Constitutional Proposal

We the people of the United States, in order to decentralize political powers of the federal government, to reduce wasteful federal spending, to strive for greater accountability of government, to present a more complete enumeration of rights, to improve economic stability, and to reduce involvement in foreign conflicts, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

1.     ARTICLE I: Federal legislative power shall be divided among a series of councils, and each federal council shall have authority over and only over those departments and agencies assigned to them.

                                          i.    Each state shall be free to choose its own method for electing or appointing council members and be responsible for any salaries paid.  States shall be free to choose to appoint as few as zero or as many as three delegates to each council.

                                         ii.    Each council shall be free to determine its own legislative process, unless herein stated otherwise.

                                         iii.    No one person shall be permitted to serve on more than one council at the same time, and no council member shall at the same time hold any other civil office.

                                        iv.    No person shall be invited to act as a member of a federal council who has not been appointed to that council by any state.

                                         v.    No major policy changes shall be finalized without all serving members of the appropriate council being present, either in person or by remote communication, or having made their positions known in advance.  No such policy changes shall be made without a quorum of at least one fifth of all states being represented in said council.  If fewer than half of all states are represented, then any state not represented shall be given a period of thirty days to make any objections, except in situations where an immediate response to a crisis is necessary.

                                        vi.    If at any time, a particular state has not appointed a representative to a particular council, or where a state’s appointed council members are unavailable, where a decision affecting said state is imminent, that state's executive authority may act in person or by proxy as temporary council member.

                                       vii.    No federal council shall pass any law which does not directly pertain to its own described purpose, and no federal department or agency shall attempt to enact or enforce laws which are not defined by the council to which it is subordinate.

                                       viii.    Publicly funded facilities and offices for council members shall not be extravagant.

                                        ix.    Any council member found to be accepting bribes or emoluments, of embezzling public funds, of secretly conspiring with a foreign power, or of deliberately withholding information from the public regarding a potential conflict of interests, shall be removed immediately and banned from holding a seat on any federal council for at least ten years.  Removal of council members for such reasons may be decided by a two-thirds majority of the same council, by the Supreme Court, or by executive decision from the state which appointed said council member.

                                         x.    Those states where offices of federal councils or departments subordinate to federal councils are located shall not attempt to use such positions to unfairly influence decisions of said councils or departments.

                                        xi.    Council members shall not be detained from the execution of their duties by arrest or questioning, except in cases of treason or felony.

b.     THE FINANCIAL COUNCIL shall be responsible for collecting funds from the states, as needed, and as they are able to pay, and distributing those funds to the various federal programs, projects and departments as needed, as well as providing financial aid to those states in need, and overseeing all national social security and other national public welfare systems.

                                          i.    This Council shall oversee the printing and banking of money and all other departments related to such.  No money shall be printed which is not backed by coin or bullion, or by some similar commodity.

                                         ii.    This Council shall not place conditions on any state, federal council, or subordinate federal department under threat of withholding funding.

                                         iii.    Each state shall be free to determine its own means of revenue with certain limitations.  No property taxes shall be applied to non-commercial land.  No income taxes shall be applied to salaries, wages, gifts, tips, commissions, or unemployment compensation.  No sales taxes shall be applied to food, medicine, or basic essentials.

                                        iv.    No direct federal taxes shall be applied to the people.

                                         v.    All social security and other public welfare payments must be guaranteed by sufficient funds held in reserve, and no public welfare funds shall be borrowed from or borrowed against.

                                        vi.    Federal funding shall not be used to bail out private enterprises.

                                       vii.    Federal bonds may be issued to help fund special projects or to resolve an immediate crisis, but shall not be issued to fund normal operations.

                                       viii.    The Financial Council shall have authority to legislate and enforce antitrust regulations, to cancel debts where necessary, to maintain uniform bankruptcy laws, to regulate the trading of stocks and other investments, and to regulate and insure banking and lending institutions to ensure honest and fair dealings.  This does not preclude states from passing additional regulations.

c.     THE CIVIL RIGHTS COUNCIL shall serve to protect the freedoms of all persons in the United States, whether they be permanent residents or foreign visitors, placing appropriate limitations on state powers where necessary, shall oversee those departments relating to fair treatment of workers and consumers, and shall oversee and maintain the federal court system, including United States Supreme Court.

