1.1 nature of the consisitution

Question 1

what is the vagueness of the constitution?

Answer 1

1-allows for change in interpretation(effected by political leanings)(e.g.2nd amendment ,right to privacy under liberty of the 5th and 14th amendments
=power of Supreme Court - can mean unelected judges of a lot of power(e.g. lib Court in 1973 gave the right to abortion through roe vs Wade -> Conservative Court ignore previous precedence and court rulings = overturn of roe vs wade through case of Dobbs vs Jackson

Question 2

what is codification

Answer 2

a drawing up of a systematic and authoritative collection of rules written down

Question 3

what is entrenchement

Answer 3

formal process to amend the consistution,requires a super majority of 2/3 votes in both houses as well as 3/4 of states to ratify

Question 4

what are the pros and cons of an entrenched consisution

Answer 4

pro-ensures amendments are checked and considered
-ensure tyranny of the majority doesn’t occur= have to have broad support
-protects state federalism by being hard to amend
cons-difficulty to amend outdated provisions
-enhances the power of the unelected Supreme Court bc of vagueness (what is and isn’t constitutional )
-states rights could be argued to have triumphed the majorites intrests

Question 5

what is tyranny of the majority

Answer 5

weakness of the majority rule because the electorate purses exclusively their own objectives and interests at the expense of the minority factions (treated unfairly because their situation is different from the situation of most of the people in a democratic country

Question 6

really how many constitutional amendments have there been

Answer 6

17 since 1791
-27 amendments accepted but 10 were through the bill of Rights
-11,000 constitutional amendment proposals

Question 7

how has entrenchment been effected by federalism

Answer 7

-the different sizes and populations of states means that effectively 2% of the population(13 states ) could block 37 largest states =not population not proportional to power
-e.g. Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)=legal sex equality and prohibited discrimination->passed Congress in 1972 (75% of the population +60% of states for it )conformation did not occur when right religious campaign ‘ stop ERA.still not confirmed

Question 8

example of entrenchment not allowing well thought through amendments was a good thing

Answer 8

-the Corwin amendment (1861) was rejected =would have allowed slavery to be a state right
-proposal to change untied ‘states of America’ to ‘earth’
Lucas Miller proposal was rejected(all of Earth would be part of usa empire) = would have caused problems internationally

Question 9

examples of when entrenchment prevented passing of key amandements

Answer 9

-18th amendment prohibited liquor +ratified in 1919
-but alcohol now sold illegally on the black market =mafia more powerful
-repealed in 1933

Question 10

what are the powers of congress in the consistitution