Wrap-up of the 17th Amendment on the Web 25-Jan-07

Here is a quick look at the items I found containing mention of the 17th Amendment for the last couple of weeks. One note of interest is Professor Todd Zwicki’s post on The Volokh Conspiracy concerning the Constitution Party making the repeal of the 17th part of tits platform.



RESOLVED: TAKE BACK THE COUNTRY
NewsWithViews.com - Merlin,OR,USA...
Further, we must resolve to repeal the 17th Amendment in order to fully restore the separation of powers and the check and balance system created by the ...

The 17th Amendment
By Robert S. Paul(Robert S. Paul)
In 1913, amid a growing Federal government (such the 16th Amendment, ... The 17th Amendment changed that, and placed far more power into the hands of the federal ... I believe we should repeal the 17th Amendment for the same purposes, ...
Rifle Fire - http://www.rifle-fire.com/index.php

The Second Biggest Constitutional Mistake
By Don(Don)
With the passage of the 17th Amendment, the States lost all representation ... In 1913, the 17th amendment removed ALL power and representation from the States, ... The 17th Amendment, removing all power from the State's in the Federal ...
Houston Views - http://houviews.blogspot.com/index.html

1913
By M.L. Beam(M.L. Beam)
1913 saw the passage of the 17th amendment, which stripped the State legislatures of the right to appoint Senators to represent them in the nation’s capital, and instead authorized direct election of Senators. ...
Life is a gentle teacher. It... - http://lifeisagentleteacher.blogspot.com/index.html

Legislator wants Senate vacancies out of gov's hands
Journal Inquirer - Manchester,CT,USA
It wasn't until the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified in 1913 that voters in each state were guaranteed the right to directly elect their ...

Amend the 17th Amendment?
By Cato
Delmarva Dealings - http://delmarvadealings.com

From sideburns to mansions: A Senate primer
Providence Journal - Providence,RI,USA
Aldrich left the Senate in 1911, the year before enactment of the 17th Amendment, which took Senate elections away from the state legislatures and subjected ...

Recall?
By Bullet
I've been told that the 17th amendment does not allow for a recall of a senator. The 17th amendment took away some power of the states, when it allowed for popular elections of senators. It did not mention recall. ...
The Smirking Chimp - Comments - http://www.smirkingchimp.com

The Seventeenth Amendments Effect on Federalism
By admin
The Constitutional Party Platform calls for repeal of the 17th Amendment based on this logic (links added):. The US Constitution, as originally framed in Article I, Section 3, provided for US Senators to be elected by state legislators. ...
Rights v. Powers - http://www.rightsvpowers.com

Constitution Party Urges Repeal of 17th Amendment:
By Todd Zywicki
I just learned that the Constitution Party has endorsed the repeal of the 17th Amendment as part of its party platform....
The Volokh Conspiracy - http://volokh.com/

William Howard Taft
By Sam(Sam)
During Taft's administration, Congress passed the 16th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which gave the US government the right to collect income taxes, and the 17th Amendment, which provided for the direct election of ...My Blog - http://runnerdude3.blogspot.com/index.html

The Irony of Populism: The Republican Shift and the Inevitability of American Aristocracy

The Irony of Populism: The Republican Shift and the Inevitability of American Aristocracy, By Zvi S. Rosen; 18 REGENT U. L. REV. 271 (2006).


Recently, Repeal the 17th Amendment Discussion Board member Zvi Rosen sent the group a notification concerning his recent paper, which was published in the Regent University Law Review. I encourage you to read the paper as it presents a greater perceptive of the issue. I will post the link to the site so it can be accessed all the time.

Abstract:

"The Irony of Populism: The Republican Shift and the Inevitability of American Aristocracy" analyzes the shift in the role of the Supreme Court following the movement towards a democratic Senate which culminated in the Seventeenth Amendment. The Supreme Court's shift is presented as the inevitable result of the system of mixed government that underlies the constitutional order, which orders American Government into democratic, aristocratic, and monarchical parts. While in the original conception of the constitution the Senate was the aristocratic part, the Senate would become part of the democratic part with the Seventeenth Amendment and prior procedural changes. Into this aristocratic vacuum entered the Supreme Court, and it has remained there since. This shift helps to explain various trends and practices today, including most notably the legislating from the bench often termed "judicial activism." While various elements of this argument have been put forward in the past, they have never been brought forward in one coherent argument that the effects of the Seventeenth Amendment not only seriously impacted the role of the Senate and the States, but also the Senate and the Supreme Court.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=957933

Update: The link to "The Irony of Populism” has been added to the weblog under “Recommended Reading” on the right hand side of the page.

Letter to Schwarzenegger and Napolitano

I received the letter below from Mr. John MacMullin, which was sent to Governors Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and Napolitano (D-AZ), and to various members of the Arizona State legislature. Mr. MacMullin noted to me that he did not receive a reply from either governor, however, did receive some positive replies from Arizona State legislators. Mr. MacMullin practices law in Arizona and has been on the forefront of the repeal movement for a number of years.

Recently Arizona Governor Napolitano, a Democrat, gave her state of the state speech in which she declared that she would use the Arizona National Guard to control illegal immigration into the State of Arizona. The thrust of her speech, and her attitude, parallels that of Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican, who has the same illegal immigration problem in California. Both Governors, many other elected officials and a growing percentage of the public believe that the federal government has all but abandoned its obligations under the U.S. Constitution to control illegal immigration from Mexico.

