I think it would probably be possible for Congress to pass a law with a clause “this law is subject to a referendum and shall go into effect only if approved by a majority of voters” or similar. That’s pretty much something any legislature can do if it wants to, even if the constitution doesn’t specifically authorize it. But I don’t think this has ever happened in the US.
I would imagine that could be possible, but it would require our political parties to want a referendum process, which is pretty antithetical to the way they operate in general. I cannot imagine that ever, ever, ever happening in the US without first having gone through a major change in our system, vis a vis the the two current parties. If, somehow, we managed to get the very progressive/green/soft socialist types in power within the democratic party the way the ultra far right have taken over the Republican party then I could see it happening, but if that were to occur then I think it’s pretty likely to have followed some truly spectacular (potentially violent**) political upheaval in the country that would make the addition of referendum to our lives a footnote in the rest of what would be happening.
And that’s assuming we could even get those kinds of people into power in the US, which I sincerely, genuinely doubt. But that’s just my opinion.
In Ireland Constitutional Amendments require a referendum to pass. It’s bizarre to me that other countries leave something so important in the hands of politicians.
Yes, but that’s not the case in all or even most countries. In my country most constitutional amendments can be made by a two-thirds majority in the legislature. Usually this involves the government coalition negotiating with one or more opposition parties to vote with them.
Of course there are other countries where there is no constitution (in the sense of a supreme law that other laws are subordinate to and can be struck down by the courts if they don’t comply with it) at all, e.g. the UK.
I think it would probably be possible for Congress to pass a law with a clause “this law is subject to a referendum and shall go into effect only if approved by a majority of voters” or similar. That’s pretty much something any legislature can do if it wants to, even if the constitution doesn’t specifically authorize it. But I don’t think this has ever happened in the US.
In my country the constitution specifically authorizes this and it has happened once, which resulted in a law passed by the legislature not taking effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Austrian_nuclear_power_referendum
I would imagine that could be possible, but it would require our political parties to want a referendum process, which is pretty antithetical to the way they operate in general. I cannot imagine that ever, ever, ever happening in the US without first having gone through a major change in our system, vis a vis the the two current parties. If, somehow, we managed to get the very progressive/green/soft socialist types in power within the democratic party the way the ultra far right have taken over the Republican party then I could see it happening, but if that were to occur then I think it’s pretty likely to have followed some truly spectacular (potentially violent**) political upheaval in the country that would make the addition of referendum to our lives a footnote in the rest of what would be happening.
And that’s assuming we could even get those kinds of people into power in the US, which I sincerely, genuinely doubt. But that’s just my opinion.
**Pointing it out, not advocating for it
In Ireland Constitutional Amendments require a referendum to pass. It’s bizarre to me that other countries leave something so important in the hands of politicians.
Yes, but that’s not the case in all or even most countries. In my country most constitutional amendments can be made by a two-thirds majority in the legislature. Usually this involves the government coalition negotiating with one or more opposition parties to vote with them.
Of course there are other countries where there is no constitution (in the sense of a supreme law that other laws are subordinate to and can be struck down by the courts if they don’t comply with it) at all, e.g. the UK.