Our (almost) perfect Constitution.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Author: Farber, Daniel A.
• Date: 22 June 1995

I doubt that we would write the Constitution in quite the same way if we were to undertake the task afresh. Would anyone today actually propose giving the Providence metro area the same representation in one branch of the legislature as half the West Coast? Nor do I doubt that there are details of the Constitution in need of improvement. (Like the sponsors of the symposium, I regard slavery as too obvious a failing to require discussion here). The interesting question is not whether the Constitution might not have been improved here or there. As with any human document, the answer is undoubtedly "yes."(1) But the more significant question is whether changes in the text would produce large practical benefits--or to put it another way, whether any parts of the Constitution (again putting aside slavery) have produced major social harms. On this score, I am quite skeptical.

The individual rights side of the Constitution is probably the easiest to deal with. No doubt each of us can think of individual rights that should ideally be protected in the Constitution but are not mentioned there. Still, it is hard to identify any individual rights that are truly precluded from recognition by the...