Article|Archive
At this point, most Americans have probably watched the disturbing videos of an ICE agent repeatedly shooting a U.S. citizen, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, following her failure to obey a baseless order to exit her car at gunpoint in Minneapolis last week.
The Trump administration immediately blamed Good for her own death, with Trump falsely claiming on Truth Social that the mother of three “violently, willfully, and viciously” ran over the officer, and Vice President JD Vance wrongly claiming that he is protected from legal accountability by “absolute immunity.”
The mood of the country has palpably shifted since the tragic incident. The administration’s cold-blooded and unrepentant disrespect for her life is hastening public awareness of its fascist tendencies and moving public opinion toward a possible tipping point. Humanity has seen this scenario play out many times before, with varying results.
If Americans band together and defeat the rising forces of evil this time, the U.S. Constitution will need realignment with core human values. It is not too early to envision what a post-Trump constitutional order might look like. Germany after World War II offers a place to start.
In May of 1949, West Germany adopted “Grundgesetz,” or German Basic Law. Initially intended to serve as a temporary constitution, it became the German legal system’s defining document after reunification of the East and West in 1990.
Its animating premise is contained in Article I, which states: “Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority. The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and justice in the world. The following basic rights shall bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly applicable law. …”
The document goes on to list many individual rights that far exceed those in the U.S. Constitution, from “free development” of “personality” to the right to “physical integrity.”
The language in Article I was a direct response to Nazi dehumanization and crimes against humanity. It has influenced the drafting of constitutions across the globe. It should guide ours, as well.
Article 20 of the Grundgesetz goes on to state that the “Federal Republic of Germany is a democratic and social federalist state,” that “[a]ll state authority is derived from the people” and “shall be exercised by the people through elections and other votes,” and that “[t]he legislature shall be bound by the constitutional order, the executive and the judiciary by law and justice.”
These core principles are largely missing from the U.S. Constitution, which contains no affirmative right to vote. It is why the Supreme Court has had so much leeway to hack away at voting rights over the span of several decades by, for example, striking down bans on dark money under the First Amendment, greenlighting state laws that make ballot access harder, and allowing politicians to pick their voters through tortured gerrymandering (an issue that’s before the Court in some fashion this term).
In June 2024, the court created criminal immunity for presidents under the U.S. Constitution, which, instead of making them expressly bound by law, directs presidents to faithfully execute the laws — a detail that the Supreme Court majority just ignored.
Through a series of cases, the court has also established a powerful doctrine of qualified (but not “absolute”) immunity for law enforcement officers accused of using excessive force. This makes it difficult to hold ICE accountable for the kinds of atrocities unfolding in the streets and in black-box detention centers.
Article 20 of the Grundgesetz specifically states that “[a]ll Germans shall have the right to resist any person seeking to abolish this constitutional order.” This is how Americans increasingly view Trump’s draconian ICE force.
In what seems astonishing to the American eye, Article 21 bans political parties from undermining or abolishing the basic democratic order “by reason of their aims or the behavior [sic] of their adherents.” They’re also constitutionally required to publicly account for their assets and their sources of funding. If a party violates Article 21, it can be declared unconstitutional and banned by Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court (or “Bundesverfassungsgericht”). In 1952, this provision was invoked to ban the neo-Nazi Socialist Reich Party, and in 1956 it was used to ban the Stalinist Communist Party of Germany. If similar laws were in place in the U.S., Trump’s GOP enablers would have felt compelled to think twice before groveling so completely.
And then there’s the “Eternity Clause.” This was specifically designed to prevent a repeat of the Enabling Act of 1933, which allowed Hitler to enact laws without the approval of the German parliament. In response, Article 79 establishes that the principles set forth in Articles 1 and 21 — including human dignity, democracy, the rule of law, and individual rights — cannot be changed. Not by parliament, not by voter referendum, and not by the courts.
One day, America must likewise reconstruct the constitutional order to ensure that democracy can never again democratically vote itself out of existence.
