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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... reason , among many , that I think that the questions raised ( and provoked ) by Ackerman and Griffin are among the deepest in all constitutional theory . Zohar writes from a quite different perspective , that of the scholar of Jewish ...
... reason : the “ bundling " of the compensation clause , which apparently only James Madison thought particularly important , with other provisions much more popular by definition meant that the chances of passing the former were raised ...
... reason, I am arguing, to call a numbered tex- tual addition a genuine “amendment” unless it truly changes the pre- existing legal reality. One might argue, though, that the very existence of the numbered textual additions is presumptive ...
... reason to believe that even all of the representa- tives who voted for the First Amendment did so in the belief that it was “required” in order to preserve the liberties enunciated. They might just as likely have believed that it was ...
... reasons given by Justice Ginsburg , during her confirma- tion hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee , for endorsing the Equal Rights Amendment : I remain an advocate of the equal rights amendment , I will tell you , for this reason ...
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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 |