Below is a fantasy: a re-factoring and bug-fix of the US Constitution. It is as much wish fulfillment as it is science-fiction speculation. The underlying sci-fi narrative is that this new US Constitution is, by one or many applications of the current Article 5, sometime in the few years after 2026 ratified.
Scroll down to Article 0 for the good stuff. Before then are some extra-textual remarks.
The changes are roughly of 5 kinds, which arranged from least to most radical are:
CLERICAL STANDARDIZATION, to bring spelling and grammar and Capitalization to modern standards;
ORGANIZATION, to group related provisions under titled sections and to remove provisions no longer in effect;●● for instance, integrating amendments into the body, and deleting provisions whose sole purpose was to protect Slavery
CODIFICATION, to license or mandate, in text, structual conventions already deeply in place but not written in the old-and-actual Constitution;●● e.g. the practice of judicial review, or the incorporation to the States of parts of the Bill of Rights
DISAMBIGUATION, to supply concrete procedure for those exceptional cases where no procedure is written;●● such as who can suspend habeas corpus, or how a State may legally secede, or by what method delegates to a constitutional convention shall be elected
MODIFICATION, to create new provisions, or to remove old ones, in a local manner so as to adhere to the global framework of the old-and-actual Constitution.
Of course, even clerical and organizational changes alter meaning: an abstract noun may carry different force depending on its Capitalization; an old spelling emphasizes different aspects of etymology, entangles differently in the Web of words;●● insure Tranquility vs ensure Tranquility provisions now inactive may, by negative information or by parallel, help scope and structure active ones; and provisions gain meaning from their groupings and headings. An interpreter both historically informed and committed to public textual meaning would, after this new Constitution be ratified, have to somehow ascertain how much of that public textual meaning contains a modern understanding of the historical meaning. So even these most minor changes have content.
Conversely, I argue that even the proposed modifications and disambiguations amount to small alterations of structure. I and probably most who think about constitutional design enjoy, when in whimsical mood, the improvisation of far-reaching changes to structure or to liberties●● CHANGES TO STRUCTURE: such as a diffraction of the Presidency into several elected offices; or a relative empowerment-or-disempowerment of the Senate in the legislative process; or permission for some executive departments to be by law insulated from the President's control; or an explicit supervision process of the States over the selection of federal Judges; etc, etc. CHANGES TO LIBERTIES: such as unqualified textual protections of, or prohibitions against, guns and abortions and liquor and deficit and suffrage-for-felons that one sincerely believes would benefit the People. But the point of this exercise is to craft a revision of plausibly very broad appeal, not to act as benevolent dictator: today we play a game of moderation. Even the more major changes are, for this reason, in essence conservative.
Having remarked above on form and purpose, I turn now to content. The more major changes mainly concern three ideas: stronger BICAMERALISM, the closing of LOOPHOLES, and the undermining of those old incentives toward FACTIONALISM. I remark on each in turn...
ELEGANCE TODO
We Americans●● except Ben Franklin and Nebraskans in their eccentric wisdom celebrate our bicameral system. When working at its best, it protects individual rights by requiring broad national consensus before allowing our out-of-state neighbors from disabling the old rules that protect us, or from making new rules we have to follow. The measure of broad consensus is whether three different bodies (House, Senate, President) --- elected in three different manners on three different timescales according to three different spatial slicings-up of the country --- ALL agree that a proposed change helps more than harms.
To enhance this requirement of consensus, we might lean into the individual characters of the Congress's two Chambers. The ideal fairy tale goes like this: the House is a hot melting pot of diverse and zany passions, the stage for the People's grand polyphony; the Senate, a cool deliberator where even the less powerful States can claim a voice. I propose to strengthen bicameralism by making the fairy tale a bit more true.
The 17th Amendment was proposed and ratified in response to rampant corruption: State legislators in essence put Senate seats for sale. But the 17th Amendment's spirit, one of anti-corruption-via-popular-vote, can be preserved while also enhancing protections of local democracy: simply allow the State legislators to prepare the menu of Candidates from which the People choose. Two desiderata: (A) even a lopsided legislature should produce a diverse menu, and (B) even if a majority of legislators are bribable and bribed, the menu should contain one or more "clean" Candidates.
We kill two birds by letting minority groups of legislators nominate candidates. Let any group of, say, 1/5 of the State legislators●● The original Article I gives precedent for the U.S. Constitution breaking encapsulation to depend on the membership structure of individual State Legislatures. nominate one Candidate, with no one belonging to multiple groups. Then the People by single transferable vote●● In this system, each voter ranks one or more Candidates (1st, 2nd, etc). We'll do steps of elimination, so as useful shorthand let's say a Candidate is at some step a voter's "favorite" when the voter ranks the Candidate as best among un-eliminated Candidates. The system is: SO LONG AS MULTIPLE CANDIDATES REMAIN, ELIMINATE THE CANDIDATE WHO IS THE FEWEST VOTERS' FAVORITE. (The remaining Candidate wins.) Crucially, though candidates are eliminated, ballots are not: if my first choice got eliminated, then my ballot still matters in favoring my second choice over my third choice etc. select a winner.
