Chapter 1 – Definition and Objectives

Article 1 – Definition
The United States is a democratic and federal nation, which observes the separation of powers, guards the people’s rights for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, abides by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and maintains the dignity and equality before the law of all human beings.
While many constitutions have a preamble that outlines general aims and objectives, such preambles are almost always too general to be used in court. Article 1, if it can be called a preamble, has full standing along with the rest of this constitution.

Chapter 2 – Basic Rights

Article 2 – Freedom of Speech and Conscience
a) The United States protects and promotes the freedoms of thought and expression. Therefore, no person may be prosecuted or punished for holding any belief, knowing any fact, having any personal conscience and ethics, or exercising the freedom of speech or of the free expression of any form of art. All forms of censorship, whether by law, lack of legal protection, harassment, or after-the-fact penalties even without prior censorship, are strictly forbidden.
b) There may be no legislation of morality beyond protecting the rights and person of any individual.
c) The United States may not require any oath of loyalty from any person.
This is possibly more liberal a free speech clause than this of any existing constitution; textual strict constructionists will almost certainly interpret the after-the-fact phrase as a ban on libel and slander laws. The second section is meant to neutralize arguments of protection from immorality concerning victimless crimes such as sodomy and prostitution, which restrict liberty. See Article 6.

Article 3 – Political Freedom
Political parties and organizations may be formed freely.
This may seem trivial given Articles 2 and 5, but I nonetheless chose to include this as a separate article.

Article 4 – Freedom of and from Religion
The United States protects the free exercise of religion as well as the right to practice no religion. It is a secular nation that observes separation of religion and state and is religiously and morally neutral.
While at a first glance this article seems to sponsor state atheism, it does not, as seen in the “is religiously… neutral” phrase. It is perhaps the only way to protect the freedoms of and from religion at the same time without subordinating the freedom from to the freedom of.

Article 5 – Freedom of Assembly and Association
All people have the right to assemble peacefully, form associations, or petition to the government at any level. Peaceful protest, trade unions, and strikes are specifically protected.
This is necessary for two purposes: one, protecting people’s right to participate in the public space; and two, permitting workers to organize and bargain collectively, a right that the government tends to help companies abridge.

Article 6 – Personal Rights and Freedom of Movement
a) Every person has the right to do whatever he or she wishes with his or her body and property as long as all people affected expressly consent.
b) Every person has the right to freedom of occupation. All forms of involuntary servitude, whether imposed by the government or by a private party, are prohibited; conscription and slavery remain abolished.
c) Freedom of movement into, inside, and out of the United States is guaranteed to citizens and non-citizens alike, except in case of epidemics; therefore, immigration restrictions apart from health screenings are abolished.
The first section obviously targets laws against drug use, prostitution, and sodomy. The second section is a better and also more comprehensive phrasing of the 13th amendment to the existing constitution in the United States. The third protects a right that is in most cases not specified, specified with many exceptions, or ignored.

Article 7 – Property Rights
Private property may only be confiscated with individual due process, with proof that any alternative without confiscation hurts the general welfare, and with compensation at least fifty percent above market price.
“Individual due process” here means that whenever a government wishes to confiscate private property, the case needs to be singly brought out before the courts, as opposed to general due process, which merely imposes criteria and regulations on confiscation.

Article 8 – Elections
a) Every citizen of the United States whose age is eighteen or more may vote in all elections in his or her state, district, or location, including all nationwide elections. The Tuesday between November Second and November Eighth inclusive every year is a public holiday designated as Election Day, and all elections and referenda are on such an Election Day. All elections must be fair and secret, ensuring that every vote counts exactly once as the voter intended. As a single exception to the first sentence of this Section, every citizen may vote for no more than five Specialized Legislatures.
b) All elections in which only one candidate is elected use the method of approval vote; that is, every voter can either approve or disapprove of each candidate, without effect on the other candidates, with the winner being the candidate who has won the largest number of approving votes.
c) Voters may by initiative petition force Congress to vote on a bill, to reconsider a law, to hold a referendum on a pending bill or on reconsidering a law, or to hold a referendum on recalling a Cabinet member or a Senator. To be in effect, all initiatives require the signatures of five percent of the eligible voters in the United States, except those on recalling a President, which require ten percent, and those on recalling a Senator, in which only voters in the Senator’s district may participate, and in which the threshold is five percent of the eligible voters in the district.
Approval Vote has been chosen because Plurality and Instant Runoff have problems such as the spoiler effect, and because it is not inferior to Condorcet’s Method but is much simpler. The initiative, referendum, and recall procedures generally strengthen the people’s ability to control legislation on important matters, with Congress being in a sense relegated to subordinate legislation.

