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Convention Highlights

Opening Ceremony

Dean Stefanie Lindquist headshot
Stefanie Lindquist

Nickerson Dean and Professor of Law, WashU Law; Founder, Model Constitutional Convention

MCC Welcome

History Kastor
Peter Kastor

Associate Vice Dean of Research, Professor of History and American Culture Studies, WashU

MCC Invocation

Erwin Chemerinsky Dean Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
Erwin Chemerinsky

Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

“Compromise in Constitution Drafting, Devil’s Bargain or Angel’s Answer?”

Justin Weinstein-Tull Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
Justin Weinstein-Tull

Professor of Law, Co-Director of the Center of Constitutional Design, Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

“Reimagining the Constitution Together”

Richard Albert Hines H. Baker and Thelma Kelley Baker Chair in Law Professor
Richard Albert

Professor of Law and Government, Director of Constitutional Studies, The University of Texas at Austin

“Who Holds the Quill? AI and the Future of Constitutional Authorship”

Press

Model Constitutional Convention
Brings Students Together to
Reimagine the U.S. Constitution
WashU Law Welcomed Students
and Scholars for 2026 Model
Constitutional Convention
KMOX Interview with Stef Lindquist and Peter Kastor
Students Give Hope—For the Country and Its Constitution

Amendments Adopted by the 2026 MCC

Sec. 1: Removal
Principal Officers of the United States shall be removed by the President. The Congress may, by law, impose restrictions on the removal of Principal Officers who lead independent regulatory agencies. Inferior Officers of the United States shall be removed according to law; but if no law specifies the process to remove an Inferior Officer, they shall be removed in the same manner as they were appointed.

The Congress may, by law, permit judicial review of removals of Principal Officers who lead independent regulatory agencies and of Inferior Officers; but it may not prohibit challenges to removals arising directly under this Constitution.

Sec. 2: Vacancies
The President must nominate a Principal Officer within thirty days of a vacancy, and the Senate must confirm or reject the nominee no later than sixty days thereafter. The Congress may, by law, establish a line of succession to automatically fill vacancies in Principal Offices or vest the appointment of temporary officers in the President alone, subject to restrictions and qualifications which are related to the office and established by law. While the Senate is in session, no individual may serve in a Principal Office for more than ninety days without Senate confirmation.

Sec. 3:
A private party pursuing a civil claim, by law, on behalf of the United States is not an Officer of the United States for the purposes of appointment.

SECTION I. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex or sexual orientation.

SECTION II. Congress shall have the power to enforce this amendment through proper legislation.

Section 1: No state or federal actor shall apportion or reapportion any electoral district to obtain an unduly partisan advantage. Any redistricting plan or process found in violation of this Amendment shall be null and void.

Section 2 – Replaces Article 1 Section 4. The Times, Places, and Manners of Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed by the legislature thereof; subject to the requirement that the proportion of votes allotted to any candidate in a congressional district of any State shall not deviate from the proportion of votes allotted that candidate in that State as a whole. The Congress shall, within one year of the passage of this article, enact legislation enforcing the provisions of this article, and shall retain the power to enact or renew legislation for this purpose.

Section 3: No state or federal actor shall redistrict without a change in census. This process shall not occur so as to alter a current election’s outcome. Any new map must apply after an election period has passed.

Section 4: This Amendment shall take effect immediately upon ratification and apply to the next redistricting cycle and all redistricting plans and processes thereafter.

Section 5: Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Multimember districts shall not be prohibited.

Section 6: Suits brought under this amendment shall be justiciable.

Section 7: Nothing in this article shall prohibit redistricting necessary to comply with a court order or constitutional requirement.

Section 1: No law in the United States, the several States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof shall permit slavery, forced labor, or involuntary servitude.

Section 2: Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

§ 1: The right to private property is fundamental. No part of a person’s real property shall be taken by eminent domain and transferred, directly or indirectly, to another person or entity if the taking is for the purpose of private development or other private use. The condemnor bears the burden of proving that the use is public, without a presumption that it is.

§ 2: A taking of real property by eminent domain is not for public use if the primary use is for private gain, private benefit, private enterprise, increasing jobs, increasing tax revenue, or economic development, except for the elimination of a public nuisance existing on the property or pursuant to Section IV of this Amendment.

§ 3: No more private property may be taken by eminent domain than necessary to achieve the stated public use. Just compensation shall be no less than the value of the property taken, lost profits and lost access, and damages to the residue caused by the taking. Compensation must occur prior to the taking the terms ”lost profits” and “lost access” are to be defined by the Congress.

§ 4: An exercise of eminent domain power is for public use when such exercise is for the authorized provision of utility, common carrier, or railroad services.

Section 1: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, effects, personal digital data, electronic communications, and biometric information, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons, data, communications, or things to be seized.

Section 2: No person’s digital information or electronic communications shall be subject to unreasonable collection or surveillance by the United States or any State without due process of law. The government cannot demand or request that private companies provide individual data without a Warrant. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article through appropriate legislation.

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