Saturday, April 04, 2009

"Does the Constitution Require the Senate to Give Amy Klobuchar 2 Votes?"

"Does the Constitution Require the Senate to Give Amy Klobuchar 2 Votes?"; Dorf on Law

The most important provision of the Constitution is the one giving each State an equal voice in the Senate. How do we know? Because while everything else in the Constitution can be amended by a 2/3 vote in each house of Congress followed by ratification by 3/4 of the States, the Constitution provides a special rule for equal representation in the Senate: "no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate." ...

Mr. Dorf's comment in response to a reader:

One further thought more or less a propos of sobek's comments: Much of the problem here comes from the fact that the 17th Amendment fits awkwardly on top of the original Constitution. When Senators were thought of as delegates from states legislatures, and could be recalled, then even though it took much longer to travel to DC, Senators could be replaced much more easily.


Comment: Great point, it is an awkward amendment, but the law wasn't written to fine tune the US Constitution, rather to further consolidate power into the hands of few in the federal government stolen from the states.

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