Amending Amending

The Senate Judiciary Committee finally agreed to report favorably a proposed Amendment to the Constitution, sponsored by Senator Wadsworth of New York. It is an amendment on the manner in which amendments to the Constitution shall be made. It proposes to take the place of Article V, and provides that:

1) Amendments may be proposed (a) by both Houses of Congress, each having given a two-thirds vote in favor of the Amendment, or (b) by a convention called by Congress at the request of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the states. (As at present.)

2) Amendments shall become a part of the Constitution when they have been ratified by popular vote in three-fourths of the states. (The present provision calls for ratification by the Legislatures, or by conventions, in three-fourths of the states, whichever method is prescribed by Congress.)

3) States may ratify a proposed amendment or reject it, or reverse their decisions to ratify or reject it until (a) three-fourths of the states shall have ratified, (b) more than one-fourth of the states shall have rejected the proposed amendment, or (c) six years shall have elapsed from the date at which Congress submitted the amendment to the states. (New.)

4) Rejection by more than one-fourth of the states, or the passage of more than six years without ratification by three-fourths of the states, constitutes a final rejection of an amendment. (New.)

5) No state without its consent may be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. (As at present.)