Legal Commentary

Amendments are Hard: Thanks for the Comments

By Randy Barnett

Thanks for all the comments on the two drafts of potential constitutional amendments. My post was stimulated by my reading this wonderful book on the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, which is a really remarkable and counter-intuitive saga.

Every time I have dabbled in this sort of enterprise I gain renewed respect for the framers of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the other amendments, in particular, the Reconstruction Amendments. It is an exceedingly difficult task to draft something that accomplishes one?s objectives, without giving rise to unintended consequences. Hopefully, some of the readers who engaged with these proposals were struck by the same thing. At any rate, I learned what I needed to know. Thanks to all who took the time to give the matter their serious consideration.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on March 26, 2010 (boomark / email).