Article 9 – Privacy
a) Every person has the right to be secure in his or her private home. Therefore, no search on any person may be done, except with a warrant from a judge and upon probable cause, and no soldier or other employee of the government may be quartered in a private home without the homeowner’s explicit permission.
b) Every person has the right to privacy in communications, including but not limited to the mail, telephones, and the Internet. Eavesdropping is forbidden.
As with Article 2, this article is probably more liberal than in any other constitution. The complete ban on eavesdropping is essential to prevent intimidation from government agencies, and even the complete supervision of a judge is insufficient, as invariably there are always judges who will put national security above the civil liberties it is supposed to serve.

Article 10 – Loss of Liberty
No person may be arrested or detained without reasonable charges. Any person detained must be brought within twenty-four hours of apprehension in front of a judge, who must inform him or her of the reasons for detention, examine his or her case, and give him or her an opportunity to raise objections. The judge must, without delay, then issue a warrant of arrest setting forth the reasons for it or order his release from detention. No detainee or prisoner may be subjected to physical or mental ill treatment or torture, and no person may be extradited to any country that uses any form of torture.
The last sentence is another civil right, ensuring that no one, including people wanted for crimes in other countries, is tortured. The requirement that detainees be brought in front of a judge is needed to prevent bypassing due process.

Article 11 – Due Process
a) Every person has the right to enjoy a speedy, public trial, by an impartial judge or panel of judges, have no fabricated evidence presented for or against him or her, and enjoy the opportunity to bring evidence or witnesses in his or her favor. Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
b) Capital and corporal forms of punishment are abolished. No person may be sentenced when it is proven that he or she suffered from a mental disorder, in which case forced hospitalization may replace imprisonment, or when the felony is theft or robbery and he or she was on the brink of starvation or succumbing to a disease at the time of committing the felony. No person may be extradited to any country that retains capital or corporal punishment.
c) People are judged according to the law at the time of committing the suspected felony, and similarly, no retroactive law may be passed.
d) All people are equal under the law.
The first section is simply a phrasing of the common due process rights that form one of the pillars of the liberal democracy. The second is meant to abolish inhuman punishment, as well as to ensure that hungry people are not jailed for trying to survive, in order to make Anatole France’s statement that, “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread,” inapplicable.

Article 12 – Personhood
All rights expressed here, including those to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, apply only to human beings and begin at birth and end at death. In conjunction with Article six, therefore, every woman has the right to terminate her pregnancy at any point before the actual birth.
Prior to birth, a fetus is strictly speaking alive, but so are animals and plants; it is at birth that self-awareness and hence personhood starts. This article is meant to ensure that fetuses are not put above born women in the form of restrictions on abortion.

Article 13 – Prohibition on Discrimination
All people are equal under the law. The United States may not discriminate among people on the grounds of sex, creed, conscience, race, ethnicity, or individual behavior or characteristic that does not violate any other article of this document and prohibits individual businesses from doing the same. Discrimination on the basis of qualifications is allowed even if it means that a group is over- or underrepresented, as is discrimination meant to temporarily help economically disadvantaged groups.
A prohibition on discrimination is vital to ensure equality of rights and equality across groups that are completely equal to one another in ability and potential.

Article 14 – Treason
Treason is not a crime; in those cases when suspected treason is indistinguishable from crimes against humanity, the United States must turn the defendant over to an international court when possible, or try him or her according to international law and Article eleven otherwise.
When the state serves the people, it is intolerable that the people can be tried for crimes against the state.

