constitutional amendment
Formal founding change
A constitutional amendment is a formal change or addition to a constitution—the foundational legal document of a nation or state.
In the United States, amendments require supermajority approval in Congress and ratification by three-fourths of states, making them rare and consequential: The First Amendment protects free speech.
The term often appears in debates over proposed changes: a constitutional amendment banning flag burning.
- voteFormal choice expression
- We the PeopleOpening of the Constitution
- ERAPitcher effectiveness statistic
- equal rightsIdentical legal protections
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
legislature · separation of powers · suffrage · ballot · rule of law · checks and balances · Prohibition · supermajority · proposal · two-thirds majority · basic law · Congress · state legislatures · judicial review · due process · states · reform · civil rights
- Swiss politicsdirect democracy, cantons, referendums, initiatives, popular vote
- constitutional lawBill of Rights, charters, separation of powers, checks and balances, equal protection
- legal systemsjudiciary, criminal code, court system, penal code, laws
- ballot measuresproposition, propositions, initiative, measures, bond measure
- constitutionsbill of rights, clause, clauses, preamble, provisions
- legal historylegal history, medieval law, Roman law, Roman jurisprudence, common law
constitutional amendmentstatutory law
Legislature-made legal rules
executive order · bylaw · statute · ordinance
constitutional amendmentoriginalism
Interpreting by founding-era meaning
constitutional amendmentconstitutional convention
Body drafting founding documents
amends, constitution, amendment, amending, constitutional, amendable, unconstitutional, reconstitution, constitutionally