Article V, or 5, in the US Constitution sets forth how to
amend the Constitution.
There are 4 ways:
1. Proposal— 2/3rds of each House of Congress and it is
ratified by 3/4ths of the State Legislatures.
2. Proposal—same as #1 2/3rds, each House of Congress
while ratification is done by 3/4ths of the State’s holding
Constitutional Conventions.
3.Proposal —A Special Constitutional Convention is called
by Congress, at the request of 2/3rds of the states.
Ratification is done by 3/4ths of the State legislatures.
4. Proposal— same as #3 while ratification is done by
3/4ths of the State Special Constitutional Conventions.
Informal Methods:
1. basic legislation— laws which fill in the basic meaning
of the Constitution. Like control carried by airlines, they
did not have planes in 1787 but they did have trade.
2. presidential actions, in carrying out foreign policy or
using troops without declaring war.
3. Supreme Court decisions, like Brown v. Board of
Education.
4. Political parties— how we elect people to congress and
for pesident. How Government is operated, by political
party. Parties are not found in the Constitution.
5. Tradition— the way things are done. Until the 22nd
amendment Presidents did not serve over 2 terms
and until the 25th amendment was passed the Vice
President served out the rest of the deceased president’s
term as the president NOT as an acting president.
IOW... they can’t do it without 3/4 of the States legislatures voting on it favorably.
LLS
Please use the term “State Ratifying Convention”, not “State Constitutional Convention”. The purpose of a State Constitutional Convention is to write or modify a state constitution.
(Maybe this wasn't addressed in the movie).