The illegal immigration issue, like all other federalism issues, has its origin in the passage of the 17th Amendment, which provided for the popular election of U.S. Senators. Originally, the federalism issues were well controlled. In the original design by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, there was a selection method through the state legislatures' power to appoint (and remove) U.S. Senators. As such, the core of the federalism issues lies in the passage of the 17th Amendment, which abrogated the state legislatures' right to appoint U.S. Senators in favor of popular election of those officials. This amendment also created a fundamental structural problem, which, irrespective of the political party in office, or the laws in effect at any one time, will result in unchecked federal conduct in every area. To state the problem precisely, at the present time, there are no checks and balances available to the states over federal power or over Congress itself in any area.

The reason for the passage of the 17th Amendment should be stated. The 17th Amendment was passed because of a procedural problem in the original concept and not because of a need to alter the balance of power. The procedural problem consisted of frequent deadlocks when the state legislatures were trying to select a senator. When deadlocked, a state would go without representation in the Senate. For instance, in the very first Congress, the State of New York went without representation in the Senate for three months. Additionally, numerous other problems resulted from the efforts to resolve individual deadlocks. The problem of deadlocked legislatures continued unabated from 1787 until 1913. The 17th amendment, calling for popular election of senators, fixed the procedural problems, but also inappropriately and unintentionally altered the balance of power. Instead, the 17th Amendment should have fixed the procedural problems and left the balance of power between the states and the federal government intact.

The 17th Amendment should be repealed. This would reinstate the states' linkage to the federal political process and would, thereby, have the effect of elevating the present status of the state legislatures from that of lobbyists, to that of a partner in the federal political process. The state legislatures would then have the ability to decentralize power when appropriate and influence the exercise of federal power in all areas, including that of controlling illegal immigration. This structure would allow the flow of power between the states and the federal government to ebb and flow as the needs of our federal republic change. The existing relationship, combined with the effect of the Supremacy Clause, is guaranteed to concentrate power into the hands of the federal government with little or no hope of return. This is the fundamental problem with the present structure and thus justifies the repeal of the 17th Amendment.

Let us assume that the 17th Amendment was repealed. In that scenario, the state legislatures would have the ability to force their respective U.S. Senators to address the immigration problem or risk being "fired". With that notion in mind, lets put the idea of repealing the 17th Amendment before every governor and state legislature in this country.

For more information, see http://www.articlev.com/ .

The Senate Leadership of 110th United States Congress

Today marks the start of the 110th Congress. The leadership in the Senate looks to be as followed.[i]

Senate
President of the Senate: Dick Cheney (R-Wyoming)
President pro tempore: Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
President pro tempore emeritus: Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)

Majority (Democratic) leadership
Senate Majority Leader and Democratic Conference Chairman: Harry Reid (Nevada)
Senate Majority Whip: Richard Durbin (Illinois)
Democratic Conference Vice Chairman and Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Charles Schumer (New York)
Democratic Conference Secretary: Patty Murray (Washington)
Democratic Policy Committee Chairman: Byron Dorgan (North Dakota)
Steering and Outreach Committee Chair: Debbie Stabenow (Michigan)
Committee Outreach Chairman: Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico)
Committee Outreach Vice-Chair: Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
Rural Outreach Chair: Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas)
Chief Deputy Whip: Barbara Boxer (California)
Deputy Whips: Thomas Carper (Delaware), Bill Nelson (Florida), Russell D. Feingold (Wisconsin)

Minority (Republican) leadership
Senate Minority Leader: Mitch McConnell (Kentucky)
Senate Minority Whip: Trent Lott (Mississippi)
Republican Conference Chairman: Jon Kyl (Arizona)
Republican Policy Committee Chairman: Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas)
Republican Conference Vice Chair: John Cornyn (Texas)
Republican Campaign Committee Chair: John Ensign (Nevada)
Counselor to the Minority Leader: Robert Bennett (Utah)

More information on the composition of the Senate can be found on Wikipedia.

___________________________________________________
[i] Wikipedia

Wrap of 17th Amendment Web Postings 3-Jan-07

This is a wrap-up of articles or postings that have opinions concerning the 17th Amendment I have found since the middle of December. Most are rants, but it shows folks are thinking about the amendment.

RE: On term-limited Presidents
By Andy W. Rogers
I agree with your point but how can we repeal the 17th amendment when our state legislative districts are gerrymandered like they are??? I know some gerrymandering will always take place, but what's happening now is rather excessive. ...
- http://therogersinstitute.blogspot.com

Constitutional Reform
By Evollusion
Another thing that needs to be done IMMHO is the repeal/rewrite of the 17th amendment. For those of you who weren't paying attention in history/government class, the 17th primarily allows the election of Senators by the people rather ...
Its All Politics - http://www.itsallpolitics.com/

The Constitution In Exile
By Brian(Brian)
Repeal the 17th Amendment (direct election of Senators). Another proposal to clarify the original intent of the framers. The Senate was specifically created to represent the States, not the people. ...
Liberty Points - http://libertypoints.blogspot.com/index.html

Column for December 28th, 2006
By troylaplante(troylaplante) 9.
The 16th and 17th Amendments to the US Constitution shall be abolished. Maybe the 19th. The 24th Amendment will be amended. Those citizens that receive long term public assistance for income, food, and housing shall not be allowed to ...
LaPlante's Rants - http://laplantesrants.blogspot.com/index.html