But the Constitution they obey is the Living Constitution, the Constitution as a tree, the Constitution that changes and evolves even though the words don't change, the Constitution of penumbras and emanations.
When the federal entity sets up a legacy of case law that enshrines the Living Constitution, it the option and duty of the states to sharpen the language in the Constitution to prevent the manufacture of further penumbras and emanations.
This is why an Amendments Convention is so important. It is how the states propose amendments to force the federal entity to behave, lest that disobedience sever the last remaining bonds between the government and the people.
My point is that there are places in the ammendments where the words “shall” and “shall not” are either ignored or disreguarded.(”It depends on what the definition of the word ‘is’ is.”)
The Constitution is not at fault, rather the blatant disreguard and misrepresentation of it.