Under a two party system, unless a legislature is 80-percent Blue or 80-percent Red, there will be at least one candidate from each major party. In fact, since SingleTransferableVote does not have major "spoiler" effects, we expect 4 candidates. Say a State's pro-Banana caucus, which originally would have nominated a certain pro-Banana candidate (who peels from the stem), is big enough that by splitting it could nominate two candidates. The half of those pro-Banana legislators who are sympathetic to a different pro-Banana candidate (who peels from the tip) would not jeopardize the pro-Banana cause if they split off to nominate that candidate; so we'd get two meaningfully different pro-Banana candidates. Legislators who want to avoid appearing complicit in narrowing voters' choices to just 2 --- a complaint apparently common among voters both Red and Blue --- and legislators whose ideas and emphases differ, even slightly, from the exact median preference of their party --- would be incentivized to increase the menu size. For this reason, there'd typically be 4 Candidates.
Moreover, the SingleTransferableVote tends to reward moderation and civility. Mudslinging toward another candidate has the cost of worsening one's ranking on the ballots of those who like that candidate. Say the anti-Bananas are sufficiently more popular than the pro-Bananas so that it is a given that an anti-Banana will win; if the anti-Bananas are divided between one extreme and one moderate candidate, then the pro-Banana voters' rankings will tip the balance in favor of the moderate candidate. Result: a moderate anti-Banana candidate.
As for bribery: under the original Article I, a mere majority of (upper house) legislators could sell Senate seats; but in the typical multiple-groups scenario, unless 4/5ths of the legislators succumb to bribery, the people would have at least one "clean" Candidate to choose. And since such bribery when it happens would be less effective, it would probably happen less to begin with.
The proposed change, in line with the 17th Amendment, has the People choose their Senator; moreover, the choice would, under our current two-party system, have the richness of primary elections in addition to general elections. The key difference is that it is subgroups of State legislators, rather than the local branches (and the primaries they have so much power over) of naion-wide Parties with national platforms, that select the menu. Thus, these candidates would tend to be more sympathetic to effecting the policies of the People --- whether these be Blue or Red policies --- via State government rather than National government.
The 1/5 threshold could have been any smallish fraction. I chose it for aesthetic unity. For, the smallest constant fraction that the old-and-actual Constitution mentions is 1/5: a minority of Senators or Representatives of that size may force the presentation (through their respective Chamber's journal) of information to the People. This lax threshold for information-flow to the People resonates with the proposed process by which State legislators recommend candidates to the People.
To amplify the House's direct and fiery character, one would want a voting system that FIXES GERRYMANDERING, and, more strongly, that is Concentration-Unswayed, i.e., that represents each minority no matter their geographic concentration. To illustrate, imagine two worlds: in World A, one third of all districts are entirely Star-Bellied, and the remaining districts are entirely Plain-Bellied. In World B, every single district is one-third Star-Bellied and two-thirds Plain-Bellied. The Star-Bellies should, of course, have one third of the House in World A. What I mean by Concentration-Unswayed is that the Star-Bellies should enjoy the same House representation in the two worlds. A Concentration-Unswayed voting system would, because it is impervious to gerrymandering and for other reasons, amplify the House's ideal character.
Yet, of the many Concentration-Unswayed voting systems, the better-known ones tend to rely on non-local representation. But Local representation is our American way. Your Representative's job●● unless you're in Puerto Rico or D.C. or a minor Territory; I'm sorry. is to represent you whether or not you voted for them, and likewise for all in your neighborhood. This softly rules out voting systems that enlarge our (already large) districts into multi-member districts or that, folding in our centuries-long resistance against pure factionalism, recognize Parties rather than People as the fundamental electable unit.●● One could maintain locality for these methods by radically enlarging or time-splitting the House or by complicated methods whereby local candidates affiliate with national parties that in turn rank their affiliates, so that, earning by global vote a budget of seats, their ranking and budget together determine which of their affiliates win --- hence the word "softly".
So, to get a Concentration-Unswayed, Local voting system seems to require some TURN-TAKING: I, Star-Bellied, agree with my two Plain-Bellied neighbors that I will get my candidate this election and they will get theirs in the next two. Making a table of who agrees with whom, we schedule which subgroups control which of the next several elections. Now, this is horribly complicated, especially as folks move within and between States; worse --- and this is a fundamental flaw if we seek democracy --- this remember-a-past-table method does not accomodate people who over time change their mind! We seek a system that is Memoryless.
Fortunately, there is a way out --- a very simple system that is simultaneously Concentration-Unswayed, Local, and Memoryless. In this system, the lifetime experience of a citizen (one engaged enough to vote) in their more than two dozen House elections, would be, if, say, they happen to be always in a minority of size one-third, that in close to one third of those elections their favored candidate wins. If half of the time they are in a minority of size-one-third minority and the other half in a size-two-thirds majority, then in close to half of their lifetime elections their favorite candidate will win. And so forth.
