[The Right and the Left Agree: It’s Time to Change the Constitution
The right and the left don’t agree on how they’d like to change the Constitution, but they do agree that changes need to be made. President Joe Biden, in his farewell address, called for an amendment “to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office.” That’s a clear nod to the Supreme Court’s granting of new immunity to presidents at the request of President-elect Donald Trump in 2024 when he was facing federal prosecution.
Separately, CNN has previously reported that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York made a last-minute push to convince Biden to certify an Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment. The amendment passed in the needed three-quarters of US state legislatures, but it took too long — decades instead of the seven years the amendment’s authors originally allowed.
Trump, meanwhile, has promised to challenge the 14th Amendment with an executive order rescinding the principle of birthright citizenship. He’s admitted that ending birthright citizenship could require going “to the people.”
What does it actually take to amend the Constitution? Here’s a breakdown:
It is usually a long and complicated process, which is laid out in Article V of the Constitution. Here’s what it says:
“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; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.”
In plain English, that means first an amendment has to be proposed, either by super majorities in the House and Senate or by a convention called by two-thirds, or 34, of the state legislatures.
After an amendment is proposed, it then has to be ratified by three-quarters, or 38, of the state legislatures or special conventions in the states.
The most recent amendment, the 27th, was ratified in 1992, more than three decades ago. But it was actually first proposed by Congress back in 1789 along with the 10 amendments that became the Bill of Rights.
Currently, more than half the states, 28, have some kind of call for a convention, according to the group Common Cause, which opposes a new convention.
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