Can The Constitution Be Changed ?
The Constitution of the US is considered to be the supreme law of the land. In other words, there is no law in United States above the Constitution. All the laws that are enforced by the government are derived from it. It is a written document that clearly describes the organization, functioning, powers, and responsibilities of the federal and the state governments. The Presidency, the Congress, and the Supreme Court of the US are all based on the guidelines laid down in the US Constitution. |
If it is the supreme law in the nation, can the Constitution be changed is the next question that comes to the mind. The answer to this question is an obvious yes. The constitution can be changed or amended by putting forward amendment proposals and getting it approved and ratified by the two houses of Congress and the state legislatures. In fact, the US Constitution have been changed or amended 27 times since it was officially adopted on September 17, 1787. The first 10 amendments, included as the ‘U.S. Bill of Rights’, were ratified in 1791. The other amendments followed thereafter. The last amendment to the constitution was made on May 7, 1992.
The people who framed the Constitution were well aware of the fact that the clauses listed in the constitution are not perfect and might have to be changed in future. At the same time, to ensure integrity, they wanted to ensure that it was not very easy to amend the Constitution. The procedure of constitutional amendment has been clearly stated by the Framers in Article V of the Constitution. According to the defined clause, for an amendment to go into operation, it must be first proposed to the states by a vote of two-third majority in the two houses of the Congress and then ratified by three-fourth of the US states. A maximum of seven years is allowed for the ratification of any amendment proposal. If the proposal fails to get ratified within this time, it expires and is discarded.
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