                                          i.    All Supreme Court Justices shall be appointed by the Civil Rights Council, and the number of Supreme Court Justice positions shall be fixed at nine.  The Chief Justice shall be appointed by the Civil Rights Council, or if left vacant for thirty days, shall fall automatically to the most senior Supreme Court Justice.  No Justice shall be forcibly removed from office without having been given a formal hearing by the Civil Rights Council.  No prior ruling by the Supreme Court shall be overturned except by the Supreme Court itself, and having been provided in writing with just cause by the Civil Rights Council.

                                         ii.    Only the Civil Rights Council shall have power to grant pardons for federal crimes, and no such pardons shall be granted for frivolous reasons.  Pardons for state and municipal crimes shall not be granted by the Civil Rights Council, but instead by the authority of those states and municipalities in accordance with their laws.

                                         iii.    All public elections conducted in any state shall abide by certain rules, which shall be enforced where needed by the Civil Rights Council.  These rules are as follows.

1.     All participation in public elections shall be voluntary.

2.     No electoral college systems shall be used.

3.     No state shall set its legal minimum voting age higher than eighteen years.

4.     No poll taxes or registration fees shall be applied.

5.     Absentee ballots shall be made unconditionally available.

6.     No person shall be denied the right to vote on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, income, education or any other superficial criteria.

7.     Elections between three or more choices shall be conducted in a ranked-choice manner.

8.     No official in any one state shall be permitted to attempt to influence the outcome of any election held in a different state.

9.     The Council may pass additional rules to ensure fairness and transparency in elections, to regulate campaign financing and conduct, and to discourage organized attempts to influence elections across multiple states.  Any such regulations shall be applied equally to all states.

10.   States shall be free to self-regulate election procedures where no existing federal rules apply.

                                        iv.    All legislatures, police, courts and prisons in any state shall abide by the following limitations on power with regard to crime and punishment:

1.     No bills of attainder or ex post facto laws shall be passed.

2.     Persons shall be secure in their homes, persons, vehicles, papers, communication lines, data and effects against unwarranted searches, seizures, or surveillance, and no warrants shall be issued without probable cause, and particularly describing the places to be searched or surveyed, and the persons, data and things to be seized.

3.     Investigating officers obtaining incriminating evidence by illegal means shall be, without exception, subject to disciplinary action.  Any such illegally-obtained evidence shall not be used against any person except in cases of particularly violent crimes.

4.     No person accused of any serious crime shall be denied the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury in the state and district in which the crime shall have been allegedly committed.  No person shall be denied the right to legal counsel.  All accused persons shall be informed of the nature of the accusation and all supporting evidence, and shall be provided opportunity to confront witnesses and cross-examine evidence against them, and have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses and evidence for their defense.

5.     No person, except for officers of the law recounting events which occurred while on duty, shall be forced to give self-incriminating testimony.  No person shall be threatened, tricked or coerced into giving a confession.

6.     No officer of the law shall attempt to entrap a potential suspect by encouraging or participating in any criminal act.

7.     No acquitted person shall be prosecuted twice for the same offense.

8.     No convicted person shall be denied the right to appeal where reasonable justification for appeal exists.

9.     No excessive fines or bails shall be imposed.  No cruel or unusual punishments or inhumane prison conditions shall be inflicted.

10.   No excessive use of police force shall be encouraged or tolerated.  No military units shall be deployed in lieu of police.  No police departments shall be armed with military grade weaponry.

11.   No death penalty shall be imposed, unless requested by the convicted person as an alternative to lifetime incarceration.

12.   No person while incarcerated shall be employed in an exploitative manner.

13.   No person shall be forced to complete a sentence for having violated any law that has been repealed.

14.   No person upon having completed a sentence shall be denied the rights of any free person.

15.   No person holding any office shall be exempt from prosecution or enjoy lesser consequences for crimes as a benefit of holding any office.

16.   No employee of any institution, public or private, who knowingly and without coercion participates in a crime initiated by a superior shall be exempt from liability.

17.   Any person employed by the court or by law enforcement who is proven to have falsified incriminating evidence or knowingly presented such false evidence, in addition to any other penalties, shall be permanently removed from public service, and any salaries, benefits or pensions being received by said person shall be immediately discontinued.

