What might happen for an amendment to become part of the Constitution?
There are two ways to amend the Constitution. First, Congress can propose an amendment. Congress does this when two-thirds of both houses, the House and the Senate, approve an amendment and send it to the states for ratification. (Note, however, that the President does not have the opportunity to veto proposed amendments, as he does with other types of legislation.) If the legislatures in three-fourths of the states (38 out of 50) approve the amendment, then it becomes part of the constitution. Second, two-thirds of state legislatures can call for a “constitutional convention” at which amendments can be proposed. Amendments passed by the convention must still be ratified by three-fourths of the states, either by their legislatures or by conventions of delegates in each state. If this happens, the amendment becomes part of the constitution. There is one caveat: No state may be deprived of its “equal suffrage” within the Senate–that is, no state may have more or less than two votes–wit
