To amend the U.S. Constitution, a proposal must clear two stages: it must be proposed by a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate (or by a convention called at the request of two-thirds of state legislatures), and then ratified by three-fourths of the states. Both stages are required. Of the more than 11,000 amendments introduced in Congress since 1787, only 27 have made it through.1National Archives. Amending America
The President has no formal role. A proposed amendment does not go to the White House for signature, and it cannot be vetoed. The Supreme Court settled that in Hollingsworth v. Virginia (1798).2Legal Information Institute. Hollingsworth v Virginia The power belongs entirely to Congress and the states.
Step One: Proposing an Amendment
Article V of the Constitution lays out two ways to propose an amendment. Only one has ever produced a ratified amendment.
The Congressional Route
Both the House and the Senate must approve a joint resolution proposing the amendment by a two-thirds vote of the members present.3Congress.gov. Article V – Amending the Constitution With every seat filled and every member voting, that works out to at least 290 votes in the House and 67 in the Senate. Once both chambers clear the threshold, the resolution goes directly to the states.
The Convention Route
If two-thirds of state legislatures (currently 34 of 50) submit formal applications requesting a convention, Congress is constitutionally required to call one.4Library of Congress. Constitution Annotated – ArtV.5 Unamendable Subjects That convention would then propose amendments on its own, sending them to the states for ratification through the same process.
This method has never been used. Nearly every state except Hawaii has submitted at least one application at some point, but the applications have never lined up on the same topic in sufficient numbers at the same time. Scholars still disagree over whether such a convention could be limited to a single subject or could propose changes to anything in the Constitution, a scenario often called a “runaway convention.”5Congress.gov. The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments Any proposal that emerged would still face the 38-state ratification requirement.
Step Two: Ratification by the States
Proposing an amendment is only half the process. Three-fourths of the states, meaning 38 of the current 50, must ratify before it becomes part of the Constitution. Congress decides which of two ratification methods the states will use.3Congress.gov. Article V – Amending the Constitution
The standard method sends the proposal to state legislatures. Each legislature debates and votes through its normal procedures, and 38 approvals ratifies the amendment. This is how 26 of the 27 ratified amendments have been approved.6National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process
The alternative uses specially elected state conventions, with delegates chosen specifically to vote on the amendment. Congress has picked this route exactly once, for the Twenty-First Amendment repealing Prohibition in 1933.7Constitution Annotated. Amdt21.S1.2.5 Ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment The 38-state threshold is the same either way.
How Long Do States Have to Ratify?
The Constitution itself sets no deadline. Starting in the early twentieth century, Congress began attaching a seven-year window to most proposed amendments, usually placed in the proposing resolution rather than in the amendment text. The Supreme Court upheld that practice in Dillon v. Gloss (1921), reasoning that Article V implicitly lets Congress set a reasonable time limit.8Legal Information Institute. Dillon v Gloss
Miss the deadline and the proposal dies. But what counts as reasonable has never been fully settled. In Coleman v. Miller (1939), the Court declined to police the question, calling timeliness a political matter for Congress.9Justia. Coleman v Miller The Twenty-Seventh Amendment illustrates the flexibility that leaves in place: proposed in 1789 with no deadline attached, it was not ratified until 1992, and Congress accepted the ratification as valid.10Congress.gov. Amdt27.4 Implications for the Article V Amendment Process
Can a State Rescind Its Ratification?
The answer is unsettled. Several states have tried to withdraw their approval before the three-fourths threshold was reached. In Coleman v. Miller, the Supreme Court declined to rule directly, treating the validity of a rescission as another political question for Congress.11Congress.gov. Effect of Prior Rejection of an Amendment or Rescission of Ratification
In practice, Congress has treated rescissions as ineffective. During ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, two states tried to withdraw their approval, and Congress counted their ratifications anyway. A state that initially rejects an amendment can later vote to ratify, and that kind of reversal has consistently been accepted.
How the Amendment Becomes Official
Once 38 states have ratified, the process shifts to paperwork. Each ratifying state sends an official copy of its approval to the Archivist of the United States, who forwards the documents to the Office of the Federal Register. Staff there review each one for legal sufficiency and verify signatures.6National Archives. Constitutional Amendment Process
When the count is confirmed, the Archivist issues a formal certificate declaring the amendment part of the Constitution and publishes it, listing every ratifying state, in the Federal Register and the U.S. Statutes at Large.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 1 USC 106b The amendment takes effect at certification. No presidential signature, no additional congressional vote, and no court approval is required.
What an Amendment Cannot Do
Article V contains one permanent limit on the amendment power itself: no amendment can strip a state of its equal representation in the Senate without that state’s consent.4Library of Congress. Constitution Annotated – ArtV.5 Unamendable Subjects Every state gets two senators regardless of population, and that structural guarantee is locked in unless the affected state agrees to give it up.
Beyond that single restriction, the amendment power is legally unlimited. An amendment that clears the two-thirds and three-fourths gauntlet can rewrite any other part of the Constitution, repeal earlier amendments, or create entirely new government structures.