The system is this: select each election's winner with probability proportional to votes received, that is, randomly. With dice as our turn-taking mechanism, no memory is needed. (We, unlike 250 years ago, are a numerate nation. To the worry that "Whoever controls the dice controls the outcome" we may answer that the metaphorical die roll shall be the joint responsibility of the election's Candidates, by any●● Click here for a gentle introduction to the relevant arithmetic ideas. of the many methods of randomness-aggregation, relying on basic arithmetic, that are not just fair but in fact to-the-public-verifiably fair. I speak of replicable (for ballot recounts) and TODO)
It would be understandable if one feels anxious about turn-taking. Something feels unfair about a 60-percent majority getting their way only 60-percent of the time, and in particular perhaps not getting their way this year! Here again, the facilitation via randomness of turn-taking establishes formal properties to assuage our worry. Key is that turns are uncorrelated between distinct districts. Switching viewpoint from that of single voters across all their years to that of single years across all their voters, we see by "Laws of Large Numbers" that the House in every year will have nearly proportional representation. How nearly? Say that about 50-percent of voters●● weighted, as usual, by voter engagement and by the ratio of each State's seats in the House to its population vote for the Star-Bellied cause. Then we expect with probability 95-percent (i.e., with exceptions only every forty years) less than 4.7 percentage-points of deviation from this quantity. For comparison, this once-in-forty-year deviation under the turn-taking system is a bit smaller than the current system's typical deviation of 6.3 percentage-points over the past 20 years.●● "6.3 percentage-points" is a root-mean-square, over 10 elections, of the difference between national House representation fractions and national voting fractions, and counting only the two major parties. Our computation of national voting fraction differs from a simple national sum-of-votes in two ways: (a) we normalize away voter engagement, so a district has the same weight whether its voters submitted 1000 or 100000 ballots, and (b) each district has the same weight; e.g. Delaware-at-large (population 1.0 million) and Wyoming-at-large (population 0.6 million) both have weight one. We count candidates who officially affiliate with Democrats or Republicans, and no others. When an election has multiple candidates of the same party, we sum their votes. We merge all parties with "Democrat" in their name (e.g. Minnesota's DFL), and analogously with "Republican" (no party counts as both). I used the MIT election lab's data.
We could eliminate very unpopular candidates by imposing a threshold before consideration for turn-taking. This may assuage fears of some Horrible Fascist Minority gaining a few seats among the House's many hundreds. Such fear is the typical anti-populist fear that is the bass line to the praise, which Blue voters give during Red eras and Red voters give during Blue eras, of indirect democracy with checks and balances. And indeed, not just the moat between "few seats" and "a majority of seats" but also our bicameral system (the House by itself cannot make law) give strong answer to the fear. Still, requiring a low threshold does little to erode the benefits listed and may calm the anxious mind. So we pick a fraction --- as in our discussion of the Senate, 1/5 has among various small fractions the benefit of aesthetic unity. Another way it phrase it is: if your candidate is so unpopular that it'd take longer on average than the time between censuses for their turn to come, then they are too unpopular to be considered. This is because 5 House elections occur between consecutive censuses.
Zooming out to our Bicameral theme: each seat of the House is a stage for expression, not wise consensus. We further this ideal via MemorylessTurnTaking, which fixes gerrymandering, and due to LawOfLargeNumbers faithfully reflects the electorate's makeup, and gives voice to minorities --- those we strongly agree with and those we strongly disagree with. Meanwhile, the Senate is the great moderator. We further this ideal by GroupNomination and SingleTransferableVote, the first installing a subtle moderating force toward State autonomy and the second a mechanism that helps moderate candidates --- those that unexcitingly unite supermajorities rather than intensely dazzle mere pluralities --- to win.
This pair of changes to how Representatives and Senators are elected has the pleasant property of political balance, for, as I gather, proportional House representation is considered a Blue cause, and State influence over the Senate a Red one. (Aside: to be honest, I don't understand why. Gerrymandering●● by which e.g. Maryland has hurt Red voters and North Carolina has hurt Blue voters, such effects by some metrics roughly canceling nationally hurts both Blue and Red voters and, more importantly, should offend the republican sensibilities of every American. As for the Senate as protector of local democratic self-government: #among the small States there are both many Blue and many Red States and, more importantly, the erosion of the power of States to self-regulate●● e.g. Blue voters may object that 2005's PLCAA enfeebles local democratic regulation of guns, or that judges confirmed by a modern Senate may, in interpreting the Comstock Act, prevent local democratic processes from ensuring abortion pill access; meanwhile, Red voters may object that 2010's ACA disables local democratic processes from determining how to balance the health of children against other costly projects has in this century been negatively felt and much protested by both the Red and the Blue.)
ELECTION TO THE SENATE --- The State Legislature shall, in the May before the election, nominate a number of candidates, with any group of one fifth of its legislators duly sworn permitted to nominate one candidate; but no two groups shall overlap. And from these candidates, the people of the State shall by SingleTransferableVote elect their Senator. That is: each voter shall rank one or more candidates, and so long as multiple Candidates remain, that Candidate shall be eliminated who is, according to the voters' rankings of the Candidates yet un-eliminated, the first choice of the fewest voters; the remaining Candidate shall win.
