Amending the U.S. Constitution

This seminar explores the legal and historical dimensions of the American constitutional amendment process as well as its current and potential role in our political system and public debate. The principal focus will be on Article V of the Constiution but we will also briefly examine the way in which the Constitution is said by some to be "amendable" (and to have already been "amended") through alternate means apart from Article V. The seminar will enable students both critically to evaluate the myriad aspects of constitutional amendments and conventions using proper source material and to develop their own proposals for potential amendments. The first part of the course will first explore the origins of Article V, including background on the comparative amendability of other written constitutions, the adoption of the Bill of Rights, and the apparent unamendability of the provision in Article V requiring equal representation of the states in the Senate. We will then review the history of efforts--both successful and unsuccessful--to amend the Constitution, such as the early corrective amendments to the post-Civil War Reconstruction amendments, the Progressive Era amendments (e.g., the switch to the direct election of Senators), and the modern voting-related amendments. This section will also consider views about when and how it is proper or "appropriate" to amend the Constitution, the standard that members of Congress should employ in voting on proposed amendments, and the history of calls for constitutional conventions to amend the Constitution. The second part of the course will explore the current possibility of a constitutional convention or conventions being called independently of Congressional initiative including the question of whether the scope of such a convention could be limited. We will then examine the relatively recent and current proposals and advocacy for and against constitutional amendments across the political spectrum. For this portion of the course, we will particularly consider the balanced budget amendment, the state veto amendment, the victims' rights amendment, and the elimination of the direct election of Senators, from the conservative side of that spectrum. We will then particularly highlight the movement to overturn Citizens United by amendment, the elimination of the electoral college amendment, the proposal to overturn Heller (right to bear arms) by amendment, and the current effort to revive and ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, all mostly associated with the progressive or liberal side of the spectrum. For the final seminar, students will be asked to give in class their opinion of Article V and whether it is too easy or difficult (or just right) in terms of allowing amendments. Each student will also be asked briefly to propose and defend an amendment that that student believes should be added to the Constitution. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer, with consent of the instructor, from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement. Elements used in grading: class attendance, participation, class presentations, and final paper.