Article 15 – Freedom of Information
All information regarding the laws, bills, motions, actions, or treaties of the United States must be revealed to the public as soon as possible. The government must keep a journal of all executive orders, legislated bills including a list of members of Congress voting for and against, and Court decisions including a list of judges agreeing with and dissenting from the majority decision. The Cabinet must regularly inform Congress, the Supreme Court, and the people of the measures it has taken, as well as of the state of the Union.
Complete freedom of information, requested or not, is needed for the people in general and specialist groups in particular to make informed political decisions.

Chapter 3 – General Provisions

Article 16 – Ban on War
The United States may not declare war against any nation, and may not engage in acts of overt war, unless attacked or provoked. It may have a standing army only in order to guard its territory, and, with the approval of the United Nations, keep and promote peace and international cooperation in the world.
It is very important to note that this does not mean that all forms of defense must be abolished. Intelligence is still permitted, subject to the first fifteen articles of this constitution. Preemptive attacks, when it is proven that no other method will prevent an attack, are also permitted, under the word “provoked” in the first sentence.

Article 17 – Education
A Federal Board of Education must ensure that students finishing high school meet a certain level of knowledge of critical thinking and ethics, as well as skills including but not limited to the English language, mathematics, science, the humanities and arts, and foreign languages; similarly, it must ensure that students receiving university degrees meet specific, higher levels of knowledge in the same areas. Public education up to and including high school is free and compulsory, except that parents may enroll their children in recognized private schools, or school them at home under the guidelines of the Board of Education. Public schools may only teach what is in humanity’s best knowledge from a neutral point of view, and may not indoctrinate students in any ideology, including patriotism.
Ideology in the last sentence refers to political and social ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, and various religions. Even when a fact seems to be disputed, it is not considered an ideology if it is considered as a fact in academic circles; this in particular applies to the theory of evolution. The point of view must be neutral in the sense that when there are conflicting theories, all must be treated equally, so for example if a high school teaches economics, it must not be biased toward either neo-classicism or Keynesianism.

Article 18 – The Environment
The United States respects the environment, and may not hurt, deplete, or destroy it except in extreme circumstances; similarly, it prohibits others within its jurisdiction from deliberately doing the same. For that matter, extraction and consumption of resources needed for the function of a modern society is permitted, although it must be done in the most environmentally friendly manner and place, except when they make the cost of extraction prohibitive.
The second sentence is needed to specify that, for instance, cars be permitted, but still need to meet strict emissions and fuel economy standards. Otherwise, the article can be easily interpreted to forbid any kind of activity that consumes natural resources.

Article 19 – Citizenship
a) Every person born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen. No person may be deprived of his citizenship against his will, and no person may be forced to keep an American citizenship.
b) Every person persecuted for political or religious reasons in another country has the right to asylum, unless the reason for persecution involves a crime against humanity.
Citizenship by place of birth as opposed to parents’ citizenship is very important in securing the rights of immigrants, and is hence retained from the existing constitution.

Article 20 – Ban on Nobility
The United States may not grant titles of nobility or any other hereditary honors.
This, of course, is part of equality of opportunities.

Article 21 – Debts
Except in cases of bankruptcy, the United States pays all of its debts on time; all debts dated before this constitution are still in effect.
The United States’ ability to borrow and run deficits depends on its paying all debts on time; hence, there is no debt cancellation.

Article 22 – Incompatibility
No federal or state official may hold more than one position of trust in the United States and its individual states.
This is needed to ensure strict separation of powers and prevent making one person too powerful.

Article 23 – Allowances of Elected Officials
The Treasury pays monthly allowances to all federal officials. Officials holding the same position in the United States are paid the same allowance. The allowances change each year to fit the price index, and real allowances may only change by referendum.
It is clear that letting Congress determine its own salary causes bloated salaries that rise faster than inflation.

Chapter 4 – The Legislature

Article 24 – Congress
All federal legislation in the United States is made in a unicameral Congress and in subordinate Specialized Legislatures, referenda according to Article eight.
A bicameral legislature makes democracy more consensual in ordinary circumstances as well as helps to augment proportional representation with regional representation. However, this constitution has a different mechanism that makes the system more consensual, namely the Specialized Legislatures.

