: Rather than censoring media outright, autocrats use tax laws, regulatory bodies, and state advertising allocations to squeeze independent media and fund state-backed echo chambers.
According to Scheppele's foundational essays published via platforms like Chicago Unbound and ResearchGate , the strategy rests on three distinct pillars:
Packing courts with loyalists or changing retirement ages to force out independent judges. autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd
Based on developments through mid-2026, autocratic legalists have refined their techniques, making them faster and harder to combat. A. The "Emergency" Loophole
Illiberal agendas are advanced through formally legitimate procedures, such as constitutional amendments and new legislation. : Rather than censoring media outright, autocrats use
In her seminal works (notably “Autocratic Legalism,” University of Chicago Law Review , 2018), Scheppele described a paradox: authoritarians no longer need tanks or suspended constitutions. Instead, they weaponize law. They pass constitutional amendments, pack courts, rewrite electoral rules, and deploy anti-corruption agencies against rivals—all while maintaining a veneer of legality. The goal is not lawlessness, but legalized lawlessness: a system where the form of law remains, but its substance (checks and balances, rights, due process) evaporates.
April 12, 2026
Under Viktor Orbán, Hungary is the primary example of autocratic legalism. Orbán used his parliamentary majority to adopt a new constitution, purge the judiciary, and dominate the media, all while maintaining the veneer of democratic legitimacy. Poland: The Struggle for Restoration
Scheppele is not merely a diagnostician of collapse; she is also a theorist of restoration. Her work argues that the blind adherence to legality is an insufficient response to autocratic legalism. Instead, they weaponize law
Scheppele argues that autocrats follow a specific "script" to hollow out liberal democracies from within while maintaining an outward appearance of legality: