Proposals by Congress

Few difficulties of a constitutional nature have arisen with regard to this method of initiating constitutional change, the only method, as we noted above, so far successfully resorted to. When Madison submitted to the House of Representatives the proposals from which the Bill of Rights evolved, he contemplated that they should be incorporated in the text of the original instrument.15 Instead, the House decided to propose them as supplementary articles, a method followed since.16 It ignored a suggestion that the two Houses should first resolve that amendments are necessary before considering specific proposals.17 In the National Prohibition Cases,18 the Court ruled that, in proposing an amendment, the two Houses of Congress thereby indicated that they deemed revision necessary. The same case also established the proposition that the vote required to propose an amendment was a vote of two thirds of the Members present-assuming the presence of a quorum-and not a vote of two-thirds of the entire membership.19 The approval of the President is not necessary for a proposed amendment. 20

Proposals by Congress and the U.S. Constitution

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References

This text about Proposals by Congress is based on “The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation”, published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

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