It is necessary to more fully judge Article V by the standard of equality over the law.
| Article V Text | Equality Over the Law |
|---|---|
| The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, | Small state citizens are overrepresented in the Senate, and are therefore overrepresented in the proposal of amendments. D.C. and territorial residents have no vote in Congress. Plus, it is a supermajoritarian rule, alone capable of denying reform of the election of the President and the design of the Senate. |
| or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, | Each state legislature has one vote by this method; small-state citizens are therefore overrepresented. D.C. and territorial residents have no state. It is supermajoritarian. Representational rules within such a convention are undefined, and we have never had such a convention. |
| which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; | Equal state suffrage again…This rule is even more strongly supermajoritarian. It may be argued that a supermajority rule was once appropriate here because of the different sizes of the states, or because states in favor might be barely so, and those opposed strongly so, but I think this argument should lead one to support ratification by direct vote of the people. |
| Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; | No amendment before 1808 could end the slave trade or allow Congress to challenge slavery by disproportionately taxing slave-owners. This is obsolete, of course, and it also clearly violated human equality. |
| and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. | This super-duper-majoritarian rule protects a rule that violates human equality, and violates human equality itself. |
This is all fixable. We can bring our Constitution in line with our values. We can do it.