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Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the procedure for altering the Constitution. Under Article Five, the process to alter the Constitution consists of proposing an amendment or amendments, and subsequent ratification.
The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States senators in each state. The amendment supersedes Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would, if added, explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It was written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman and introduced in Congress in December 1923 as a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The purpose of the ERA is to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and women in matters of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. Opponents originally argued it would remove protections that women needed. In the 21st century, opponents argue it is no longer needed and some disapprove of its potential effects on abortion and transgender rights.
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution extends the right to participate in presidential elections to the District of Columbia. The amendment grants to the district electors in the Electoral College, as though it were a state, though the district can never have more electors than the least-populous state. How the electors are appointed is to be determined by Congress. The Twenty-third Amendment was proposed by the 86th Congress on June 16, 1960; it was ratified by the requisite number of states on March 29, 1961.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution states that any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress may take effect only after the next election of the House of Representatives has occurred. It is the most recently adopted amendment but was one of the first proposed.
A balanced budget amendment or debt brake is a constitutional rule requiring that a state cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government.
Prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), U.S. state constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions of several different types passed, banning legal recognition of same-sex unions in U.S. state constitutions, referred to by proponents as "defense of marriage amendments" or "marriage protection amendments." These state amendments are different from the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would ban same-sex marriage in every U.S. state, and Section 2 of the Defense of Marriage Act, more commonly known as DOMA, which allowed the states not to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. The amendments define marriage as a union between one man and one woman and prevent civil unions or same-sex marriages from being legalized, though some of the amendments bar only the latter. The Obergefell decision in June 2015 invalidated these state constitutional amendments insofar as they prevented same-sex couples from marrying, even though the actual text of these amendments remain written into the state constitutions.
A convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, also referred to as an Article V Convention, state convention, or amendatory convention is one of two methods authorized by Article Five of the United States Constitution whereby amendments to the United States Constitution may be proposed: on the Application of two thirds of the State legislatures the Congress shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which become law only after ratification by three-fourths of the states. The Article V convention method has never been used; but 33 amendments have been proposed by the other method, a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress; and 27 of these have been ratified by three-fourths of the States. Although there has never been a federal constitutional convention since the original one, at the state level more than 230 constitutional conventions have assembled in the United States.
George Elmer Snyder was an American politician, businessman, author, inventor, and marketing professional. He served in the Maryland State Senate from 1959 to 1974. Snyder served as the Majority leader of the Maryland Senate and was the Chairman of the Maryland Senate Finance Committee from 1971 to 1974.
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Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG) is a conservative American nonprofit political organization. In 2015, it launched a nationwide initiative calling for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution to reduce federal spending. The group's efforts are focused on imposing fiscal restraint on Washington D.C., reducing the federal government's authority over states, and imposing term limits on federal officials. As of 2024, the organization's resolution had passed in 19 states. A total of 34 states would need to pass such a resolution in order for a Convention to Amend the Constitution to be called per Article V. The organization funded and won a class action lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the agency's politically oriented targeting of conservative organizations. The group is based in Austin, Texas.
The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic is a book by the American talk radio host and lawyer Mark Levin, published in 2013. In it, Levin lays out and makes a case for eleven Constitutional amendments which he believes would restore the Constitution’s chief components: federalism, republicanism, and limited government.
The independent state legislature theory or independent state legislature doctrine (ISL) is a judicially rejected legal theory that posits that the Constitution of the United States delegates authority to regulate federal elections within a state to that state's elected lawmakers without any checks and balances from state constitutions, state courts, governors, ballot initiatives, or other bodies with legislative power. In June 2023, in the case Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6–3 decision that the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution does not give state legislatures sole power over elections and rejected the ISL.
References
- ↑ "Balanced Budget Amendment Inc. Form 990 2015". ProPublica. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- 1 2 "America might see a new constitutional convention in a few years". The Economist. September 30, 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ↑ Wines, Michael (August 22, 2016). "Inside the Conservative Push for States to Amend the Constitution". New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ↑ Celock, John (March 28, 2013). "Balanced Budget Advocates Seek Article V Constitutional Convention". Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- 1 2 3 4 Sisk, Chas (February 4, 2016). "Rewrite The Constitution? Several States Are Trying To". NPR. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Leachman, Michael (January 18, 2017). "States Likely Could Not Control Constitutional Convention on Balanced Budget Amendment or Other Issues". Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ↑ Rau, Alia Beard (September 15, 2017). "Phoenix constitutional convention gives 'rebirth to a new nation,' planners say". Arizona Republic. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ↑ McKelway, Doug (May 15, 2017). "Push for Convention of the States to rein in government gains steam". Fox News Politics. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ↑ Richmond, Todd (November 7, 2017). "Wisconsin Senate OKs Constitutional Convention Call". US News. AP. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- 1 2 "We're surprisingly close to our first constitutional convention since 1787. Bad idea". Washington Post. May 6, 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.