The Amendment Process

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDEMNTS

The Process

This is a two stage process, the first stage is proposal. An amendment can only be proposed by either Congress or a National Constitutional Convention called by congress at the request of two thirds of State Legislators.11,000 amendments have been proposed with only 33 making it past the first stage.

A national constitutional convention has never been used although in 1992 32 State Legislators petitioned congress to call a convention just two short of the required two thirds.

Once an Amendment has been successfully proposed it is sent to states to be ratified. It can either be ratified by two thirds of State Legislators or by two thirds of States through National Constitutional Conventions. Only one has been ratified by State Constitutional Conventions…