Eugene Volokh is attempting to give Rep. Dick Gephardt a lesson in constitutional law — and Gephardt has a lot to learn. Judging from his office’s response, Gephardt seems not to understand that the Constitution created a republic, not a dictatorship. The president is very powerful, but he cannot — as Gephardt suggested — unilaterally overturn Supreme Court decisions. While Gephardt’s remark was shockingly stupid for a serious presidential candidate — far worse than mangling or forgetting a foreign leader’s name — I agree with Jack Balkin that it is not comparable to Trent Lott’s Thurmond gaffe.