Countries amend their constitutions fairly regularly—just not the United States. The last meaningful amendment to the U.S. Constitution was in 1971, when the voting age was lowered to 18. For legal scholars who are originalists, the fact that the Constitution seems fixed in amber is a source of some pride. Jill Lepore strongly disagrees. “The philosophy of amendment—the idea that we can repair, improve, correct, make amends, mend our ways,” she says, “is central to the founding of the United