18.   Persons called to serve on a jury shall be fairly compensated for their inconvenience.

19.   Judges shall not be required to impose sentences where unusual or extenuating circumstances give just cause for sentences to be waived.

20.   All persons shall have free use of the court to settle any civil dispute in excess of one hundred dollars.

                                         v.    All states shall abide by the following limitations on power with regard to general rights:

1.     No law shall require adherence to or practice of any state religion.  No favoritism shall be given to any particular religion.  No law shall infringe upon the free exercise of religion.

2.     No law shall limit or censor the freedom of speech, the press, or artistic expression, except in cases of particularly harmful misinformation, slander, libel, or in cases of infringement on privacy or copyright.

3.     No law shall infringe upon the right of the people safely and peaceably to assemble.

4.     No law shall infringe upon the right or means of the people to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

5.     No law shall infringe upon the right of adults to keep such weapons which can be reasonably used for the purpose of self-defense, and no regulations on the licensed carry and use of weapons shall be unfair or unreasonable.

6.     No land or other property shall be confiscated or commandeered from any person without proper cause or without fair compensation.

7.     No person shall be forced into labor except in cases of direct and proportional compensation for criminal damages.

8.     No law shall infringe upon the right of adults to marry or divorce in a manner of their own choosing.

9.     No law shall infringe upon the freedom of bodily autonomy, including but not limited to the right of informed and sound-minded adults to buy, sell or use intoxicating substances, to engage in for-profit sexual activities, to make end-of-life decisions, to terminate pregnancy, or to receive other elective medical procedures.

10.   Laws with respect to the sale of goods or services shall not be intended to create monopolies or to give unfair advantages to businesses with regard to free and fair market competition.

11.   No law shall restrict travel between states except in cases of criminal investigations or in cases of medical quarantines, or place unreasonable restrictions on the transportation of salable goods.

12.   All persons of at least the age of eighteen years shall be considered as adults and having all the rights as such.  The extension of any rights and privileges to persons younger than eighteen years shall be left to the discretion of the states.

13.   No law shall infringe upon the rights of parents or guardians, while in their homes, to raise their children in a manner of their own choosing, except in cases of abuse or endangerment.

14.   No organized attempts shall be made to force or coerce the cultural assimilation of any person or group.

15.   States reserve the right to set residency requirements on civic participation, but no separate citizenship status shall be established or required.  No basic rights shall be denied to foreign visitors.

16.   No special immunity privileges shall be granted to foreign dignitaries.

17.   Rights protected by the parameters of one department shall not be infringed upon by another department.

18.   No private companies or agencies shall be employed or coerced by government into violating any right described herein.

19.   All municipalities shall respect these same limitations on power with the exception of those voluntarily participating in privately owned and operated intentional communities.

20.   The Civil Rights Council may pass additional laws as needed for the purpose of preserving freedom, provided that no such laws contradict any of the restrictions stated herein.

d.     THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COUNCIL shall be responsible for appointing ambassadors and overseeing embassies, approving treaties, and deciding terms of warfare.

                                          i.    No treaties regarding the disposition of land and other resources shall be ratified without the approval of those states in which those lands and resources are located.

                                         ii.    All states shall respect the terms of treaties with foreign nations where such terms apply, including, where necessary, enforcing compliance by private enterprises operating within their respective jurisdictions.

                                         iii.    This Council shall have power to prohibit trade with foreign industries which employ forced labor or other unconscionable labor practices, or with nations engaged in or complicit with severe and systemic human rights infringements.

                                        iv.    Each state shall be responsible for its own military readiness.  No central military shall be maintained.  No state shall be mandated to have a minimum or maximum level of military force.  All military forces shall abide by the following rules:

1.     No state shall make war with any other state, and no state shall station its own troops within any other state without permission from said other state.

2.     War or other military operations shall only be declared by unanimous agreement by the Foreign Affairs Council, and such declarations shall particularly describe the purpose and goal of said military operation.  Military operations shall not be extended beyond their stated goals.

3.     In time of war, the Council shall appoint a temporary Commander-in-Chief, who will have direct authority over all military divisions in all states, within the terms of said declaration.

