outlined in Article V of the United States Constitution. There are two methods for proposing amendments and two methods for ratifying them.
1. Proposal:
a. By Congress: An amendment can be proposed by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
b. By Convention: Upon the application of two-thirds of the state legislatures, Congress shall call a convention for proposing amendments. This method has not been used to date.
2. Ratification:
a. By State Legislatures: Amendments can be ratified by the approval of three-fourths (38) of the state legislatures.
b. By State Conventions: Amendments can also be ratified by special conventions held in three-fourths (38) of the states. This method has been used only once for the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition.
Once an amendment is proposed and ratified by the required number of states, it becomes a part of the Constitution. The process of amending the Constitution is intentionally difficult to ensure that the changes made reflect broad consensus.
The process for amending the Constitution is
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