The Declaration of Independence begins with an extraordinary claim: that all men are created equal. It was a promise the nation neither kept nor understood completely, including among the men who wrote it. Women were excluded from political life, millions of people were enslaved, Indigenous people were displaced and killed, and some of the men declaring human equality claimed ownership of other human beings. But there is still something radical in the ideal itself.
Eleven years later, the Constitution created a government that did not fully embody that ideal. It created institutions that insulated political power from the people, gave disproportionate power to some citizens over others, protected existing concentrations of power and property, and made the constitutional order extraordinarily difficult to change.
I don’t think our problem is simply that we have misinterpreted a fundamentally democratic Constitution. I think some of the problem is the Constitution itself. So, rather than treating a document written in 1787 as something beyond fundamental reconsideration, I offer these amendments for discussion.
What might our Constitution say if we tried to make equality and democracy its organizing principles?
Here are some thoughts.
Equal Rights Amendment
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, religion or religious belief, disability, age, or marital or family status.
Section 2. No law, policy, or action of the United States or of any State shall discriminate against any person on the basis of a characteristic enumerated in Section 1, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection or equal benefit of the laws on such basis.
Section 3. The United States and the several States may take affirmative and reparative measures to remedy the continuing effects of slavery, racial segregation, and other forms of past or present discrimination. Such measures shall not constitute a denial of equal rights under this article.
Section 4. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Right to Vote Amendment
Section 1. Every citizen of the United States who is eighteen years of age or older shall have a fundamental right to vote in every public election in the jurisdiction in which that citizen resides. This right shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State.
Section 2. The right to vote shall not be denied or abridged because of conviction of a crime, incarceration, indebtedness, inability to pay any tax or fee, or any other condition unrelated to age, citizenship, and residence.
Section 3. The United States and the several States shall provide for the automatic registration of eligible citizens and shall ensure reasonable and equal opportunities to register, cast a ballot, and have that ballot counted. No eligible citizen shall be subjected to an unnecessary or unreasonable burden in the exercise of the right to vote.
Section 4. All elections for federal office shall be administered according to uniform minimum national standards established by law for voter registration, ballot access, election administration, and the counting and certification of votes. Nothing in this section shall prevent a State from providing greater access to voting than required by such standards.
Section 5. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Equal Representation Amendment
Section 1. The legislative power of the United States shall be vested in a Congress consisting of one chamber, the House of Representatives. The Senate of the United States is abolished.
Section 2. Members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen by the people of the several States. Representation shall be apportioned among the States according to their respective populations, so that each Representative shall represent, as nearly as practicable, an equal number of persons.
Section 3. The number of Representatives shall be determined following each decennial census at the ratio of one Representative for every 400,000 persons, or major fraction thereof. Each State shall have at least one Representative.
Section 4. All powers, duties, and responsibilities assigned by this Constitution to Congress, to either House of Congress, or to the Senate shall be vested in the House of Representatives, including the confirmation of appointments, consent to treaties, and the trial of impeachments.
Section 5. All references in this Constitution to Congress shall mean the House of Representatives, and all provisions requiring action, concurrence, or approval by both Houses or by the Senate shall require action or approval by the House of Representatives alone.
Section 6. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Popular Election of the President Amendment
Section 1. The President and Vice President of the United States shall be elected directly by the people of the United States. Each citizen entitled to vote shall have an equal vote without regard to the State or place in which that citizen resides.
Section 2. Candidates for President and Vice President shall run together as a single ticket. The ticket receiving a majority of the votes cast throughout the United States shall be elected.
Section 3. If no ticket receives a majority of the votes cast, a national runoff election shall be held between the two tickets receiving the greatest number of votes. The ticket receiving the greater number of votes in the runoff shall be elected.
Section 4. The Electoral College is abolished. The provisions of Article II, Section 1 and the Twelfth Amendment establishing or governing presidential electors shall have no further force or effect.
Section 5. Congress shall have power to establish uniform procedures for the administration, counting, certification, and recounting of votes cast for President and Vice President and to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Supreme Court Amendment
Section 1. The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of nine Justices.
Section 2. Each Justice shall serve one term of eighteen years on the Supreme Court and shall not thereafter be appointed or serve again as a Justice of the Supreme Court.
Section 3. The terms of the Justices shall be staggered so that one term expires every two years. The President shall nominate a person to fill each such vacancy, subject to confirmation by a majority of the House of Representatives.
Section 4. A vacancy caused by the death, resignation, removal, or incapacity of a Justice before the expiration of that Justice’s term shall be filled by nomination of the President and confirmation by a majority of the House of Representatives. A Justice appointed to fill such a vacancy shall serve the remainder of the unexpired term.
Section 5. Upon completion of a term on the Supreme Court, a Justice may continue to serve in another judicial office of the United States as provided by law, but shall not again serve on the Supreme Court.
Section 6. The Justices of the Supreme Court shall be bound by an enforceable code of judicial ethics established by law. A Justice shall recuse from any case in which the Justice’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including because of personal, financial, familial, or other substantial conflict of interest. Congress shall provide by law for the impartial enforcement of this requirement.
Section 7. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Citizenship Amendment
Section 1. Every person born in the United States and subject to its sovereign authority is a citizen of the United States and of the State wherein that person resides, regardless of the citizenship, nationality, or immigration status of that person’s parents.
Section 2. No citizen of the United States shall be deprived of citizenship involuntarily. Citizenship may be relinquished only by the voluntary and intentional act of the citizen.
