The Bill of Rights – The Future of the Constitution, Part II.1

The United States Constitution has been updated eighteen times, for a total of twenty-seven amendments. No analysis of the Constitution’s future would be complete without a summary of its current amendments.

Part II of “The Future of the Constitution” series.

In celebration of Constitution Day on September 17, 2014, we are dedicating the week to a new series, “The Future of the Constitution“. Designed to examine the Constitution and its Amendments, “The Future of the Constitution“ will examine the amendment process, analyze existing, failed, and prospective amendment, take a look at the constitutional quandary found in campaign finance reform in the post-Citizens United era, and end with a review of retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Steven’s newest book, “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution”.

In Part I of the series, we discussed how the Constitution can be amended and gave a brief overview of the Constitution’s history and contents.

In the first section of Part II below, we will expand upon the Constitution’s amendments by giving a summary of each, analyze why the amendments were proposed and ratified, and what the amendments mean in the modern-day. In this section, we will discuss the first ten amendments, or the Bill of Rights. The second and third sections will outline amendments XI – XX and XXI – XXVII respectively.

The Race for the Senate Majority: A Narrowed Contest

The Senate battlefield has shifted in the past week – and the race for the majority is now closer than ever.

Days until Election: 50

Since the last update of the “Race for the Senate Majority” series, the battle for control of the Senate has grown more competitive, and more favorable for the Democrats. There are no more primaries left and, barring another shocking event like Kansas, the competitors in each race are set in stone. With only a few short days left before Congress closes its final session before Election Day, there may be some significant shifts in the electoral mathematics. For now though, there are some observable trends occurring – ones that give Democrats hope, and put Republicans feet to the fire.