Progressives are ready to edit the Constitution. Are conservatives ready to answer?
Should we rewrite the First and Second Amendments? In a contribution to a Boston Globe series on "editing the Constitution," law professor Mary Anne Franks of the University of Miami proposes replacing the first two items in the Bill of Rights with more qualified versions. You can catch Franks' drift from the subtitle of her book: The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech.
"As legal texts go, neither of the two amendments is a model of clarity or precision," Franks wrote at the Globe. But her rewrites don't improve the situation. The core idea is to make the amendments more consistent with promoting the general welfare, as promised in the Constitution's preamble. But Americans have traditionally — and rightly — believed strong protections for individual rights themselves promote the general welfare. Franks' versions offer much too little in that regard.
Her edit of the First Amendment would on its face sharply curtail freedom of speech, affirming "the right to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and petition of the government for redress of grievance" but making them "subject to responsibility for abuses." All "conflicts of such rights shall be resolved in accordance with the principle of equality and dignity of all person," she says.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Who will determine the nature of these abuses, enforce that responsibility, and resolve the conflicts? What does "the principle of equality and dignity" mean in practice? After complaining of imprecision, Franks doesn't say. Her proposal sounds rife for abuse by a government that won't always be run by people who share her political preferences.
Her Second Amendment is tweaked to get rid of all the icky stuff about guns and militias. Instead, self-defense is rooted in bodily autonomy, which is fair enough. But Franks would also give the government the right to take "reasonable measures to protect the health and safety of the public as a whole." More than a year into the pandemic, we can safely say there is no real consensus on what that means. And adding abortion to the Second Amendment, as she also does, may be the only possible way to make our most controversial amendment even more contentious.
Nobody would ratify these complex reboots of the first two amendments. Yet liberals are increasingly openly hostile to the limitations the basic structure of the Constitution imposes on their political agenda, as Franks' piece and most of the Globe's other articles in this section demonstrate anew. Conservatives had better answer.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.
-
The hunt for Planet Nine
Under The Radar Researchers seeking the elusive Earth-like planet beyond Neptune are narrowing down their search
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magazine interactive crossword - April 26, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - April 26, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine solutions - April 26, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - April 26, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
It's not really about Biden's brain — unless it is
Talking Points Depending on who you ask, the renewed focus on the president's mental acuity is an election-year distraction, a legitimate point of concern, and sometimes both
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mexico is suing US gunmakers in a bid to stop weapons trafficking
Under the Radar American guns regularly wind up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The politics of music: should political rallies use well-known songs?
Talking Point The Smiths star Johnny Marr is latest musician to object to use of his music at a Donald Trump rally
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published