„There are many other points to address in this Fidesz public relations blitz, and I have addressed them in detail in many of my other writings and interviews, which you can see here.
Since Mr. Gulyás has called into questions my qualifications and independence, let me explain my background. I lived in Hungary full-time between 1994 and 1998, working as a researcher at the Constitutional Court, where I learned Hungarian constitutional law as it was being made. I was involved in the 1995-1996 constitutional drafting effort, as an expert advisor to the parliamentary committee drafting the text. I have held tenured positions as a law professor, political scientist and sociologist in the United States. My field of expertise is comparative constitutional law, which I have taught for more than 20 years. I am an elected member of the International Academy of Comparative Law.
Despite Mr. Gulyás’s insinuations that I am an agent of some opposition party, I have never accepted money for my research and writing except through a scientific review process or university research funds. My 1990s research on Hungary was funded by two competitive peer-reviewed grants from the American National Science Foundation. I was not then and have never been in the employ of any government institution or political party in Hungary – or for that matter of any other government, including my own. All of my publications, including blog posts, have been fact-checked down to the ground and I am happy to provide supporting documentation for all of the statements I have made. While I have always talked to representatives from all parts of the political spectrum in Hungary to understand their arguments, I have also always insisted on my independence from any partisan organization.
Fidesz tries to turn all of its critics into agents for the «other side.» But that is a public relations trick. When a party brings all institutions of government under its control and attacks the independent judiciary, we are no longer in the world of normal party politics. Instead, we are in the world where Hungary’s very existence as a state under the rule of law is in question. That is why I have gotten involved. Once Hungarians regain their ability to live in a fully democratic society with depoliticized courts, I plan to go back to the quiet world of scholarship from which I came.”
