Our Unconstitutional Constitution

SK writes: "Do you know of any legal path to getting rid of or disempowering the Senate that would not require Senate approval?"


It all depends on what you mean by "legal" but the short answer is "no." The longer answer is just to observe that the existing United States Constitution was adopted by means that were, at the time, illegal. Elites felt that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate to resolving the problems of the country, so elites gathered to write a new constitution that contained a ratification procedure at odds with what's spelled out in the Articles. Then along they went seeking ratification by various states and when they had the number the said was necessary, they declared victory and pushed ahead, installing victorious General George Washington as the new head of state and head of government.


At some point in the future if there's some crisis, you could imagine something like that happened again. The current constitution of France has a somewhat similar origin in a political crisis followed by an extra-constitutional moment and then a referendum. These things happen, though not frequently.




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Published on April 09, 2011 07:31
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