I feel as though a lot of people are beginning to see the constitution as some static, unchanging code of law instead of an active one meant to be updated periodically.

29 comments

  1. I think two things could happen: we will identify the need for a minor or technical or uncontroversial amendment that will pass, or our political system will reform and renew itself and we will once again be able to productively tackle controversial topics. The second option probably won’t happen for a long time but it’s not like it’s impossible.

  2. No, there’s nothing popular enough among legislators. Plenty that’s popular enough among the public, but legislators don’t give a fuck about the public.

  5. One day, but whatever is to be added will have to be something that can overcome the high bar for inclusion. At the moment I can’t think of anything that would be included or has any chance of being included.

  6. Honestly no, I don’t. The ERA has floundered for decades.

    And in the flip side, people now see the amendments and the parent document itself and either a shield to defend their stance (such as 2A) or a horribly difficult obstacle to change and overcome and/or refine (again 2A as an example).

    Therefore I think many would hesitate to make MORE amendments that will then be viewed as overly static and etched in stone like the Ten Commandments forever.

  7. I’m certain we will eventually have a new amendment in the future once it is revealed that the specific topic in question has enough public and political support behind it.

  8. There is actually currently a group called “Convention of States” who are calling for an Article 5 Convention of states to ammend the Constitution. In order for a Convention of states to be called, 2/3 of the state legislatures must agree to the terms proposed. Today that means we would need about 34 states to be on board with an Article 5 convention of states. There are currently 19 states who have passed resolutions, 14 states who have legislation in progress this year and 7 states that have passed resolutions in one chamber.

  10. A slowly changing constitution is a feature, not a flaw. The countries that fail are those that change their constitution on a whim.

    We will have more eventually.

  11. Ever? Almost certainly. I’m not sure how the political landscape in the near to medium term future could change to facilitate this but things can’t be like this forever.

    It requires 2/3 of *both* houses of Congress *and* 3/4 of all state legislatures to pass an Amendment. I just don’t see how we get there. What issue could possibly unite both popular opinion *and* political will among both major parties at both the state *and* federal level? We can barely get normal laws passed.

    But sure, if we’re talking about “ever”, there’s no telling what this country will look like 50-100 years from now. I just think we *are* talking about generational amounts of time here.

  12. I would say likely in the next few years but some extremists would probably think your changing it if your doing that

  13. I would say likely in the next few years but some extremists would probably think your changing it if your doing that

  14. If you look at history, typically we’ll go several decades with no amendments and then pass several over the course of a decade or so. With an occasional single small amendment in between.

    While history isn’t a perfectly repeating pattern, I do think this will be the case. Another decade or so and I’m sure we’ll get 2-4 amendments by 2040.

  16. We probably couldn’t get 3/4 of the State Legislatures and 2/3 of Congress to agree that water is wet, let alone a constitutional amendment.

  17. EVER, yeah probably. I don’t think any will be passed in the near future though.

  18. Eventually, of course. Unless the US falls apart completely in the near future, we’ll have Centuries of political cycles of unity and division and changing opinions. Odds are that the US has more future than past, and we’ve passed dozens of amendments in the last ~250 years. It’s certainly _possible_ that the US will collapse before that happens, but there’s no reason to think that’s the most likely path. 100 years from know, elementss of the culture will be completely different, President MechaDave and the CyberHiveMind Unity will be negotiating with grey goo in Congress about a nanite rights amendment or something. It’s easy to get stuck in the current political divisions and assume that will be a permanent trend. But we never actually seem to find ourselves at the end of history in some final point of stability. Stability always one disruption away from the start of the next chapter in the history books.

    But I do think it’s very likely the next amendment will wind up being something deeply fucking stupid.

  20. I could see a new one in the next 50 years dealing with AI. Especially if AGI becomes a thing. Could also see a LGBT amendment in the next 50 years.

    Amendments are not often added because they tend to guarantee rights as much as they restrict them. Laws are easier to pass and fix. Appealing an amendment or trying to push through an unliked amendment pretty much always results in a bad time. Take the second Amendment. Attempting to repeal it would result in civil war. Passing a law that requires a change to background checks just results in a lot of angry people. The passing of the 18th amendment to restrict alcohol consumption resulted in countless deaths and the highest crime in American history.

    So an Amendment needs to be something popularish on both sides or for something not covered in the other amendments.

  21. > Do you think we’ll ever get another amendment added to the constitution?

    Yes.

    We’ll get one of the two following amendments.

    1) An amendment banning dark money in politics and explicitly banning partisan gerrymandering.

    2) An amendment creating a legal pay way to secession.

  22. The next one you see will be taking something from you, I have no doubt of that.

  23. Sure, why not? We’re in a massively stupid moment in political history, but this too shall pass.

    I was in college when the most recent amendment was adopted in 1992. I remember people collecting signatures supporting it. Honestly, I didn’t take them seriously because the Constitution seemed as static then as it does now.

    And that one (the 27th) was kind of dumb. It prevents congressional pay raises from taking effect during the same congressional term they were adopted. It didn’t exactly fix any major issue, but it was an F you to politicians, so nobody really opposed it.

    Something similar (populist but pointless) could probably pass, even today.

  24. Yes, but if it happens, it will almost certainly be something that primarily benefits the political elite.

  25. Ever? Probably. Soon? I have no idea but probably not. I’m not sure what proposals are even out there that people would want, let alone one that congress/states would pass.

  26. It’s not “meant” to be updated periodically, there’s provisions so that it can be updated. There’s a subtle difference, if it was meant to be updated periodically it would have an expiration/mandatory review period. Do I think there will be another amendment? Yes, eventually something will happen that would have such support that an amendment could happen.

  27. Not for a while. Politics in the US has become polarized to the point an amendment will not pass, no matter what it is.

    The Supreme Court has essentially replaced the purpose of amendments in the US Constitution for better or worse.

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