The current state of the US, along with certain recent SCOTUS rulings, have me thinking more and more about certain amendments that I’d love to see added to the Constitution.
Term limits for members of Congress - I think this can do away with a lot of the corruption we see in the government.
Do away with Presidential Immunity - the recent SCOTUS ruling gives way too much power to the President. This loophole needs to be closed.
Get rid of Presidential pardons - is there really any reason this should still exist?
Require a balanced budget - we are circling the drain when it comes to debt. It may even be too late to save things. But I think we need to finally get rid of all the borrowing by the government, and require a balanced budget. Maybe have a clause that in case of emergencies only, a small amount of debt can be allowed, to only be used specifically for the emergency, and it must be repaid within a few years. No borrowing more to pay off older debts.
Fun!
None will be adopted, because the process requires a lot of states to agree (3/4, or 38 of them, and there only certain ideas that have enough states in agreement on. See: actual adopted Constitutional Amendments at the time they were adopted (some might not have passed today or in years prior)
Heck, even a constitutional amendment giving women equal rights as men wasn’t adopted.
Lastly, I also don’t see any group having enough of the passion required for doing the hard work in nearly every state. Think of #18. Then, 14 years later, #21.
I think that it’s possible to get enough support to pass term limits for Congress, if a President or a group of Governors champion the cause. It would never be proposed by Congress, because they’d be voting themselves out of jobs, but it could happen via the states.
Currently, 19 states have passed bills calling for term limits in Congress. If 15 more sign on, and can agree on the language for the Amendment, then it will be officially proposed, and will move on to the ratification stage.
I agree that we are not in a place where amendments can actually pass, but it’s still interesting to talk about what would make things better.
There have been good uses of the pardon power, most recently Biden pardoning gay veterans who were kicked out of the military for their sexuality. For several hundred of them, this allowed them to get their benefits that had been denied due to dishonorable discharges. But the corruption of the power is so great that I’d be happy to see it gone (it’s what, 5 of the last 8 Presidents who pardoned family members? And that’s ignoring the sale of pardons).
A balanced budget requirement would be terrible during recessions and I’d oppose it. But maybe we could at least require a budget. The last complete budget was in the 90s, with just omnibus bills since then.
One aspect of change for the Presidential pardon is to do away with various aspects of a blanket pardon. For example, the pardon can only apply to actual convictions and NOT to current legal processes and definitely NOT to anything that hasn’t happened yet.
I think some level of oversight should be applied when someone is related–to include relations by marriage–to the President as well (e.g., the Chief Justice needs to sign off on that particular pardon).
I would be in favor of requiring the budget to be delineated by fiscal year. IIRC, the current process is a budget over x years where x > 5 and nothing is mentioned about how things are to be played out (revenue against expenses). I think this is where those deficits become realized when the budget shows revenues of $y billions over a 10 year period ends up seeing $0.75y billion spent in year 1. Note that I’m exaggerating to illustrate the problem I see with the current budgeting process
Furthermore, some sort of requirement that Congressional pay–to include expenses incurred–is not released for the current year until the budget for the following year is passed.
Fun fact: constitutional amendments need 2/3 of each chamber.
Unless a constitutional convention is called by 2/3 of states AND then 3/4 of the states will STILL have to approve.
Fun fact: this has never occurred (first Constitutional Convention excluded).
An amendment on Immunity won’t be in time to stop the Trump problem, but it would be a good loophole to close. Or rather, a Supreme Court mistake to correct.
Yes, we should get rid of unilateral presidential pardons. If needed, the amendment can point out that Congress and the President have the power to jointly issue pardons.
Yes, we should put limits on presidential immunity. I don’t think that is nearly as big a deal as pardons.
Term limits for Congress – how long? Too short and you give a lot of power to lobbyists and permanent staff who know more about the job than the elected people. Also, members would be looking to curry favor with future employers. If you want 24 years or more, meh.
I’m so frustrated with Congress and the budget process that I might change my mind on a balanced budget amendment. But, I don’t know how to write it an allow for emergency spending for covid or wars.
Terms for Supreme Court justices – 18 years, non-renewable, staggered, beginning July 1 of odd numbered years. Vacancies during terms are filled with the regular process, but justices have short terms and are not eligible for regular terms.
Some method for filling SC openings when WH and Senate can’t agree. My best idea is both WH and Senate lose their say after __ days. The decision goes to the House, where justices are picked by lots, not majority vote.
Of course, direct election of president, or at least proportional allocation of electoral votes.
Further out there –
A national referendum process. Maybe a minority of members of the House can get a bill on the even year ballots. That breaks gridlock.
National anti-gerrymandering rule. Maps are crowd sourced subject to very simple numeric criteria.
Unpopular opinion (here at least): Repeal the 17th Amendment and enshrine the legislative filibuster at its original 2/3. Gridlock is good; change is supposed to be slow, deliberate, and broadly supported.
With a “tough figure it out” provision where governors can’t just fill their Senate vacancies if it’s because their legislature can’t agree on who to send to DC.
Need more Representatives in states that deserve them. CA should have 66, not 52, assuming that 1 rep = Wyoming’s Population
And this would affect the electoral count.
Requiring every state to apportion their electors based on the percentage of votes would be interesting. Might lead to a lot more elections via the House, due to third parties concentrating in certain states.
Trump would still have won this time, though. The Founding Fathers were wary of populism and general stupidity of the voters. They probably did not envision this, though.
They also didn’t envision 50 states, either, and the consequences of a simple voting system being exploited.
This. Repeal the Permanent Apportionment Act and go back to 1 rep per 30,000 people. Then move the Washington Team of Football (WTF) and move the House to their old stadium.
That mildly reduces the issue with the extra two electoral votes. I think the bigger issue with the electoral college is winner-take-all.
At least increasing the number of House seats doesn’t take a constitutional amendment.
Edit: My amendment on proportional allocation of electors would also eliminate the potential for the House vote and use plurality winner, also have some minimum standard for getting a proportional share of electoral votes.
(Another out-there idea – if no majority on Jan 6, meet again on Jan 7 and any candidate with electoral votes can cede them to any other candidate. If that doesn’t produce a majority winner, use the plurality winner on Jan 7.)
Which reminds me: An amendment to ban corporate welfare? Not sure what exactly that might look like. Something that makes “too big to fail” no longer a thing, as well as banning executive bonuses while there is an active government investment / “bailout.” Maybe even giving the feds permission to directly regulate executive compensation while such a plan is active. Kind of like a federal fiscal control board for corporations.
figure it out” provision where governors can’t just fill their Senate vacancies if it’s because their legislature can’t agree on who to send to DC.