Constitution Drafting Project

The Constitution Drafting Project brings together three teams of leading constitutional scholars—team libertarian, team progressive, and team conservative—to draft and present their ideal constitutions. Team libertarian was led by Ilya Shapiro, then of the Cato Institute, and included Timothy Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute and Christina Mulligan of Brooklyn Law School. Team progressive was led by Caroline Fredrickson of Georgetown Law School and included Jamal Greene of Columbia Law School and Melissa Murray of New York University School of Law. Team conservative was led by Ilan Wurman of Arizona State University College of Law and included Robert P. George of Princeton University, Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School, and Colleen A. Sheehan of Arizona State University.

This project was made possible with support from Jeff Yass.

As a continuation of the Drafting Project, the National Constitution Center reconvened the conservative, progressive, and libertarian teams for a virtual constitutional convention to draft and propose a series of amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The result was five new amendments adopted by representatives from all three teams.

Podcasts and Videos

• National Constitution Center, Five New Amendments: Next Steps for Constitutional Change (March 27, 2023)
• National Constitution Center, The NCC’s Constitutional Convention Reports: The Proposed Amendments (September 19, 2022)
• The Bob Zadek Show, Caroline Fredrickson on the Progressive Constitution (November 14, 2021)
• The Bob Zadek Show, Timothy Sandefur on The Libertarian Constitution (November 10, 2021)
• National Constitution Center, The Constitution Drafting Project: Libertarian and Progressive Constitutions (October 1, 2020)

Additional Resources

• Walter Olson, Cato at Liberty Blog, "Constitutional Amendments With Cross-Ideological Appeal?" (February 3, 2023)
• Jeffrey Rosen and Sal Khan, The Washington Post, "How ideological foes united on ideas for amending the Constitution" (February 1, 2023)
• Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, "The United States’ Unamendable Constitution" (October 26, 2022)
• Ilya Shapiro, Washington Examiner, "Could we ever agree on a new constitutional amendment?" (September 22, 2022)
• Marcia Coyle, Law.com, "Five Constitutional Amendments | Costly Failure to Recuse | A Judge's View of Racism" (September 21, 2022)
• Henry Gass, Christian Science Monitor, "Solution for ideological division: Revising the Constitution?"  (September 20, 2022)
• National Constitution Center, "Bipartisan Group of Scholars Convene and Present Five Constitutional Amendments" (September 19, 2022)
• Ilan Wurman, Caroline Fredrickson, Ilya Shapiro, Jamal Greene, Christina Mulligan, Colleen Sheehan, Michael W. McConnell, Robert George, Timothy Sandefur, "The Proposed Amendments" (September 19, 2022)
• The Carolina Journal, "National Constitution group touts amendment for 18-year Supreme Court terms" (September 19, 2022)
• Ilya Somin, Constitution Daily Blog, "Constitution Drafting project highlights areas of potential consensus on constitutional reform" (January 13, 2021)
• Jeffrey Rosen, The Atlantic, "What If We Wrote the Constitution Today?"  (December 8, 2020)