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phrases that are not legally enforceable, outside of a
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preamble to the Constitution, and that rather leads me
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into your question, how long should a constitution last.
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Being one who teaches Federal constitutional law basically
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my basic reaction to that is as long as it possibly can
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keep going without falling of its own weight, and I feel
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if you encumber a constitution with phrases of nice
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beliefs or thoughts, that it runs the risk of falling
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of its own weight.
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10
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The genius of the American Federal Constitution
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is the fact that it is considered supreme law, the highest
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law of the land and enforceable as such. It distinguishes
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it. I am sure that is not the reason alone of the fall of
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the four — or is it three? How many French republics
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have they had?
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MR. SYKES: We're up to five.
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PROFESSOR ROSEN: The second -- perhaps not
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the second, bu" the third and fourth, but their consti-
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tutions, as I understand it, were constitutions of nice
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phrases, of general statements that were not enforceable
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by the judiciary.
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