Our Undemocratic Constitution Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It)

by Levinson, Sanford

• ISBN13: 9780195365573
• ISBN10: 0195365577
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780199885718
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

The Constitution is one of the most revered documents in American politics. Yet this is a document that regularly places candidates in the White House who did not get a majority of the popular vote, in addition to giving the President the power to overrule both houses of Congress on legislation he disagrees with on political grounds. Taking a hard look at these and other unjust provisions of our much-venerated Constitution, Sanford Levinson examines how too many of its articles promote either unfair or ineffective government. Updated with a new afterword to answer its critics and further engage in the debate, Our Undemocratic Constitution boldly challenges the American people to undertake a long overdue public discussion on how they might best reform this most hallowed document and construct a constitution adequate to our democratic values. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Sanford Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. The author of over 200 articles in professional and more popular journals, his books include Constitutional Faith (1988); Written in Stone (1998); Wrestling With Diversity (2003) and the edited volume, Torture: A Collection (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Table of Contents

Prelude: The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson	p. ix
Introduction: A Tale of Two Signings	p. 3
The Ratification Referendum: Sending the Constitution to a New Convention for Repair	p. 11
Our Undemocratic Legislative Process	p. 25
The Legacy of Article II: Too-Powerful Presidents, Chosen in an Indefensible Process, Who Cannot Be Displaced Even When They Are Manifestly Incompetent	p. 79
Life Tenure for Supreme Court Justices: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed	p. 123
The Constitution as Creator of Second-Class Citizens	p. 141
The Impermeable Article V	p. 159
Disenchantment and Desire: What Is to Be Done?	p. 167
Coda: The Wisdom of Woodrow Wilson	p. 181
The Constitution of the United States	p. 183
Afterword for the Paperback Edition	p. 201
Notes	p. 217
Acknowledgments	p. 239
Index	p. 243
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