4.     In situations necessitating two or more simultaneous military operations, the Foreign Affairs Council may choose to appoint additional Commanders-in-Chief, or to extend the authority of a single Commander-in-Chief, as is deemed necessary by the Council.

5.     Military persons who have committed crimes while on active duty shall enjoy the same legal protections, including fair trial, as any civilian, insofar as such procedures are feasible under the particular circumstances.  Otherwise, summary judgements and penalties ordered by superior officers are permissible.  Pardons for crimes committed while on active duty shall only be granted by the authority of the Commander-in-Chief or by the Foreign Affairs Council.

6.     States may deploy troops and equipment in support of foreign nations, if such nations request assistance, and only with permission from the Foreign Affairs Council.  In such cases, any such use of troops or equipment shall be directed by said foreign nation, and only within the limitations of military actions defined herein.  Approval from the Foreign Affairs Council is not required for states to supply foreign nations with food, medicine or other humanitarian aid.

7.     States shall not be prohibited from using military force in self-defense on home soil.

8.     No troops shall be quartered in any private house.  No person shall be forcibly conscripted.  No tour of duty, in time of peace, shall be extended without consent.  No resignations, in time of peace, shall be denied.

9.     No person, enlisted or civilian, shall be used without their knowledge and consent for medical or psychological experimentation.

10.   Testing of experimental weapons and other military devices shall be conducted in the safest manner possible and avoid unnecessary risk to civilians or ecological damage.

11.   No civilian shall be interned or detained on the basis of nationality or association with an enemy nation or its allies.

12.   No military support for foreign nations or promise of aid shall be made secretly.

13.   Nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction shall be used only by a unanimous agreement of the Foreign Affairs Council, and only as a last resort.  The use of biological or chemical weapons, the use of permanent mines, the torture of prisoners of war, and the deliberate targeting of civilians are all strictly prohibited.   No artificial intelligence or other autonomous systems or devices shall be designed with the ability to use lethal force.

14.   No land or other resources shall be claimed as spoils of war.

15.   All prisoners of war shall be released at the cessation of war, unless charged with additional crimes.

16.   Unwarranted espionage conducted upon foreign powers may not be conducted in time of peace, and no warrants shall be issued except by the Foreign Affairs Council, upon probable cause.

17.   All combat veterans shall be guaranteed free-of-charge treatment for the duration of their lives for any physical or psychological injuries incurred while on active duty.

e.     THE SCIENCE COUNCIL shall be responsible for awarding research grants and for overseeing those federal departments dedicated to scientific advancement, to ensuring quality standards for public education, to ensuring the security of information technologies, to protection of natural resources through industrial and agricultural regulations, and to ecological research and protection.

f.      THE HEALTH AND SAFETY COUNCIL shall be responsible for regulating the process of inspecting food and other products, both domestically produced and imported, for consumer safety, shall maintain regulations for safe working environments, and shall, where necessary, enact medical quarantines.

g.     THE TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL shall be responsible for maintaining interstate public transportation systems, safety regulations regarding air and space travel, matters regarding immigration, imports and exports, commerce between states, interstate telecommunication systems, and the postal service.

                                          i.    No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.  No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over another, nor shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.

                                         ii.    No state shall be mandated to accept imports from any particular state or nation.

                                         iii.    No foreign person shall be denied entry into the United States without reason.  No person shall be forcibly deported to a foreign nation except in cases of extradition.  Requests for asylum shall be considered and decided upon by individual states.

                                        iv.    No foreign person shall be detained for more than twenty-four hours unless charged with a crime other than unlawful entry or false credentials.

                                         v.    The area of investigative jurisdiction of border security shall not extend more than one mile inward from the national border.  In situations where federal border officers are operating in the same location or investigating the same persons as state or local authorities, the federal officers shall yield to the state or local authorities.

                                        vi.    Border officers shall be free to waive or postpone any formal border-crossing procedures in response to persons attempting to respond to an emergency.  If necessary and feasible, officers may escort persons in response to such emergencies in order to maintain supervision.

