 The Congress, whenever two thirds of both
Houses shall deem it necessary, shall
propose Amendments to this Constitution,
or, on the Application of the Legislatures of
two thirds of the several States, shall call a
Convention for proposing Amendments,
which, in either Case, shall be valid to all
Intents and Purposes, as Part of this
Constitution, when ratified by the
Legislatures of three fourths of the several
States, or by Conventions in three fourths
thereof, as the one or the other Mode of
Ratification may be proposed by the
Congress.
Route 1
 Congress proposes amendments
directly to the states; these are
not subject to a Presidential veto.
 Neither the President nor the
Supreme Court has any formal role
in the constitutional amendment
process.
 The equal representation of states
in the Senate cannot be changed
even by constitutional amendment
if a single state objects.
 The Congress proposes an amendment in the
form of a joint resolution.
 The original document is forwarded directly
to NARA's Office of the Federal Register
(OFR) for processing and publication.
 The OFR also assembles an information
package for the States which includes formal
"red-line" copies of the joint resolution,
copies of the joint resolution in slip law
format, and the statutory procedure for
ratification under 1 U.S.C. 106b.
 The Archivist submits the proposed amendment to
the States by sending a letter of notification to each
Governor.
 The Governors then formally submits the
amendment to their State legislatures.
 When a State ratifies a proposed amendment, it
sends the Archivist an original or certified copy of
the State action, which is immediately conveyed to
the Director of the Federal Register.
 The OFR retains these documents until an
amendment is adopted or fails, and then transfers
the records to the National Archives for
preservation.
 Route 2 (calling a constitutional
convention upon petitions from 2/3 of
the state legislatures) has never been
used. It raises two procedural
questions:
 If petitioned by the requisite
number of states, is Congress
obligated to call such a convention?
[Probably yes]
It raises two procedural
questions:
 Can Congress restrict the scope
of the amendments that the
convention might propose to
particular subjects?
 Fears have been expressed about a
“runaway” convention that might
propose wholesale changes in the
Constitution.
Can a state that has ratified a
proposed amendment rescind
(take back) its ratification
(before the amendment has
been ratified by the requisite
number of states and
incorporated into the
Constitution)?
Is there some requirement for time
period in the amendment process, such
that an amendment must be proposed
and ratified within a relatively short
period of time?
 Amendment 27 -- No law, varying the
compensation for the services of the Senators
and Representatives, shall take effect, until
an election of Representatives shall have
intervened.
 Proposed in 1789, ratified in 1992.
 Amendment 27 was one of twelve
amendments proposed in 1789 to fulfill
the promise made by the Federalist
advocates of the Constitution.
 Ten were quickly ratified (1791)and are
now known as the Bill of Rights, one
(dealing the "ratio of representation" for
the House of Representatives) was never
ratified, and the last became the 27th
Amendment more than 200 years after
being proposed
 In proposing the Eighteenth
(Prohibition) amendment in
1919 and in all amendments
since 1933, Congress has
stipulated that an amendment
would fail unless ratified within
seven years.
Most amendments have been
proposed and ratified in distinct
historical clusters:
 soon after establishment of the federal
government (the Bill of Rights and two
others shortly thereafter)-- #1-12
 immediate post-Civil War period-- #13-15
 "progressive period" early in the 20th
century-- #17-19
 the "second progressive period" of
1960s-- #23-26
The post-Civil War amendments
(the 14th Amendment in
particular) are the most
important — so much so that
this period is referred to as the
“second founding” of the U.S.
government
 13th, 14th, 15th
Hundreds of additional
amendments have been
proposed by individual
members of Congress or state
legislatures, several dozen of
which have had significant
support.
Only six amendments have been
proposed by Congress and then
failed to be ratified.
 In addition to the two already
mentioned (the “ratio of
representation” and ERA
amendments), these include:
 an amendment proposed in the early
1800’s that would have further
restricted acceptance by U.S. citizens
of titles of nobility and similar honors
from foreign governments
An amendment proposed on the
eve of the Civil War that would
have prohibited any future
amendment that would
empower Congress to make any
law that would “abolish or
interfere ... with ... the domestic
institutions” (e.g., slavery) of any
state
An amendment proposed early
in the 20th century that would
have explicitly empowered
Congress to regulate (and
prohibit) child labor
An amendment proposed in the
1970s granting federal voting
power to the District of
Columbia as if it were a state
There have been other attempts to
propose constitutional
amendments, often to reverse
controversial Supreme Court
decisions (as several successful
amendments also have done).
Recent and pending attempts to
amend the constitution pertain to
following topics:
 to reverse Roe v. Wade
 abortion
 to reverse/modify Engle v. Vitale
 School prayer
 to reverse Texas v. Johnson
 Flag burning (symbolic speech)
 to mandate a balanced budget
and/or tax and spending limits
 to modify/abolish the Electoral
College for electing the
President
 to change the President's term of
office
 to a single six-year term
 to impose term limits on
members of Congress
 to abolish the Presidential term
limit
 to repeal the 22nd Amendment
to repeal the 16th
Amendment
 prohibit any federal income tax
to make English the official
language of the United States
to establish judicial terms of
office
 to require the periodic
reconfirmation of federal judges
 to guarantee “victims’ rights” in
criminal proceedings
 to limit the President’s pardon
power
 to provide a new way for
proposing amendments to the
Constitution, (2/3 of all state
legislatures could propose
amendments (without
Congressional action)
 to prohibit same-sex marriage