Amendment Process

entrenchment

-extra legal safeguards to a constitutional provision

-a supermajority is required

-proposal and ratification required

Proposal of amendments

-Proposed by a super majority of 2/3 of each house in congress

-Proposed by a national convention called by congress

Amendment ratification

-Amendment ratified by ¾ of the state legislatures

-Amendment ratified by ¾ of state conventions

amount of amendments ratified ever

27 in over 200 years

Reason for the difficulty in amending the constitution

high thresholds for the amendment ensure that change only happens when there is a wide consensus and broad agreement