Disadvantages of the Amendment process

Question 1

Difficulty in ensuring the constitution remains up to date

Answer 1

changes in modern society that are not reflected in the constitution due to the difficulty of changing it Eg gun control

Question 2

Outdated aspects of the constitution exist

Answer 2

• USA has changed : populations bigger, technology and cultural and political ideas have moved on
• some amendments have been made to make it up to date such as making the senate an electable chamber but there are still many outdated aspects

Question 3

former supreme court justice stevens thoughts

Answer 3

identified six areas that he felt need amending - campaign finance, gun control, death penalty.
Eg - he felt that the 2nd amendment should only be applicable to those serving in a militia and capital punishment should eliminated

Question 4

ignorance of minority interests

Answer 4

supermajorities set a high threshold preventing tyranny but it also makes it difficult for minority bring about change causing there rights to be ignored

Question 5

Power given to the supreme court

Answer 5

Supreme court has vast amount of power when interpreting the constitution. therefore they have made changes to constitution even they are unelected and unaccountable .
The courts decision can be overturned by an amendment but due to the difficulty of the process it has only happened once (16th amendment).
power is absolute with few checks

Question 6

tyranny of the minority

Answer 6

the necessity for a supermajority means that it is possible for a minority to prevent an amendment passing

Question 7

example of tyranny of the minority

Answer 7

Equal Rights Amendment
passed both house and senate but 37 states signed (one short). the 13 states that didn’t sign accounted for 24% of the population at the time

Question 8

despite difficulty there have been mistakes example

Answer 8

18th Amendment prohibiting the manufacture and selling of alcohol in 1920 but was later repealed in 1933