« Tuesday's Three Burning Legal Questions | Main | Lake Pirate Murder Investigator Assassinated »

Water Cooler Topic of the Day: Repeal of the 17th Amendment

Wanna impress your friends and colleagues today with your seemingly superior knowledge of all things Constitution-related? Start up a casual conversation about the burgeoning movement to repeal the 17th Amendment.

Sure, you can take a couple of seconds to click here and find out what the hell that Amendment says. Or you can read this article in this morning's ABA Journal. According to that article, some Tea Party candidates are pushing to return to the good old days when Senators were appointed by state legislatures. That's right, candidates, who, by definition, are asking the general population to vote them into some office or another, are hoping to be elected by telling those same voters that they shouldn't have a say in who represents them in the U.S. Senate. You following?

The case for repeal was argued, less than fiercely, by Gene Healy in a June issue of the Washington Examiner. Here's a slightly more impassioned pitch from the Tenth Amendment Center, complete with draft language for the Amendment-repealing Amendment. When a candidate has expressed any support for repeal, that candidate's opponent has generally been quick to mock. For example, in these ads collected by the Washington Post.

I kind of like getting to vote for my Senators, but when push comes to shove, I'll let them take the 17th as long as they don't mess with the 21st.

Posted by Eric Lipman on October 13, 2010 at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)