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Dampening The Illegitimacy Of The United States' Government: Reframing The Constitution From Contract To Promise, Malla Pollack
Dampening The Illegitimacy Of The United States' Government: Reframing The Constitution From Contract To Promise, Malla Pollack
Malla Pollack
Realistic political philosophers working in the United States face a serious problem. The public accepts as axiomatic the fundamental status of the 1789 Constitution. That Constitution, however, even as amended, is blatantly illegitimate, thus undermining any theoretical claim that citizens should respect (as opposed to obey) the existing national government. This paper tenders a method for shoring up the legitimacy of the federal government through the Constitution-as-promise. Realism is central to this project; I am discussing the words of the ratified document with its twenty-seven Article V-created amendments. I am not taking the common path of deflecting problems by building …
Federal Land Retention And The Constitution's Property Clause: The Original Understanding, Robert G. Natelson
Federal Land Retention And The Constitution's Property Clause: The Original Understanding, Robert G. Natelson
Robert G. Natelson
This article examines the original meaning of the Constitution's clauses authorizing federal land ownership. It finds that the power granted to Congress was broad enough to include land ownership for enumerated purposes, even without complying the procedures necessary for the creation of federal enclaves. But it finds that the power was not broad enough to include indefinite landholding for unenumerated purposes.
The Israeli Constitutional Revolution/Evolution, Models Of Constitutions, And A Lesson Frommistakes And Achievements, Yoseph M. Edrey Prof.
The Israeli Constitutional Revolution/Evolution, Models Of Constitutions, And A Lesson Frommistakes And Achievements, Yoseph M. Edrey Prof.
Yoseph M. Edrey
There are some fundamental preconditions entailed in the process of becoming a democratic state. The mere existence of a written document entitled "Constitution" is not enough; a society is entitled to be considered a democratic state by the international community only if its legal sys- tem contains two attributes-the recognition of basic human rights and the idea that basic human rights are protected by some type of judicial review performed by an independent court system. Further- more, it would be better if these basic human rights were enumerated in a written constitution. Nonetheless, based on the Social Contract concept, the …