Originalism and Social Change

[Robin Charlow]

Does he explain the [perfect] point of Article V?

>>> SLevinson at MAIL.LAW.UTEXAS.EDU 11/19/02 05:15PM >>>
George Will has a wonderfully mindless (the more generously disposed might
call it Burkean) column that appeared in the local newspaper yesterday that
argued 1) it no longer makes sense to bar someone like the newly elected
Governor of Michigan to run for the presidency solely because she is not a
"natural born American citizen" (she was born in Canada and came to the US
when she was 4; and that 2) one shouldn't even think of amending the
Constitution to get rid of this stupidity because that would perhaps
challenge the "veneration" we must feel for a Constitution that must be
thought essentially to be perfect.  I presume that most of us do not
believe that one can "interpret" the Constitution to get rid of this
feature (which Randy Kennedy and Robert Post several years ago identified
as the "stupidest" part of the Constitution).  Do "we" also agree that
preserving mindless "veneration" is more important than attempting to amend
the Constitution in order to make it less stupid and discriminatory?  (I do
expect, though, to read a future Will column, or one by Peggy Noonan in the
Wall St. Journal, at some suitable time on why we must repeal the 22nd
amendment in order to make it possible for G. W. Bush to run for a third
term.  I suspect that at that moment, "veneration" will be less important
than "rectifying" what they will undoubtedly describe as a constitutional
stupidity.  What that happens, I hope that none of my friends attack their
arguments by saying, "The 22nd amendment may be stupid, but it's in the
Constitution and we shouldn't think of changing a word of it.  As it
happens, I'm not sure what I think of the 22nd amendment, but the fact that
it is currently in the Constitution is, I think, next to irrelevant in
counting as a reason as to whether it should remain there.

sandy

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