The dean of the University of California, Berkeley’s law school claimed there are “increasingly problematic” constitutional provisions.
Erwin Chemerinsky made the comment on an appearance on “Morning Joe,” where he advertised his book, “No Democracy Lasts Forever.”
“Choices that were made in adapting the Constitution have come to haunt us,” Chemerinsky told Willie Geist. “The Electoral College increasingly is choosing the president who lost the popular vote. Two senators per state is undermining democracy. In the last session of Congress, there were 50 Democratic senators and 50 Republican senators, but the 50 Democratic senators represented 42 million people.”
“Life tenure for Supreme Court justices is increasingly problematic,” Chemerinsky continued. “For much of American history, the tenure for Supreme Court justice was an average of 15 years. Since 1970, it’s been 27 years. All of these are choices made in 1787, but they have become much more salient in recent years.”
“Rather than a series of constitutional amendments, isn’t it time that we start thinking about a new constitution?” Chemerinsky asked. “Isn’t it absurd that we’re governed in 2024 by a constitution written in 1787 for a small, agrarian, slave-owning society?”
Without an updated constitution, Chemerinksy fears the U.S. could “drift toward authoritarianism.”
