The Constitution is the oldest written instrument of government still in effect in the world today. As with so much else in our country, it is polarizing. Conservatives celebrate the Constitution’s longevity as a sign of its excellence and encourage Americans to adhere to its basic principles. But lately progressives have grown loud in their critique of the nation’s founding charter. Over the past few years, a growing number of writers on the American Left has criticized virtually every nook and cranny of our nation’s founding charter.

In a December 2020 article for Salon, Greg Coleridge and Jessica Munger asserted that the Constitution is “hopelessly outdated,” citing among other maladies “declining public trust,” “the electoral crisis,” and the COVID-19 pandemic. In a sprawling Harvard Law Review essay from November 2020, Michael Klarman lamented the “degradation of democracy” and called for a number of sweeping reforms, including eliminating equal apportionment in the Senate and implementing nationwide multimember districts determined by ranked choice voting.