The constitutional amendment process has two stages. First, an amendment must be proposed, either by a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate or by a convention called at the request of two-thirds of state legislatures. Second, it must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. Article V of the Constitution lays out both stages, and in more than 230 years only 27 amendments have made it through.
How an Amendment Gets Proposed
The usual route is a joint resolution in Congress. The resolution sets out the exact text of the proposed amendment, and both chambers must pass it by a two-thirds supermajority. It does not go to the President for signature or veto. The Supreme Court settled that point in Hollingsworth v. Virginia in 1798, holding that Article V gives the amendment power to Congress and the states alone.1National Archives. Article V, U.S. Constitution
Every one of the 27 current amendments started this way. Thousands more have been introduced and never cleared the supermajority in either chamber.2Congress.gov. Proposals to Amend the U.S. Constitution: Fact Sheet
The Convention Route
Article V also allows amendments to be proposed by a convention. If two-thirds of state legislatures — currently 34 of 50 — apply to Congress requesting one, Congress is required to call it.1National Archives. Article V, U.S. Constitution This has never happened.
Because no convention has ever been called, some basic procedural questions remain unsettled. It is not clear whether a convention could be limited to a single topic or could propose any amendment its delegates wanted, or exactly how consistent the state applications would need to be. Whatever a convention proposed would still have to be ratified by three-fourths of the states.
How States Ratify
Once Congress or a convention proposes an amendment, it goes to the states. Article V gives Congress a choice of two ratification methods, and Congress picks one when it proposes the amendment.1National Archives. Article V, U.S. Constitution
Under the first method, three-fourths of state legislatures — currently 38 of 50 — must approve the amendment. Each chamber votes up or down on the exact text Congress proposed. No changes to the language are allowed, and the governor’s signature is not required.
Under the second method, three-fourths of specially convened state ratifying conventions must approve the amendment. Congress has used this method only once, for the Twenty-First Amendment, which repealed Prohibition in 1933.3Constitution Annotated. ArtV.4.3 Ratification by Conventions The other 26 amendments were all ratified by state legislatures.
Deadlines for Ratification
Article V itself sets no time limit, but Congress has attached one to nearly every amendment proposed since 1917. The standard window is seven years. If 38 states have not ratified within that period, the amendment expires.4Constitution Annotated. ArtV.4.2.1 Congressional Deadlines for Ratification of an Amendment The Supreme Court upheld Congress’s power to set these deadlines in Dillon v. Gloss (1921), reasoning that the authority to choose the method of ratification includes the lesser authority to set a reasonable time.5Justia. Dillon v. Gloss, 256 U.S. 368 (1921)
When Congress does not set a deadline, a proposed amendment can stay open indefinitely. The Twenty-Seventh Amendment, first proposed in 1789 and certified as part of the Constitution on May 7, 1992, sat pending for more than 202 years before enough states ratified it.6Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School. Ratification of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment
Can a State Take Back Its Ratification?
Whether a state can rescind a ratification before the three-fourths threshold is met has never been definitively resolved. When New Jersey and Ohio tried to withdraw their approvals during ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, Congress counted them anyway and declared the amendment adopted.7Constitution Annotated. Effect of Prior Rejection of an Amendment or Rescission of Ratification
The Supreme Court addressed the question indirectly in Coleman v. Miller (1939), suggesting that rescission is a political question for Congress rather than the courts.8Justia. Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1939) In practice, Congress has the final say on whether an attempted rescission counts.
The Courts’ Limited Role
Federal courts have largely kept out of amendment disputes. Coleman v. Miller treated core questions — how long a proposal remains open, whether a state can change its vote — as political questions for Congress rather than the judiciary.9Justia. Judicial Review Under Article V Four justices in that case went further, arguing that the entire amendment process is a political matter beyond judicial review. The upshot is that Congress, not the Supreme Court, is usually the body that resolves procedural disputes over ratification.
What Cannot Be Amended
Article V contains one permanent restriction: no state can be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate without its own consent.1National Archives. Article V, U.S. Constitution The rule traces back to the Connecticut Compromise, which gave every state two senators regardless of population, and was meant to keep larger states from using the amendment process to reduce smaller states’ Senate representation.10Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School. Unamendable Subjects A second restriction, which shielded the slave trade and certain tax provisions from amendment before 1808, expired on its own terms.
Certification: When an Amendment Officially Becomes Law
After a state ratifies, it sends an official copy of its ratification to the Archivist of the United States at the National Archives. The Office of the Federal Register reviews each document to confirm it is legally valid and properly signed.11National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process
Once 38 valid ratifications are on file, the Archivist issues a formal certificate declaring the amendment part of the Constitution. That duty is set out in 1 U.S.C. § 106b, which directs the Archivist to publish the amendment along with a certificate listing the ratifying states.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 1 USC 106b – Amendments to Constitution The certification is then published in the Federal Register and the United States Statutes at Large as official public notice.11National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process