The US Constitution originally said that senators would be selected by state legislatures. Per the terms of the 17th Amendment,
senators are now elected directly by the citizens of their respective states. The party balance in the 115th Congress (2017–19) is 51 Republicans, 47 Democrats, and 2 independents, who caucus with the Democrats. As of January 2018, Republicans had control of the legislatures of 31 states; Democrats had control in 14; control was split in 4; and Nebraska was officially nonpartisan.
Develop an argument for or against repealing the 17th Amendment.
In your essay, you must:
articulate a defensible claim or thesis that responds to the prompt and establishes a line of reasoning.
use your knowledge of federalism, the constitutional position of the US Senate, partisan politics, checks and balances, voting rights, and the history of redistricting or gerr
Based on the provisions of the 17th Amendment, we can see that the provisions of the United States Constitution gave the people the right to vote for their senators who would represent their interests instead of the state legislature.
With this in mind, we can see that if the seat of a senator is unoccupied, then the governor of the state can<em> make his appointment of a senator</em>.
Based on the given data on the party balance of the US Senators, it is still not enough reason to repeal the 17th Amendment because giving the people the right to choose their representatives is still the core value of democracy which should never be tampered with.
