How Constitutions Die

There are three models of constitutional time in the world—each a shorthand for how and when constitutional life begins and ends: the grenade, the hourglass, and the sundial. In much of the world, the grenade model prevails. Under this model of constitutional time, the lifespan of a constitution is unpredictable: chaos reigns amid lawlessness, disorder, and even violence as shocks, internal or external, explode without warning to spark a constitutional refounding. By contrast, the hourglass model of constitutional time prioritizes rules, order, and transparency: political elites simply flip the hourglass in compliance with law to restart the constitutional clock and initiate a new constitution-making process.

The United States does not adhere to either of these two models of constitutional time. In the United States, constitutional time does not stop—the clock keeps ticking without end. Constitutional time in the United States follows the sundial model, rotating for centuries through crises both great and small, with no serious consideration ever given to stopping time, replacing the Constitution, and starting afresh with a new governing document. In this Article, I draw from global patterns of constitutional creation and replacement to introduce, illustrate, and theorize these three distinct models of constitutional time.

I focus in particular on the sundial model of constitutional time: I examine its sociological attributes; I inquire whether eternal constitutional life is a gift or a curse; and I suggest that reformers seeking to restart constitutional time in the United States may find support for their reformative aspirations simultaneously in the origins of the Constitution, in the American tradition of state constitutionalism, and—perhaps most surprisingly—in the decennial census.