Friday, December 25, 2009

Could matters like abortion, the death penalty, or gay marriage be resolved with Constitutional amendments?

In theory, Could Constitutional amendments be passed that say there can never be a legal abortion in the USA? Or that capital punishment is illegal everywhere in the USA? Or that gay people can or cannot marry one an other?





Can the Constitutional amendment process do this?Could matters like abortion, the death penalty, or gay marriage be resolved with Constitutional amendments?
Yes, but it won't happen because a constitutional amendment requires more then a simple majority.Could matters like abortion, the death penalty, or gay marriage be resolved with Constitutional amendments?
Yes they can, but it's not easy to get a constitutional amendment passed, it takes approval by 2/3 of the states.





During his campaign in 1980 Ronald Reagan promised to propose a constitutional amendment declaring the pre-born as -human- so abortion would be murder. Once in office he didn't even try.





A better way to resolve an issue like this is with a Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court decided that laws against miscegenation were illegal and that was that. They made the same decision about 'sodomy' for gays. And, for that matter, abortion.





Capital punishment was once seen to be 'cruel and unusual punishment', and I think will be again in the not-too-distant future. Gay marriage is part of the 14th Amendment, equal rights under the law. And abortion is seen as a private matter. It would take a constitutional amendment to change them, but they are so unlikely they haven't even ever been tried.
Though it would be difficult, yes, all three could theoretically be resolved through Constitutional amendments. That said, if you support the strength of the Constitution and recognize it as the ultimate doctrine of law within the United States, then you should also recognize that just like hundreds of other issues, the death penalty, gay marriage and abortion are not issues to be dealt with by the federal government. The United States is a nation based on Federalism, meaning that while some rights and powers are delegated exclusively to the federal government (the power to go to war or make treaties, for example), there are few powers (particularly powers concerning social issues such as these) that are not given to the state. A future Constitutional amendment addressing one or all of these issues is not impossible, but a Supreme Court ruling is far more likely. In either case, it will simply be another example of the federal government overstepping its rights and infringing upon the rights of the states provided for in our Constitution.
Yes there could. The only problem is with contradictions within the constitution.


The supreme court says that the abortion is protected through the right to privacy. You make an amendment banning abortion, then how does the right to privacy fit into the constitution?


The death penalty is probably easier to ban. Would there be enough states to support this though.


Banning gay marriage would be a complete morally backwards turn. How can you say the things in the constitution that all people are equal and make a law making people not equal? Does america want a constitution that does not work?





A constitutional amendment can do anything. They banned the drinking of alcohol. And then unbanned it.
Absolutely, but abortion rights activists, gay rights activists, and death penalty abolitionists KNOW that those positions would never be successful in amending the US Constitution, so they try to use the back door and have courts invent rights to fit their agenda.





whale





Its that guy-


There are two ways to void bad decisions by the USSC, through the use of an Amendment and by overturning the decision by a future court, as the court did in Brown v Board of Education in turning over the Democratic idea of ';Separate but Equal'; in Plessey v Fergusson.





There is no right to privacy in the USC and the death penalty IS written into the USC, so only the process was restricted, not the death penalty itself, learn a little about history and the law before making your bad answers next time.
Yes, if there are enough votes to pass it.


But remember, just like Prohibition, if it can be done, it can be undone.





Prop 8 was an amendment to the California State Constitution. It passed, but is now being challenged in the court system.
One could try to pass a constitutional amendment for nearly anything. Good luck with that.





The reason anti abortion activists never want the issue brought to a vote is because they know the majority of Americans would vote against them.
Yes, it's possible, just like it would be possible to reinstate slavery through a constitutional amendment.





Whether that will actually happen is a different story.
Leave it to the states
  • natural cleansing
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