The Accountability Amendment
Why America Should adopt a Twenty-Eighth Amendment Declaring That No Public Official Is Above the Law
Opinion by Ben Everidge for Thomas
Image: Adobe Stock modified with AI by Harfia
“Equal justice under the law is not merely an aspiration engraved upon the Supreme Court. It must remain the governing principle of the American Republic.”
The American Question We Can No Longer Avoid
Every generation inherits a constitutional question that ultimately defines its era.
The generation that founded the republic asked whether free people could govern themselves. The generation that fought the Civil War asked whether liberty belonged to every American. The generation that lived through Watergate asked whether even a president must answer the law.
Our generation faces a different – but closely related – question: Can the United States remain a constitutional republic if any public official enjoys immunity from legal accountability for official acts?
The question is not about one president. It is not about one political party. Nor is it about revisiting past elections.
It is about the future of constitutional government.
If Americans believe that any officeholder – whether president, governor, cabinet secretary, judge, legislator, mayor, or agency official – is effectively beyond the reach of the law while exercising public power, then the principle of equal justice begins to erode.
A republic built upon the rule of law cannot afford uncertainty about so fundamental a principle.
For that reason, the nation should begin discussing a new constitutional amendment: The Accountability Amendment.
Why the Constitution May Need Clarification
The Constitution carefully distributes power. It establishes elections. It separates authority among three branches. It provides checks and balances.
Yet nowhere does it explicitly state, in unmistakable language, that every public official remains legally accountable under the Constitution and laws of the United States for the exercise of public authority.
For much of American history, that principle was widely assumed. Today it is actively debated.
Whenever a constitutional principle becomes uncertain enough to divide courts, scholars, and citizens, constitutional clarification deserves consideration.
Amendments exist precisely for moments such as these.
The Principle Is Older Than America
The founders did not invent the rule of law. They inherited it. The Magna Carta rejected arbitrary power.
English constitutional development increasingly affirmed that even the Crown was subject to law.
The American Revolution rejected monarchy in favor of constitutional government. The Constitution completed that transition by creating a government of limited powers rather than unlimited rulers.
John Adams famously observed that America must become “a government of law, and not of men.”
That principle remains as relevant today as it was in 1787.
Equal Accountability Builds Public Trust
Confidence in government depends upon more than elections. It depends upon citizens believing that the same legal standards apply to everyone entrusted with public authority.
That principle protects honest public servants every bit as much as it restrains those who abuse power.
When accountability is universal, public confidence grows. When accountability appears selective – or absent – trust declines.
This is not merely a legal issue. It is a civic one.
What an Accountability Amendment Might Say
The exact language would require careful constitutional drafting, but its central principle could be straightforward:
No elected or appointed public official of the United States, or of any State or political subdivision thereof, shall be exempt from accountability under the Constitution and laws of the United States by virtue of holding public office. Congress and the States may enact appropriate legislation to enforce this Article while preserving the constitutional independence of each branch of government and the due process rights of every individual.
Such an amendment would not eliminate constitutional protections, due process, or separation of powers. Instead, it would affirm a simple proposition: Office confers responsibility, not immunity.
What Would It Take?
Constitutional amendments are intentionally difficult.
Under Article V, an amendment requires:
Approval by two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or a convention called by two-thirds of the states.
Ratification by three-fourths of the states.
That high threshold is a feature, not a flaw. It ensures that constitutional change reflects broad national consensus rather than temporary political passion.
If such an amendment is ever adopted, it should be because Americans of every political persuasion conclude that constitutional accountability strengthens – not weakens – the presidency and every other public office.
Why This Should Not Be a Partisan Proposal
Every political party eventually loses power. Every party eventually regains it.
Constitutional rules endure through both victories and defeats.
An Accountability Amendment should therefore ask Americans to set aside personalities and imagine a president they oppose holding powers they cannot easily challenge.
Constitutional safeguards are the strongest when written without knowing who will occupy the office tomorrow.
The amendment should protect the republic, not one administration or another.
The Thomas Take
“The Constitution gives public officials authority. The people give them trust. Neither should place them above the law.”
The American experiment has always rested on an extraordinary idea: That the people are sovereign.
Public officials exercise authority only as temporary trustees of that sovereignty.
The higher the office, the greater the responsibility. The greater the power, the greater the accountability.
That principle should never depend upon changing judicial interpretations, partisan control of government, or the popularity of any individual officeholder.
It should stand permanently within the Constitution itself.
If America enters its next fifty years seeking constitutional renewal, few principles are more worthy of reaffirmation than this:
No public office is above the Constitution. No public servant is above the law in America.
That is not a partisan principle. It is an American one.
