Article V of the U.S. Constitution sets out the amendment process in two stages: a proposal stage that requires a two-thirds supermajority, and a ratification stage that requires three-fourths of the states to agree. A change to the Constitution has to clear both. Since 1787, more than 11,000 amendments have been introduced in Congress, and only 27 have made it through.1National Archives. Amending America
Proposing an Amendment in Congress
Every amendment ratified so far has started in Congress. The House and the Senate each have to approve the proposed language by a two-thirds vote.2Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article V That threshold applies to members present and voting once a quorum exists, not to two-thirds of all the seats in the chamber.3Justia. National Prohibition Cases, 253 U.S. 350 (1920)
The proposal itself is a joint resolution. Unlike ordinary legislation, it does not go to the President for a signature. Once both chambers pass it, it heads straight to the states. Congress writes the exact language and also decides which of the two ratification methods described below the states will use.
The Convention Route
Article V offers a second path that goes around Congress. If two-thirds of state legislatures, which today means 34 of the 50, submit formal applications asking for a convention, Congress is required to call one.4National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process Delegates could then draft amendments themselves and send them out for ratification the same way a congressional proposal goes out.
No such convention has ever been called. A balanced-budget push reached 32 state applications, and an earlier effort over legislative apportionment in the 1960s reached 33.5Congress.gov. The Article V Convention for Proposing Constitutional Amendments Whether such a convention can be restricted to a single topic is contested. Supporters argue that state applications can bind the agenda; critics warn that delegates, once seated, may act more broadly. No court has resolved the question because no convention has ever been held.
Ratifying an Amendment
A proposed amendment has no legal effect until three-fourths of the states ratify it. Today that means 38 states.4National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process Congress picks one of two methods when it sends the proposal out.
By State Legislatures
The default is a vote in each state’s legislature. This is how 26 of the 27 amendments were ratified. Once a legislature approves, the state sends an official copy of the ratification to the National Archives.4National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process The governor’s signature is not needed. A state also cannot swap in a popular referendum. The Supreme Court struck down an Ohio law that tried to do exactly that, holding that Article V assigns the ratification power to the legislature itself.6Justia. Hawke v. Smith, 253 U.S. 221 (1920)
By State Conventions
Congress can instead direct that each state hold a special ratifying convention. This route has been used once, for the Twenty-First Amendment repealing Prohibition in 1933. Congress judged that state legislatures at the time were too tied to the temperance movement to reflect where voters actually stood, and repeal cleared the states within a year.
Deadlines and Whether States Can Change Their Vote
Article V says nothing about how long ratification can take. Starting with the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, Congress began writing a seven-year window into the proposals themselves. The Supreme Court upheld that practice, holding that Congress may fix a reasonable time as part of its authority to manage the process.7Justia. Dillon v. Gloss, 256 U.S. 368 (1921) Most modern amendments carry a seven-year limit, but not all do. The Twenty-Seventh Amendment, on congressional pay raises, had no deadline; it was proposed in 1789 and ratified in 1992.
Whether a state can take back a ratification is unresolved. During the Fourteenth Amendment fight, New Jersey and Ohio both attempted to withdraw their prior approvals, and Congress counted them as ratifying anyway.8Congress.gov. Effect of Prior Rejection of an Amendment or Rescission of Ratification The Supreme Court has indicated that questions about rescission and timing are political questions for Congress rather than legal questions for courts.9Justia. Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1939) At least one lower court has taken the opposite view, reasoning that a state should be able to rescind so long as the three-fourths threshold has not yet been reached.
Why the President and Governors Have No Role
The amendment process deliberately leaves executives out. A proposed amendment does not go to the President’s desk and cannot be vetoed. Justice Samuel Chase wrote in 1798 that the President “has nothing to do with the proposition, or adoption, of amendments to the Constitution.”10Cornell Law School. Hollingsworth v. Virginia, 3 U.S. 378 (1798)
The same rule holds at the state level. When a legislature ratifies, the governor has no power to approve or block that vote. Ratification runs directly between the state legislature and the federal process under Article V.
Certification by the National Archives
The paperwork side runs through the National Archives. After Congress proposes an amendment, the Archivist of the United States notifies each state’s governor and sends supporting materials prepared by the Office of the Federal Register.4National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process As states ratify, their official documents come back to the Archives.
The Office of the Federal Register checks each document for legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature. When it has valid ratifications from 38 states, it prepares a formal proclamation for the Archivist to certify.4National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process Federal law then requires the Archivist to publish that certification, listing the ratifying states.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 1 USC 106b – Amendments to Constitution The Archivist’s role is ministerial: verify the documents, count to 38, certify. When Michigan became the 38th state to ratify the Twenty-Seventh Amendment on May 7, 1992, the Archivist certified it eleven days later.
What Cannot Be Amended
Article V is not entirely open-ended. It originally carried two restrictions. One was temporary: no amendment before 1808 could touch Congress’s power over the importation of enslaved people or over certain direct taxes.12Congress.gov. ArtV.5 Unamendable Subjects That expired long ago.
The other is permanent and still in force. No state can be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate without that state’s own consent.2Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article V Every state has two senators, and altering that for any state would require the affected state to agree. It is the one active substantive limit on the amendment power.