ELECTION TO THE HOUSE --- The people of the State shall by MemorylessTurnTaking elect their Representatives. That is: the State Legislature having determined one district for each seat, each voter shall select one candidate; the district's winner shall be chosen, from among the plurality candidate and all candidates receiving one fifth of all votes, with probability proportional to votes received, and this randomness shall be independent of all other elections.
Whether or not this scenario is likely is irrelevant; when grave stakes are placed, as how lottery winnings can fracture a family. A good Constitution should amplify small amounts of good faith, and such prisoner's dilemmas erode such purpose.
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The legislative power of the United States shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
STRUCTURE AND TERMS OF THE SENATE --- Each State shall be entitled 2 seats in the Senate. These seats shall be divided as evenly as may be into 3 classes, with one class elected, in November of each even year, to a term of 6 years that shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of the following January.
No Senator shall serve more than 20 consecutive years.●● One might say that learning on the job is essential; but it is also important to make space for voters to learn by comparing different alternatives. No person shall serve as Senator without having attained 30 years of age, or while holding any Office under the United States.
ELECTION TO THE SENATE --- The State Legislature shall, in the May before the election, nominate a number of candidates, with any group of one fifth of its legislators duly sworn permitted to nominate one candidate; but no two groups shall overlap. And from these candidates, the people of the State shall by SingleTransferableVote elect their Senator. That is: each voter shall rank one or more candidates, and so long as multiple Candidates remain, that Candidate shall be eliminated who is, according to the voters' rankings of the Candidates yet un-eliminated, the first choice of the fewest voters; the remaining Candidate shall win.
STRUCTURE AND TERMS OF THE HOUSE --- The House of Representatives shall have 625 seats, or a larger number as the Congress may by Law provide. Each State, and the incorporated Territories as one Whole, shall be entitled a number of seats as proportional as may be to their number of Citizens, but at least 2 seats each. Representatives shall be elected, in November of each even year, to a term of 2 years that shall shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of the following January.
No person shall serve as Representative without having attained 25 years of age, or while holding any Office under the United States.
ELECTION TO THE HOUSE --- The people of the State shall by MemorylessTurnTaking elect their Representatives. That is: the State Legislature having determined one district for each seat, each voter shall select one candidate; the district's winner shall be chosen, from among the plurality candidate and all candidates receiving one fifth of all votes, with probability proportional to votes received, and this randomness shall be independent of all other elections.
MANNER OF ELECTION --- Each State shall by Law determine the place within their State, and specify the aforementioned time and manner, of elections to the Senate and the House; but the Congress may by uniform Law make or alter such regulations.
Each State may by Law propose an alternative method for immediately upcoming elections to the Senate or the House --- that is, an alternative to Approval Voting or MemorylessTurnTaking --- which with the consent of Congress shall for those elections in that State take effect. But no such proposal shall occur until 3 years after ratification of this section.
REMOVAL --- Each Chamber●● The old Constitution uses "House", and this revision uses "Chamber", for the same concept. I made this substitution throughout, to avoid confusion: "House" now refers only to the House of Representatives. shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members. Either Chamber may, with the concurrence of two thirds of members duly sworn, expel one of their own members.
VACANCIES --- When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate or the House, the executive authority of the State shall issue writs of special election to fill such vacancies. The Legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until by ordinary or special election the seat is filled.
QUORUM --- In each Chamber a simple majority shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each Chamber may provide. And neither Chamber during the session of Congress shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Chambers shall be sitting.
The Senators and Representatives shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, by privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Chambers, and in going to and returning from the same.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year; they shall first assemble TODO
INFORMATION FLOW --- Each Chamber shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgement require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either Chamber on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
And for any speech or debate in either Chamber, the Chamber's members shall not be questioned in any other place.
The legislative power shall include the power to conduct investigations to inform its valid exercise and to punish contempt of such valid exercise.●● This, the SUBPOENA power, is "implicit" in the old Constitution.
RULES --- Each Chamber may determine the rules of its proceedings, and punish its members for disorderly behavior
LEADERS --- The three Leaders of each Chamber shall by uniform monthly rotation take turns to preside over the Chamber and a fortiori to schedule the Chamber's business,
Each Chamber shall from its members choose its three Leaders by Group Selection, as follows. Any group of more than one fourth of the Chamber's members duly sworn may choose one Leader, and no member shall belong to more than one such group. Upon vacancy among the Leaders, or with the signatures of a majority of the Chamber's members duly sworn, the three Leaders shall be re-selected. Each Chamber shall by simple majority adopt and amend its Rules.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE --- But the Vice President shall, when present in the Senate Chamber, preside over the Senate. The Vice President shall break ties when the Senators be evenly divided.