                                       vii.    The Transportation Council shall have legal jurisdiction over vessels operating in international waters or international space which have been launched from the United States, with the exception of naval vessels operating under the orders from the Commander-in-Chief.  The Transportation Council shall have the authority to prosecute cases of piracy or terrorism conducted against vessels operating in international waters or space.

h.     THE RECORDS COUNCIL shall be responsible for keeping complete and accurate records of federal actions, laws, proposals, spending, and general information for reference and for posterity, as well as maintaining national archives and museums, overseeing matters relating to patents and trademarks, overseeing the decennial national census, and issuing national awards.

                                          i.    All recorded information shall be freely available to the public, except for that of a highly personal nature or that regarding classified current military operations.  Military secrets shall be declassified in a timely manner once such secrecy can no longer be reasonably justified.

                                         ii.    Official public records shall not be removed or destroyed or knowingly placed in jeopardy of being lost, stolen or destroyed.

                                         iii.    This Council shall be responsible for any and all decisions relating to national holidays, flags, symbols, anthems and the like.  No declarations shall be made with regard to any establishment or endorsement of a particular religion or language.  No titles of nobility shall be granted.  Any lack of formal adoption of new holidays or symbols shall not be misconstrued as a basis for prohibition of such.  Any officially adopted anthems or symbols shall not be subject to copyright protection, and any existing intellectual property shall not be adopted until such time as their copyrights have been relinquished or expired.

i.      THE SPECIAL PROJECTS COUNCIL shall be responsible for planning and overseeing all large-scale national improvement projects which do not fall under the authority of any other council or any state, and which require only temporary federal oversight.  This Council shall have the authority to choose and employ private contractors and to work with state and municipal authorities as needed.

                                          i.    Special projects shall be completed in a timely manner, as circumstances allow.  The purpose and goals of each project shall be decided either by the Council itself, or by an agreement between a majority of states.

                                         ii.    Completed construction projects shall be relinquished to the state or municipality in which they are located.

                                         iii.    Any new technologies developed by the Special Projects Council shall be considered public domain and freely available.

                                        iv.    Special projects shall not be misused to provide unfair assistance to profit-competitive businesses.

2.     ARTICLE II: Each head of each department subordinate to any Federal Council shall have authority to make executive decisions in such cases where circumstances necessitate immediate action.  Each department shall have the option to veto decisions made by the appropriate council, having stated clear reasons for doing so, for a period of thirty days.  If said Council has not overturned or revised said decision within that time, then said decisions shall be considered final.

a.     Creation of new departments or agencies subordinate to federal councils shall neither be redundant nor exceed the domain of such councils, and any effort to increase or decrease the number of subordinate departments may be overturned by the Supreme Court on this basis.

b.     Any department head may be removed from office by a decision by the appropriate council for acts of insubordination, corruption, exceeding stated authority, or for other forms of misconduct or mismanagement of said department.

c.     No office shall be created which has executive power superior to any federal council.

d.     In the event of a national crisis, the appropriate council may grant the head of the appropriate department, for a limited time, absolute authority to act in response to said crisis, including, where necessary, enlisting the support of other federal departments.  In cases where it is unclear under which federal department's or council's jurisdiction a particular crisis falls, and an agreement cannot be reached among the council members in a timely manner, an appropriate department head may be summarily chosen by the Chief Justice.

e.     Businesses which are temporarily closed or reduced in scale by state or federal authority in response to any crisis shall be entitled to compensation of no less than fifty percent of estimated lost revenue, and employees of such business of no less than fifty percent of estimated lost wages, for the duration of the crisis, to be paid by the state or federal department enacting such closures or reductions.  This shall not preclude any additional insurance or unemployment compensations which may be received.

f.      All federal departments shall offer equal opportunity with regard to employment, salaries, or promotions.

g.     Salaries and benefits for federal employees shall not be reduced during their time in office.

