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How do you amend the U.S. Constitution?
The Constitution is the highest law of the land and, accordingly, amending it requires broad
support and a thorough review process.
Article V of the United States Constitution reads:
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall
propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures
of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing
amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as
part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the
several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other
mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress . . . .
This means that there are two paths to proposing an amendment and two paths to ratifying an
amendment. The first way to propose an amendment is for two thirds of each house of Congress
to vote to propose the amendment. The second way is for two thirds of the state legislatures to
call for an amendment to convene a convention of states for the express purpose of proposing
amendments to the Constitution on a specific topic.
Once an amendment is proposed, it can be ratified by either three fourths of the state legislatures
or three fourths of state ratifying conventions. Since the Constitutional Convention in 1787, all
twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution have been proposed through Congress.