Noah Feldman, David Landau and Brian Sheppard: Fixing Honduras

Noah Feldman, David Landau and Brian Sheppard are law professors at Harvard Law School, Florida State University College of Law and Seton Hall University School of Law, respectively.

Is Honduras ready for a return to the community of nations? It has been almost two years since the forced removal of then-President Manuel Zelaya at the hands of the Honduran military. On June 1, the Organization of American States said yes, when it lifted the suspension of Honduras from the organization by a vote of 32 countries in favor and one against. Still, the question on everyone's mind remains: Was there a coup d'état in 2009? Perhaps the better question to ask is: How can similar instability be avoided in the future in Honduras and elsewhere in the region?...

To prevent this sort of instability in the future, it is imperative that the people and institutions involved have better tools to avoid the two serious threats to democracy that manifested during the crisis and that have long plagued the region: military intervention in politics and executive overreaching. Honduras' Constitution and laws should be reformed to safeguard against both of these risks.

The independence and powers of the judiciary need strengthening to protect the rights of citizens and to arbitrate institutional disputes. For example, a specialized constitutional court with the power to rapidly resolve controversies between different branches of government might have prevented the 2009 crisis from escalating. It is critical that judiciaries, rather than militaries, resolve constitutional crises. For this purpose, it is also important, in Honduras and elsewhere in the region, that constitutions be amended to make it clear that the military possesses no extralegal power to "save" the state in periods of crisis. Constitutional provisions that suggest such a savior role for the military must be eliminated....