Amending the Constitution

at http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blconstamend.htm

The recent Senate debate over a proposed constitutional amendment dealing with desecration of the U.S. flag raises the question of exactly how the Constitution can be amended. (See Anti-Flag Burning Amendment Debated in Senate.)

Article V of the Constitution provides two processes by which amendments can be proposed and approved

1. Congress proposes amendments.

As is the case with the flag burning amendment, both houses of Congress approve by two-thirds votes a resolution calling for the amendment. The resolution does not require the president’s signature. To become effective, the proposed amendment must then be “ratified” or approved by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. Congress typically places a time limit of seven years for ratification by the states.

2. The states propose amendments.

The legislatures of two-thirds of the states vote to call for a convention at which constitutional amendments can be proposed. Amendments proposed by the convention would again require ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.

All twenty-seven amendments, including the Bill of Rights have been added through the first method. The Constitution has never been amended using the second process.

While over 10,000 have been proposed, only seventeen amendments to the Constitution have been adopted since final ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791