Constitutional Framework
The Better Prenup
Because “we’ll work it out later” is not a constitutional design principle. We examine the rules of American government, identify where they can fail under stress, and test possible guardrails before the next crisis decides the question for us.
GROUND RULES
Current Law First. Reform Second.
We begin with the system as it actually exists — constitutional text, statutes, court decisions, institutional rules and established practice. Readers should always be able to tell what the law is now.
Only then do we examine alternatives. Each proposed change is treated as a proposal and stress-tested for tradeoffs, unintended consequences, implementation problems and the possibility that tomorrow’s officeholder may be someone you strongly oppose.
WHAT WE’RE TESTING
Rules Built for Bad Days, Not Just Good People.
Our research delves into critical areas that shape American governance, offering insights into their current function and potential for reform.
Elections & Representation
How presidents and legislators are chosen, who is represented, how votes translate into power, and whether the rules remain fair when political incentives change.
Institutions & Power
The Presidency, Congress, federal courts and the boundaries between them — including tenure, succession, incapacitation, war powers and institutional authority.
Guardrails & Accountability
Term limits, conflicts of interest, financial restrictions, ethics, enforcement mechanisms and other protections intended to work regardless of who controls government.
THE SYMMETRY TEST
The Rule Has to Work When Your Side Loses.
Constitutional rules are easiest to love when the people using them are people you trust.
That’s not much of a test.
We ask what happens when the same authority is exercised by someone you oppose, during a crisis, with Congress divided, the courts involved and political incentives running in the wrong direction.
If a safeguard only works when good people voluntarily respect it, it isn’t much of a safeguard.
SYMMETRY
Would we accept this power if the other side controlled it?
STRESS
Does the rule still work during war, emergency, scandal or political deadlock?
ENFORCEMENT
What actually happens when someone ignores the rule?
SUCCESSION
Does the system still function when a leader dies, becomes incapacitated, refuses to leave or cannot perform the job?
THE DESIGN QUESTIONS
What Are We Actually Testing?
Terms & Tenure
Presidents, Congress and federal judges. How long is enough, and when does institutional experience become institutional entrenchment?
The Presidency
War powers, emergency authority, succession, incapacity and the boundary between executing laws and making them.
Congress
Terms, qualifications, representation, conflicts of interest and whether institutional incentives reward governing or merely surviving the next election.
The Courts
Lifetime tenure, judicial qualifications, Supreme Court structure, retirement and what judicial independence should mean across a human lifetime.
Elections & Representation
Presidential elections, congressional representation, territories, D.C., voting rules and whether votes translate fairly into governing authority.
Money & Public Power
Financial conflicts, individual stock ownership, disclosure and rules designed to prevent public office from becoming a private investment advantage.
RED TEAMING THE CONSTITUTION
We Try to Break Our Own Ideas.
Every reform sounds wonderful before someone tries to abuse it.
So we don’t stop at asking whether a proposal solves the problem that inspired it. We ask what new problem it creates.
For every proposed change, we test unintended consequences, transition problems, enforcement failures, constitutional conflicts and the possibility that the rule could someday be used by people its authors never imagined.
THE FRIENDLY TEST
What happens when responsible people use the rule as intended?
THE HOSTILE TEST
What happens when someone uses every legal inch of it for an entirely different purpose?
THE 30-YEAR TEST
What happens after the personalities and political issues that created the reform are long gone?
WORK IN PROGRESS
A Framework, Not a Finished Constitution
This work is still underway.
Some ideas will survive our testing. Some will change. A few will probably be murdered by our own evidence.
As sections mature, we’ll publish the existing constitutional rule, the problem we’re trying to solve, proposed alternatives, arguments for and against them, stress-test results and the reasoning behind whatever survives.
Changing the Constitution is serious business. The burden of proof belongs to the people proposing the change — including us.
The Better Prenup
Write the rules for the officeholder you fear, not merely the one you trust. Because eventually, somebody you don’t trust is going to get the keys.