State Constitutional Failure

Abstract

With the economic and political conditions of state governments in free fall, attention has turned to major structural deficits in the processes of state governance. Although the prospects for systematic state constitutional reform in light of these grim circumstances have brightened, the focus and strategy of this reform is often fuzzy and incoherent. This article returns to some fundamental aspects of constitutional government in the contemporary American states in order to help shape the direction of constitutional reform. With reference to specific examples of constitutional architecture, I explore the question of how we assess state constitutional failure and how, on the basis of this assessment, we can best undertake structural, institutional, and doctrinal reform.

Keywords: State Governance, Constitutional Reform, State Constitutional Law, Constitutional Amendments, Constitutional Revisions