[lbo-talk] Let Us Be Glad It Is Hard to Amend the Constitution

andie nachgeborenen andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com
Thu May 18 21:55:49 PDT 2006


What chance do you think the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 14th, and 15th Amendments would have if offerred to the public today?

As the Supreme Court explained in the famous (to lawyers) footnote 4 to US v. Carolene Products, the real point of constitutional democrcay -- they were talking about equal protection, but the point is really general -- is to defend the rights of discrete and insular minorities against the tyranny of the majority. The unbridled popular will can be pretty fucking ugly. ("They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown.") So if you really think that people whould not be killed or imprisoned for their speech, as you said yesterday, how do you stop that when the popular will is howling for blood?

--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> Wendy Lyon wrote:
>
> >Well, I really believe it. I don't think it's the
> left that would
> >benefit if the constitution were easier to amend.
>
> The designers of the constitutional contraption
> meant it to frustrate
> popular will. So you're against popular will?
>
> Doug
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>
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