Responding to Imperfection: The Theory and Practice of Constitutional AmendmentSanford Levinson An increasing number of constitutional theorists, within both the legal academy and university departments of government, are focusing on the conceptual and political problems attached to the notion of constitutional amendment. Amendments are, among other things, recognitions of the imperfection of existing schemes of government. The relative ease or difficulty of amendment has significant implications for the ways that governments respond to problems that call either for new structures of governance or new powers for already established structures. This book brings together essays by leading legal authorities and political scientists on a range of questions from whether the U.S. Constitution is subject to amendment by procedures other than those authorized by Article V to how significant change is conceptualized within classical rabbinic Judaism. Though the essays are concerned for the most part with the American experience, other constitutional traditions are considered as well. |
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... answers to questions about rescission, extension, and time limits for ratification, who should give them? The courts? Congress? (To name only two candidates.) 5. What if the states do in fact coordinately call for a new constitutional ...
... answered with a vigorous no by both Bruce Ackerman and Stephen Griffin. Both point to the presence of truly fundamental ... answer this question by simple—and, I believe, simpleminded and atheoretical—reference to the numbered textual ...
... answers to these questions, in turn, tell us about our overarching topic—the implications for constitutional theory of grappling with the issue of constitutional amendment? Identifying Amendment I thus finally arrive at an explanation ...
... answer to my multiple choice question cannot be either “(b)” or “(c),” that is, “26” or “27,” depending on the stance one takes toward the so-called Twenty-seventh Amendment,39 however common (or ostensibly “commonsensical”) those answers ...
... answers, that the answer at least cannot be “(a) fewer than 26.” This would seem to follow from the proposition that there have been at least twenty-six numbered textual additions plus at least one more (e.g., Marshall's opinion in ...
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Responding to Imperfection: The Theory and Practice of Constitutional Amendment Sanford Levinson No preview available - 1995 |
Responding to Imperfection: The Theory and Practice of Constitutional Amendment Sanford Levinson No preview available - 1995 |