Article 25 – The Election of Congress
a) The election for Congress is on every other Election Day for a term of two years; the actual term starts on the first working day of the year after election.
b) Congress has four hundred members. Every party wishing to contest the election must submit an unordered list of between ten and seven hundred candidates five weeks prior to the election. Voters may vote for one list and for one of the candidates on that list.
c) No candidate may appear on more than one list, and no person may be put on a list against his or her will. Every person appearing on a list for the House of Representatives must have never been sentenced to a term in prison, be a citizen of the United States, and be at least twenty-one at the beginning of the new term.
d) Seats are awarded to lists on the basis of Sainte-Lague’s method, but lists receiving less than two percent of the total vote are disqualified. Within lists, the candidates enter Congress in a descending order of votes.
The low threshold, 2% of the total vote, may seem like a recipe for fragmentation of political parties. However, there is not much evidence that fragmentation is the direct result of the low threshold; Italy, Israel, and Weimar Germany all have (had in Weimar Germany’s case) very fragmented political ideologies, and also have much smaller a voting population than the United States, where the party system is highly unlikely to contain more than 4 major parties. Further, in a presidential system, even when there is fragmentation, it gridlocks politics much less than in a parliamentary system.

Article 26 – The Sessions of Congress
Congress must convene for at least one hundred and forty days per year. When Congress is in session, it may adjourn, but days of adjournment do not count toward the one hundred and forty days minimum. The President may convene Congress for an emergency session, even when Congress is not in a regular session. Congress may only hold sessions when a quorum of more than half of the members is present.
The minimum of one hundred and forty days per year is required to avoid concentrating too much power in the Presidency.

Article 27 – Procedure Outline
a) A simple majority in Congress is enough to pass ordinary legislation. However, all legislation relating to the exact details of this constitution, including setting up the bodies it mentions, may be passed only with an absolute majority. All votes on recalling an elected official must have a majority of three-fourths of the members of Congress. All bills must be debated for at least twenty-four net hours in committee and the Floor taken together, and be passed in three readings.
b) All bills become laws twenty-four hours after they are passed, unless they explicitly say otherwise. Every group of fifty members of Congress as well as the Cabinet as a whole and a successful petition may initiate legislation or declare a referendum, which takes place on the first Election Day after the declaration, and which may include a recall vote on any elected official not elected in a proportional representation election. A single member of Congress may initiate legislation on his or her own but not a referendum.
The minimum debate time is required to prevent passing laws in a blitz. A minimum debate time on the Congress Floor would be ideal, but it would run the risk of making it impossible for Congress to pass many laws, even if there are Specialized Legislatures to supplant Congress. A minimum of fifty members is required to declare referenda, because letting every member of Congress initiate a referendum at will means that there will be too many referenda on fringe or unimportant issues.

Article 28 – Committees
Congress selects its committees and its offices by majority vote. The highest of these offices is the Speaker, who enforces the rules of speaking and discussion that Congress decides and manages its everyday operations. Congress must have at least one committee for every Cabinet Department.
A committee per Cabinet Department is needed for the legislature to properly oversee the executive.

Article 29 – Vacancies in Congress
If a member of the House of Representatives dies or resigns, then the candidate on his or her list with the highest vote total who did not enter the House of Representatives replaces him or her. If all candidates on the list have been exhausted for replacement purposes, then the remaining Representatives from the list vote on which list receives one more Representative according to the guidelines specified in the first sentence of this Article.
This system is very similar to what is used in closed-list systems, wherein if, for instance, a list has 105 seats (and so the top 105 people on the list enter the legislature), and one of the 105 vacates his or her seat, then everyone on the list below him or her moves one place up, so in effect the 106th member of the list replaces him or her.