COMPENSATION --- The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, as Congress shall ascertain by law. But no law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened. And no Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time.
BICAMERAL PASSAGE --- An Act of Congress --- whether bill, order, resolution, or vote --- shall, unless otherwise stated by this Constitution, require both simple majority of Representatives present and a simple majority●● But see FILIBUSTER paragraphs below. of Senators present.
All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.
PRESIDENTIAL VETO --- Questions of adjournment of the Congress, or questions requiring the concurrence of one Chamber alone (and not of the President), shall upon the required votes in Congress take effect.
But every other Act of Congress shall,●● This Constitution nowhere requires "2/3 of each Chamber and the President's approval" or (besides adjournment) "approval of each Chamber but not the President". These extra -stringent or -lax forms one might want for critical parameters (e.g. to prevent Court-packing or to prevent biasing of Amendment-ratification via State-splitting) or for "mere" procedure (e.g. adjournment). With no such forms, we need not refine the phrase "every other Act". before it take effect, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approve it, he shall sign it and the Act shall take effect.
But if not, he shall return the Act, with his objections, to the Senate and the House, both of which shall enter the objections at large on their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of both Chambers approve of the Act, it shall take effect. But either way, the votes of both Chambers shall be determined by "yeas" and "nays", and the names of the persons voting for and against the Act shall be entered on the journal of each Chamber respectively.
If such Act shall not be returned by the President within 12 days●● equivalent to 10 days excluding Sundays after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall take effect, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case the Act shall not take effect.
FILIBUSTER --- An Act of Congress whose constitutionality relies on the General Welfare Clause, or on any but a strictest reasonable construction of the Interstate Commerce Clause, or on any but a strictest reasonable construction of the Necessary and Proper Clause, shall be called "expansive", and an "expansive" act shall pass the Senate only with the approval of three fifths of Senators duly sworn.
A group of more than two fifths of Senators present may, while voting "Nay", affix to an Act a signed argument that that act is "expansive". Thereupon, the act shall take effect only if the President, on the basis of constitutional text alone and not the public good, believes the argument to be flawed and signs with the Act an attestation to and explanation of this belief. The Courts of the United States shall prioritize such laws for judicial review.
ENUMERATED POWERS --- The Congress shall have power:
To provide for the general Welfare of the United States;
To regulate Commerce among the several States, and with Foreign Powers and the Indian Tribes; but the transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States of intoxicating liquors,●● Here, by the way, would a tidy place to strengthen State-wise powers of gun control, by writing arms or intoxicating liquors. for delivery or use therein in violation of the laws thereof, shall be prohibited;
To lay and collect, in a manner uniform throughout the United States, duties, imposts, excises, and taxes, including taxes on incomes from whatever source derived (without apportionment among the several States and without regard to any census or enumeration); to coin Money and regulate the value thereof; to borrow Money on the credit of the United States, and to pay the debts;
To provide for the common defense of the United States; to declare war; to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union and to suppress insurrections and repel invasions; to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces, and to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of Officers and the authority of training the militia according to a discipline the Congress shall be law prescribe;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations; and to grant letters of marque and reprisal and to make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To exercise exclusive Legislation over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; and to exercise like authority over the Federal District (not exceeding ten miles square) that shall by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress become the seat of government of the United States;
To define the executive Departments, whose purpose shall be to execute the laws of the United States, and to define their hierarchy of Officers, with each Department having one principal Officer; and
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
IMPEACHMENT --- The House shall, have sole power to impeach, and shall do so by simple majority. The Senate shall have sole power to try all Impeachments; when sitting for this purpose, each Senator shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President or Vice President is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside. And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of Senators present.
Judgement in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liabla and subject to indictment, trial, judgement, and punishment, according to law.
The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of: Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors, or for permanent inability to discharge the powers and duties of their Office.
The executive power of the United States shall be vested in the President.
STRUCTURE AND TERMS --- The President and Vice President shall be elected, in November of each fourth year, to a term of 4 years that shall begin at noon on the 20th day of the following January.
No person shall be President or Acting President for more than 10 years. No person shall be elected President or Vice President, unless they shall, at the start of the term for which they shall have been elected, have attained 35 years of age.
ELECTION --- The People shall elect the President and Vice President by Hierarchical Approval Voting,●● In plain approval voting, each person votes for one or more Candidates, and whichever Candidate gets most votes wins. Approval voting is the most natural and simple voting system I know: a voter considers each Candidate and answers "yes" or "no". Our currently standard system of "select-one plurality voting" is a variant of approval voting where each voter is constrained to say "yes" at most once; this constraint leads to severe "spoiler" effects that disincentivize the People from forming diverse sets of parties. Instead of compromising coalitions forming by constitutional means, topic-by-topic, within Congress, they are formed by the vagaries of two big extra-constitutional organizations. as follows. Candidates shall run in pairwise-disjoint Groups of at least three. Each Voter shall select one or more Groups and one or more Candidates. The Group with most votes shall win; within the winning Group, the Candidate with most votes shall become President and the Candidate with the second most votes shall become Vice President.
