The Constitution has expired — we should write a new one
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Comments: by John Kenneth White, opinion contributor - 06/29/26 11:30 AM ET Comments: Link copied by John Kenneth White, opinion contributor - 06/29/26 11:30 AM ET Comments: Link copied Writing in the Jesuit publication America, Vincent Rougeau, president of the College of the Holy Cross, argues that the U.S.
Constitution is “past its sell-by date.” As Rougeau points out, changing the outdated Constitution to meet the needs of the 21st century is nearly impossible. Only 27 amendments have been appended to the Constitution, the last being approved 34 years ago. Given recent controversial rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, the surest means to overturn them is by constitutional amendment.
An amendment could void the court’s decision to eviscerate the 1965 Voting Rights Act and ensure minority representation in Congress. Likewise, overturning Citizens United, which has unleashed a torrent of money into the political system, reversing the Dobbs decision and restoring abortion rights or undoing the court’s ruling in Trump v. and subjecting presidents to prosecution for illegal acts in office, could all be done via amendments.
Other amendments could include placing age limits on presidents, or establishing congressional term limits, or strengthening the ban on presidents profiting from the presidency. No matter how desirable (or undesirable) these changes may be, making them happen under the present constitutional strictures is impossible. As Rougeau writes, the Framers’ system for amending the Constitution is among the most difficult in the world. The Electoral College, Alexander Hamilton’s scheme to elect presidents, has produced two misfires in this century.
Al Gore in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 won the popular vote, yet George W. Bush and Donald Trump were the ones who were inaugurated. If the popular vote determined the winner, there would be no Electoral College, and the insurrection of Jan.
6, 2021, likely never would have happened. Senate is another structural defect. Today, there is an enormous disparity among state populations that allows for minority rule under the Constitution’s two senators per state limit.
The numbers are so out of whack that only in 2002, 2010 and 2014 did Republicans control the Senate after winning a majority of votes cast in all Senate contests. Alexander Hamilton recognized the danger. 22, he wrote that there may come a time when the “majority of States is a small minority of the people of America” and the majority would no longer stand to “submit their interests” to the minority. That time is upon us. Congress could keep the old document intact and pass legislation correcting some of its problems.
For example, it could expand the size of the House of Representatives from its artificial 435 members to a number that realistically reflects a country with a population of nearly 350 million people. It could expand the size of the Supreme Court and set term limits for the justices. It could ban partisan gerrymandering.
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