Full Description
It is well known that the US Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times since its creation in 1787, but that number does not reflect the true extent of constitutional change in America. Although the Constitution is globally recognized as a written text, it consists also of unwritten rules and principles that are just as important, such as precedents, customs, traditions, norms, presuppositions, and more. These, too, have been amended, but how does that process work? In this book, leading scholars of law, history, philosophy, and political science consider the many theoretical, conceptual, and practical dimensions of what it means to amend America's 'unwritten Constitution': how to change the rules, who may legitimately do it, why leaders may find it politically expedient to enact written instead of unwritten amendments, and whether anything is lost by changing the constitution without a codified constitutional amendment.
Contents
Introduction; 1. The unwritten constitutions of the United States Mark Graber; 2. Enumerating amendments Sanford Levinson; 3. Change is the only constant: unwritten amendments and the courts Carolyn Shapiro; 4. The role of the people in unwritten amendment Emily Zackin; 5. Unwritten state constitutions? In search of constitutional participants Miriam Seifter; 6. State constitutions and the interaction between formal amendment and unwritten commitments Jonathan L. Marshfield; 7. The drive for a national popular vote for the presidency: a case study in amending the unwritten constitution Vikram David Amar; 8. The Trump presidency, racial realignment, and the future of constitutional norms Neil S. Siegel; 9. Amending an unwritten constitution: comparative perspectives Mark Tushnet; 10. The unwritten foundations of (all) written constitutions Frederick Schauer.
