with shortwave broadcasts in German to counter Nazi propaganda, America’s external voice had expanded to nearly 50 languages, with a weekly combined audience of more than 350 million people worldwide, watching on TV, listening on radio, with a weekly combined audience of more than 350 million people around the world watching on TV, listening on radio or viewing its content online or through social media apps.

Keep ReadingShow less
Just the Facts: Digital Services Tax
people sitting down near table with assorted laptop computers
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Just the Facts: Digital Services Tax

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he has ended trade talks with Canada and will soon announce a new tariff rate for that country, as stated in a Truth Social post.

The decision to end the months-long negotiations came after Canada announced a digital service tax (DST) that Trump called “a direct and blatant attack on our Country.”

Keep ReadingShow less