validation-constitution

# Validating Constitution

## Overview

Constitution validation ensures governance documents are enforceable, testable, and free of anti-patterns before finalization. Every constitution MUST pass quality validation—no exceptions for "simple projects" or "tight deadlines."

**Violating the letter of the rules is violating the spirit of the rules.**

Skipping validation because "the constitution looks fine" or "it's mostly complete" is not following the spirit of quality assurance—it is abandoning it.

## When to Use

- After drafting a constitution with humaninloop:authoring-constitution or humaninloop:brownfield-constitution
- Before presenting a constitution to users for approval
- When updating an existing constitution (any change requires re-validation)
- When user explicitly requests constitution review or quality check
- When determining appropriate version bump for constitution changes
- When auditing existing constitution for anti-patterns

## When NOT to Use

- During initial constitution drafting (validate AFTER drafting, not during)
- For documents that are not constitutions (specs, plans, code)
- When user only wants to READ a constitution without validation
- For informal project notes or temporary governance sketches

## Core Process

### Step 1: Load Quality Checklist

Read [references/QUALITY-CHECKLIST.md](references/QUALITY-CHECKLIST.md) and verify every item. Do not skip items because they "seem obvious" or "clearly pass."

### Step 2: Check Each Principle

Every principle MUST have the three-part structure:

| Part | Purpose | Verification |
|------|---------|--------------|
| **Enforcement** | How is compliance verified? | CI check, code review rule, or audit process named |
| **Testability** | What does pass/fail look like? | Concrete pass and fail conditions defined |
| **Rationale** | Why does this rule exist? | Business or technical justification present |

If any principle lacks any part, the constitution FAILS validation.

### Step 3: Scan f