A Second Bill of Rights

The date of last substantial revision is 13 July 2013.

History and Intentions

The first Bill of Rights exists because the Constitution would not have been adopted without it. If the Constitution's principal advocates (Federalists) had not agreed on their honor to propose and support a Bill of Rights by Constitutional amendment as soon as the new government convened, the necessary nine states out of thirteen would not have ratified the Constitution.  Opponents of the nascent supreme law (anti-Federalists) had vowed to defeat it if changes were not made, and the mood of the country was with them.  The thirteen colonies had ousted one sovereign for trampling on its rights, and were loath to risk them under another possible tyranny unless traditional rights of individuals were secured.

Thus the first ten amendments to the Constitution specify what the United States may not do to its citizens. A second Bill of Rights must do the same if it is to legitimately bear that name.  It must specify more acts that the government may not require of any individual, despite what the customs of society or the will of a political majority will tolerate or favor.  Other amendments that would encode rights to education, work, a living wage, etc, have their merits and supporters, but are not acts that experience has taught us that any government must be forever forbidden to impose on its citizens. 

James Madison drafted the first Bill from 500 years of cherished precedent in English law, beginning with the Magna Carta of 1215. In most cases the rights of Englishmen had been written into American state constitutions adopted after the Declaration of Independence from Britain. Most state Constitutional ratifying conventions forwarded their versions of a Bill of Rights as recommended amendments to the Constitution, along with their instruments of ratification, to the Continental Congress.  In this way Madison's Bill of Rights virtually wrote itself from the near universal consensus of the times.

This will not be true of a second bill.  No historical basis or present consensus exists for a new list of ways to enhance the rights of individuals by limiting the power of majorities.  This essay is an attempt to create that list and a means to start building that consensus.  Not being a Madison with his advantages of erudition and popular support, the writer does not expect -- though he may fantasize -- that his proposals will survive without change or be ratified any time soon. Of some 7,000 proposed Constitutional amendments, only 27 have succeeded. 

Critics will note that many of "new" rights proposed below are already Constitutional law by Supreme Court decision.  Such edicts, however worthy, can be overturned by a later court, and in some cases by the Congress, and may not be what successive Presidents have in mind when taking the oath of office to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution.  Society itself is of two minds about the standing of judicial interpretations.  Do they, or should they, tamper with the original intent of the framers?  Such questions and objections vanish once the Constitution is formally amended.  Rights belong in Constitutional stone to be safe from transient majorities. 

A more valid objection is that rights tend to conflict and limit one another.  The more rights we define the greater the chances for such conflicts and limits.  We do not edit the Constitution when we change it.  The original language protecting slavery is still there even though slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment.  Later amendments take precedence over the unamended document and earlier amendments.  Care, then, must be taken with the exact wording of each new amendment lest it unintentionally limit old rights rather than enhance all rights.  Pride of prose has no place in this process. Help and comments are therefore invited.  Those received so far have been most helpful.


Proposed Amendments (Informal Title)

Only text in italics is meant to amend the Constitution.

(Definition)

Unless otherwise modified in context in this Constitution, the phrase "the United States"  includes and stands in place of any or all of the following: the Federal Government of the United States of American; the several states; and the territories and possessions thereof; within the jurisdiction thereof; and other such phrases of like inclusive meaning. 

(Equality of Votes and Voters)

Legislative districts for the House of Representatives shall be established by the Supreme Court of the United States on the completion of each decennial census.

Legislative districts for other elected offices within the United States shall be established or approved by the highest civil court of jurisdiction on the completion of each decennial census.

All legislative districts within the United States shall be maximally compact, contiguous and equally populated, excluding all other criteria and all historical precedent.

All legislative district revisions shall apply to the first election after the decennial census and all subsequent elections until the next decennial census, effective with the first census after the adoption of this provision.


(Voting Rights)

No citizen, declaring a sole permanent residence, shall be denied the right immediately to register and vote equally with others in the voting places of that residence. A declaration of  residency in one jurisdiction is valid in all other inferior jurisdictions completely or partially within its boundaries.

No citizen released or paroled from incarceration or other sentence for a criminal act shall be denied the right immediately to register and vote equally with others in the voting places of declared permanent residence. This provision shall apply ex post facto.

Voting, in person or by mail or by similar means sanctioned by law, including absentee voting, shall begin within four calendar days, excluding holidays, of when nominations for office and certification of ballot questions are legally closed, providing that such closure may not be less than four calendar weeks before the official election day.

Documentation requirements for registration shall be limited to the least necessary to prove identity and establish residency.  Proof of identity required for issuing a United States passport need not be required and will not be exceeded. A certificate of identity will be issued to citizens at birth or naturalization, and will be honored, as will a United States passport, by all subsequent voting registrars.

(Sexual Privacy)

The private sexual acts of consenting adults shall not be prohibited by law, nor shall such acts be observed or revealed in any manner whatsoever without the prior mutual agreement of the parties thereto. This provision shall apply ex post facto and until the deaths of the parties thereto.

(Conception and Abortion)

The use, sale, distribution or instruction in the use of contraceptive methods and devices shall not be restricted.

The prevention or termination of a pregnancy, except at and beyond the medically determined case by case point of viability, is solely the individual choice of woman. 

(Travel)

The right of citizens, not subject to lawful restrictions ordered by a federal court of jurisdiction, freely to travel beyond, and to return to the United States shall not be denied or purposefully delayed. 

(Equal Rights)

Equality of rights and privileges under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex or sexual identity.

The Congress shall have the responsibility to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

(Capital Punishment)

Capital punishment is prohibited in all cases other than treason and convictions for two or more murders, or attempted murders, in the first degree. 

(Citizenship)

A person under this Constitution is a single natural living individual.  No law or interpretation of law shall confer person hood or the rights, immunities and privileges of the individual citizen enumerated or reserved by this Constitution upon any other entity whatsoever.  This provision shall not be construed to impair legally enforceable contracts.

A person born in the United States is a citizen thereof.  A person born of or conceived by a parent who is a citizen of the United States, is a citizen thereof without regard to location of birth,  conception or any other factor.  A person granted citizenship by law is equally a citizen.

No citizen of the United States may be deprived of the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship except at the citizen's own free request.

The Congress shall have the responsibility to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

(Loyalty)

No oath of  allegiance or loyalty to the United States or any other political entity shall be required of any person who is a private citizen thereof.

If an oath is required by law of elected public officials, or other public officials appointed thereby, of the United States it shall be equivalent to an appropriate portion of the oath required of the President of the United Statesby this constitution.

The Congress shall have the power to specify an oath of allegiance to the constitution of the United States required of members of the Armed Forces of the United States as a condition of membership therein.

(Personal Information)

With the exception of evidence of criminal behavior made public in open court, writings by, images of, or information about, an individual from whatever source belongs to the individual and may not be used for any purpose other than law enforcement by legal warrant without the prior approval of the individual.

Arrest warrants and records shall not be disclosed until charges are brought or a fugitive is sought.  Information about cases of arrest or questioning and subsequent release become the sole property of the individual arrested or questioned and may not be made public or used without permission of the owner except for further legally sanctioned investigation of criminal behavior or uses that preserve individual privacy..