Based on feedback and the lovely James Carville interview and the recent gerrymandering power grabs, I have added the following amendments for consideration alongside the Reboot Amendment.
For reasons obvious to any GenXer, the name of this slate is the FAFO Slate.
1. The Sixteenth Amendment is hereby repealed.
2. The Seventeenth Amendment is hereby repealed.
3. The Twenty-Seventh Amendment is hereby repealed.
4. Supreme Court Reorganization
The Supreme Court shall consist of one Justice for each federal judicial circuit, provided the total number remains odd. Each Justice shall serve as the Executive Justice of a single circuit and shall have full authority to dismiss any inferior judges within that circuit for cause.
In the event the number of circuits is even, the Chief Justice shall vacate oversight of any circuit and serve solely as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court must hear any case involving a dispute between two or more states and any cases involving the Presidential Election as if the case has passed the motion to dismiss.
Additionally, once the majority opinion is ready for publication, it must be published within seven days whether the minority opinion is ready or not.
5. The territory of the District of Columbia is hereby returned in full to the State of Maryland.
6. All United States territories that are not currently states are hereby granted independence.
A ten-year transition plan shall be implemented immediately upon ratification.
Any future territory acquired by the United States shall be designated a protectorate under federal jurisdiction, but persons born there shall not automatically receive United States citizenship. Admission as a territory eligible for eventual statehood shall require unanimous consent of both houses of Congress.
7. The cities of Arlington and Alexandria in Virginia are hereby ceded to the State of Maryland.
8. The western coastal regions encompassing the metropolitan areas of Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego are hereby established as the new State of Dementia.
9. The western coastal regions encompassing the metropolitan areas of Portland, Olympia, and Seattle are hereby established as the new State of Discordia.
10. The cities of New York City and Chicago are hereby designated as non-contiguous territories of the State of Michigan.
11. Amendment to the Fourteenth Amendment
Section 1 shall read:
All children born in the United States to parents who are citizens of the United States, or to parents possessing legal long-term residency on a documented path to naturalization, and who are subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2 shall read:
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of citizens and lawful resident aliens in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
12. Treason
Treason against the United States shall include knowingly and willfully collaborating with foreign governments or organizations to unlawfully overthrow or subvert the Constitution through money laundering, fraud, deception, or by encouraging disobedience to lawful military orders within the chain of command.
The punishment for treason shall be permanent loss of the right to vote and hold any public office in the United States.
13. No person who is not a natural-born citizen of the United States shall be eligible to hold any federal office.
14. Campaign Contributions
No candidate for any federal office may accept any campaign contribution, direct or indirect, from any individual, corporation, union, PAC, or other organization unless the donor’s primary residence or corporate headquarters is physically located within the congressional district (for House candidates) or the state (for Senate candidates) from which the candidate is seeking election. Contributions from outside that district or state are prohibited.