A New Method of Constitutional Amendment By Popular Vote

AuthorWilliam Draper Lewis
Published date01 September 1912
Date01 September 1912
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/000271621204300119
Subject MatterArticles
(311)
A
NEW
METHOD
OF
CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT
BY
POPULAR
VOTE
BY
WILLIAM
DRAPER
LEWIS,
Dean
of
the
Law
School,
University
of
Pennsylvania.
The
peculiar
position
of
the
judiciary
in
our
constitutional
system
and
the
insistent
demand
for
advanced
economic
legislation,
has
led in
many
instances
to
a
conflict
between
the
desires
of
the
people
and
the
decisions
of
the
courts,
especially
some
of
the
state
courts,
in
respect
to
the
constitutional
right
to
enact
what
many
consider
much-needed
legislation.
These
conflicts
have
led
many
to
insist
that
the
people
shall
have
a
right
to
recall,
by
popular
votes, ,
judges
with
whom
they
have
become
dissatisfied.
Colonel
Roosevelt,
on
the
other
hand,
has
proposed
that
the
people
shall
have
what
he
terms
a
right
to
recall
a
certain
class
of
decisions
on
state
constitutional
questions.
In
discussing
the
wisdom
of
any
proposition
it
is
essential
to
get
first
a
clear
idea
of
exactly
what
the
proposition
is.
The
strong
protest
from
many
members
of
the
legal
profession
against
Colonel
Roosevelt’s
plan
is
unquestionably
in
great
part
due
to
a
misunder-
standing
of
exactly
what
it
is
that
he
proposes.
What
he
does
pro-
pose
is
this:
If
an
act
of
the
legislature
is
declared
by
the
state
courts
to
violate
a
provision
in
the
state
constitution,
after
an
interval
for
deliberation,
the
people
of
the
state
shall
have
an
opportunity
to
vote
on
the
question
whether
they
desire
to
have
the
act
become
a
law
in
spite
of
the
opinion
of
the
court
that
it
is
contrary
to
the
constitution.
Owing
to
his
expression,
&dquo;The
Recall
of
Decisions,&dquo;
many
per-
sons
have
supposed
that
Colonel
Roosevelt
meant
that
the
court’s
judgment
in
the
case
in
which
the
act
was
held
unconstitutional
should
be
reversed;
that
the
judgment
which
we
may
suppose
to
have
been
given
for
the
defendant
would,
by
the
vote
of
a
majority
of
the
people
of
the
state
assembled
in
voting
booths,
be
made
a
judgment
in
favor
of
the
plaintiff !
It
is
needless
to
point
out
the
ridiculousness
of
such
a
proposition.
Even
if
we
can
be
so
foolish
as
to
suppose
that
any
American
commonwealth
could
be
induced

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