OVERVIEW OF THE US CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL
The US government is really large and complicated. For example, when Elon Musk launched his DOGE project, he claimed that nobody could tell him exactly how many independent bureaus and agencies there were. (Some thought it was somewhere around 495.) With this in mind one can envision that the task set before the Constitutional Council is huge; however, as proposed here, the implementation of the Constitution Council is actually conceived to be not very large at all compared to the federal government. In fact, it should be one of the smallest parts of the government in terms of people and budget.
Presented here is an overview of the various aspects of the Constitutional Council that are discussed in further detail in the rest of this website.
The overarching role and purposes of the herein proposed Constitutional Council are sketched out in the Introduction the most important of which is that it is not involved in politics or writing laws or setting policy. Instead its primary role is one of restraint where such activities go beyond, or outside, the intent of the Constitution. Some examples are given.
First of all, the means of preserving and enforcing the integrity of the Constitution as discussed in the Mission of the US Constitutional Council.
The Council itself would be made up of 300 single term Councilors (six from each state). It is structured to be difficult to capture (i.e., in the sense of falling prey to rich and powerful
influences, to the detriment of the citizens of the republic, such as happened to the CDC, the NIH and the FDA with respect to ‘Big Pharma’), which is important as its role as the ultimate guardian and protector of the Constitution and the government, all of which is discussed in the Structure of the US Constitutional Council.
Heretofore we have relied upon our courts to deliberate what is constitutional and that will continue to be the case; however, sometimes problems occur when political considerations are involved in the appointment of judges. It is a serious and dangerous problem when the Constitution is hijacked so as to become the ultimate tool to enforce political agenda upon the citizens of the Republic. That is an aspect of tyranny. To guard against this The Council will take over the role of submitting nominees for judgeship to the Senate for its advice and consent as discussed in Nominating Judges.
It is important to bear in mind that the Council does not sit in high session and decide what is and is not constitutional. The Constitutional Council will have the ability to rule on the constitutionality; however, whenever such its decisions are in dispute, all such matters will continue to be decided in courts of law, as they always have been and should be, and as discussed in Adjudicating Constitutionality.
Perhaps the most important role of the Constitutional Council will be overseeing the entire government. Its primary means of doing this will be through the Office of Inspectors General, as discussed in Overseeing the Government.
Experience has shown that legislators can get pretty high handed, heavy-handed, and prone to arbitrary exactions of power when in pursuit of some pet issue or other, using means and methods at odds with the intention of democratic governance. The Constitutional Council will at least have authority to assure that the Rules of the Legislature are fair, equitable, and consistent with the democratic process. One of the more absurd situations in our present government is that the legislature is tasked with enforcing the ethics of its own members (Article I, Section 5), which has led progressively to ever lower standards of behavior. The Constitutional Council provides a natural solution to this problem as discussed in Ethics of the Legislature.
The most pernicious problem with the legislative branch of government is its susceptibility to lobbying, (i.e., pressure and influence from the most powerful segments of society to craft legislation that is favorable to those same powerful segments of society). This results in the bulk of the nation’s people, who are not part of the elite and their machinations, being preyed upon by the powerful. Arguably the most important functions of the proposed Constitutional Council is controlling Lobbying and its consequences.
The office of US Marshall will be one of the few parts of the government which will be put under the direct control and management of the Constitutional Council. This is needed so as to enable the Constitutional Council to have the function of US Marshalls as the means of enforcement.
The Constitution Council will have the ability to ensure that essential standards for Elections of We the People are fair and honest. The implementation of this power of the Constitutional Council is proposed in a way which will not alter the Constitution as it is presently written.
In the future the swearing into office of all elected officials will be managed by Councilors to make perfectly clear that they are responsible to We the People, as described in Swearing in Elected Officials.
Executive Privilege is a concept that is not actually spelled out in the Constitution; it was established and grew by statute mainly in order to keep the legislature from interfering with certain executive functions e.g., where the treaty negotiations with foreign powers is on-going and not ready for submission to the Senate for ratification. Accordingly, there are instances where Executive Privilege is needed and appropriate; however, not to the extent that the Constitutional Council is excluded from a comprehensive understanding of what the Executive Branch is up to. This matter is discussed in Executive Privilege.
The impartiality of the Constitutional Council is important to reinforce its legitimacy. Some measures to achieve this are discussed in Assuring Impartiality.