Article 30 – Specialized Legislatures
a) Congress and its various committees are responsible to subordinate Specialized Legislatures, each of which may as a whole initiate legislation in its area of specialization. Each such legislature has two hundred members and is elected on the same date, by the same method, and requiring the same qualifications as Congress.
b) Unless Congress determines otherwise by law, there are thirty Specialized Legislatures, one for each of the following issues: education, defense, homeland security, elections, labor issues, the environment, health, energy, international trade, taxation, the budget, foreign policy, industry, commerce, agriculture, transportation, communications, scientific research, housing and development, immigration and naturalization, crime, race and gender issues, the civil code, urban policy, the media, infrastructure, welfare and social security, civil liberties, firearms and explosives, and the arts. Congress may repeal, change, or override the Specialized Legislatures’ laws.
c) The Specialized Legislature for Education has power over appointing and regulating the Board of Education, and over choosing priorities for public education subject to Article seventeen.
d) The Specialized Legislature for Defense directly oversees the military and may legislate guidelines regarding the spending of the military budget and the use of military power.
e) The Specialized Legislature for Homeland Security may legislate on protection from terrorism and domestic threats, strictly subject to the first fifteen Articles of this constitution.
f) The Specialized Legislature for Elections is the supreme authority on the conducting of all federal elections, and may also issue guidelines to state elections, subject to Article eight.
g) The Specialized Legislature for Labor Issues may pass laws to balance labor and business, and to regulate labor conditions and wages as long as they apply to all industries.
h) The Specialized Legislature for the Environment may pass laws restricting the exploitation of the environment, subject to Article eighteen.
i) The Specialized Legislature for Health may pass laws regulating the production and marketing of medicine and equipment required for hospital operation, regulating hospitals, and ensuring the people’s health.
j) The Specialized Legislature for Energy has the power to regulate energy companies and energy production and fund research into alternative forms of energy. It may legislate regarding the electricity grid of the United States along with the Specialized Legislature for Infrastructure.
k) The Specialized Legislature for International Trade is responsible to approving and writing the details of trade agreements, and has full legislative power over trade barriers as well as guidelines for free trade agreements.
l) The Specialized Legislature for Taxation determines the level and manner of federal taxation.
m) The Specialized Legislature for the Budget has legislative power over spending bills and over the annual budget; however, it may not run deficits unless Congress gives it the partial or full right to do so.
n) The Specialized Legislature for Foreign Policy may legislate on all issues of foreign affairs, including but not limited to foreign aid, dealings with international bodies, and non-binding guidelines to treaties; it also has initiative power concerning international law.
o) The Specialized Legislature for Industry has regulatory power over industries in the areas of safety, consumer protection, prevention of monopoly, subsidies, and penalties for failure to comply with regulations.
p) The Specialized Legislature for Commerce may legislate regulations over trade inside the boundaries of the United States.
q) The Specialized Legislature for Agriculture may coordinate agricultural production and subsidies.
r) The Specialized Legislature for Transportation may regulate and subsidize all forms of vehicles, particularly public transportation, and also roads and rails.
s) The Specialized Legislature for Communications has legislative and regulatory powers over the infrastructure of communications.
t) The Specialized Legislature for Scientific Research determines the United States’ priorities in scientific research and the level of subsidy given to research on science and technology.
u) The Specialized Legislature for Housing and Development may spend money on housing projects, subsidize housing and development, and regulate rents and mortgages.
v) The Specialized Legislature for Immigration and Naturalization may oversee but not restrict immigration and determine the conditions for naturalization subject to Article two.
w) The Specialized Legislature for Crime is responsible to formulating the federal criminal code.
x) The Specialized Legislature for Race and Gender Issues is responsible to ensuring the equality of sexes and ethnicities and may pass laws meant to achieve this goal.
y) The Specialized Legislature for the Civil Code is responsible to formulating the federal civil code.
z) The Specialized Legislature for Urban Policy may pass laws and grant subsidies in order to improve quality of life in the United States’ cities, particularly but not only in the areas of housing, crime, and education; however, these areas’ respective Specialized Legislature may override its legislation.
aa) The Specialized Legislature for the Media may pass laws concerning the mass media in order to prevent monopoly and protect the freedom of the press.
ab) The Specialized Legislature for Infrastructure may develop and regulate the natural monopolies of infrastructure, particularly those of electricity, water, telephones, and roads.
ac) The Specialized Legislature for Welfare and Social Security may spend money on welfare benefits to the poor and needing of assistance.
ad) The Specialized Legislature for Civil Liberties is charged with protecting civil liberties and human rights in the United States and promoting them in non-democratic countries.
ae) The Specialized Legislature for Firearms and Explosives may regulate possession and sale of firearms and explosive material.
af) The Specialized Legislature for the Arts may subsidize all arts, as long as within each form of art there is no bias toward any style or movement.
ag) Congress resolves all ambiguities this constitution leaves regarding the Specialized Legislatures’ powers and responsibilities and regarding resolutions of shared powers.
The Specialized Legislatures are meant to combine expertise with popular election. Congress cannot know everything, and thus it appeals to committees or experts. The Specialized Legislators are meant to be experts in their respective fields, and answer ultimately to the people at the same time. Article 8’s limit of the number of Specialized Legislatures a person can vote for is meant to keep legislators-to-voters ratio relatively low and also to let voters specialize in specific kinds of legislation.

