“Public Spheres Between Power and Discourse: Habermas and the Problem of Marginalized Agency,” Essay, MariJean Wegert.
In 2026, German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas passed away at the age of 96. Best known for his work on the public sphere, communicative action, and democratic legitimacy, Habermas influenced generations of scholars and helped shape contemporary thinking about democracy. To mark his life and work, writers associated with North Meridian Press are contributing a series of short essays examining both the importance and limitations of his thought. In this essay, MariJean Wegert explores the relationship between Habermas’s public sphere and the marginalized people whose labor, knowledge, and experiences have historically existed beyond its boundaries.
“Executive Orders Between Facts and Norms: Habermas and the Problem of Democratic Legitimacy,” Essay, Tina Deshotels.
In 2026, German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas passed away at the age of 96. Best known for his work on the public sphere, communicative action, and democratic legitimacy, Habermas influenced generations of scholars and helped shape contemporary thinking about democracy. To mark his life and work, writers associated with North Meridian Press are contributing a series of short essays examining both the importance and limitations of his thought. In this essay, Professor Tina Deshotels explores Habermas’s theory of democratic legitimacy through the language of presidential executive orders, asking how legal authority can remain intact even as the democratic foundations that legitimize it become increasingly fragile.
“Presidential Fitness and the Creation of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment,” Interview, John Feerick and Wesley R. Bishop.
In the summer of 2026, North Meridian Review managing editor Wesley R. Bishop corresponded by email with John D. Feerick, professor emeritus and former dean of Fordham Law School, about the history and meaning of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Feerick was an important legal scholar and participant in the amendment's development. His 1963 Fordham Law Review article, “Presidential Succession and Inability,” helped bring renewed attention to the constitutional problem of presidential inability, and he subsequently worked with Senator Birch Bayh and others during the amendment's development. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967, addresses presidential succession, vacancies in the vice presidency, and the temporary transfer of presidential powers and duties when a president is unable to discharge them. In this interview, Feerick discusses the amendment's origins, the concerns that shaped its drafting, and the ways its provisions have been understood and misunderstood over the decades.
