The progressive era of constitutional amendment

Autores

  • Richard Albert Universidade Federal do Paraná e Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/rinc.v2i3.44528

Palavras-chave:

constitutional amendments, Progressive Era, Seventeenth amendment, corruption, United States of America

Resumo

In this Essay I explore the impetus for the Seventeenth Amendment, which was in large measure driven by an effort to curb corruption in senatorial elections. I begin by exploring the difficulty of formal amendment in the United States. I explain the rules of formal amendment and I review briefly the empirical literature suggesting that the United States Constitution is one of the world’s most difficult to amend, if not the most difficult. Then, I discuss the Progressive Era, a period of time during which formal amendment seemed much easier than it is today. I review the movement and its purposes, and I situate the four Progressive Era amendments. Finally, I focus on one of these four amendments, the Seventeenth, and consider the motivations driving its adoption as well as current critiques about its effectiveness. I conclude by questioning whether repealing the Seventeenth Amendment would necessarily reinstate indirect senatorial elections as a matter of practice, whatever it would mean as a matter of formal law.

Biografia do Autor

Richard Albert, Universidade Federal do Paraná e Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná

• Professor Adjunto de Direito Constitucional e Direito Administrativo da Universidade Federal do Paraná

• Professor de Direito Constitucional e Direito Administrativo do Curso de Graduação e do Programa de Mestrado e Doutorado em Direito da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná

• Doutor em Direito do Estado e Mestre em Direito do Estado pela Universidade Federal do Paraná

• Coordenador do Curso de Pós-Graduação em Direito Administrativo do Instituto de Direito Romeu Felipe Bacellar

• Diretor Acadêmico do NINC - Núcleo de Investigações Constitucionais do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito da UFPR

• Editor Acadêmico responsável da A&C - Revista de Direito Administrativo & Constitucional (ISSN 1516-3210) - Qualis A1 (Área de Direito/CAPES)

• Coordenador Editorial da Revista de Investigações Constitucionais (ISSN 2359-5639)

• Coordenador Editorial da Revista Eurolatinoamericana de Derecho Administrativo (ISSN 2362-583X)

• Co-Editor da Revista de Direito Econômico e Socioambiental (ISSN 2179-8214)

• Autor dos livros "Princípio constitucional da supremacia do interesse público" (2011) e "Mandado de injunção e direitos fundamentais" (2012), ambos publicados pela Editora Fórum

• Coordenador Executivo, pelo Brasil, da Rede Docente Eurolatinoamericana de Direito Administrativo

• Membro do Foro Iberoamericano de Derecho Administrativo, da Asociación de Derecho Público del Mercosur, da International Public Law Society e do Instituto Paranaense de Direito Administrativo

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ALBERT, Richard. The progressive era of constitutional amendment. Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, [S. l.], v. 2, n. 3, p. 35–59, 2015. DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v2i3.44528. Disponível em: https://revistas.ufpr.br/rinc/article/view/44528. Acesso em: 28 dez. 2024.

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v. 2 n. 3 (2015): setembro/dezembro

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