Chapter 5 – The Executive

Article 31 – The President
a) The offices of head of state and head of government are vested in a single President, who, along with the Cabinet, comprises the Executive branch of government.
b) The President’s term is four years. The Presidential election coincides with every second Congressional election, unless the President dies, resigns, is incapacitated, or is removed from office, in which case the next Congressional election is also Presidential. The President’s term begins on the first working day of the year following the election.
c) Every Presidential candidate must have never been sentenced to a term in prison as well as, at the beginning of the new term, have been a citizen of the United States for five years and be at least thirty. Every candidate must also pass a National Knowledge Examination, written according to Congress’ guidelines. Finally, five weeks before the Presidential election, every candidate must make a number of written, unscripted statements on issues decided by Congress.
d) The President may not serve for more than two consecutive terms, although the total number of terms is not limited.
Both of the systems used in modern democracies—presidential and parliamentary—have their advantages. Presidential systems allow the legislature to be more fragmented and less partisan, and parliamentary systems are more consensual than presidential ones; further, presidential systems allow the President to run the country with the same level of oversight but less interference from the legislature, whereas parliamentary ones help dissociate the leader from the country. The National Knowledge Examination ensures that Presidents meet some qualifications. The unscripted statements help define candidates in terms of political issues and agendas rather than managerial issues.

Article 32 – The Cabinet
The President appoints Secretaries with the consent of the appropriate Specialized Legislature and dismisses them at will. The President determines and is responsible for the general policy guidelines of the Departments, within which each Secretary conducts the affair of his Department independently. In case of difference of opinions between Secretaries, the Cabinet votes on its position, with each person having one vote, and the President deciding in case of ties.
“Each person” includes not just the Secretaries but also the President; hence, if there is a tie, then the President is given a second vote, unlike with the tie-breaking vote of the Vice President under the current constitution.

Article 33 – The Powers of the President
a) The President may make treaties and other agreements, which Congress must ratify within fourteen days of their signing; appoint ambassadors and federal officials whose appointment is not vested by law or by this constitution to any other body; and grant pardons, except in cases of impeachment.

Article 34 – State of Emergency
The President may declare a state of emergency in case of a national crisis, but Congress has to ratify the declaration within a week. During a state of emergency, the federal government may take direct control of the various police departments, there are no limits to taxation as long as it does not pass one hundred percent of income or wealth, and private property may be confiscated by collective due process for possessions that the Cabinet determines have sufficient impact on ending the crisis. Congress must review the state of emergency every five weeks and may also vote to cancel it at any other time, as long as there is an absolute majority in favor of cancellation. Finally, immigration may be restricted, but only if the crisis is of espionage or terrorism, and only if the people restricted from coming to the United States are spies or terrorists.
It is important to note that the only noticeable effects of the state of emergency on people are economic; civil liberties are left untouched, except that property rights are somewhat weakened, but are still far from seriously weakened, let alone abolished. This is different from states of emergency in other democracies.

Article 35 – Secretarial Control of Departments
Each Secretary appoints and dismisses subordinate officials in his or her Department. Each Secretary may individually initiate legislation in the Specialized Legislature whose area of specialization is the closest to this of his or her department.
This, along with the Specialized Legislatures and the executive powers of the Cabinet, is meant to reinforce consensual as opposed to majoritarian democracy, as well as strengthen the specialists.

Chapter 6 – The Judiciary

Article 36 – The Outline of the Judiciary
All federal judicial power in the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and in its subordinate courts, which include the Courts of Appeals and their subordinate Trial, Bankruptcy, Federal Claims, and International Trade Courts.
This is exactly the same as the situation in the United States today; this chapter of this constitution merely codifies it.