3.     ARTICLE III: State and local authorities shall have first responsibility for disciplinary action, within the laws of their respective states and municipalities, against those state and local officials who violate the limitations on power described herein or by their respective constitutions or charters.  However, in cases where an officer of the highest level of government in a particular state has violated the rules and regulations described herein, and that state’s normal system of checks and balances has failed to act, then and only then may the appropriate federal council take action to remove said executive from office.  Removal from power shall be carried out in the following manner:

a.     Article of impeachment shall be filed by the federal council most directly linked with those rules and regulations which have been violated.  Articles of impeachment shall only be passed by a two-thirds majority vote of said council.  In cases where violations of multiple sets of regulations exist, articles of impeachment may be filed simultaneously by more than one council.

b.     Articles of impeachment having been passed, the accused official shall be tried before the Supreme Court, and if convicted, shall be removed from office.  This decision can only be overturned by a future decision by the Supreme Court.

c.     Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States, but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

d.     State officials who are next in line to assume a position left vacant by a person removed from office shall be automatically deemed ineligible to act as a replacement if they are shown in those same articles of impeachment to have been complicit in the violations described therein.

4.     ARTICLE IV: Any state wishing to change its borders, divide into smaller states, combine with other states, change its system of government, or secede from the United States, shall not be prevented from doing so, provided that all parties directly involved in such decisions have reached an agreement on the particulars, and that such decisions are approved by popular vote in the affected areas.

a.     No state shall adopt a system of internal governance which undermines the rule of democratic representation.

b.     The government of each state shall be free to refuse requests for regions wishing to separate from said state, if the stated reason for the request is deemed frivolous or fleeting, or if the land area or population is deemed insufficient to justify the creation of a new state.

c.     If any state, by total secession, separates itself from the terms of this Constitution, all federal services in said state shall be discontinued over a period of sufficient time for transition to autonomy, with the exception of any financial aid being received, which shall be evaluated and determined on a case-by-case basis.

5.     ARTICLE V: Amendments and alterations to this Constitution, including the creation of additional councils, shall only be made by a unanimous agreement by all states, excluding any new states that have been created within the previous five years, with the last state to approve the newly proposed amendment having done so within twenty years of the earliest state to do so.  If an amendment has not been ratified within twenty years, those states whose votes have expired may be called to renew their respective votes.

6.     ARTICLE VI: The Federal Government as created under the United States Constitution of 1791, in order to provide sufficient time for the establishment of the new federal system and ensure a smooth transition of powers, shall continue to function as needed from the time of the adoption of this new Constitution until the scheduled conclusion of the second full presidential term following the ratification of this document, at which time, the United States Constitution of 1791 shall be considered null and void.  In case of dispute between old and new legislative or executive authorities during the transitional period, favor shall be given to the new authorities. The offices and holdings of the old federal system shall be disposed of as follows.

a.     The United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and the offices of President and Vice President of the United States, shall be utterly dissolved.

b.     All persons serving in the federal court system, including the Supreme Court, shall be permitted to continue to do so under the terms of the New Constitution.

c.     All branches of the United States Armed Forces shall be divided among the various states in a logical manner to be determined by the current ranking authorities.

d.     All federal lands shall be relinquished thusly: All national parks shall be recategorized as state parks under the direction of the respective states in which they are located.  All federal land registered as being reserved for use by Native American tribes shall be considered as the property of said tribes and considered independent states.  All self-governing integrated territories, including the District of Columbia, shall be considered as states.  All unincorporated island territories currently being held for the purpose of wildlife protection and preservation shall remain as such.  All claims to disputed territories shall be relinquished.  All other federally owned lands shall be relinquished to the states in which they are located.  No future land will be held by the United States which is not part of any state.

e.     All other existing federal departments, agencies and commissions, shall be examined by the Special Projects Council to determine the best means of disposition, whether that be to place such departments under the direction of the appropriate Federal Council, to merge such departments with other departments, to divide such departments among the states, to relinquish such departments to the private sector, or to dissolve such departments entirely.

f.      All federal buildings which are no longer needed as a result of this reorganization, shall be given to their respective states to be sold at auction, demolished or repurposed as they see fit.

g.     All federal employees whose services are no longer required as a result of the dissolution of their respective departments, including private contractors, shall be given fair severance compensation.  Pensions for retired federal employees shall continue uninterrupted.

h.     All moneys still owed by the United States, including federal bonds, foreign debts, reparations, military pensions, and all other debts shall continue to be paid until paid in full.

i.      Any laws which contradict this Constitution shall be considered null and void.  Any federal laws which do not contradict this Constitution at the time of its ratification shall be presumed to be in effect until having been repealed or amended by the appropriate Council.