In these elections, a voter from a State entitled \(R\) many Representatives, or from the incorporated Territories that as a whole are entitled \(R\) many Representatives, shall be counted with weight \(1+2/R\).
No Group in the election shall contain multiple Candidates from the same State. Each Candidate in a Group shall be a Citizen of the United States and shall by the time of Inauguration have attained at least thirty five years.
SUCCESSION --- The Legislature of each State shall by law determine a method by which, based only on the presidential votes of the people of that State and on the recommendations of the Candidates, a slate of Emergency Electors --- as many as the State is entitled Senators and Representatives --- is selected.
Should the role of President Elect become vacant, the Vice President Elect shall become President Elect; but if the roles become both vacant, then the Emergency Electors shall all convene to select, by a method of voting as the Congress shall by law provide, a President Elect.
Should the role of Vice President Elect become vacant, the President Elect shall appoint a Vice President with the consent of both Chambers of Congress.
Should the Presidency be vacated, the Vice President if any shall become President; but if both Offices be vacant, then a principal Officer of an executive Department shall become President, according to an order of succession as the Congress shall by law provide.
Should the Vice Presidency be vacated, the President shall appoint a Vice President with the consent of both Chambers of Congress; and until then a principal Officer of an executive Department, according to an order of succession as the Congress shall by law provide, shall be Acting Vice President.
INCAPACITY --- In the following two paragraphs, "to declare formally" shall mean "to transmit to the President and Vice President and the Leaders of the Senate and House a written Declaration"; and "to be incapacitated" shall mean "to be unable to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency".
When the President, or the Vice President with the assent of a majority of principal Officers of the executive Departments, declares formally that the President is incapacitated, the Vice President shall become Acting President. Thereafter, when the President declares formally that he is not incapacitated, the President shall resume the powers and duties of the Presidency.
But if in response to the President's latter declaration the Vice President, with the assent of a majority of principal Officers, declares formally that the President is incapacitated, the Congress shall, within 21 days after receipt of the Vice President's latter Declaration, decide the issue: if two thirds of each Chamber determines the President to be incapacitated, the President shall be removed from Office; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of the Presidency.
COMPENSATION --- The President and Vice President shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which they shall have been elected; and they shall not received within that period any other emolument from the United States or any of them.
INFORMING CONGRESS --- The President shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. He may, on extra-ordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjournment he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper.
ACCOUNTING --- No money shall be drawn from the Treasury of the United States, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; nor shall any funds be withheld contrary to appropriations made by law; and a regular Statement and Account of Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
FAITHFULLY EXECUTE --- The President shall take care to faithfully execute the Laws of the United States.
APPOINTMENT TO EXECUTIVE OFFICES --- The President shall, with the advice and consent of a simple majority of the Senate, appoint the principal Officers of the executive Departments. The President may with the consent of the Vice President●● to aid 25th remove a principal Officer.
Each inferior Officer of the executive Departments shall be appointed EITHER by the President with the advice and consent of a simple majority of the Senate, OR by the Department's principal Officer, OR for a repeatable term of no longer than 7 years by the Courts of Law, as the Congress shall by law prescribe. The President may for any reason remove an inferior Officer appointed by the first method; and may remove an inferior officer appointed by the second or third method, respectively, with the consent of the principal Officer or of the Courts of Law.
DIPLOMATIC POWERS --- The President shall receive foreign ministers and ambassadors.
The United States shall enter or exit treaties with the signature of the President once ratified by two thirds of Senators present.
WAR POWERS --- The President shall be commander of the militia of the United States.
The President, if engaging in violent Conflict not explicitly and specifically scoped within a declaration of war or other act of Congress, shall within 72 hours alert the Leaders of the Senate and of the House, and shall, unless by unanimous consent of the Leaders of the Senate, within an additional 72 hours cease the conflict; and either way, the Leaders shall report on the conflict to the Congress, which may then by a simple majority in each Chamber regulate or cease the conflict.
HABEAS --- The President shall have power, with the assent of the Congress, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, in cases of rebellion or invasion for which the publc saferty may require such suspension, and in no other cases and for no longer duration.
PARDON POWER --- The President may propose reprieves or pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment, which once signed by more than one third of Senators present shall be granted.
The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, several Courts of Appeals, and further inferior Courts.
SUPREME COURT --- The Supreme Court shall have 10 seats; the most senior 9 Justices shall be voting Justices and the remaining Justice shall not vote except in cases of absence or recusal. The most senior Justice, or a Justice selected by a majority of voting Justices, shall be the Chief Justice of the United States.
In May of each odd year, the most senior Justice shall retire from the Supreme Court. This and other vacancies shall be filled by Whittling, as follows. First, a list of candidates shall be compiled by adjoining, to the \(C+1\) many Judges of the Courts of Appeals who do not explicitly decline, at most \(5\) Candidates of the President's choice. Second, the \(S\) many Senators shall distribute points among the Candidates; but no Senator shall give more than \(C\) points and no Candidate shall receive more than \(S\) points. Third, with the finalists being those candidates receiving strictly fewer than \(S\) points, the most senior finalist, or a finalist of the President's choosing, shall be appointed to the Supreme Court. The first, second, and third steps shall respectively conclude within 60, 120, and 180 days after vacancy.
