Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Structural Federalism in the Constitution



So the point I make is that when all these factors are considered, it is not only the unit vote for the Presidency we are talking about, but a whole solar system of governmental power. If it is proposed to change the balance of power of one of the elements of the solar system, it is necessary to consider all the others. -Senator John F. Kennedy


In 1956, Senator (later President) Kennedy explained how proposals designed to replace the electoral system with a national direct election of the President would strike a powerful blow against federalism: "I believe," said Kennedy, “it would break down the Federal system under which most States entered the Union, which provides a system of checks and balances to insure that no area or group shall obtain too much power." President Kennedy's powerful insight concerning the structural architecture of the Constitution's allocation of power was true in 1956 when he expressed it, it was true in 1787 when the Founder's created our constitutional solar system, and it is no less true today. The remainder of this Article will seek to demonstrate the persuasiveness of Kennedy's argument in favor of the Constitution’s electoral vote system for election of the President.

Although some critics of the electoral system for selecting the President refer to its support of federalism as "meager," this fails to grasp the reality of Senator Kennedy's multi-planet vision of a constitutional "solar system" of federalism. Just as there are eight planets in the solar system we Earthlings physically inhabit, there are at least eight planets protecting federalism in our constitutional solar system:

1.   Every election for national office is held in the states, in a federally-democratic election in which each voter in each state gets one, equally-weighted vote;
2.   Although representation in the House of Representatives is allocated on the basis of population, each state is given an equality of suffrage in the Senate, and no State may be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate—not even by a constitutional amendment—without its consent;
3.   The President is elected in 51 separate elections in the states (plus the District of Columbia) under a formula that gives smaller states somewhat more representation than larger states;
4.   If no candidate for the Presidency receives a majority of electoral votes, the election is determined in the House of Representatives with each state delegation in the House having one vote;
5.   Supreme Court Justices, other federal judges, and all other officers of the United States must be nominated by a President elected in the states under the electoral system and confirmed by the Senate in which each state has two senators elected in their respective states;
6.   The President has the power to make Treaties so long as "two thirds of the Senators concur;"
7.   Ordinary national laws require a majority vote in both the House and the Senate, and the President has the power to veto laws which may be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate; and
8.   The Constitution may not be amended unless three-fourths of the states ratify a proposed amendment with each state having one vote to ratify.

As President Kennedy understood, if you unravel one thread from the architecture of this carefully balanced constitutional solar system, you may create a disturbance in the force that might cause the entire structure to collapse.


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