Cardano Constitution to Replace the Interim Constitution
7 of 7 committee members voted
- Cardano Atlantic Council07e0eb70…5bdeYesResigned · term ends epoch 580Rationale
We find the proposed Constitution acceptable pursuant to ratification by the delegated representatives body.
Appendix II of the Cardano Interim Constitution clearly laid a framework for the process of how the Cardano community would transition through the Chang Hard Fork, into the bootstrap or interim phase of governance, and then graduate to a "final" Constitution after a community consultation, drafting, and ratification process.
This process was followed throughout the summer and fall of 2024 through dozens of workshops held worldwide, culminating in the Constitutional Conventions in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Nairobi, Kenya in December of 2024. There, 95% of the Constitutional delegates signaled via formal vote their support for the proposed Constitution. At the time of the delegate ratification a hash was created of that version of the document. That hash is the same as the proposed document which has been publicly available since December of 2024 via GitHub.
We find that this process was open to contribution and direction by the community [Article I, Section 2] and the decision is now, following the Plomin Hard Fork, in the hands of the community to adopt or reject as they see fit through themselves or their now empowered Delegated Representatives (DReps) [Article II, Section 2].
- Cardano Foundation6796d87d…c280YesExpired · term ends epoch 580Rationale unavailable
- Cardano Japan Council (ICC)4012cab5…0755YesExpired · term ends epoch 580Rationale unavailable
- Eastern Cardano Council2ea7a78e…10ecYesExpired · term ends epoch 580Rationale
We have determined that this Update to the Constitution governance action is constitutional.
ARTICLE VIII Section 1 of the Interim Constitution states "The Interim Period shall be a temporary period that shall continue until such date that the Final Constitution has been ratified by Ada holders in accordance with the Ratification Of Final Constitution as set forth in Appendix II."
And ARTICLE VIII Section 2 of the Interim Constitution states "The process for transitioning from this Interim Constitution to Final Constitution is contained in Appendix II."
The guardrails that require consideration for the governance action with ID "gov_action133j...zlcyqf" and title "Cardano Constitution to Replace the Interim Constitution" are NEW-CONSTITUTION-01 and INTERIM-04. These are addressed as follows:
- NEW-CONSTITUTION-01 - The Constitution or Guardrails Script governance action has been submitted.
- INTERIM-04 - Appendix 2 will be examined in the following text.
Further, we have confirmed compliance with each section of APPENDIX II.
- Section 1: Global Workshops - Global workshops for Ada holders were successfully conducted in the second half of 2024, ensuring broad community representation. Up to 140 delegates (70 voting and 70 non-voting) were elected and participated in the Constitutional Convention, with each voting delegate having an equal vote.
- Section 2: Constitutional Convention - The Constitutional Convention was successfully held before the end of 2024, meeting all requirements.
- Section 3: Approval and Submission of the Final Constitution - The Final Constitution was approved with necessary amendments and submitted as a governance action under CIP-1694 by January 31, 2025.
We therefore find this governance action Constitutional.
This governance action sufficiently addresses the guardrails criteria of the Interim Constitution, so is deemed constitutional.
- Emurgodc2b0706…89b8YesExpired · term ends epoch 580Rationale
We find this governance action, as proposed, to be constitutional.
EMURGO, in its capacity as a Constitutional Committee Member, is casting a "yes" vote as the proposal adheres to the governance framework established under CIP-1694. The proposal has followed the required due process, ensuring compliance with the Cardano Constitution. As a key safeguard of the governance system, the Constitutional Committee’s role is to verify that actions align with the constitutional principles of legitimacy, transparency, and procedural integrity. The criterion for ratification of the final Constitution, as defined in the Interim Constitution - Appendix II, is met. Therefore, we are voting "yes" to uphold decentralized governance and community-driven decision-making.
The governance action is constitutional.
- Input | Output3c9ebce6…1e4cYesExpired · term ends epoch 580Rationale
IOG votes "Yes" on the Cardano Constitution to Replace the Interim Constitution
The proposed governance action is constitutional in accordance with the Interim Constitution as set forth in its "Appendix II: Ratification of Final Constitution"./n/n The rationale of the proposed governance (GA) action identifies, in Appendix II, six criteria for the ratification of the first post-interim constitution. We reiterate the manner in which those criteria were fulfilled below:/n/n Per Section 1 of the GA rationale, a series of global workshops for Ada holders to discuss and debate the Articles of a final constitution took place during the second half of 2024./n/n Per Section 2 of the GA rationale, workshops were geographically distributed in 50 countries to capture the breadth of sentiment in the Cardano community./n/n Per Section 3 of the GA rationale, these workshops elected 63 voting delegates and 63 alternates who participated in a Constitutional Convention. Each voting delegate participating in the Constitutional Convention had an equal vote./n/n Per Section 4 of the GA rationale, the Constitutional Convention was held in December of 2024./n/n Per Section 5 of the GA rationale, the Final Constitution was approved at the Constitutional Convention where delegates elected to attend the Constitutional Convention agreed to the Final Constitution with such amendments as they deemed appropriate and necessary. Ninety five percent of the voting delegates voted in favor of the final constitution, significantly above the required vote threshold./n/n Per Section 6 of the GA rationale, the Final Constitution as approved at the Constitutional Convention was submitted as a governance action in accordance with CIP-1694 before January 31, 2025.
- Intersect Constitutional Council85c47dd4…bf64YesExpired · term ends epoch 580Rationale
The Intersect Constitutional Council votes Constitutional on the Cardano Constitution.
The governance action meets the format requirements of Article III, Section 6 of the Interim Constitution. It contains a Title, Abstract, Motivation, Rationale and a detailed list of Supporting Links, all hosted via IPFS. Most importantly, the proposed Constitution linked in the Supporting Links section is identical in content as the final off-chain version voted on in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Nairobi, Kenya in December 2024. This has been verified by comparing the hash of both documents (the submitted governance action and GIthub) using cardano-cli and also cross-referenced against first-hand photographic evidence from Buenos Aires, namely the voting results on the screens of the Convention hall. Further verifying that this was indeed the document voted on in Argentina and Kenya. That hash is: “2a61e2f4b63442978140c77a70daab3961b22b12b63b13949a390c097214d1c5”. The content of this Constitution builds upon and does not conflict with anything laid out in the Interim Constitution.
The new Cardano Constitution is a valid amendment to the Constitution as per the requirements of Article VII Section 1 (Amendments) as it has been approved by a collective decision-making process, and it will require the on-chain governance action to satisfy the applicable approval threshold.
An important question raised by Article VI Section 3 is if a new Constitution could be implemented if it violated the Interim Constitution. The Intersect Constitutional Council would note here that a guiding principle could be a form of “direct acceptance” where if a Constitution showed sufficient support per the thresholds of such a new Constitution it could be accepted even if it violated segments of the current Constitution.
Another related question is if the Constitutional Committee should wait to vote on a Constitution until it has the approval of the DReps or if it is sufficient to vote if it fulfills the current Constitutional requirements. This problem would come to surface if a new Constitution violated a current Constitution in some form. In short, regarding the currently proposed new Constitution, it is constitutional and as such waiting for the threshold is not needed.
With the evidence presented here, the Intersect Constitutional Council views the “Cardano Constitution to Replace the Interim Constitution” governance action to be Constitutional.