Changing the Constitution is intentionally much harder than passing a law. Explore Article V’s two proposal routes, the ratification threshold, and the surprising fact that the President has no formal approval role.
Explore the process ↓Select a stage to see what changes, who has authority, and what the process does not mean.
Article V provides two proposal routes: two-thirds of both houses of Congress can propose an amendment, or Congress must call a convention for proposing amendments on application of two-thirds of state legislatures.
The convention route exists in the Constitution, but no amendment has yet been proposed through an Article V convention.
A proposed constitutional amendment does not go to the President for signature or veto. The amendment process is deliberately different from ordinary legislation.
Constitutional amendments are not enacted through the normal bill-to-law process.
Congress chooses whether ratification occurs through state legislatures or state conventions. In either mode, approval by three-fourths of the states is required.
A national popular vote is not part of the Article V ratification process.
Today, proposal by Congress requires two-thirds support in both chambers, and ratification requires approval by 38 of 50 states. The structure demands exceptionally broad geographic and institutional agreement.
A simple congressional majority cannot amend the Constitution.
After the required state ratifications are achieved and recognized through the constitutional process, the amendment has the same constitutional status as the existing text, subject to Article V’s specific limitation concerning equal suffrage in the Senate without a state’s consent.
An amendment changes constitutional law itself; it does not merely create an ordinary statute.
