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Beyond The Shell And Husk Of History: The History Of The Seventeenth Amendment And Its Implications For Current Reform Proposals , Todd J. Zywicki
Beyond The Shell And Husk Of History: The History Of The Seventeenth Amendment And Its Implications For Current Reform Proposals , Todd J. Zywicki
Cleveland State Law Review
The purpose of this article is to review and synthesize the lessons of recent Seventeenth Amendment scholarship and how these lessons apply to current reform proposals. Part I discusses the emerging understanding of the integral and multifaceted role played by the Senate in the original constitutional structure. Part II further reviews and critiques the traditional explanations which have been offered for the Seventeenth Amendment, and demonstrates their failure to explain the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment. Part III discusses an alternative explanation for the Seventeenth Amendment rooted in a public choice analysis of constitutional change, one which largely has been …
Amending The Constitution: Just Not Every November, Brendon Troy Ishikawa
Amending The Constitution: Just Not Every November, Brendon Troy Ishikawa
Cleveland State Law Review
Professor Akhil Amar has defended the idea that Americans may amend the Constitution regardless of Article V's dictates. Professor Amar does not stand alone on this claim. Professor Bruce Ackerman not only agrees, but would actually prefer direct popular amendment over the express Article V procedures. Their arguments, however, ignore the Framers' careful balancing of federal and popular principles in Article V by embracing only the democratic populist aspect of the Constitution. Part I of this Article examines and critiques Professor Amar's argument that the people may directly amend the Constitution without having to comply with Article V. An examination …