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The Constitution wasn't just penned and made law, it was turned over to the states to be ratified. And it is definitely untrue that no one today gets a say on the Constitution, evidenced by the repeated amendments over the years. If something is in the Constitution, that is specifically because people elected via a democratic process have decided it should be there and/or have allowed it to remain. While constitutional amendments are hard to make happen, the Constitution is not a stagnant document that has remained unchanged since its inception.
Furthermore, the very fact that people abide by that system and still utilise it is prima facie evidence of implicit consent to it - nothing actually prevents people from throwing the Constitution away and drafting up a new agreement (like they did with the previous Articles of Confederation) if they generally believe the current method of doing things doesn't work well. So there are some pretty strong reasons to view the Constitution as legitimate.
The legitimacy of the Constitution has absolutely nothing to do with whether that system it prescribes is in line with any individual person's values.
And who set the high bar for the amendments to pass and the very process? Legitimacy is derived only by how things are perceived by the populace. There is no other way for it be derived. If enough people believe the 2020 election was illegitimate then it was. There is no objective measure of legitimacy, other than how people feel about it. There is no outside force than can determine if the people see something as legitimate or not.
Yes, I essentially agree with this. The legitimacy of the Constitution isn't a fluffy subjective thing that can simply differ from person to person. Legitimacy is a phenomenon which is determined by the beliefs of the society as a whole. And in a scenario where people do see the Constitution as illegitimate, I see nothing preventing them from outright drawing up another agreement. It's happened before and can happen again. The fact that people generally have chosen to remain with that system seems to suggest they see merit in it, no?
They did in part through judicial activism (per your claim) no? They elected politicians who chose judges to override the Constitution in your framing. You can redraw the document parts at a time in how it is practiced. You don't have to do the whole thing in one go or via a textual amendment as long as people accept the legitimacy of your change, however you do it.
The issue preventing that is that not everyone agrees so control goes back and forth.
They did, and then they elected politicians who chose judges to override the judges that overrode the Constitution. By this logic, the Constitution has been upheld and Roe v. Wade is illegitimate.
Of course, there's questions to be raised about how much the decisions of Supreme Court judges actually represent the public (not least because how they are chosen is one level removed from the general public's vote), but if this argument is to be made, surely the most recent decision should take precedence.
Right, because not all the people do consider that method of changing the Constitution to be legitimate. But if they did, changing it that way is just as acceptable as changing it via writing a whole new one or using the amendment process.
If we accept that the Constitution itself is only legitimate if people perceive it to be so, then it must also follow that ANY method of changing it is also legitimate if perceived to be so. Judicial activism, tearing it up, ignoring it, using the built in processes, a referendum, whatever, all that matters is if enough people accept it.
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