Bernard Manin’s Principles of Representative Government played a crucial role in establishing a link between democracy and sortition, both in political theory and among activists. This article examines the militant trajectory of this reference. While sortition was first promoted by reformers, it became a key demand of a citizen movement led by Etienne Chouard, a supporter of the “No” side during the referendum for a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. Nevertheless, Manin’s book played more of a legitimizing role for Chouard and even more so for his followers.