Article 37 – The Trial Courts
a) Each Trial Court is based in a district. No Trial Court district may encompass the territory of more than one state or territory. Unless Congress rules otherwise, the boundaries of the districts are the same as those at the time of adoption of this Constitution.
b) The Trial Courts hear all cases of federal civil or criminal lawsuits and decide in cases of disputes among citizens or corporations in their respective districts.
As seen in the third sentence of the first section, this is simply a formalization of the current structure of the American judiciary.

Article 38 – The Bankruptcy Courts
The Bankruptcy Courts hear all cases of bankruptcy of individuals as well as corporations. Bankruptcy Courts are based on the same districts of the Trial Courts.
Bankruptcy courts deal with issues that are different from these of the Trial Courts and are frequent enough for them to be separate from the Trial Courts.

Article 39 – The Courts of Federal Claims and International Trade
All claims for money damages against the United States, disputes over federal contracts, and nationalization of firms or private property are made in a single Court of Federal Claims, and all claims involving customs and international trade are made in a single Court of International Trade. The Court of Federal Claims and Court of International Trade are the equals of the other Trial and Bankruptcy Courts but are not based in Districts.
As with the other articles of this chapter, this article codifies that which already exists, in law if not in the Constitution.

Article 40 – The Courts of Appeals
The Courts of Appeals hear all appeals from Trial and State Courts as well as cases that the Trial Courts would otherwise hear except that they span more than one District. Moreover, they judge officials in the states they are responsible to, and may strike down statewide laws contrary to this constitution.
The Courts of Appeals here are given additional powers; in a way, they are above the State Courts. Unlike State Courts, however, they may not strike down laws contrary to State Constitutions.

Article 41 – Appeals Courts Circuits
All Courts of Appeals but one are based in Circuits. All Circuits encompass one or more states; however, no state may be split between two Circuits. Unless Congress rules otherwise, there are eleven such Circuits; the first Circuit includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; the second includes New York and New Jersey; the third includes Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; the fourth includes Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; the fifth includes Georgia and Florida; the sixth includes Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky; the seventh includes Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan; the eighth includes Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas; the ninth includes Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; the tenth includes Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Alaska, and Hawaii; and the eleventh includes California. The twelfth Court of Appeals is not based in a Circuit but rather hears appeals from Courts in United States territories and from the Courts of Federal Claims and International Trade.
The eleven Circuits have been reorganized to more accurately reflect the population of the United States.

Article 42 – The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court decides on the interpretation of the Constitution when it is in doubt, and on the compatibility of a federal law or bill with this Constitution. It also hears appeals from the Courts of Appeals, and disputes that the Courts of Appeals would normally hear except that it is between two parties not in the same Circuit. Whenever there is a lawsuit involving an interpretation of the Constitution or the constitutionality of a law or an act, the whole panel of Supreme Court justices hears and decides on the case.
This explicitly outlines the powers that the Supreme Court currently has, without much need for further interpretation.

Article 43 – Appointment and Number of Judges
Congress determines the number of judges in each Court. One of the judges in each Court is a chief judge, who presides over cases involving more than one judge and assigns judges to cases. All judges are appointed for life and may only finish their term by death, resignation, retirement, or conviction of a crime carrying a prison sentence. Justices, judges, and chief judges are appointed with the approval of three out of the four following bodies: the Cabinet, Congress, the American Bar Association, and a board comprising of the heads of the twenty-five best law schools in the United States.
The main change here from the current situation is the appointment of judges. The current process of appointment is overly political and in a sense bypasses the idea of an independent judiciary. Article 43 ensures that to be nominated, a judge must have the approval of at least one elected body and at least one body of experts.

Chapter 7 – States

Article 44 – State Borders
a) State borders remain the same as at the time of the adoption of this constitution.
b) Only a referendum may change the borders of the states. In any such referendum, the final border agreed on should take into account regional culture, geographical features, contiguity, and the votes in the referendum down to the precinct level while taking margins of vote into account. Such a referendum results from a petition in which at least five percent of the voters in the area concerned are signed, or from a call for referendum by Congress or by a State Legislature in one of the states affected. States may merge and split under the same guidelines.
It is important that the people be given the right to change their state borders; this way, for instance, the residents of the California-Oregon border area will be able to determine whether they really want to create their own Jefferson State.

