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While this is a laudable idea, 2/3rds of the senators would never agree to it, as they would no longer be “free agents”, but have to bow to the will of their states.

I figured the way around this problem is indirect, to recreate the senate as a different body, a Second Court of the United States. Not a federal court, but composed of 100 judges, specifically appointed by state legislatures on terms concurrent with their senators.

The 2nd Court would not determine constitutionality, but jurisdiction. After federal court decisions have worked their way through the federal appeals courts, about 8000 a year goes to the Supreme Court, which can only hear a few dozen. A terrible bottleneck.

The 2nd court would examine the lower courts constitutional arguments, then they would determine if the cases indeed were federal arguments, or if they should be taken from the federal courts and returned to the individual states.

This would end a lot of judicial activism, “legislating from the bench”, and would strip a lot of power from the federal government.

The other purpose of the 2nd court would be so that the states would have original jurisdiction in lawsuits between the states and the federal government. Instead of the ponderous route up the federal courts, such cases would be heard promptly.

Importantly, if the 2nd court had a simple majority, the case could still be appealed to the SCOTUS. But if the vote was a 2/3rds majority, it could not be appealed. And if they had a 3/4ths majority, it would represent “stare decisis” (precedent) to the SCOTUS, so they would have to treat the decision *almost* like it was a constitutional amendment, in their future decisions.

In practical terms, states could sue the federal government to force it to trim its size and power. A pruning mechanism that the founding fathers never considered but which is sorely needed.