Citizen Times: “Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has recently published a book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution (New York, Little, Brown and Company, 2014), which I found particularly relevant in light of the recent election and other current events. Stevens was appointed to the court by Republican President Ford and served from 1975-2010.”
“Justice Stevens quotes President Theodore Roosevelt in his 1905 annual message to Congress, ‘All contributions by corporations to any political committee for any political purpose should be forbidden by law; directors should not be permitted to use stockholders’ money for such purposes’ and, moreover, a prohibition of this kind would be, as far as it went, an effective method of stopping the evils aimed at in corrupt practices acts.'”
“Stevens proposes the following amendment to the Constitution:
“’Neither the First Amendment nor any other provision of this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit the Congress or any state from imposing reasonable limits on the amount of money that candidates for public office, or their supporters, may spend in election campaigns.’
“Justice Stevens discusses the history of gerrymandering, both racial and political, from the time that the word was coined to describe the bizarre shapes of districts drawn by the partisans of Gov. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts in the 1812 election. He proposes the following amendment: ‘Districts represented by members of Congress, or by members of any state legislative body, shall be compact and composed of contiguous territory. The state shall have the burden of justifying any departures from this requirement by reference to neutral criteria such as natural, political, or historic boundaries or demographic changes. The interest in enhancing or preserving the political power of the party in control of the state government is not such a neutral criterion.'”
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