Sanford Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. The author of over 200 articles in professional and more popular journals, his books include Constitutional Faith (1988); Written in Stone (1998); Wrestling With Diversity (2003) and the edited volume, Torture: A Collection (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Levinson believes that the Constitution is fundamentally undemocratic, and that a new constitutional convention is necessary to bring forward a better charter. His critical discussion of the founding document is bold, bracingly unromantic, and filled with illuminating insights. He accomplishes an unlikely feat, which is to make a really serious argument for a new constitutional convention, one that is founded squarely on democratic ideals. Levinson has valuably shown that parts of America's founding document are seriously flawed, and he has demonstrated that both representatives and citizens should treat the document not with "sanctimonious reverence" but as the revisable product of fallible human beings.

• Prelude: The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson ; Introduction: A Tale of Two Signings ; 1. The Ratification Referendum: Sending the Constitution to a New Convention for Repair ; 2. Our Undemocratic Legislative Process ; 3. The Legacy of Article II: Too-Powerful Presidents, Chosen in an Indefensible Process, Who Cannot Be Displaced Even When They Are Manifestly Incompetent ; 4. Life Tenure for Supreme Court Justices: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed ; 5. The Constitution as Creator of Second-Class Citizens ; 6. The Impermeable Article V ; 7. Disenchantment and Desire: What Is to Be Done? ; Coda: The Wisdom of Woodrow Wilson ; Appendix: The Constitution of the United States ; Notes ; Acknowledgments ; Index

Sanford Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. The author of over 200 articles in professional and more popular journals, his books include Constitutional Faith (1988); Written in Stone (1998); Wrestling With Diversity (2003) and the edited volume, Torture: A Collection (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Levinson believes that the Constitution is fundamentally undemocratic, and that a new constitutional convention is necessary to bring forward a better charter. His critical discussion of the founding document is bold, bracingly unromantic, and filled with illuminating insights. He accomplishes an unlikely feat, which is to make a really serious argument for a new constitutional convention, one that is founded squarely on democratic ideals. Levinson has valuably shown that parts of America's founding document are seriously flawed, and he has demonstrated that both representatives and citizens should treat the document not with "sanctimonious reverence" but as the revisable product of fallible human beings.

• Prelude: The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson ; Introduction: A Tale of Two Signings ; 1. The Ratification Referendum: Sending the Constitution to a New Convention for Repair ; 2. Our Undemocratic Legislative Process ; 3. The Legacy of Article II: Too-Powerful Presidents, Chosen in an Indefensible Process, Who Cannot Be Displaced Even When They Are Manifestly Incompetent ; 4. Life Tenure for Supreme Court Justices: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed ; 5. The Constitution as Creator of Second-Class Citizens ; 6. The Impermeable Article V ; 7. Disenchantment and Desire: What Is to Be Done? ; Coda: The Wisdom of Woodrow Wilson ; Appendix: The Constitution of the United States ; Notes ; Acknowledgments ; Index

Sanford Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. The author of over 200 articles in professional and more popular journals, his books include Constitutional Faith (1988); Written in Stone (1998); Wrestling With Diversity (2003) and the edited volume, Torture: A Collection (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Levinson believes that the Constitution is fundamentally undemocratic, and that a new constitutional convention is necessary to bring forward a better charter. His critical discussion of the founding document is bold, bracingly unromantic, and filled with illuminating insights. He accomplishes an unlikely feat, which is to make a really serious argument for a new constitutional convention, one that is founded squarely on democratic ideals. Levinson has valuably shown that parts of America's founding document are seriously flawed, and he has demonstrated that both representatives and citizens should treat the document not with "sanctimonious reverence" but as the revisable product of fallible human beings.

• Prelude: The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson ; Introduction: A Tale of Two Signings ; 1. The Ratification Referendum: Sending the Constitution to a New Convention for Repair ; 2. Our Undemocratic Legislative Process ; 3. The Legacy of Article II: Too-Powerful Presidents, Chosen in an Indefensible Process, Who Cannot Be Displaced Even When They Are Manifestly Incompetent ; 4. Life Tenure for Supreme Court Justices: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed ; 5. The Constitution as Creator of Second-Class Citizens ; 6. The Impermeable Article V ; 7. Disenchantment and Desire: What Is to Be Done? ; Coda: The Wisdom of Woodrow Wilson ; Appendix: The Constitution of the United States ; Notes ; Acknowledgments ; Index