Article I—Appellation
Article II—Statement of Purpose
Article III—Membership
Article IV—Officers
Article V—Amendment
Article VI—School Policies

This organization shall be known as “The American Constitution Society, Chicago-Kent Chapter.”

Section 1 – National Organization Statement of Purpose

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is a group of students concerned about the pervasive conservative orthodoxy in American law and politics. We believe deeply in the importance of law as the mechanism which governs the relationships between and among the individuals and institutions that form our society, and we recognize the direct relationship between legal theory and the broader political debate about the kind of society in which we live.

For almost twenty years, the view has been ascendant that the traditional values of compassion, decency of treatment, and respect for human dignity, have little or no place in legal or political discourse. This view permeates all aspects of legal debate: academic scholarship, judicial interpretation, and debate about laws proposed for enactment. The cornerstone of this legal view is an approach to understanding the United States Constitution that is essentially devoid of concern for the way in which the law affects the lives of the people who make up the nation in which we live.

People who have entered the legal profession, government service, and the academy, have been driven to abandon traditional values of decency and compassion by the pervasive legal and political culture in which these moral principles are ridiculed. Individuals who stand up for them risk disparagement and marginalization. These values are caricatured and lampooned by the most powerful voices in our society. Compassion is ridiculed as weakness. The common humanity of all people is, at best, ignored. Reason is shouted down. Decent treatment of individuals by each other and by their elected officials is dismissed as an unaffordable luxury.

We believe, contrary to this pervasive conservative orthodoxy, that the law, and, in particular, the Constitution, serves human values. We believe that the Constitution is a charter of liberty, the blueprint for a noble and unique experiment designed to prevent the excesses of government in order to protect the human dignity necessary for individuals to realize the full potential of their lives. The goal of the Constitution, and the United States it created, is to permit people to succeed in the "pursuit of happiness," one of the inalienable rights this nation explicitly was founded to secure to the American people.

We believe that the Constitution, and by extension, many other areas of American law, can be understood only by reference to transcendent principles of decency, reason, humanity and compassion. We believe that those who enforce the law must have greater concern for the way in which it affects the lives of the people who make up the nation in which we live. And we believe these principles should form a starting point for enactment, as well as interpretation, of the law. To banish these fundamental, traditional American ideals from the law is to leave our country without moral principles for its guidance.

We believe that there has been a failure on the part of our political leadership to articulate a coherent vision for society that is faithful to these traditional values that are central to the idea of America. In the resulting vacuum, our culture has moved toward a climate in which most successful political movements have been those that appeal to what is worst in people: pettiness, anger, distrust, xenophobia.

The mission of the American Constitution Society is to harness the values of compassion and respect for each individual, and to re-incorporate them into American law and politics, in order to build a stronger and more decent national community. The Society's role is to influence the debate on the law, both in its interpretation and its creation, and to restore these traditional American values to their rightful place in legal and political debate. Our goal is not the restoration of a failed approach to government, but a rekindling of the hope that by reason and decency, we can create an America that is better for us all.

Section 2 – Chicago-Kent Chapter Addendum

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy of The Chicago-Kent College of Law is a group dedicated to the restoration of compassion, equality, and humanity to the law of the United States.

We believe that the United States Constitution is a blueprint for liberty and a living document with the essential purpose of equal justice for all, and the “pursuit of happiness” for all.

From the Founding of the United States to the present, the America has been driven by a movement from the anchors of the past towards a vision of the future that is captured in the highest of its ideals. To bring fulfillment to these principles in law and government is the goal of this society.

We also affirm the goals and values of the national organization.

Membership shall be open to all Chicago-Kent College of Law students, faculty, and staff.

Section 1 – Requirements

1. The American Constitution Society officers shall be members of the American Constitution Society Executive Board, which will meet periodically to determine the general direction of the Society and to decide issues of long-term importance to the American Constitution Society, and issue the by-laws.
2. Officers must be members of the Chicago-Kent College of Law Chapter of the American Constitution Society and members of the national organization. Officers’ dues must be current.

Section 2 – Descriptions

The officers shall be as follows:

1. Faculty Advisor — The Faculty Advisor shall serve as a resource for the Society members, facilitate the acquisition of speakers, and serve as a liaison between the local chapter and the advisors of the Society at other schools.
2. President — The President shall call society meetings, coordinate the operations and direction of the society, and serve as a liaison between the Society and the administration and student bar association.
3. Vice-President — The Vice-President shall perform the office of any absent officer, except the faculty adviser, while that officer is absent.
4. Secretary – The Secretary shall compile and maintain the minutes of meetings and the records of the Society, keep a current list of members, and shall notify members of meetings.
5. Journal Editor — The Journal Editor shall direct the publication of the Society’s journal.

Section 3 – Appointment and Removal

1. Officers shall be appointed by a vote of the outgoing executive board before the end of each Spring semester, except for the founding officers.
2. Officers may be removed for good cause by the unanimous vote of the other officers.

1. All amendments to this Constitution require the vote of two thirds of the officers.
2. The addition of new officers for good cause, only shall require a simply majority.

This chapter is subject to this constitution, its bylaws, and the rules and regulations of the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Chicago-Kent College of Law.