Paradox of Self-Amendment by Peter Suber Section 9: Entrenchment, Self-Entrenchment, and Disentrenchment of the Amendment Clause Itself A. Types and distinctions Because entrenchment purports to limit an amending power, it may be reflexive in two ways. First, self-entrenchment (as defined in Section 8) is the entrenchment of a unit of language by words within that unit or, if the entrenchment clause is implied, then by a rule that is inferred from language within the unit it entrenches. The unit may be as large as the whole constitution (e.g., "Nothing in the constitution shall be amended except as provided..."), or as small as the self-entrenching language plus an irreflexive reference (e.g., "Neither rule R nor this sentence shall be amended").[Note 1] Note that a clause that completely entrenched the whole constitution would thereby deny any effect to the amending power, and to that extent would be less a limit on the AC than a virtual repeal of it. On the other hand, the incomplete entrenchment of the whole constitution is virtually what obtains today, since the constitution cannot be amended at all except by certain "special" procedures. Second, the language describing the amending power (the AC) may be entrenched, or even self-entrenched in the sense just described. Entrenchment of the AC is reflexive in the sense that the amending power is prohibited from applying to itself. Some self-reference, express or implied, is necessary, even though the entrenchment clause forbids the AC's self-application. If entrenchment clauses that are not also self- entrenched are called "irreflexive" entrenchment clauses, then irreflexive entrenchment of the AC is reflexive because self-referential, irreflexive because not self-entrenched. The two senses in which entrenchment may be reflexive —self-entrenchment and entrenchment of the AC— may be combined to yield self- entrenchment of the AC. This self-entrenchment may in turn entrench the AC in whole or in part. Note that the irreflexive entrenchment of the AC can be defined by a clause outside or inside the AC itself. If outside it might say, "Nothing in the AC shall be amended." If that clause were inside the AC, then it would become a self-entrenchment clause. Nevertheless a clause inside the AC might constitute irreflexive entrenchment of the AC if reworded to say, "Nothing in the AC, except this sentence, shall be amended." The last section was devoted to the irreflexive entrenchment and self-entrenchment of clauses of a constitution other than the AC. This section is devoted to two reflexive types of entrenchment: the irreflexive entrenchment of the AC and the self-entrenchment of the AC. It also covers a few variations on entrenchment itself that did not fit into Section 8. Entrenchment of clauses other than the AC was discussed at all because it threatens the omnipotence of the AC, which raises in constitutional law all the issues of the paradox of omnipotence as they arise in theology. A well-entrenched constitutional rule is the legal equivalent of a stone made by God that God cannot lift. Moreover, self-amendment (which may be paradoxical independently of the paradox of omnipotence, or even with an AC of finite power) might permit transmutation of immutable rules, and therefore the achievement of omnipotence by a previously finite rule of change. The entrenchment of the AC itself also raises the question of limited or unlimited power: if entrenchment or self-entrenchment of the AC is immutable, then the AC is not omnipotent, unless it can transmute its immutable limitations. But entrenchment and self-entrenchment of the AC also more directly raise questions of self-amendment. Even if ordinary or self-limiting self-amendment is possible, shall we allow self- disentrenchment or self-apotheosis? Or if transmutation of the immutable entrenchment of clauses other than the AC is possible, then would the transmutation through self-amendment of the immutable entrenchment of the AC itself be possible? If self-amendment is self-contradictory but permissible, can we deny the mantle of permissibility to self-disentrenchment of immutable entrenchment clauses just because it is self-contradictory? Or, if self-amendment is a permissible form of self-reference and self-application, then may it be made impermissible in certain cases by "aggravating" its self-reference and self-application in the form of an immutable self- entrenchment clause entrenching the AC and itself? If so, can the AC self-impose such an immutable limitation in an act of permissible self- amendment? In order to avoid becoming dizzy and to simplify references to complex, nested puzzles, I must distinguish and assign conventional names to several different phenomena. Suppose that an AC has two sections, §1 and §2, and that §1 contains the entrenching language. If §1 entrenches only itself, call that "immediate" self-entrenchment. If §1 entrenches both itself and §2, call that "mediate" self-entrenchment. These terms may be justified by noting a parallel distinction among types of self-reference: immediate self-references refer directly to themselves, while mediate self-references refer to classes of which they are members.[Note 2] A sentence or reference which is neither mediately nor immediately self-referential will be called "irreflexive". A sentence which refers to itself and to Napoleon ("This sentence and Napoleon are short") refers to more than merely itself, but does not refer to a class of which it is a member. By contrast a sentence which refers to sentences and to Napoleon ("Sentences, unlike Napoleon, are immortal") refers to a class of which it is a member and to something outside that class, but not directly to itself. I will call any mediate or immediate self-reference that is combined with an irreflexive reference, "eccentric", and any immediate or mediate self-reference without any such irreflexive reference, "concentric".[Note 3] If AC §1 entrenches AC §2 without entrenching itself, then no "self-entrenchment" in the strict sense has occurred. I will call that simply the entrenchment of §2 by §1, or the "irreflexive" entrenchment of §2 by §1, for emphasis. An AC of only one section which included entrenching language could be called immediate or mediate self-entrenchment, but I will call it immediate.[Note 4] I will carry over the distinctions from 59