| Cass Sunstein |
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His 2001 book, ''Republic.com'', argued that the Internet may weaken Democracy because it allows citizens to isolate themselves within groups that share their own views and experiences, and thus cut themselves off from any information that might challenge their beliefs, a phenomenon often known by the term Cyberbalkanization . According to Publisher's Weekly, in Republic.com Sunstein makes "the counterintuitive claim that the Internet causes us to become more extremist and close-minded, rather than exposing us to a haphazardly unbiased array of unexpected viewpoints, is the cornerstone of this challenging and dense book...Sunstein...contends that we are witnessing a decline in the influence of 'general interest intermediaries' and an increase in highly specialized forums for information Web sites that allow us to 'personalize' the news, customized cable TV channels devoted only to fashion, music, sports or other specialized subjects. In such a culture, he argues, we have the seductive ability to see only what already interests us and to filter out any exposure to the different concerns and political opinions of fellow citizens, inadvertently robbing ourselves of a truly democratic conversation." His other books include ''After the Rights Revolution'' (1990), ''The Partial Constitution'' (1993), " Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech" (1995), ''Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict'' (1996), ''Free Markets and Social Justice'' (1997), ''One Case at a Time'' (1999), ''Risk and Reason'' (2002), ''Why Societies Need Dissent'' (2003), ''Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle'' (2005), and ''Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America'' (2005). Sunstein is a proponent of Judicial Minimalism , arguing that judges should focus primarily on deciding the case at hand, and avoid making sweeping changes to the law or decisions that have broad-reaching effects. Despite his reputation as a liberal legal academic, Professor Sunstein has publicly supported various of President George W. Bush 's Judicial Nominees , including Michael McConnell and John Roberts . One of his latest books, ''The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever'' (2004), discusses the little-known Second Bill Of Rights proposed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt . In the Second Bill of Rights, Roosevelt proposed a right to an education, a right to a home, a right to health care, a right to protection against monopolies, and more; Sunstein argues that the Second Bill of Rights has had a large international impact and should be revived in the United States. Sunstein is a contributing editor to '' The New Republic '' and is a frequent witness before congressional committees; he played an active role in opposing the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998. He has been romantically linked to Chicago Philosopher Martha Nussbaum . In recent years, Sunstein has taken spots guest Blog ging on the Volokh Conspiracy and the weblogs of fellow law professors Lawrence Lessig (Stanford) and Jack Balkin (Yale). His forthcoming book, ''Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge'' (Oxford University Press 2006, now in final stages), explores methods for aggregating information; it contains discussions of prediction markets, open source software, and wikis (with substantial attention to Wikipedia). PUBLICATIONS
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