Many have argued that the United States’ two major political parties have experienced “asymmetric polarization” in recent decades: The Republican Party has moved significantly further to the right than the Democratic Party has moved to the left. The practice of constiÂtutional hardball, this Essay argues, has followed a similar—and causally related—trajectory. Since at least the mid-1990s, Republican officeÂholders have been more likely than their Democratic counterparts to push the constitutional envelope, straining unwritten norms of govÂernance or disrupting established constitutional understandings. Both sides have done these things. But contrary to the apparent assumption of some legal scholars, they have not done so with the same frequency or intensity.
Wait. "The Democratic Party has moved to the left"? When did this happen? Do you mean the Civil Rights Act?