Re:List of statutory minimum employment leave by country
by Gormo on Monday October 04, 2010 @12:56AM
(#1754654)
Note that almost all of the amendments either entrench fundamental rights - placing certain areas of federal policy-making out of bounds - or tweak the structure of the federal government's institutions. In other words, the amendments are (usually) aligned with the intention of the constitution itself, that is, to define the structure and powers of government.
Attempts to entrench particular social policies as constitutional amendments create an enormous amount of contention, are often considered an abuse of the amendment process, and usually fail, as the case of the 18th amendment demonstrates.
The amendment process is by design complex and time-consuming; the constitution has only been amended 28 times in 222 years, and the first ten were immediately upon its adoption. The most recent amendment - the 27th - was ratified in 1992; it was originally proposed as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791, and took almost 202 years to make it into the constitution.
The reality of is the constitution is surrounded by a well-developed body of law which is applied vigorously by the courts, who routinely strike down legislation determined to be unconstitutional; the rare attempts to use the amendment process to circumvent judicial review almost always fail.
In fact, apart from the 18th amendment, I can't think of a single instance in which a constitutional amendment was successfully enacted in order to create social policy that would otherwise be ruled unconstitutional by the courts - even FDR couldn't manage it.
Attempts to entrench particular social policies as constitutional amendments create an enormous amount of contention, are often considered an abuse of the amendment process, and usually fail, as the case of the 18th amendment demonstrates.
The amendment process is by design complex and time-consuming; the constitution has only been amended 28 times in 222 years, and the first ten were immediately upon its adoption. The most recent amendment - the 27th - was ratified in 1992; it was originally proposed as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791, and took almost 202 years to make it into the constitution.
The reality of is the constitution is surrounded by a well-developed body of law which is applied vigorously by the courts, who routinely strike down legislation determined to be unconstitutional; the rare attempts to use the amendment process to circumvent judicial review almost always fail.
In fact, apart from the 18th amendment, I can't think of a single instance in which a constitutional amendment was successfully enacted in order to create social policy that would otherwise be ruled unconstitutional by the courts - even FDR couldn't manage it.