The preceding two paragraphs shall take effect only 20 years after ratification of this section.
COURTS OF APPEALS --- The Courts of Appeals shall in total have 180 seats, and the Congress shall by law specify the structure of these Courts, and partition their jurisdictions.
Vacancies shall be filled in pairs, as follows. First, the President shall nominate a pair of candidates. Second, the President's pair shall be appointed unless a group two fifths of Senators duly sworn nominate one alternative Candidate from among the Judges of the United States. In the latter case: Third, a disjoint group of two fifths of Senators duly sworn may nominate a second alternative candidate from among the Judges of the United States; and Fourth, the Senate shall, by simple majority, choose either the original pair or the alternative candidate(s) to fill the vacancies. The first, second, third, and fourth steps shall respectively conclude within 60, 120, 180, and 240 days after vacancy.
FURTHER INFERIOR COURTS --- The Congress shall by law erect further inferior Courts.
The President shall appoint Judges of these Courts with the advice and consent of three fifths of Senators duly sworn.
TENURE --- The Judges of United States shall during good behavior hold their Offices until retirement (or death or resignation or impeachment for high Crimes and Misdemeanors), during which their compensation shall not decrease. And the Congress shall pass no law that compels retirement of Judges. The Congress shall by law prescribe standards of integrity, uniform through all the Courts of the United States, to be administered by the Courts themselves. A person having served 20 years as a Judge or Justice of the United States shall upon retirement earn a pension equal to their compensation should they not have retired.
JUDICIAL REVIEW --- The judicial power shall include the power to review the actions of the United States and of any State as to their pursuance to this Constitution.●● This, the power of JUDICIAL REVIEW, is "implicit" in the old constitution.
ENUMERATED JURISDICTIONS --- The judicial power shall moreover extend:
To all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made under their authority;
To controversies to which the United States shall be a party;
To controversies between two or more States;
To controversies between one or more States and a Foreign State;
To controversies commenced or prosecuted by a State against Citizens of another State or incorporated Territory, or against Citizens or Subjects of a Foreign State, but not commenced or prosecuted against a State by Citizens of another State or incorporated Territory, or by Citizens or Subjects of a Foreign State;
To controversies between Citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States;
To all cases affecting ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls; and
To all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION --- In all cases in which a State shall be party, and in all cases affecting ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all other cases mentioned, the Supreme Court shall take appeals from the Courts of Appeals, which shall take appeals from the further inferior Courts; such appellate jurisdiction shall pertain both to law and to fact. But Congress may by Law extend the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, or make exceptions and regulations to the hierarchy of appeals.●● TODO
STATEHOOD --- Changes to the set of States comprising the Union, or to the borders of those States, shall occur only with the conjunct approval of the Legislatures of the States concerned and of the Congress.
Moreover, a change that increases the number of States in the Union shall, to take effect, require such conjunct approval thrice, in three consecutive Congresses.●● Why so stringent? Because of a constititional LOOPHOLE by which a zealous national faction only slightly stronger than that required to make veto-proof law could despite arbitrary opposition make Amendments --- say, to bring back Prohibition! Here, "slightly stronger" means the faction has overwhelming support in some State --- say, Ohio (I'm from Michigan so I've got to pick on them). Then the faction would by Act of Congress and consent of Ohio's Legilature split Ohio into many smaller States (Ohio's got over 250 incorporated cities), almost all of pro-Prohibition. The faction would use their veto-proof numbers in Congress to propose Prohibition, then their support in three fourths of this new, enlarged set of States to ratify. (If Ohioans want, they could then re-merge.) ... IN SHORT, the failure mode of State splitting circumvents the three-fourths requirement for Amendements. Sci-fi indeed! But unlike other sci-fi scenarios, this one has every step political hence unjusticeable, and the People would, especially when the Senate becomes packed by the new States, have no remedy at the ballot box. The change proposed exploits that Statehood, unlike many political questions, is non-urgent (after all, naturalization takes years, so why should Statehood not?): three consecutive elections is the minimum needed to guarantee that the President, and every seat in the Congress, undergo intervening elections, and hence that the People, upon recognizing the beginnings of Ohio's Prohibition Coup, can stop it at the ballot box. But for 20 years after the ratification of this paragraph, the Congress may by ordinary law grant Statehood to Puerto Rico or to the Federal District.●● In a long-standing issue, only marginally improved by Amendment 23, there are now 4 million Americans in those two Territories denied representation in Congress and other dignities of Statehood. One way forward is for the two to be admitted simultaneously to the Union, Harrison-style, with balance maintained in the Senate because the Federal District is relatively Blue and Puerto Rico relatively Red (e.g. see Puerto Rico's 2020 shall-issue unified-permit gun laws, or 2005 prohibition of abortion except to save health or life, both currently effect).
