## PROPOSED TWENTY-EIGHTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES ### Article XXVIII — The Textual Integrity Amendment --- **Section 1.** All courts, tribunals, and bodies exercising adjudicative authority shall interpret this Constitution, all federal and state laws, treaties, executive orders, and rules and regulations having the force of law solely by the plain meaning of their text as an ordinary citizen would have understood it at the time of ratification or enactment. The exclusive reference for resolving any question of meaning is a dictionary widely used at the time the provision was adopted. Where definitions in such dictionaries conflict, the meaning is not plain and Section 3 applies. No other source — including legislative history, statements of individual legislators or legislative bodies, the intent of drafters, agency guidance, judicial decisions, custom, usage, or any source external to the text — shall govern or inform interpretation. --- **Section 2.** No court or adjudicative body shall supply meaning where text is silent, fill gaps in any law or regulation, or expand or restrict plain meaning on any basis external to the text. Silence in the law is not authority to act. The absence of a prohibition is not a grant of power. --- **Section 3.** Any law, provision, or regulation whose plain meaning cannot be determined by an ordinary citizen using a dictionary widely used at the time of its enactment is void and unenforceable. A government actor proceeding under a void law has no lawful basis for that action and shall not prevail; a private claim depending on a void law shall be dismissed. --- **Section 4.** Any decision rendered in violation of this Article is void. A decision void under this Article constitutes an impeachable offense for which removal from office is the remedy. Any citizen directly harmed by such a decision may petition the House of Representatives for impeachment proceedings and shall receive a written response within sixty days. No immunity doctrine shall bar proceedings under this Article. --- **Section 5.** No court shall dispose of a case properly before it without a hearing on the merits. A court that determines a case is outside its jurisdiction shall transfer the case to a court of competent jurisdiction. No case properly filed shall be dismissed for want of a forum. --- **Section 6.** Every court shall render a decision within one hundred and twenty days of the completion of briefing or oral argument, whichever is later. No extension shall be granted except by unanimous consent of the full court, stated in writing with reasons, for a single additional period not to exceed sixty days. If a court fails to render a decision within the period allowed: - (a) In any criminal proceeding, the matter is decided in favor of the defendant; - (b) In any civil proceeding in which a government entity or official is a party, the matter is decided against the government; - (c) In any civil proceeding between private parties, the failure constitutes grounds for removal of the presiding judge under Section 4 of this Article, and the matter shall be immediately reassigned. --- **Section 7.** This Article shall be interpreted by its own standards — by the plain meaning of its text as an ordinary citizen would have understood it at the time of ratification, using a period-specific dictionary, without construction, precedent, or any interpretive method this Article prohibits. ---