Law Commons^™

Rewriting The Guarantee Clause: Justifying Direct Democracy In The Constitution, Kevin M. Wagner

Kevin M Wagner

Using the shifting meaning of the Guarantee Clause, this paper illustrates how the judiciary subtly redefines the meaning of the Constitution to meet the demands of a dynamic society allowing shifts to occur gradually in the governing structure. Government structure and authority, despite being based on a fixed written constitution, has changed and evolved based on the application of various stimuli such as social or technological change, or shifting demographics. The Guarantee Clause began as a largely anti-majoritarian provision intended to limit the influence of popular opinion in state governance. Over time, stimuli generated by events, such as the Industrial …