Document Type
Essay
Publication Date
2022
Publication
Florida Law Review Forum
Volume
72
Abbreviation
Fla. L. Rev. Forum
First Page
114
Abstract
This Article considers the way in which small changes of wording can signal large changes of thought in the United States Constitution (Constitution). Drawing upon examples found in the Eleventh and Sixteenth Amendments, and in the Reconstruction Amendments, the Article shows that there are two ways to reverse a U.S. Supreme Court decision by constitutional amendment. The first type of amendment may reverse the decision by instructing the Court on the proper construction of a particular provision, as in the case of the Eleventh Amendment. The second means involves reversing the decision by altering the constitutional provision in question, rather than its construction, as by the Sixteenth Amendment.