At this point, most Americans have probably watched the disturbing videos of an ICE agent repeatedly shooting a U.S. citizen, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, following her failure to obey a baseless order to exit her car at gunpoint in Minneapolis last week.
The Trump administration immediately blamed Good for her own death, with Trump falsely claiming on Truth Social that the mother of three “violently, willfully, and viciously” ran over the officer, and Vice President JD Vance wrongly claiming that he is protected from legal accountability by “absolute immunity.”
The mood of the country has palpably shifted since the tragic incident. The administration’s cold-blooded and unrepentant disrespect for her life is hastening public awareness of its fascist tendencies and moving public opinion toward a possible tipping point. Humanity has seen this scenario play out many times before, with varying results.
If Americans band together and defeat the rising forces of evil this time, the U.S. Constitution will need realignment with core human values. It is not too early to envision what a post-Trump constitutional order might look like. Germany after World War II offers a place to start.
In May of 1949, West Germany adopted “Grundgesetz,” or German Basic Law. Initially intended to serve as a temporary constitution, it became the German legal system’s defining document after reunification of the East and West in 1990.
Its animating premise is contained in Article I, which states: “Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority. The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and justice in the world. The following basic rights shall bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly applicable law. …”
The document goes on to list many individual rights that far exceed those in the U.S. Constitution, from “free development” of “personality” to the right to “physical integrity.”
The language in Article I was a direct response to Nazi dehumanization and crimes against humanity. It has influenced the drafting of constitutions across the globe. It should guide ours, as well.
Article 20 of the Grundgesetz goes on to state that the “Federal Republic of Germany is a democratic and social federalist state,” that “[a]ll state authority is derived from the people” and “shall be exercised by the people through elections and other votes,” and that “[t]he legislature shall be bound by the constitutional order, the executive and the judiciary by law and justice.”
These core principles are largely missing from the U.S. Constitution, which contains no affirmative right to vote. It is why the Supreme Court has had so much leeway to hack away at voting rights over the span of several decades by, for example, striking down bans on dark money under the First Amendment, greenlighting state laws that make ballot access harder, and allowing politicians to pick their voters through tortured gerrymandering (an issue that’s before the Court in some fashion this term).
In June 2024, the court created criminal immunity for presidents under the U.S. Constitution, which, instead of making them expressly bound by law, directs presidents to faithfully execute the laws — a detail that the Supreme Court majority just ignored.
Through a series of cases, the court has also established a powerful doctrine of qualified (but not “absolute”) immunity for law enforcement officers accused of using excessive force. This makes it difficult to hold ICE accountable for the kinds of atrocities unfolding in the streets and in black-box detention centers.
Article 20 of the Grundgesetz specifically states that “[a]ll Germans shall have the right to resist any person seeking to abolish this constitutional order.” This is how Americans increasingly view Trump’s draconian ICE force.
In what seems astonishing to the American eye, Article 21 bans political parties from undermining or abolishing the basic democratic order “by reason of their aims or the behavior [sic] of their adherents.” They’re also constitutionally required to publicly account for their assets and their sources of funding. If a party violates Article 21, it can be declared unconstitutional and banned by Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court (or “Bundesverfassungsgericht”). In 1952, this provision was invoked to ban the neo-Nazi Socialist Reich Party, and in 1956 it was used to ban the Stalinist Communist Party of Germany. If similar laws were in place in the U.S., Trump’s GOP enablers would have felt compelled to think twice before groveling so completely.
And then there’s the “Eternity Clause.” This was specifically designed to prevent a repeat of the Enabling Act of 1933, which allowed Hitler to enact laws without the approval of the German parliament. In response, Article 79 establishes that the principles set forth in Articles 1 and 21 — including human dignity, democracy, the rule of law, and individual rights — cannot be changed. Not by parliament, not by voter referendum, and not by the courts.
One day, America must likewise reconstruct the constitutional order to ensure that democracy can never again democratically vote itself out of existence.