Section 3. No distinction in the rights, privileges, protections, or obligations of citizenship shall be made between citizens by birth and citizens by naturalization, except as expressly provided by this Constitution with respect to eligibility for the office of President.
Section 4. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Immigrant Rights Amendment
Section 1. Every person within the jurisdiction of the United States, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, shall be entitled to due process of law and equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. No person shall be detained or imprisoned solely because of immigration status or an alleged violation of civil immigration law. Detention shall be permitted only upon a criminal charge and with the full protections of due process afforded in criminal proceedings.
Section 3. Every person subject to immigration, removal, deportation, or asylum proceedings shall have the right to the assistance of counsel and, when unable to afford counsel, to counsel provided at public expense.
Section 4. Every person seeking refuge from persecution shall have the right to enter or present themselves at the borders of the United States for the purpose of seeking asylum and shall receive a fair and timely determination of that claim under law. No person shall be returned to a place where that person faces persecution, torture, or a substantial threat to life or freedom without full consideration of a claim for protection.
Section 5. The unity of families shall be respected and protected in the administration and enforcement of immigration law. No child shall be separated from a parent or legal guardian for the purpose of immigration enforcement except when necessary to protect the child from an immediate threat of harm.
Section 6. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Abolition of Slavery Amendment
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States or any place subject to its jurisdiction, under any circumstances.
Section 2. No person who is incarcerated, imprisoned, detained, or convicted of a crime shall be compelled to labor against that person’s will. Participation in labor by an incarcerated or detained person shall be voluntary and shall not be compelled by force, threat, punishment, deprivation of privileges, or extension of confinement.
Section 3. The Thirteenth Amendment to this Constitution is amended by striking the exception for slavery or involuntary servitude imposed as punishment for crime.
Section 4. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Political Equality Amendment
Section 1. The right of every citizen to equal participation in the democratic process shall not be diminished by the concentration or expenditure of private wealth.
Section 2. Congress and the several States shall have power to regulate and establish reasonable limits upon contributions and expenditures made to influence elections, including expenditures made independently of candidates and political parties, for the purpose of protecting political equality and preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption.
Section 3. Congress and the several States may establish systems of public financing for elections and may condition the receipt of public campaign funds upon reasonable limitations on private contributions and expenditures.
Section 4. All contributions and expenditures intended to influence an election shall be subject to public disclosure sufficient to identify the original sources of the funds. Congress and the several States shall have power to prevent the concealment of such sources through corporations, organizations, committees, intermediaries, or other entities.
Section 5. Nothing in this article shall authorize the United States or any State to abridge freedom of speech, freedom of the press, peaceful assembly, petition, or the expression of political opinion solely because of its content or viewpoint.
Section 6. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Economic and Social Rights Amendment
Section 1. Every person has the right to health care sufficient for the protection and preservation of health and human dignity.
Section 2. Every person has the right to adequate, safe, and secure housing and to sufficient nutritious food and clean water.
Section 3. Every person has the right to a free and adequate public education and to equitable access to educational opportunity.
Section 4. Every person has the right to work, to just and favorable conditions of employment, and to compensation sufficient to provide a dignified standard of living.
Section 5. Workers shall have the right to organize, to form and join labor organizations of their choosing, to bargain collectively, and to engage in concerted activity for their mutual protection and benefit.
Section 6. Every person has the right to social and economic security sufficient to sustain a life of dignity in circumstances including unemployment, disability, illness, old age, or other loss of livelihood.
Section 7. The United States and the several States shall have an affirmative obligation to respect, protect, and progressively realize the rights guaranteed by this article. No government shall unjustifiably deprive any person of these rights.
Section 8. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Executive Power Amendment
Section 1. The power to declare war, authorize the use of military force, or continue hostilities by the armed forces of the United States belongs to Congress.
Section 2. The President, as Commander in Chief, may order the armed forces to act without prior authorization by Congress only when necessary to respond to an actual or imminent attack upon the United States, its territories, its armed forces, or its people.
Section 3. Any military action undertaken without prior authorization by Congress shall cease within thirty days unless Congress affirmatively authorizes its continuation. No appropriation of funds, failure to act, or other implied consent shall constitute authorization.
Section 4. No executive order, emergency declaration, or other unilateral exercise of presidential authority having the force of law shall remain in effect for more than ninety days unless affirmatively ratified by Congress, except for actions within powers expressly granted to the President by this Constitution.
Section 5. The President shall remain subject to impeachment and removal from office as provided by this Constitution. While serving as President, criminal prosecution for acts committed in office may be deferred until the President leaves office.
Section 6. No President or former President shall be immune from criminal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, or punishment for violation of the law committed before, during, or after the President’s term of office. The exercise of an official power of the presidency shall not itself confer immunity from criminal liability.
Section 7. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Constitutional Democracy Amendment
Section 1. The Constitution of the United States may be amended by the people of the United States as provided in this article.
Section 2. An amendment may be proposed upon approval by a majority of the members of the House of Representatives.
Section 3. A proposed amendment shall be submitted to the people of the United States for ratification at a national election held according to law. The amendment shall become part of this Constitution when approved by a majority of the votes cast throughout the United States.
Section 4. Every citizen entitled to vote in an election for President or the House of Representatives shall be entitled to vote on the ratification of a proposed amendment, and every vote shall have equal weight.
Section 5. Congress shall have power to establish procedures for the proposal, submission, administration, and certification of constitutional amendments consistent with this article.
Section 6. Article V of this Constitution is repealed.