Article 45 – Principles Binding the States
Each state must maintain the principles of democracy and separation of powers, as well as follow the rights listed in Articles one to fifteen. Should these be threatened in any state, it is the duty of the federal government to intervene. All state legislatures have at least one house elected by proportional representation.
This ensures that democracy on the federal level will trickle down to the state level.

Article 46 – Status of State Law in Other States
Each state respects the laws and regulations of the others as well as contracts made in other states. Consequently, no state may offer asylum explicitly or by default to any criminal fleeing from any other state.
This is simply an update of the “full faith and credence” clause of the current constitution.

Article 47 – Secession
States may secede from the Union, provided that in a referendum, three quarters of the voters in the state approve of secession. The United States may not use secession alone as a reason to engage in military or economic warfare against seceding states. However, Congress may vote to delay the secession by up to one year by an absolute majority. If a state of emergency is declared, then the federal government may postpone secession by a further thirteen weeks; however, this may only be done once per secession. Finally, with the approval of international bodies and in particular the United Nations, Congress may completely reject secession if it will cause violations of human rights or civil liberties.
Allowing states to secede on the condition this article specifies combines the flexibility of a right to secession with concern for human rights. This also ensures that the federal government does not infringe on states’ rights without good reason.

Article 48 – Admission of New States
New states may be admitted into the United States by referendum in the new states’ territory and by an absolute majority in Congress. The United States may not hold any territory for more than five years without offering it statehood, and therefore all currently held territories must be offered independence or statehood within five years of the adoption of this Constitution.
Statehood for territories, including the District of Columbia whose statehood is assumed in the list of states in Article 41, is important for democracy and for all people to be equal under the law.

Chapter 8 – Definition of Authorities

Article 49 – Federal and State Authority
a) The federal government has exclusive authority on foreign policy, monetary policy, naturalization, tariffs, the military, post offices, and regulation of natural monopolies.
b) The state governments have exclusive authority on regulation of state roads and buildings, the police, and administrative affairs, including the conducting of state elections.
c) The federal and state governments share authority on education, health care, regulation of firearms and explosives, civil and criminal codes, standards for incorporation, scientific research, regulation of the economy, promotion of the arts, fiscal policy, and taxation. However, the combined federal and state sales tax may not exceed twenty percent, the combined income tax may not exceed sixty percent, and the combined corporate and dividend taxes may not together exceed sixty percent.
d) Federal law always overrides state law.
e) In all cases except monetary policy, Congress and the Specialized Legislatures have the exclusive power of exercising the federal government’s power according to this Article. All federal powers here require simple majorities for legislation in Congress or the appropriate Specialized Legislature, except for the budget, which requires an absolute majority in Congress.
The cap on taxation is only for normal times; it may be exceeded during states of emergency. The limit on corporate and dividend taxes is based on the fact that money is not taxed twice; that is, a corporate tax of 40% and a divided tax of 25% is permitted, because 25% of 60% is 15%, which means that the combined tax will be 55%, not 65%.

Article 50 – Relation between State and Federal Law
Congress may require a state to vote on a bill on an issue about which the states have exclusive jurisdiction. Congress must debate and vote immediately on any law passed in a majority of the states.
While retaining exclusive powers, Congress and the states can influence each other via this provision.

Article 51 – The Federal Reserve
All monetary authority in the United States is vested in a private and regulated Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reserve coins and prints money and is the sole authority concerning monetary policy.
This article is needed to remove all doubts from the Constitutionality of the Federal Reserve Act.

Chapter 9 – Amendment

Article 52 – Amendment
All amendments to this Constitution require a three-fourths vote in Congress and a three-fourths majority in a subsequent referendum, which must be held within thirteen weeks of the vote in Congress. Any law passed contrary to this Constitution or judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court may be passed again as an amendment. The Supreme Court may temporarily resolve contradictions among various Articles, Sections, and sentences of this Constitution if it finds any, but Congress and the people must amend these contradictions according to the first sentence of this Article within two weeks.
The three-fourths majority ensures that a tyranny of the majority is very unlikely, and ratification by referendum ensures that the people are involved whenever the Constitution changes. On the other hand, amendment will also become quicker and more responsive, since it will only take thirteen weeks, whereas now it usually takes a few years.