| Abstract: | Among the troublesome questions still surrounding the U.S. constitutionalamending process is whether states should be allowed to rescindratifications of pending amendments. The Constitution is silentabout this issue. Arguments from fairness and contemporary consensus,and concerns about hasty changes, support the acceptance ofrescissions. Arguments for finality, the desirability of encouragingstate legislatures to make serious decisions, and the difficultyof the current process suggest that rescissions should not bepermitted, but these concerns are not as weighty as they mightappear at first. A law accepting or rejecting all rescissionsis preferable to a system where Congress makes partisan judgmentsin individual cases. |