TERRITORIES --- The incorporated Territories shall be understood to include the Federal District so long as the latter is not a State.
The incorporated Territories shall as one whole be entitled to as many Representatives in the House, and as many presidential Electors, as if they were one State. The Congress shall by law determine the time, place, and manner of elections in these incorporated Territories.
The Congress shall by Law make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.
STATE GOVERNMENT --- The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.
PROTECTION --- The United States shall protect each State in this Union against Invasion, and on application of the Legislature thereof, or of the Executive when the Legislature cannot be convened, against domestic violence.
FREE AND SYMMETRICAL MOVEMENT AND TRADE --- No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. Nor shall No Tax or Duty shall be laid, by the United States or any State, on Articles exported from any State;
OBLIGATIONS OF THE STATES --- A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records, and Proceedings shall be proved, and ●● WHAT the effect thereof.
PROHIBITIONS TO THE STATES --- No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation. And no State shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a Foreign Power, or engage in War unless actually invaded or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
No State shall coin Money, or emit Bills of Credit, or make any Thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; or make any Law impairing the obligation of contracts. And no State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws; and the net produce of all such duties and imposts shall be for the use of the treasury of the United State; and all such Laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.
No State shall, without the consent of Congress, keep troops, or keep ships of war in time of peace, or lay any duty of tonnage.
PUBLIC DEBT --- The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and boundites for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; for all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.
ENFORCEMENT --- The Congress shall have power to enforce by law the provisions of this section.
SUPREMACY --- This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution of Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
RIGHTS RESERVED --- But the enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. And the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the States, or if they be prohibited by the Constitution to the States, to the People.
OATH --- The Legislators, Electors for President and Vice President, executive Officers and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution.
The President Elect shall, before entering on the execution of the Office of President, take the following oath or affirmation: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
And no person shall be Legislator, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any Office, civil or miltary, under the United States or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath or affirmation as required by this section to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But the Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each Chamber, remove such disability.
AMENDMENT PROCESS IN GENERAL --- an amendment to this Constitution shall be adopted once nationally proposed then within seven years ratified by three fourths of States. If after those seven years, three times as many States have ratified as have explicitly rejected, then the amendment shall be adopted.
Ratification by the States shall occur by one of two methods as specified in the Proposal: by ordinary law, or by popular referendum by simple majority.
National proposal shall occur by one of two methods: by two thirds of each Chamber of Congress, or by a National Convention called by the States.
NATIONAL CONVENTION --- A National Convention shall be called on application of two thirds the States, as transmitted in one signed document to the President. To this Convention, each State shall be entitled two Delegates, elected by Pair Voting as follows. Each voter, selecting one or more candidates, shall be construed as approving any pair of candidates with at least one selected candidate; then the most approved pair of candidates shall win. The Delegates shall convene for at most one year, whereupo the convention shall dissolve. An amendment shall be proposed only with two thirds of votes with each Delegate entitled as many votes as their State is entitled Representatives; and simultaneously with two thirds of votes with each Delegate entitled one vote.
RESTRICTION --- But no State shall, without its consent, be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
SPEECH --- Neither the United States nor any State shall abridge the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peacably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
RELIGION --- Neither the United States nor any State shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion; or prohibit the free exercise of religion. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States or any State.
EQUAL PROTECTION --- Neither the United States nor any State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws; or make or enforce any law that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; or pass any ex post facto law, or any bill of attainder.
PRIVACY --- Neither the United States nor any State shall violate the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. And no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. And no soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house, without consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner the Congress may by law prescribe.
ARMS --- A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
SLAVERY --- Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction, except●● By the way, a tidy way to make SLAVERY absolutely unconstitutional would be to delete this final clause; and, to assuage those potential ratifiers who worry that this would free all those imprisoned, to stipulate that "But incarceration for a definite term and without forced activity, as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall not be construed to be slavery or involuntary servitude." as punishment for crime (whereof the party shall have been duly convicted). The Congress shall have power to enforce this paragraph by law.
CITIZENSHIP --- The Congress shall by law establish a uniform rule of naturalization. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State or incorporated Territory wherein they reside.
SUFFRAGE --- The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, or of sex, or of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax, or of age. The Congress shall have power to enforce this paragraph by law.
NOBILITY --- No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States or by any State; nor shall any person holding any Office of profit or trust under them, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any Foreign State.
RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED --- In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy: the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have previously been ascertained by law; the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him; the right to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. Nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
JURIES FOR CRIMINAL CASES --- The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed, but when not committed within any one State the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have previously directed. Moreover, no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time or War or public danger.
JURY TRIAL FOR SUITS AT COMMON LAW --- In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed a certain threshold, which shall be 20 dollars or a value uniform throughout the United States as the Congress shall have previously by law defined, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law.
CALIBRATION OF INJURY --- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Private property shall not be taken for public use, without just compensation.
TREASON --- Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open Court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
Author --- Title --- Year
TODO cite MIT election lab
TODO