Constitutional Dismemberment in Constitutional Design

Abstract

In this essay prepared for a special symposium issue of Diritto pubblico comparato ed europeo on my book “Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions” (Oxford University Press), I explain why constitutional designers should distinguish procedures for constitutional amendment from procedures for constitutional dismemberment, what kinds of constitutional reforms these procedures authorize, how these two categories of procedures inform the judicial power of constitutional interpretation, and why codifying both in the same constitution advances the democratic values of the rule of law.