# Which constitutional laws can be proven to have been irretrievably weakened or neutralized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 28, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-constitutional-laws-can-be-proven-to-have-been-irretrievably-weakened-or-neutralized/805443 "2017-12-28T03:23:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-constitutional-laws-can-be-proven-to-have-been-irretrievably-weakened-or-neutralized/805443/61 "2018-01-06T13:38:23Z")
Separation of powers is in the process of being disfigured. And once that happens…large swaths of the constitution can be taken down with it. Constitutions inevitably need to be updated and amended. It’s a matter of whether people have the foresight to make necessary changes before it’s too late, and whether they make changes in good faith. If this is not the case, then constitutions eventually fail. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-constitutional-laws-can-be-proven-to-have-been-irretrievably-weakened-or-neutralized/805443/62 "2018-01-08T14:39:38Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Separation of powers is in the process of being disfigured. How so? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-constitutional-laws-can-be-proven-to-have-been-irretrievably-weakened-or-neutralized/805443/63 "2018-01-08T16:19:51Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > It’s a matter of whether people have the foresight to make necessary changes before it’s too late, and whether they make changes in good faith. If this is not the case, then constitutions eventually fail. Can you give examples of failed constitutions that you are basing these statements on? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-constitutional-laws-can-be-proven-to-have-been-irretrievably-weakened-or-neutralized/805443/64 "2018-01-08T20:17:49Z")
Germany’s Weimar constitution, for one, failed because not enough of its people cared enough about it to make it work, and quite a few wanted it to fail. It was never repealed, just increasingly ignored. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-constitutional-laws-can-be-proven-to-have-been-irretrievably-weakened-or-neutralized/805443/65 "2018-01-08T23:29:21Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The Third Amendment is as unassailed today as it has ever been. No forced troop quartering for us! There has been exactly one significant case involving this amendment: [Engblom v. Carey - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engblom_v._Carey) It set some rather interesting precedents that may make things difficult for the National Guard in the case of a severe natural disaster that they are called in to help with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-constitutional-laws-can-be-proven-to-have-been-irretrievably-weakened-or-neutralized/805443.md?page=3)